No More Bad Vibes: Christopher Jones Part 2

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Today, we return to the complex story of Christopher Jones and explore his final "lost years" after he turned his back on Hollywood in the height of his fame.  We unwind the tangled web of his life, from his alleged romance with Sharon Tate amidst Italian film sets, to his eerie ties with the infamous Cielo Drive. 

As we reflect on Jones' troubled final years, we ponder the profound impact of personal tragedies, such as the deaths of Sharon Tate and Jim Morrison, on his mental health and eventual withdrawal from public life. The missed chance to play Zed in "Pulp Fiction" adds another layer to his cryptic legacy. By examining his erratic later years through insights from Daryl Haney's "Death Valley Superstars," we uncover the complexities of living like a ghost in Hollywood. Join us as we follow Christopher Jones from the limelight into the shadows of obscurity on this final chapter of his saga.

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Episode Transcript

Courtney (00:00):
Hello, my not-yet-dead-or-famous fam.
It's Courtney here again, and Ido have to give you a trigger
warning again, because we aretalking about Christopher Jones
again, which means that onceagain, we will be discussing
rape and domestic violence.
So I wanted you all to be awarebefore you continue to listen.

(00:23):
And my goodness, don't somedead people really suck.

Marissa (00:45):
Hello and welcome to Dead and Kind of Famous, where
we dig into the life stories ofdead folks who enjoyed a touch
or two of fame in their time.

Courtney (00:54):
And now reside permanently in the Hollywood
Forever Cemetery.

Marissa (00:57):
I'm Marissa Rivera and I know that when you cook rice
it's one part rice, two partswater, and other than that I
know nothing.

Courtney (01:06):
And I'm Courtney Blomquist and I know nothing
except about everything thatwe're going to talk about today.
Today, we are talking aboutChristopher Jones again.
Again, we are picking up wherewe left off.

Marissa (01:21):
Part two.
Part two baby.

Courtney (01:23):
So if you did not listen to part one yet, it would
behoove you to go back andlisten to it now before
listening to this episode.
Of course you want the wholestory, don't you?

Marissa (01:36):
Don't you?
Yes?
So let's start where we leftoff.
What did we leave off with inpart one?

Courtney (01:46):
start where we left off.
Where.
What, what did?
What did we leave off with inpart one?
Uh, we left off withchristopher jones crashing his
ferrari in ireland while filmingryan's daughter.
Uh, and we, we specificallyleft off with the fact that he
has said that he, he, he, has adeath wish.
Essentially, he didn't say thatexactly.
Hold on, I you know what.
Let's just let's reread this.
He said sometimes I feel likejames dean's avenger.

(02:10):
Maybe I'm a continuation of thewhole thing.
A piece of the puzzle's gonebecause dean was too wild and
had an accident, but he was thereal thing.
Most people are afraid to dieand that's what makes you the
real thing whether you're afraidto die.
I'm fascinated with death, thatkind of death.

Marissa (02:29):
He had a death he had a james dean death wish.

Courtney (02:32):
He wanted to die like james dean died exactly so
that's where we left off, um,which is, you know, thrilling.
What a great exit point for us.
Really.
It's such a cliffhanger I mean,maybe it's not.
We told you he survived.
It's not really a cliffhanger.
We're still talking about him.
I mean, he didn't survive longenough to not be on this podcast

(02:55):
because he is dead now, Justnot from that.

Marissa (02:58):
So well, let's, let's continue on and see how he died
for real.
Let's continue on and see howhe died.

Courtney (03:03):
For real.
So we were talking about hisco-star, sarah Miles, british
woman, who was like he's notthat bad, she was just
diplomatic.

Marissa (03:14):
She was very diplomatic .

Courtney (03:15):
I think she's like, and you know again, we talked
about like his first wife beinglike this.
But actors, I think are you,you know, especially female
actors are very empatheticpeople who are maybe sometimes
too forgiving.
That's a little bit of a I.
I would say it's a fatal flaw.
I think of of many people,maybe not all, but right okay, I

(03:35):
I agree with that.
I'm not going to speak abouteveryone in that, in those terms
, but I don't think it's that Imean at least for the.

Marissa (03:42):
the women, the actresses in his life close to
him had a lot of empathy andforgiveness for him, and it was
like the 60s and 70s.

Courtney (03:53):
Like just people well you know women were too
understanding in general, so alot of women were anyway, not
Gloria Steinem, she wasn't.
She said fuck that, that washer time too.

Courtney (04:09):
But anyway.

Courtney (04:10):
I digress, I digress, okay.
So it's hard to parse out theexact timeline of Christopher's
personal troubles with all thefilming debacles of Ryan's
daughter, but it was during themaking of this film that
Christopher learned of the deathof Sharon Tate in the Manson
family.
Murders, okay, along with therest of the world, yes, okay.

(04:32):
So this hit Christopherespecially hard because,
according to him, why?

Marissa (04:39):
Oh God, why.

Courtney (04:40):
According to him, they'd had an affair when he was
filming in Italy.
He's filming Brief Season,which we've briefly discussed,
and Sharon Tate was therefilming the 13 Chairs, the last
movie she filmed, which wasreleased posthumously after her
death.

(05:00):
So now there wasn't really anyother people who spoke about
Sharon's relationship withChristopher.
So it's is, yes, it is.
He had lengthy shootingengagements in Ireland and Italy

(05:28):
.
I mean, that's what we'retalking about right now.
He did Like that was his arc,was pretty much in Europe, like
his big peak movies were allfilmed in Europe.
So it must be nice, I know.

Marissa (05:39):
Wow, to have a job.
Take me to Europe for a year.

Courtney (05:44):
He was in Ireland for a year and bring your Ferrari
for you to freely crash in thestyle of James Dean.

Marissa (05:50):
So, according to Christopher, he had an affair
with Sharon Tate.
Now, was this like a full onrelationship or did they sleep
together like once?

Courtney (06:00):
First of all, I don't know if any of that above, I
don't know if any of thathappened.
You know, he's, as we shouldnow know.
He is an unreliable narrator.
So it's.
This is all.
Like I said, I'm trying to putfacts in this, but it's very
difficult sometimes.
This is definitely one of thosethings, so I'm trying to get it
from all sides.

Marissa (06:19):
I feel like he like met her and he had a whole fantasy
about sleeping with her andnever actually did.

Courtney (06:25):
That is very possible .

Marissa (06:26):
And mourned the loss of the potential of the fantasy
that he had.

Courtney (06:32):
Yes, yeah, I mean it could be anything because okay,
so he did meet her at theChateau Marmont.
A lot of people, that'ssomething that somebody was,
that happened all the time.

Marissa (06:43):
Yeah, it happened all the time.
Actors met each't all the time,met each other all the time.
There's different at theChateau.

Courtney (06:47):
Yeah, Some people said they met in Italy, but like
they didn't, they met at theChateau Marmont, so that's one
thing that is a fact.
Other occasional neighbors atthe Chateau Marmont while he was
there included Jim Morrison andhis longtime girlfriend Pamela
Corson, and Corson had actuallyonce propositioned Jones for sex
in the hotel's parking garagein retaliation for one of Jim

(07:10):
Morrison's flings, and a lot ofpeople that track.

Marissa (07:15):
Yeah, who corroborated this?
She did.

Courtney (07:19):
She didn't, but it basically like if it didn't
happen, she did stuff like thatall the time because there's a
bunch of stories like her aboutthat whenever.

Marissa (07:31):
Jim Morrison would step out of line.

