Oliver Reed "Tommy". With their reckless lifestyles Reed and Moon had much in common, and both cited the hard drinking actor Robert Newton as a role model. Christopher Lee, a friend and colleague of Reed, commented on his alcoholism in 2014: "when he started, after [drink] number eight, he became a complete monster. It was awful to see." Reed was often irritated that his appearances on TV talk shows concentrated on his drinking feats rather than his latest films and acting career. On 26 September 1975, in front of a speechless Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show", the bellicose Reed had a
Oliver Reed Reed, and grandson of the actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and his mistress, May Pinney Reed. His other grandmother was Beatrice Reed, "the only person who understood, listened to, encouraged and kissed Oliver". Reed claimed to have been a descendant (through an illegitimate step) of Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia. Reed attended 14 schools, including Ewell Castle School in Surrey. Oliver's brother Simon Reed, a sports journalist, works for British Eurosport. ""My father thought I was just lazy," Reed later said. "He thought I was a dunce." Reed worked as a boxer, a bouncer, a cabdriver and a hospital