Lauren Bacall: Tom Cruise Is A "Maniac"

Lauren Bacall slams Tom Cruise in the new issue of Elle. In a profile of Nicole Kidman, which was excerpted earlier this week, the legendary actress calls Cruise a maniac:

Seeing Cruise move on was tough, however: Her pal Lauren Bacall says that Kidman was "unhappy" on the set of 2003's Dogville. "Tom had taken off for Penelope Cruz or some goddamn thing -- one of his more ridiculous moves," Bacall says. Taking a slight jab at the actor, she tells Elle, "Tom Cruise is a maniac. I can't understand the way he conducts his life."

In 2005, she told Time his "whole behavior is so shocking . . . inappropriate and vulgar."

Comments

[MasterChief]

Lauren is saying what I've been saying for years. Tom Crazy Cruise is a maniac and he goes well with scientology. I'm still miffed that Will Smith was able to be brain washed but Cruise jumped the space ship willingly on this one.
Lauren may be hard hitting and blunt but I prefer that over anything Cruise has to say.

[obamadeus]

I don't think Tom Cruise is the best actor, but he's not a bad guy. Nobody's claiming that his marriage to Nicole broke up because anyone was cheating. Just last week, he helped up a papparazzo who had fallen down while following him. Two years ago, he stopped when he saw an accident and stayed with the victims until the ambulance arrived. Ten years ago, he chased down a guy who mugged a random woman in London and got her stuff back for her! I think this shows good character where it counts. To me, these things are more important than a mutually agreeable divorce or acting ability.

[cmp]

I love Lauren Bacall, but doesn't she remember her past life and that passion she had for someone who belonged to another ?

[dct1999]

Humphrey Bogart was married and in his 40s when he started dating Bacall. I wonder if the first Mrs. Bogart was sad when her husband left her. WTF is wrong with people who insist on throwing stones inside their glass houses?

[rch427]

I don't know, but I'll bet Bogie would've given Tom Cruise a MUCH more colorful earful about Scientology than Mrs. Bacall did.

[billbb]

Yeah, she might have missed him, but only because her aim was lousy.

That would have been Mayo Methot, who Bogart divorced in 1945 after she stabbed him in the back with a steak knife. Not like she had him confused with the filet minon; she had also used a gun to threaten Bogart and their dinner guests, including actress Glora Stuart.

You can go all noble on us, dct, but the moral facts are that the Mrs. Bogart that preceded Bacall was a violent drunk, who died alone in a chap hotel in Oregon in 1951 because everyone their was afraid to knock on her door. A reputation for shooting wildly while plowed is kind of off-putting.

Whatever you might say about Bacall, all reports are that se and Bogart were a swell couple, and about as happy a break as Bogart ever got.

[coffee36]

I think scientology is far fetched and strange, but I'm still not sure why it's considered politically correct to bash it. Technically it's his religion, and I'm pretty sure in this country we decided it's not cool to bash other people's religious beliefs. If he was Christian or Jewish or some other religion, people would not be so outspoken about it. Just because he thinks he's K-Pax or ET, or whatever else it is, doesn't mean we should go around calling him a maniac based on that alone. At least he tries to help people. He said his religion requires that. So while he may think he's the great gazoo, at least he's doing a few good deeds along the way.

[DBtv]

It is not a religion, it is a cynical con job.

[anon905]

I agree. All religions have some bizarre, cult-like elements, so why is it acceptable to bash one and not another? And, no, I'm not a Scientologist. As for Bacall, she may be a legendary actress but Bogart dumped his first wife for her when she was only 20 years old and he was 45 years old. Sort of hypocritical to judge Cruise for running off with Penelope Cruz, even though I think Kidman and Cruise divorced at that point.

[rch427]

"I think scientology is far fetched and strange, but I'm still not sure why it's considered politically correct to bash it. Technically it's his religion, and I'm pretty sure in this country we decided it's not cool to bash other people's religious beliefs."

Not any more, thankfully. Every American is entitled to believe whatever nonsense they want, but other Americans are still free to call it out as nonsense. If someone expresses their religious beliefs, they should be fair game for anyone else who thinks they're idiotic, especially if that belief system poses a threat to civil liberties and even the survival of our planet the way that Scientology and Yahwehism (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) do.

[Jo Manning]

Read the excellent Andrew Morton biography of Tom Cruise: Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography, for some fascinating insight's into this actor's life and character.

[ignorantwillyharper]

He's really not that great of actor, but I do admire that flying saucer he gets around in.

[playsindirt]

She's what they used to call "a right broad." Love her.

[piul05]

Why is it that people have always to feel sorry for people who've been left by the spouses (like Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Aniston) ,and that feeling is always accompanied by canonization of the dumped one, plus disdain and character assassination of the "perpetrator"? All of a sudden, these ladies have done/can't do no wrong and their ex-husbands are subjected to all sort of insults.

People fall out of love all the time; it's unfortunate but it's a fact of life. Family, friends and fans should snap out of it and move on.

[DeniseD]

The man is a serious freak.

[mamacat]

Both of the actresses mentioned were in marriages. While it is one thing for a marriage to break up amicably, when the marriage dissolves because one of the partners wants to fool around outside of the marriage, that does say something about that individual.

As for Tom Cruise, he is a funny sort. On screen he can be very entertaining. Off screen he tends to act irrationally. Very strange behaviour.

[piul05]

Marriages that break up amicably (if by that you mean both parts, simultaneously, want out) are a rarity; people may keep their relationship on good terms for many reasons - such as not to further upset their children - but the reality is that it's usually one side wants who calls it a day.

It may be for different reasons; because they don't love/feel sexually attracted to their partner anymore - the hardest thing to accept but what is the alternative? Keep up a facade, like in the good old days, a resign to a life of understated resentment, indifference and the occasional fling?

Because people want something different from the relationship - whether it's children, or a change in lifestyle.

Because people change over the years and that change not always converge.

Not long ago, there's an article about many Italians going to see a shrink because they wanted to feel about their partners as they did when they got married; divorce is a upheaval for everyone concerned - children, extended family, friends - and for people's finances as well. It's not something people do on a whim and most sorely wish things were different.

Tom Cruise was married to Nicole Kidman for a good many years - hardly Henry VIII; he stopped loving her and wanted to love someone again. I don't see any reason here for him to be crucified.

[elr50]

I haven't seen a decent Tom Cruise movie since Top Gun. The man has lost his talent, or it was leeched out of him by his Scientolist leanings, or he never had much to start with. I will NEVER go see another of his movies. He isn't even ATTRACTIVE to me anymore, and with the cost of movies today, he just isn't worth it.

[Skylarstar]

Lauren Bacall is one classy lady with the guts to speak her mind. I never liked Tom Cruise. Now I know why.

[pbley68]

Typical Hollywood bitchiness.

[SHOPARAZZI]

who gives a flying fig if he believes in scientology or left his wife to jump from woman to woman before he settled down. those are private matters and everybody, including me and yes even a superstar like tom cruise can chart his or her own path thru life's journey. the man is talented and has contributed to the causes he believes in and was fortunate to act in movies we've enjoyed watching over the years. what else matters? let the man live his life just like u want to live urs - in peace!

[callmeacynic]

I like the guy.

[marignymitch]

Glad to know that Lauren's still got it.