John Barrymore came from a long line of theater actors. He himself first appeared on stage alongside his father in 1900, and in 1903 officially began his career, starring in the likes of Justice (1916) and Richard III (1920). His greatest role was his 1992 appearance in Hamlet, for which he was dubbed “the greatest living American tragedian.”
Barrymore also starred in a slew of silent films, most notably Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), Sherlock Holmes (1922) and Beau Brummel (1924). He later made the transition to sound movies, starring in the likes of Grand Hotel (1932) and Midnight (1939).
On May 29, 1942, Barrymore died at the age of 60 from pneumonia and cirrhosis. What happened next has been the subject of many rumors. It’s alleged his friends, Errol Flynn, W.C. Fields and Sadakichi Hartmann snuck into the morgue where his body was being held, propped him up against a poker table and allowed him to experience one final celebration.
As it turns out, these rumors are true! In an August 2020 episode of the popular YouTube series Hot Ones, the acting legend’s granddaughter, Drew Barrymore, revealed his corpse had actually been stolen.
“Not only yes, but there have been cinematic interpretations of it,” she exclaimed. Those interpretations include S.O.B., starring Julie Andrews, and allegedly the 1989 comedy Weekend at Bernie’s, in which two friends pretend their deceased boss is alive.
Barrymore added that she wants the same to happen to her. “I will say this, I hope my friends do the same for me. That is the kind of spirit I can get behind. Just prop the old bag up, let’s have a few rounds.
“I think death comes with so much morose sadness and I understand that, but if it’s okay, just for me, if everybody could be really happy and celebratory and have a party, that would be my preference.”
Vintage Hollywood certainly was a different era…
Most likely the worst guess in Wheel of Fortune history is this one
losses. If you were the contest winner, or even if you just did ok, you would want everyone to see the show. A participant who was directly involved in the latter situation would rather not take part in the program once more. So what should you do in these circumstances? Shall you hide your face in shame or laugh?
The Worst Mistake on the Fortune Wheel
Regardless of how a competitor handles it, it does provide the audience with a good amount of entertainment. Matt, a Wheel of Fortune contestant, just made what was probably the worst mistake in the history of the show. Matt gave a really elaborate performance on this particular episode. He won in the end and received $23,350, in case you missed it, so he probably doesn’t feel too horrible about his horrible error in this episode.
However, that kind of horrible error often overshadows the entire episode. The three participants’ goal in this particular round was to complete a word problem as fast as they could. The puzzle consisted of three words in the category “people.” There are two alternatives available to participants: they can try to guess a single letter or the complete sentence. In reference to Matt, he asked if the sentence contained the letter “N.” It was, and here is how the issue manifested itself: N_ T – _ N _ R _ T _ _ N TH_
It required a moment for him to deduce what the term might be. To everyone’s surprise, he answered with a term that didn’t contain a “N.” “The Greatest Buttercut,” he pronounced. It’s unclear exactly what Buttercut meant to say, but it was obvious that his statement didn’t fit the puzzle! The selected answer was THE NEXT GENERATION. You can see the amusing error here:
There Are Still More Mistakes That Need to Be Fixed
However, Matt is not the only Wheel of Fortune participant to have made a humiliating mistake. Since the show’s 1975 premiere, several notable blunders have occurred. Kevin, a contestant in 2017, approaching the word puzzle. In “A STREETCAR NA_ED DESIRE,” the play’s title, he just needed to finish one letter. After he turned, he was able to select a consonant. Kevin made the decision to say, “Naked,” much to everyone’s surprise and hilarity. Of course, the answer was A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE.
In 2009, Sacramento, California native Lolita McAuley was participating in a speed round. This suggests that the letters would appear on the board at random after each interval of time. The winner is the first person to buzz and guess the entire answer. Lolita was faced with the following under the “Thing” category: S_LF-PO_T_ _ _T. McAuley buzzed in response, saying, “SELF-POTATO.” Again, a puzzling and entertaining reply. The appropriate reaction was SELF-POTRAIT.
Julian, a University of Indiana student, was on track to win $1 million more recently, in 2014, following many lucky spins. To access a unique version meant just for college students, he simply needed to utter the words “mythological hero Achilles.” Sadly, he mispronounced it; instead of saying “AY-chill-es,” it should have been pronounced “AH-kil-ies.” After that, he had to fill in the blank: “WORLD’S FASTEST A.” In this case, he chose “c” even though “man” was the final word. When he finally reached the “things” area, he had to make a “on-the-spot decision.” His guess of “On-the-spot dicespin” was the weakest one he made.
Do you think Matt’s mistake was as big as these current ones? Tell us in the section that follows!
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