Courtney (07:33):
She'd be like, well, if you're doing that, then I'm
going to pick someone up in theparking lot if I want exactly so
yeah, and it was the swinging,60 swinging, alright, so yeah so
.
Exactly, so yeah, and it wasthe swinging 60s Swinging,
swinging.
All right, so yeah.
So, fun fact, nothing everhappened at the Chateau between

(07:54):
Jones and Tate, but once theywere both in Rome, san's husband
, which for her was RomanPolanski Jones, claims that she
invited him up to her room,offered him a joint either
marijuana or opium, depending onthe source that you read.

Marissa (08:14):
I'm not going to lie.
I didn't even know you couldmake opium joints.
I didn't know that was a thing.

Courtney (08:20):
Maybe it's not Again.

Marissa (08:24):
I'm going to Google it.
I'm going to Google it.
I'm going to Google it.
Are opium, hey Siri.

Courtney (08:28):
You can smoke opium.

Marissa (08:30):
Are opium joints a thing?

Courtney (08:35):
I found this on the web.

Courtney (08:39):
Oh, she's not going to say it, she's just going to.
Siri, read you lazy bitch sirioh my gosh, either way he's.
What I mean to say is theyeither smoked opium or marijuana
, depending on the source,depending on, honestly, the
interview that jones gave uh,with different people saying

(09:02):
different things.
So, yes, jones claims that sheinvited him up to her room,
offered him a joint eithermarijuana or opium, depending on
the interview he was giving atthe time and what he decided to
say and an affair between thembegan.
But this is not necessarilytrue, as I've said.
For one thing, sharon hadn'tmade it known to anyone, even

(09:23):
her sister, to whom shetypically confided everything.
Also, she was pregnant at thetime, and Polanski and others
have said that as soon as shelearned a baby was on the way,
she wouldn't touch a glass ofwine, let alone casual drugs.
There is apparently one accountby an unnamed source in the
trashy book, the Roman PolanskiStory, that says and I've heard

(09:46):
that it's trashy, I didn't readit, I've heard that it's just a
lot of it's gossipy.

Courtney (09:50):
It's.
You know, it was written after.

Marissa (09:52):
A lot of hearsay.

Courtney (09:52):
Yeah, and it was written after his statutory rape
situation.
So it just was feeding off of alot of buzz Right and stuff and
it's, yes, yes, described asbeing trashy.
So anyway, in that book it saysthat sharon had a retaliatory
affair in italy, but no namesare mentioned and it's a unnamed

(10:13):
source who says that.
Um, but of his alleged timewith her, christopher said I
loved being with her other womenI've been with.

Marissa (10:22):
I couldn't remember if my life depended on it, but she
stuck in my mind.

Courtney (10:28):
Oh okay, memorable, memorable lady I just also want
to say I love that you'resticking with a southern accent
and he does not have one he doesnot have one.
He's like a, a burnt out hippie.

Marissa (10:41):
That's like the mothers are out to get me, man, and
you're like I'm a suave, sexy,southern gentleman, I love it
it's our Christopher Jones yeah,it's who I want him to be he's
like sitting here as a ghostbeing like that's not my fucking
voice.

Courtney (10:57):
I got rid of my southern accent so I could book
more jobs.
Yeah, because I hated my motherlaughing, laughing laughing,
laughing, laughing, laughing,laughing, laughing, laughing.
So, I could book more jobs.
Yeah, because I hated my mother.
All right, oh my God, all right.
In any case, there is one forsure connection between
Christopher and Sharon Jones.

(11:23):
Manager Rudy Altabelli ownedthe infamous property on Cielo
Drive where Tate was murdered.
In fact, he'd been with Joneswhen he was filming Ryan's
daughter and had to fly back toLos Angeles as soon as he
learned of the murders becauseit was his property.
Oh shit, yeah, so that's a realconnection.
Now, it was also during Ryan'sdaughter that Christopher had
been dating Olivia Hussey, andshe was also represented what a

(11:45):
last name.
Yep, what a last name, and shewas also represented by Rudy
Altabelli.
Maybe that's how she andChristopher met, but I'm not
entirely sure.

Marissa (11:57):
Um but, anyway, he was the connective tissue, he was
the connective tissue.

Courtney (12:01):
So, reminder, olivia Hussey was the original Juliet,
so she was, and that movie hadlike just come out.
She was getting nominated forawards for it, so she's kind of
a big deal.

Marissa (12:11):
On the rise.

Courtney (12:12):
Yes, and so he was very young.
She was 18 at the time, so he'sdating her and he was older
than that, I think, like almost30.

Courtney (12:20):
So whatever yeah.

Courtney (12:23):
But anyway.
So he was dating her.
She had wanted to get marriedbut christopher said they should
wait.
It seems that they split up andshe left ireland for los
angeles and moved into the houseon cielo drive after the
murders had happened what I knowit's crazy, it's.

(12:45):
It's just crazy to me thatanyone would be willing to live
there after that.
But according to her, theproperty was, quote the safest
house in Hollywood, becausethere was a button that buzzed
directly to the police and therewere no bad vibes anywhere.
What?
How is that fucking possible?

Marissa (13:05):
no, bad that listen.
That has 18 year old all overit.

Courtney (13:11):
She's like let me just walk inside with some sage and
see if there's any bad vibeshere.
I feel some feelings and alsois this free great?

Marissa (13:21):
no bad bad vibes I don't know why she cared.

Courtney (13:24):
I'm sure she was doing quite well.
It does not make any sense.
That's wild.

Marissa (13:29):
It makes no sense.
That's almost the craziestthing we've heard so far.

Courtney (13:32):
I know it is this whole section is like what the
fuck?
What the fuck?
So like, okay, also there was Idon't think I even included
this because it's so confusingto me.
It like makes no sense.
She was going to go live beforeSharon Tate was murdered.
She was planning on movingthere anyway to help her with

(13:56):
the baby, when she didn't knowher at all and they had only
spoken on the phone.
Just because of the RudyAltabelli connection, which I'm
just like.
It's not like she's an au pair,you know what I mean?
She's a famous actress.
Like like, why the fuck wouldshe help a random person with
her?

Marissa (14:06):
it does again.
18 year old behavior.
That is some 18 year oldbehavior if I ever saw it yeah,
but but then okay.

Courtney (14:15):
So she didn't know sharon tate, but she had spoken
to her on the phone.
She said she was very sweet,whatever, and then it's like
you're going and living in thehouse where it's not like she
didn't know her at all at all.
You know what I mean?
It just makes it it's.
Maybe they had one of thoselike instinct connections and
they were like you and me, yes,but even if they did, I wouldn't
want to stay in the house youwere murdered in well, this was

(14:38):
before she was murdered,courtney well when she said she
was gonna go, but then she didactually go live there.
No, yeah, that's crazy.
Yes, you know what I mean.
It's crazy what the she saidthere weren't any bad vibes
after the murder.
Doubtful, yeah.

Marissa (14:54):
How long did she live there?

Courtney (14:56):
I don't know it's.
There's not an answer for that.
She taught hers is the onememoir I didn't read.
It came out more recently, um,but yeah, so that's from her
memoir though.
Um, she said that she felt allshe felt was sweetness for
sharon and she never felt afraid.

Marissa (15:16):
Yeah, but contrary, a big dis, a bit big deep breath
on that one.

Courtney (15:21):
I, I know, yeah, I.
I just don't know why everyonein this time period was like,
hey, that sounds fucked up,let's do it.
But I know what's going on,sign me up yeah, and and all
everyone her also just bad vibesdetectors.
We're all talking about peoplewho were in christopher's life

(15:42):
and he had a lot of I.
I'm not even trying tocompletely throw him under the
bus, but dude had some bad vibes.
So anyone who's like I didn'tfeel it.
You don't have a good bad vibesdetector.

Marissa (15:52):
Your detector is broken , sweetie.

Courtney (15:54):
Yeah, yeah Again 18.

Marissa (15:55):
Yes, not she hasn't developed her intuition.

Courtney (15:57):
No no, her brains.
What Till 25.
Yeah, she's not done so.
Ok, she's not done cooking.
Nope, nope, nope.
So, contrary to the fact thatshe said she didn't feel any bad
vibes, she was never afraid sheclaims in her memoir, which is
called the Girl on the Balcony,that Cielo Drive yes, of course

(16:18):
she was Juliet.
Because she was Juliet, thetitles of these memoirs, oh my
God, I don't know if I like, Idon't know if that one or
Shelley Roman, numeral 2 isbetter, because I do love that
so much, wow, okay.
So in her memoir, she says thatCielo Drive was also the
location that Christopher getready raped her after their

(16:43):
relationship had come to an end,adding one more tale of horror
to an already horrific place.
Wow, she also says that therape resulted in a pregnancy
that she aborted.
I'm sorry, I know this.
This is a lot.
We're like, just it's a lot ohgod, god, that's awful I know, I

(17:07):
know and again it's okay.
So her book I don't know what'shappened.

Marissa (17:10):
Has this house been torn down?
Is it?
Does it still exist?

Courtney (17:14):
do we know?
I I feel like it probably hasbeen torn down I wonder if she
felt bad vibes after that.
My goodness I'm looking it up.
Okay, they wanted to rid theproperty of the stigma once and
for all.
So, yes, it was torn down I'msure it was okay.
Read the read the whole thingokay 150 cielo drive was torn
down in 1994 and replaced by an18 000 square foot mediterranean

(17:38):
style spec villa bella, the.
I hate that anyway.
The 913 bathroom mega mansionwas weintraub's attempt to rid
the property of stigma once andfor all.
He even changed the address to166 yellow drive for good

(17:59):
measure, so I'm guessingweintraub was the new builder
owner um wow yeah, so it's torndown, rebuilt as something
completely different and given acompletely different address.
Yeah, but why would you alsochange it to one like 166, like
everyone knows?
Like, just get rid of doublesixes if you're trying to like
yeah, triple six is I guess theworst number, but still I would

(18:21):
stay away from the number six.
I would have chosen sevens,because that is a luckier number
and feels more holy, because itrhymes with heaven, and that's
just the way my brain works thisyellow is spanish for sky.

Marissa (18:36):
That's right, exactly it fits.
It fits, you know what?
If only, if only we weremulti-million dollar developers.

Courtney (18:44):
If only, if only we were multimillion dollar
developers.
If only, if only.
I will say that Olivia Hussey'sbook came out after Chris's
death and he is not here todefend himself, but after what
happened with Susan Strasbergand what she had to say in her
book, it isn't all that far itfits a pattern.
It fits a pattern and it's notall that far fetched that
something like this could havehappened.

(19:05):
Yeah, because, especially sincehe really didn't deny- what she
said in her book At all.
Yeah, except that he actuallyweirdly did deny that they did a
lot of drugs, which I feel likeis like the weirdest thing to
deny, because it's like, ofcourse you did a lot of drugs.
Why are you lying about?

Marissa (19:19):
this Right, it was the 60s.

Courtney (19:28):
Maybe he doesn't remember.
Maybe he did so many drugs hedoesn't remember, maybe.
But like that, people are likeI saw you high out of your mind
all the time.
You know what I mean.
Like what are you talking about?
Anyway, in any case, back toRyan's daughter.
Christopher was in Ireland whenhe learned of the Manson
murders and he was devastated bythe news of Sharon's death.
It caused him to check out in amajor way during the filming of
Ryan's Daughter, sarah Mileswho we have discussed, wrote His
co-star.
Yes, his British co-star wroteextensively about her time

(19:52):
working on Ryan's Daughter andshe says that her love scene
with Jones was meant to be theclimax of the movie.

Marissa (19:58):
Yeah, it was yeah, yeah .

Courtney (20:02):
But according to her, it was its biggest disaster.
As I mentioned, the film wasshot in ireland and there were
weather issues that led to adrawn-out production schedule
and a need to transport thebluebells and moss of the wooded
location of their love scene tothe inside of a barn due to
rain.
Um and I have watched the clipof this movie which I can find

(20:26):
for you to watch.

Marissa (20:27):
Yeah, queue it up.

Courtney (20:28):
So the scene from Ryan's Daughter that we're
watching right now, they're, youknow, on horseback Riding
through beautiful bluebells andfields and Christopher looks
very dashing on horseback, Imust say he does and he's very.
His hair is like kind of combedand well kept and he's supposed
to be a British officer, helooks like a gentleman?

(20:49):
Yes, he does, and he's wearinglike a.
How looks can be deceiving.
Yes, yes, yes, oh, what anactor.
He's just playing the part thatisn't his real self Sure is

(21:16):
Okay.
so they put all of thesebeautiful flowers and all this
stuff because they were supposedto have this love scene outside
.
They had to, like, put all ofit in the barn.

Marissa (21:24):
Right, they had to relocate all the foliage.
Yes To film indoors because ofthe weather constraints Right.

Courtney (21:29):
So it's like which is kind of like a precarious
situation If you don't movequickly, everything's going to
die.
And that looked great, you know, Right.

Marissa (21:38):
So so let's fast forward to the sex scene.

Courtney (21:41):
Yes, so, christopher, I think it's just the very end
of this.
This is so long.

Marissa (21:46):
They're literally riding around with silent sexual
tension.

Courtney (21:51):
Yeah that's the whole thing.
And then now the horse isdrinking.
It's very picturesque and verybeautiful, and now he's going to
rip her shirt open.
He's taking off her scarf Herred scarf and she's breathing
heavily.
Taking off her scarf, her redscarf, and she's breathing
heavily.

Marissa (22:05):
Oh, he just flung it away.
He just flung away her scarf.

Courtney (22:08):
Yep.

Marissa (22:09):
Took off her jacket, button, button, button, and then
she's like wait.
Yeah, no, keep going he goesfor her neck and then.

Courtney (22:20):
Oh, titty, a titty, yep, titty out.
So they're making out, they'remaking out they're making out
they're you know, it's actuallynot.

Marissa (22:28):
This is inside, yeah, wow.

Courtney (22:31):
I know it's actually very seamless.
They did a really good job.
I think this is outside.
Right, like they're cuttingbetween things a little bit, but
it's very seamless, and thenthey end up on the ground.
So now they're going to theground and here they're
definitely inside here, so, butit just it cuts away at this

(22:51):
point, but like.
So this part, though, isactually important to note Like
he looks I don't know if youwanted to judge his performance
he's kind of like oh, I'm not,I'm unsure of myself, or like
can I move forward with this?
Or whatever?
He's like a little bit hesitanttentative yeah tentative, but
according to Sarah, that'sbecause he was well.

(23:15):
Well, let me just let's gothrough all of it.
Basically, like this took manydays to do this part, just the
part where they're on their like, move to their knees, move to
the ground.
That was what was filmed in thebarn, and it took multiple days
, because that's whenchristopher decided to get
difficult.
He had just found out aboutsharon's death.
He was completely impossible towork with at this point, so he

(23:39):
totally checked out which is theperfect time to check out is
during an intimacy scene.
My goodness, an intimacy scenewith fragile foliage that could
easily die.
That's been like, like all ofthis time.

Courtney (23:52):
Oh, my God.

Courtney (23:54):
And so he checked out and would not cooperate at all.
He just stood there on setstaring into space pretty much,
and when Davidid lean, thedirector, frustrated, asked him
why he was being so difficult,he, in christopher's own words,
suddenly quote got religious andsaid he didn't work on sundays.
While they were all alreadythere everyone already showed up

(24:15):
, everything was like oh my god,this is days of film too, so
like film is really, oh my gosh,if you work in the industry at
all, you know this was like anightmare set.

Marissa (24:27):
Yeah, like nightmare set.
Nightmare scenario.

Courtney (24:29):
Yeah, it's like too late for him to fire him.

Marissa (24:31):
Yeah, way too late.
They'd have to reshoot theentire movie.
They're a year in at this pointreally, really bad.

Courtney (24:44):
Um, and he continued to be difficult and
uncooperative until sarahcolluded with lean to drug him.
What?
Yes, that's a twist.
Yep, I told you this is gonnaget crazy, it's just really
crazy what the fuck?
They drugged him.
Yes, this is why I just want toexplain.
It took me forever to work onthis episode, because I was like
, oh, he's mentioned in likethese three different memoirs,

(25:04):
that's probably like half a page.
No, all of these crazy storieswere in all of them.

Marissa (25:09):
And I was like, oh well , okay, we're imagine, quote
unquote, having to drug yourco-worker so that they do their
fucking job.
I it's crazy.

Courtney (25:20):
Okay.
So this is in her book.
She talks about it.
She never mentions what drugshe gave him.
I think she just refers to itas a tranquilizer of some kind
Like a Xanax or something.

Marissa (25:28):
Yeah, she doesn't say what it is Like calm the fuck
down.

Courtney (25:31):
I don't think she knew what it was.
It was given to her.
She was like this is all it wasgiven to her to do it because
she's like the nice one you know.

Marissa (25:40):
Oh my gosh, and she was probably like here darling have
a cuppa, yeah, and like it waslaced with some Xanax.

Courtney (25:47):
Well, he let her into his trailer because she knew,
you know, like I said, she wasnice, he was nice back to her,
he was just being difficult, hewasn't like directly shitty to
her, I think she just felt kindof she did talk about feeling
like kind of unwanted and notsexually attractive and whatever

(26:08):
just because it felt likethey're showing up for this sex
scene and he's like no, I don'twant to do it, I can't get in
the mood, even though he didn'tsay that it felt like that to
her, which I can totallyunderstand.

Marissa (26:14):
Um a weird form of rejection it's so weird.

Courtney (26:17):
It's like you're getting paid to be here.

Marissa (26:19):
You're getting paid to be romantic with me and suddenly
you can't work on Sundays andyou don't want to touch me.

Courtney (26:27):
Yeah it feels a lot like I can't.
I can't with this woman, andshe even asks him at some point,
like like, is it me?
And he's like no, like you know, like all, like I'm an angry,
angsty teenager.
No, it's not you.
Angry, angsty teenager.
No, it's not you.
The one thing that she knew,though, was that Christopher was
actually religious about waseating his goddamn cornflakes in

(26:48):
the morning, so she gentlyknocked on his trailer door,
acted as the devoted listener tohis woes, and was able to sneak
an unidentified barbiturator,tranquilizer of some kind into
his sad soggy breakfast and theresult was well, they got him to

(27:09):
do the scene where they slepttogether, but unfortunately, the
result was that christopheractually slept during it.
We didn't get to that part theycut away during this clip that I
found of this scene.
But um, apparently, accordingto her, that's what happened,
and on top of her and she had tosquirm around underneath his

(27:32):
lifeless, knocked out body tocreate the appearance of a
satisfying sex scene and at onepoint.
My god, yeah, at one point,like david lean was like can you
try to do?
and she's like I'm doing thebest I can she literally has
like a you know 200 pound man ontop she's dead of dead weight

(27:53):
she's got bernie from weekend ofbernie's on top of her and
she's like oh, you're such agood lover.

Marissa (28:00):
Wow, what a great lay in this beautiful forest.
Yeah so Well.
Bravo to her for.

Courtney (28:09):
Yeah, doing the most, yeah, and some people like this
movie was generally did not dowell at the time, but some
people since think it's abeautiful movie.
I mean it's beautifully shot.

Marissa (28:19):
I'll say that it's very beautifully shot.

Courtney (28:26):
So it's, and he's a very famous director, it can't
be all bad, but I just think,yes, it was a nightmare set.
It was a nightmare filmingsituation, not just because of
him, but also because of theweather.
I just think it was.

Marissa (28:32):
Everyone was like done after this, yeah, everything was
difficult yes I can't oh my god, I can't get over the fact that
she had to act out a sex scenewith a half asleep, no, a fully
asleep.

Courtney (28:46):
meat popsicle Like what the fuck to it too, like
being like in his interview withpamela debar he talks about
like this situation of himsaying he got religious and
whatever.
So this isn't just her sayingthis, like he.

(29:07):
He didn't say that they druggedhim.
I don't know if he even knowsthat that is in her book only,
but I mean she said she did it,she admitted.
Anyway, this was the last filmchristopher did until he
reappeared once in a random 1996film called Mad Dog Time, which
was direct Yep, which no oneremembers.

Marissa (29:28):
I mean definitely not 1996, mad Dog Time.

Courtney (29:32):
Yeah, and the reason he did it was because it was
directed by his Wild in theStreets castmate, larry Bishop,
who had played a member.

Marissa (29:39):
So what did he do between what?
If, what has he been doing?

Courtney (29:43):
these are the last years the last years seriously
yeah, so that's, that's it whenwas ryan's daughter filmed?
1969 yeah and then he didn'twork again until 1996 yep, yep,
so we know that he did not passaway until 2014.
So what the hell was he doingfrom 1969 to 2014?

Marissa (30:08):
Besides, Mad Dog Time.
Okay, what is Mad Dog Timeabout?

Courtney (30:13):
It's like a spy movie, like a heist spy movie.

Marissa (30:17):
Did he play like a major part or was it like just a
bit?

Courtney (30:21):
I think it was was.
No, I don't think he was.
He was not the lead characterno okay, um okay.
Well, there are no small partsthere.
There are no small parts, um.
So the one thing I can say well, I can say a lot actually, but,
like generally, there seems tobe a combination during these
years of sculpting, painting arevolving door of women,

(30:42):
children, drugs and undiagnosedmental illness that colored his
final three and a half decadesof life.

Marissa (30:48):
So, just as a little just an exhausting 30 years to
the end.

Courtney (30:53):
Yeah, like, or just a muddy, confusing one Truly.

Marissa (30:58):
So he has children.

Courtney (31:00):
Yep, he does Multiple children.
Yep, yep, he sure does.
So we're gonna have fun withthis, um, because we're gonna
actually read part of thisinterview.
I keep referencing, but, um, Ikeep, you know, I keep
mentioning this this interviewwith ex groupie turns journalist
pamela.
She has a book that I haven'tread but I would like like to.

(31:21):
It's called I'm with a band andit's all like kind of how she
started down this road, thislike other version of herself,
after being essentially likePenny Lane.

Courtney (31:30):
Uh-huh Groupie.

Courtney (31:31):
Yes, so now I need to clarify that the interview was
one of, if not the onlyinterview Christopher did after
1969.
And it happened in 1996, 26years later.
So, truly like, everythingabout him up until this point
was absolutely a rumor,absolutely like I think I saw
him in the street, I thinkwhatever, like he was just a

(31:52):
rumor because, people are like Idon't know what's going on.

Marissa (31:55):
A ghost, a specter, yes truly Even alive.

Courtney (31:57):
he was a ghost.

Marissa (31:58):
My goodness.

Courtney (31:59):
So the best part about this interview is that Pamela
is adamant that she sawChristopher with her own eyes,
barefoot, high and quote lookinglike he hadn't bathed in a
month outside the psychedelicconspiracy in 1973.

Marissa (32:15):
What is the psychedelic conspiracy?

Courtney (32:18):
It was a head shop.

Marissa (32:21):
So like a shop.

Courtney (32:22):
Yeah, Like, yeah exactly.

Marissa (32:24):
Sold.

Courtney (32:24):
So OK, bongs and shit.
So was he.
Was he homeless at this point?
Probably, at least partiallylike anyway, yeah, like a little
bit, little bit like transientis what I would say.
So she interrogates him aboutthis in the interview at length,

(32:46):
because she knows what she saw.

Marissa (32:48):
Read this back and forth with me OK, you be Pamela,
I be Chris, obviously.

Courtney (32:52):
Yeah, so I'm Q You're A.

Marissa (32:54):
OK.

Courtney (32:56):
After you disappeared from sight, there were rumors
you'd suffered a breakdown, werebroke, homeless, living on the
street, even working the streets.

Marissa (33:04):
Fuck them.
I don't care.
You really don't care.
I don't.
All I want is a Lotus, aFerrari or a Lamborghini.

Courtney (33:12):
Don't you want to set the record straight?

Marissa (33:14):
Yeah, right, set the record straight For who, for who
?

Courtney (33:19):
Chris, are you going to be candid with me about all
these rumors If you tell me whatyou heard?
Yeah, it's not just what Iheard.
I saw you in 1973 in front ofthe psychedelic conspiracy on
the Sunset Strip and you werehomeless.
You had no shoes.
You were talking to yourself.

Marissa (33:37):
I had no shoes.
That wasn't me.

Courtney (33:40):
I saw you.

Marissa (33:41):
This isn't a rumor, understand, give me a break I
may have fucked around at times,but I was never on the street
with no shoes, never.
That was not me, that was johngott it was you we had met.
Remember I don't know.
I might have been going througha late hippie stage.
It was very brief.

Courtney (34:02):
It looked like you'd been doing it for quite a while.
Were you living out of your car?
I didn't even have a car.
When you decided to drop out,was it a conscious decision?

Marissa (34:14):
All I knew was I was alive and I made myself
unavailable.
I admit.

Courtney (34:21):
I was living like.

Marissa (34:22):
Tarzan a bit why David Lean had tried so hard to turn
me into an English officer,which is the epitome of trained.
So I went the oppositedirection.
I had to go to the totalopposite extreme.
Reverting back to Tarzan becometotally primitive.
Otherwise I'd have been likethe guy I played in the movie If

(34:44):
you had been under David Lean'siron fist for a year.
He drove me crazy, man Tryingto turn me into aristocracy.
Trying to turn me intoaristocracy.
Trying to turn me intoaristocracy, aristocracy I like,
I like that.

Courtney (35:05):
I like this pronunciation with this accent
we're keeping it, we're keepingit.

Marissa (35:10):
We're moving on he shall shock me for that part,
but I don't know that.

Courtney (35:15):
Later back in la I was mumbling and incoherent though
you were, and it looked like youhadn't eaten, slept or bathed
in a long time.
I probably hadn't, and you wereon something.
It may have been acid speed.

Marissa (35:29):
I wasn't high.
I was flipped out on the agonyand the ecstasy.
Let me tell you, if you havetwo managers trying to rob you,
an ex-wife driving you crazy andeverybody's after your fucking
money, I went through a HowardHughes kind of thing.

Courtney (35:45):
You're really telling me you did it on purpose.

Marissa (35:48):
I did do it on purpose.
I wanted to do nothing.
The 1971 death of Jim Morrisonreally fucked me up more than
anything else.
What the fuck.

Courtney (35:57):
I know.

Marissa (35:59):
All these different deaths.
He's like all these people'sdeaths really threw me for a
loop, Okay.

Courtney (36:04):
You and Jim Morrison had similar looks, you'd been
friends.
And then it says, pointing tohis head, we were similar here
and we kept going with the samechicks.
How close were you with him?

Marissa (36:16):
I felt empathy for him and I identified with what he
was saying.
The fact that he died thatyoung really fucked me up.
Anyway, pamela, you must haveseen me on an off day I know

(36:38):
it's so crazy okay, anyway, pam,you must see me on an off day.

Courtney (36:44):
An off day.
You hadn't had a bath for amonth.

Marissa (36:47):
Okay Well okay, maybe I was bumming.
I look like the Curse of Cain,right?
How do you know?
Okay, well, jesus Christ, okay,okay.

(37:11):
Okay, maybe I was bumming.
I looked like the curse of Cain, right?
How do you know?
I'm not the curse of Cain.
I went through my Cain phase, avagabond on earth.

Courtney (37:23):
How long did that period on the street last?

Marissa (37:26):
Not that long A year maybe.
Who knows why we go throughthat shit.
Look at John Drew Barrymore.
He's looking for a place tolive right now.
I had never gone through any ofthat.
I was fascinated by going tothe other side.
I had to.
I didn't mean to do it.
It was something higher than methat made me do it.
I had nothing to do with it.

(37:47):
You think I wanted to do thatlike?

Courtney (37:53):
he's not well no he's not well during this interview
and we're talking about a timeperiod.
This we're talking about likethree years after he filmed
ryan's daughter or whatever,that she saw him and she's
talking about that and he soundsvery unwell then.
But this interview he soundsreally unwell too.
He sounds absolute, like he'sgoing back and forth with
everything it sounds like.

(38:14):
To be honest, I bet he was.
My impression of this, anyway,is that it's somebody recounting
a time period in their lifewhen they were so fucked up on
everything that it's like, well,this happened, but actually it
was like this and whatever, andthey don't even know they don't
know, because they were out oftheir mind, because they were
out of their mind.
That's that's what's going onwith him, in my opinion.

Marissa (38:31):
That's what I'm hearing yeah, um, that's what I'm
hearing, that's what, that'swhat I'm saying.
Yeah, that's what right.

Courtney (38:36):
Christopher right that's why that's what
christopher's saying that's whyI wanted us to read that,
because it's just like I can'tsummarize that at all.
That's just fucking wild um.
So he clearly like doesn'treally want to talk about the
stage in his life.
I mean he's never talked aboutit before.
This is the first interviewhe's done um in like 26 years.
So pamela didn't let him offthe hook, which I love.

(39:00):
I loved that.
She's like nope, I saw you.
And then it's like yes, likeyou said, sharon Tate's death
really messed him up.
But then actually it was reallyJim Morrison, who he didn't
even really know but he had alot of empathy for them for him
because they fucked all the samewomen.
Yeah, what the fuck the mentalillness of it is just it's there
it's clearly clear as day yes,so there were other revelations

(39:23):
worth mentioning in this crazyinterview as well.
For one, christopher hadfathered several other children
after Jennifer, his daughterwith Susan Strasberg, with
various women, literally.
In the interview, pamela askshow many children do you have?
Seven or eight?
How can you not know which itis?

Marissa (39:46):
Well, one woman was pregnant and left town.
I never saw her again.

Courtney (39:50):
You fathered seven or eight children.
By how many different women?
Four or five.

Marissa (40:00):
Like what Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi?

Courtney (40:02):
First of all, first of all, first of all birth control
number one number one birthcontrol but also if you I mean
if you don't know how manychildren you have like it then
probably stop having them yeahokay.

(40:23):
So I will say I thought thatwas so crazy and it is crazy,
but I actually might understandhis confusion.
A little bit earlier in theinterview he mentions his son,
timothy cabot, who had murderedhis mother a b-movie actress
named susan Cabot with a barbellin 1986.

(40:43):
And that's a whole fucked uptangent.
Because I guess Susan wasn'tmentally well and she had been
giving Timothy, who had dwarfism, growth injections derived from
cadavers that would make himgrow, which is like
Frankenenstein level.

Marissa (41:03):
yeah, what the fuck?
That very one could argue thatthat was self-defense it, and
they did I yes.

Courtney (41:10):
So he was ultimately charged with involuntary
manslaughter due to cabot'scompromised mental state and
timothy's allegation that it wasself-defense yeah, absolutely,
um, originally I'm with timmy.

Marissa (41:21):
I'm with timmy on this one.

Courtney (41:23):
Yeah, I'm with timmy, yeah so originally he claimed
that it was an intruder in aninja mask who had killed his
mother, because he didn't wantto say he did.
Obviously, um, and the reasonchristopher thought timothy was
his son was because, basically,like susan had had told him that
it was, he was an Englishofficer and that he died.

(41:43):
And he's like, see man, englishofficer that died Like that's
me, because Ryan's daughterthat's what he thought oh, my
God so it's not even confirmedthat Timothy's his actual son
it's.
he's not his son, because thisis even crazier.

Marissa (41:59):
Oh, my God.

Courtney (42:02):
So, all that aside, it's believed that Timothy's
father was King Hussein ofJordan and not Christopher Jones
, Like, apparently, a DNA testproved that.

Marissa (42:17):
Not an English gentleman at all, then Nope.

Courtney (42:22):
And also like how did he Not an English gentleman at
all then?
No, oh my God.

Marissa (42:25):
And also like how did he with the B-movie actors.
This is why he didn't know howmany kids he had.

Courtney (42:28):
Yep, it is Timothy.
Is the confusion, which is youknow, fair actually?

Marissa (42:34):
Well, okay.

Courtney (42:36):
Jesus, so he had.

Marissa (42:39):
Does he have any kind of relationship with any of his
kids?

Courtney (42:42):
Yeah, he did, OK so, that being said, he had seven
children, that being confirmed.
Let's say he had seven childrentotal four boys Segan Tower,
jeremy and Christopher, andthree daughters, kalen, dellen
and Jennifer.

Marissa (42:59):
His first.

Courtney (43:01):
Yes, jennifer was the first.
So after strasburg he was withpartnered with two other women
during the lost years um which,yeah, lovingly referred to as
the last years so there wascarrie abernathy and paula
mckenna and he had children withthem.
So those are the women.

(43:21):
So he had children with, hesaid, four or five women, but it
seems to be three three okayyeah, unless there's something I
don't know which is very, very,very possible um so the debar
interview speaking, we're backto just the crazy facts that got
revealed in this um.
The DeBar interview alsofeatured Christopher alleging

(43:45):
that his managers were trying tosteal from him and sent him to
a cult-like therapy group wherehe was treated like a sex slave.
It also mentioned thatMontgomery Clift wanted to sleep
with him at one point and heturned him down, and that he was
being considered for alpacino's part in the godfather.
Oh yes, of course, right.

(44:07):
So these are all thingschristopher said, and it's not
possible to back any of them upum, if you can't the fact that
christopher said them it.
Christopher said them.
He said them in this interview.
It is in print like yeah,that's, that's about all I can
really say.
So if if you're listening andyou can tell me more, please by
the way, with any of this,please tell me.

(44:28):
I tried to find everything Icould, and there's.
You know, there's a lot, butthere's also very limited things
, so one wild little bit oftrivia.
That is true, however, is thatQuentin Tarantino had been a fan
of the Looking Glass War andhad tried to get Christopher to
play the part of Zed in PulpFiction.
And if you don't remember whoZed is, he is the guy who rapes

(44:51):
Ving Rhames and then gets hiscomeuppance when Rhames shoots
him in the dick so that he'llslowly bleed out.
Yeah, and Christopher did nottake the part, but Tarantino
remained zed's dead.
I love that imagine if he hadtaken that part I know it's kind

(45:12):
of like and instead he tookthis like just nothing part at
the same year.
That like didn't it was thesame time, I feel like.
Honestly I thought that thepamela debar interview was all I
was going to find about thelost years of christopher jones
because it was his finalinterview.
But then I found thisinteresting book called death
valley superstars, occasionallyfatal, in Film Land, and it had

(45:34):
an entire chapter about Jones.
That started with the author,daryl Haney, attending Jones's
funeral as someone who did notpersonally know him but who had
been interested in writing abouthim when he learned of his
death.
So he was like I want to writeabout this guy.
Oh, he just died.
I'm going to go to his funeralbecause I can.
Right, which was at HollywoodForever Cemetery, of course,

(45:54):
because that's where he's buried.
So this was in 2014.
Haney had already beenresearching Jones by the time he
attended the funeral, and heknew enough to notice that the
attending reverend delivered aeulogy that seemed to have been
quilted together with factsculled from the Internet.

Marissa (46:10):
That's what he said specifically which.

Courtney (46:13):
I don't blame him, because it's hard to find
information about this guy.

Marissa (46:15):
that's real Right.

Courtney (46:17):
And that there were holes in the accuracy of his
words.
But soon Haney was able topiece together Christopher's
final years with a little moreclarity.
He had connected with a womannamed Sherry Dodd who had also
been at the funeral.
He'd heard rumors that she wasJones's manager in his final
years, but that's kind of aloose term because really she

(46:37):
was a longtime friend, slashex-girlfriend, and a very
forgiving one at that.
By her own account, Dodd hadmet Jones on July 4th 1973.
Jones on July 4th 1973.
He was in his self-describedTarzan phase, at this time
wearing worn out shoes, withlong scraggly hair.
But she still recognized himbecause this 1973, it's not that

(47:06):
many years since he was likebig and then get this.
He walked up to her when shewas getting something out of her
car in a dark Hollywood parkinglot and asked for a hairbrush,
because that's not weird at all.
He also told her that his namewas James and asked her to
follow him into an alley, whichshe did oh my God, that's not

(47:27):
smart, sherry.

Marissa (47:28):
Sherry, come on.
My God, that's not smart,sherry.
Sherry, come on, sherry.

Courtney (47:31):
And then he grabbed her and she pulled away, saying
she needed to meet with friends.
She's just casually like, oh,you just grabbed me in a dark
alley.
You know what I need?
To meet with some friends Likethis story.
He asked where she lived andshe actually told him that
information, which is entirelyinsane, sherry, sherry.
And then he said maybe I'll seeyou, because that's what you say

(47:53):
after assaulting a stranger.
What the fuck?
So weeks later, no, a metal toycame flying through sherry's
window and when she looked outthe window she saw christopher
jones looking up at her.
He still was saying his namewas james, and sherry thinks

(48:14):
that the constant comparisonsand his own obsession with james
dean had become part of hisquote madness and I would agree
with that she's still likecoming to my house.
I can't um sherry where?

Marissa (48:27):
where are your survival instincts, sherry?

Courtney (48:29):
she does not have them .

Marissa (48:30):
You're not an 18-year-old.

Courtney (48:32):
No, this is like a woman.
She's a grown-ass woman.
This is a fully formed woman.

Marissa (48:37):
Oh my God.

Courtney (48:38):
But eventually he did admit his real identity, but not
until he'd been living withSherry for a few weeks, I don't
know how, what.

Marissa (48:45):
She just let him live, yeah.

Courtney (48:47):
Yeah, yeah.

Marissa (48:48):
She just took him in, took him in and I think I think
like they don't.

Courtney (48:54):
She didn't say she's.
They had a relationship.
Yeah, they did.

Marissa (49:00):
You know he was a homosexual, that's good, I liked
that.

Courtney (49:06):
Thank you.

Marissa (49:14):
By her own account, he was lucid some days and other
days he'd awaken her by grabbingher face and threatening to tie
her up.
Oh my God, Sherry.

Courtney (49:18):
He also would do naked swims in the koi pool of a
local Japanese restaurant afterhours.
And walk home naked.
Ever forgiving and naive sherrydid kick him out when things

(49:39):
got especially bad.
The catalyst was when he brokeher tv after watching the
looking glass war on it andsaying that he, quote, didn't
like the way it was cut, so hebroke a tv that wasn't.
Oh my oh, sherry threw a tantrum, yep he's like didn't make me
look good, my jawline looksbetter from the other side.

(50:01):
Yeah, so sherry made him leaveand subletted the apartment for
a couple months.
She was like I'm out of here,you're out of here, you can't
you know yep, this space has badvibes.

Marissa (50:10):
I gotta go.

Courtney (50:11):
Yep, yep, you are bad vibes, sir.
I will say it because nobodyelse will.
But when she was living thereagain after that couple months
had passed, he snuck up on herfrom behind, covered her mouth,
dragged her inside and pushedher onto the bed.

Marissa (50:32):
She broke free and ran outside where a neighbor
intervened and scared chris off.

Courtney (50:33):
Oh my gosh, she was estranged from him for years, uh
, namely the years in which hefathered six other children
besides jennifer and wentthrough at least two serious
relationships with carrieabernathy and paula mckenna,
which we've just discussed.
So, so she was estranged fromhim until she caught up with him
after learning of hiswhereabouts in a tabloid called

(50:56):
the hollywood star okay you see,jones lived in an apartment
building run by bill dakota, thepublisher of the hollywood star
.
Dakota was infatuated with withJones and regularly featured
tidbits about him during thetime he was his tenant in the
Hollywood star, and apparentlyhe featured such large tidbits

(51:19):
that people knew exactly wherehe lived, because that's how
Sherry found Wow.

Marissa (51:22):
Yep.

Courtney (51:24):
And at the time Sherry reconnected with Jones, she
said that he was doing muchbetter.
But Dakota eventually had toevict Jones for not paying his
rent, you know sure, and alsofilling with like what was he?
What was he doing to make anymoney?
What was he doing?
How was he?

Marissa (51:42):
surviving.
Like what was he working?

Courtney (51:44):
All I'm hearing is like sculpting and painting and
wandering the streets and like Ijust feel like he was, like you
said, a hobosexual.
I just I think that's accuratehe was like shacking up with
different women and like he waskind of using he used women a
lot right, so that he was justlike a leech a little bit during
, a lot, a lot bit during thistime professional homosexual.

(52:06):
Yes, so, um, so yeah, dakota hadto evict him for not paying his
rent, which makes sense.
But also another reason he, youknow, evicted him was because
he had filled the apartment withwild snakes and birds that he
had captured and, quote, freedin his living space, apparently
there was bird shit all over thewalls and a snake had slithered

(52:28):
down Jones bath drain and woundup in another apartment.
And like he even mentions theguy that wrote this, daryl Haney
.
Like he even mentions that,like this guy is tabloid, you
know, dude, like should I evenfind him credible, but he was
like, nevertheless I did findhim credible, like, so I don't
know if he questions that as him, as a source, you know, but

(52:51):
like I don't know the guy,really he liked, he liked him a
lot.
I think even if he wasn'tpaying his rent he probably
would have found a way to lethim stay.

Marissa (52:58):
But it's like you're if only for the story he was
paying.
He was paying him in stories.
It's true.
Tabloid Right.

Courtney (53:04):
And, but then it's like a snake is crawling up from
your drain.

Marissa (53:07):
You know you gotta go.
It's affecting the othertenants.
Yeah, that was crossing theline.

Courtney (53:13):
Yeah, and again the mental illness of it all the
mental yeah.
So sometime after this,christopher suffered an
abdominal hemorrhage for unknowncauses, though many suspect
drugs and that nearly killed him.
In fact, he was declared deadin the ambulance on the way to
cedar sinai.
He recovered in a hollywoodrehabilitation facility called

(53:35):
briar oak, which was on sunset,and at this point sherry
reconnected with him once againand she said that he was doing
much better and that all the badvibes were gone.
We got to call this episode badvibes Bad vibes Part two bad
vibes Yep, yep, yep, but they'regone.

(53:56):
The hemorrhage had left him.

Marissa (53:57):
Finally, the bad vibes are finally gone.

Courtney (54:00):
Yep, that's what it took a near-death experience.
But they're gone and rehab, yep.
The hemorrhage left him with apermanent feeding tube for the
rest of his days and Sherrystepped in to help him find
doctors for corrective surgeriesand deal with E True
Hollywood's story, who werebadgering him about doing

(54:21):
interviews for an episode abouthim that he did not want to be a
part of.
I tried to find this episode.
I couldn't.
I know that it was made, but Icouldn't find it.

Marissa (54:28):
Hmm, but it was made, but I couldn't find it, hmm.
So, but it was made without hiscooperation.

Courtney (54:34):
He just didn't want to be interviewed for it you know.

Marissa (54:37):
So he didn't cooperate for it, right?

Courtney (54:39):
But I think he did ask her to kind of like speak a
little bit on his behalf, and Ithink that's like where she said
she was his manager andwhatever, just so that she could
like, so she could speak forhim yes, yeah, so she even let
christopher live with her againsome 17 or 18 sherry.
This is some 17 or 18 yearsafter the first time she made
that mistake, and I meancompassion is one thing, but

(55:02):
truly prioritize your safety.
Woman like literally my goodness, during time, his kids were
coming by regularly and thingsgot a bit crowded, so he
eventually lived with his ex,paula McKenna, in Seal Beach.
However, he and Sherry remainedfriends and continued to stay
in touch on the phone for years.
One day he said he wasn'tfeeling well, and he soon found

(55:26):
out he had gallbladder cancer,and it wasn't long until it
claimed his life in 2014 at theage of 72.

Marissa (55:34):
Now, that's a pretty dang long life.

Courtney (55:38):
Yeah, it is for having gone through such a long Tarzan
.
That's yeah, that's a long lifefor having had such a long ass

(55:59):
tarzan phase, for sure.
Yeah, now I want to lay chrisjones to rest by circling back
to his funeral.
Yes, according to daryl haney,the reverend was wrong about
some things, but his eulogy alsomentioned chris's softer side.
For instance, christopher wasfascinated by historical
mysteries and the unknown hecollected ancient much like you,
courtney.

Marissa (56:18):
Yes, we share something in common.

Courtney (56:21):
What kindred spirits he collected ancient coins and
statues of ancient deities.
Those are not things that I do,but good for you.
He read philosophy and poetry,enjoyed watching the History
Channel, hiked in Griffith Parkand loved his children.

Marissa (56:38):
Hiked in Griffith Park.
He probably lived there for alittle bit.

Courtney (56:42):
Right, yeah, probably saw some shit go down that night
and he loved his children allseven or eight of them, I
suppose at night, and he lovedhis children all seven or eight
of them, I suppose.
But he had wanted to be a goodfamily man at this point in his
life and have largely devotedhis attentions to painting and
sculpting, as well as his kids,and I think that's how his
family would like to rememberhim.
Many of his children andex-wives or girlfriends were in

(57:05):
attendance, and losing a fathercarries unique heaviness for
anyone, and though I don't havepersonal accounts of their
relationships with Chris, I'msure the event of his death was
significant for them in some way.
Right, so yeah, so maybe Chriswas right.
That some things are betterleft unsaid, but his story was a
hell of a ride regardless.

Marissa (57:26):
A Ferrari ride.

Courtney (57:27):
Hell yeah and so, oh, I struggled with this.
If you want to pay yourrespects to Christopher, what
offering do you give to this man?
It's tough.
Um what?
What would you say?

Marissa (57:40):
I have my.
I would do uh a little HotWheels, ferrari.

Courtney (57:45):
That's what I said, hell yeah, I said a Lamborghini,
a Lotus or a Ferrari.
Yeah, like Like a little one,because he said in his interview
that that's all he ever wantedat one point.
Yeah, and I would also saymaybe, like I don't know, you
could also maybe burn some sage,make sure there's no bad vibes.
No bad vibes, no bad vibes andalso, just you know, in general,

(58:16):
get rid of all those demonsthat followed him and many of
those closest to him throughouthis life.
He's located in the hollycathedral mausoleum extension
outside it's the outsidemausoleum, like by the water,
and he's very close to the baron.
So if you're you're visitingthe baron, you can say hi to
christopher jones as well.
We'll link to his find a gravein our show notes so you can
find that out and, yeah, I guessthat's where we'll leave it.
Thank you, christopher Jones,for at the very least being

(58:38):
interesting.
Wow, that's, that's everything.
That's everything I could find.
I would love to know yourtakeaways from this, like what
you expected going in and whereyou're at now.
Like what are your feelings?
It's a lot, it's a lot.

Marissa (58:57):
Well, I had zero expectations going in, as I
always do, right Honestly, I wasexpecting him to get into legal
trouble.
I was expecting him to get intolegal trouble, but I didn't.
I most definitely did notexpect him to just like
disappear, you know, atbasically the height of his

(59:21):
career, just completely like.

Courtney (59:23):
And then blame, like Sharon Tate and Jim Morrison's
deaths, like as the thing thatmessed him up the catalyst for I
mean, but it's like somethingclearly messed him up, like
that's the part to me that's themost credible part of him
having had a relationship withSharon Tate if he had one is
like something was significantenough to rattle him.

Marissa (59:45):
You know, and I mean obviously the Manson murders
rattled a lot of people in LA ornot Like a lot of times a death
can bring on an episode.
So that, whether the death islike he, perceived it as

(01:00:24):
something very personal.

Courtney (01:00:26):
Yeah, and it was, he had at least a connection to her
too.
Yeah, like it was very real.
His manager was like I've gotto go deal with this.
Yeah, and it was, he had atleast a connection to her too.
Yeah, like it was very real.
His manager was like I've gotto go deal with this.

Marissa (01:00:33):
Right Honestly surprised that he lived for as
long as he did.

Courtney (01:00:38):
That's what I think, too, yeah.

Marissa (01:00:39):
Yeah, I'm very surprised that he lived until he
was 72.
I was not expecting that at all.
I was expecting, I mean,perhaps he just couldn't afford
a ferrari, so he couldn't go outthat way at that point, yeah,
at that point.

Courtney (01:00:57):
So I, but I was fully expecting him to go out in a
blaze of glory, I know Iactually, and I really do think
that he probably would havepreferred that actually, you
know, to cancer well, not evenjust to cancer, but to like to
anything, to all of those yearsof just such, like, like, such.

(01:01:19):
They're truly lost yearsthey're just like so confusing
he hardly remembers them welllike they're.
It's he was.
He was already like.
Like jesse said, from thebeginning he was living like a
ghost.

Courtney (01:01:31):
Yeah, he was living like a ghost.

Courtney (01:01:33):
So he was.
He was a ghost long before hedied, I think.
And it, yeah, like I just Idon't know it's I feel, I feel
for him on that level.
It's because I feel for him onthe mental illness level and on
the just you know that I justdon't think that's any way to
live.
I mean, yes, like you said,cancer is a terrible way to go,

(01:01:53):
but at the same time so is justlike slowly disappearing.
It's actually like more painful.

Marissa (01:02:01):
That's like terrifying.
Yeah, yeah, that's a terrifyinglife.

Courtney (01:02:07):
So it's like but a lot of people I I don't know.
I mean, I think he, he clearlymade his mark.
He's like he had a momentquentin tarantino wanted to cast
him.

Marissa (01:02:19):
Yeah, offered him yeah, as like honestly and and and.

Courtney (01:02:25):
like I said, I have some empathy for him obviously,
but like also he kind ofdeserved to be shot in the dick,
so it would have been kind ofcathartic to see him in that
role.

Marissa (01:02:34):
I kind of wish I would have been able to see that.

Courtney (01:02:37):
Yeah, and rewatched it now after doing this whole
thing.

Marissa (01:02:42):
But imagine him having.
He would have been soinsufferable.

Courtney (01:02:45):
Mm-hmm.

Marissa (01:02:46):
I feel like he would have been so insufferable if he
had done that role.
Yeah, I mean it's what a andyou know what I think about.
I think I'm thinking of hislife, and all I can think of is
what a shame.

Courtney (01:03:00):
Yeah.

Marissa (01:03:01):
What a, what a goddamn shame.

Courtney (01:03:03):
Yeah.

Courtney (01:03:04):
Like it for a lot of different reasons.

Courtney (01:03:07):
Yeah.

Courtney (01:03:07):
But it's like I picture, you know, it's like
it's that thing where you'rewalking down the street and you
see, you see somebody who'sschizophrenic or something.
I think he was.
But, you know what I mean.
I'm just thinking about that,like where you're like, oh God,
I wonder like how you know?
It's like how do I help thisperson?

Courtney (01:03:24):
How does how it's your story.
How did you get here?
How did?

Courtney (01:03:27):
you get here Exactly and I feel like he was that
person in some way for a lot ofpeople for a long time who
probably never even knew he wasfamous.
I mean, you got to think by thetime the 80s happened, at least
.
It's like, if he's wanderingaround like that, like there's
plenty of people who are likethat's just a crazy guy yeah.

(01:03:50):
They don't know tarzan ofgriffith park, exactly like.
So it's just, it's bizarre andit makes me wonder about some of
the people that you see, youknow on a daily basis here and
what's what's really, what thereal story is, you know if they
too turned down a role fromtarantino and decided to turn
their back in the height of fameon their you know entire career

(01:04:12):
.
I don't know it's, it's wild, sowild.
Thank you all for hanging inwith this one.
Um, again, I can't remind youenough there are good dead
people and there are not so gooddead people, and and we're
gonna, we're not gonna just dogood dead people, because no, we
get to do complicated storiestoo that's right.

(01:04:33):
That's right.

Marissa (01:04:34):
Dead people are complicated too people are
complicated, uh, so yes, thankyou so much for for listening
and hanging with us, and visitthe show notes for any more
information on where to findChristopher.

Courtney (01:04:49):
Great.

Courtney (01:04:49):
May you rest in peace.
That's right.
May you rest in peace and mayall the bad vibes drift away.
If we've piqued your curiosity,please subscribe on Substack at
deadandkindoffamoussubstackcom.
We list each episode there,along with photos, newsletters,
sources and more.

Marissa (01:05:09):
You can also find us wherever you get your podcasts
dead and kind of famous iswritten, researched and produced
by Courtney Blomquist.
It is co-hosted by MarissaRivera.
We tag team on socials.
Jesse Russell and CourtneyBlomquist do our editing until
next time.

Courtney (01:05:23):
You might not be famous, but you got a story to
tell and you're not dead yet.