Could The Doors star Jim Morrison be alive and well – and working as a maintenance man in Syracuse, New York?
This is the startling proposition of a new three-part documentary, Before The End, a labour of love for Doors superfan Jeff Finn, which has started streaming on Apple TV+.
Morrison died unexpectedly in Paris in 1971, aged just 27. No autopsy was done and there was confusion when his girlfriend, Pamela Courson, initially denied he had died – then changed her mind and said she had found him dead in the bath of their rented apartment.
He was buried in the city’s Pere Lachaise cemetery (where Oscar Wilde, Frederic Chopin and Edith Piaf are also interred).
There have long been conspiracy theories. One claimed that Morrison was killed by a heroin overdose at a nearby nightclub and carried back to his flat. The late Marianne Faithfull (who knew his drug dealer) also believed heroin was involved.
An official document lists the cause of death as congestive heart failure – but the doctor who signed it has never been traced.
Meanwhile Ray Manzarek, the keyboard player in The Doors, thinks his friend faked his death. It’s a theory writer and director Finn grasps with both hands.
He starts with a picture of ‘Frank X’ on Facebook, which shows Frank the maintenance man with his Facebook friend John Densmore – The Doors’ drummer — back in 2013.
Morrison died unexpectedly in Paris in 1971, aged just 27. No autopsy was done and there was confusion when his girlfriend, Pamela Courson, pictured, initially denied he had died — then changed her mind and said she had found him dead in the bath of their rented apartment
This is the startling proposition of a new three-part documentary, Before The End, a labour of love for Doors superfan Jeff Finn, which has started streaming on Apple TV+
When he shows a picture of the man to three of Morrison’s exes, two burst into tears and are convinced it’s the singer.
‘Frank’ is interviewed by Finn and says a number of things which, as Finn puts it, have his ‘inner Sherlock fer-eaking out’.
For instance, Frank professes a great love of the poet Baudelaire – perhaps unusual in a maintenance man – which he shares with Morrison.
Then there’s a tiny scar by his nose… just where Morrison had a mole. As for his brown eyes (Morrison’s were blue), on closer inspection they appear to be ringed with blue, as if he was wearing contact lenses.
Asked if Morrison might have faked his death, Frank says: ‘I have no idea. You know if anybody could have pulled it off, it would be him.’
Asked directly: ‘Are you Jim Morrison?’ he replies: ‘I’m not Jim… except I love the song by Jimmy Cliff: ‘We all are one, we are the same person.’ That’s one way to look at it.’
Friends of Morrison lend credence to the theory that — fearing being sent to prison after being convicted of indecent exposure the previous year, and disillusioned by fame (by the time he went to Paris, he’d been kicked out of The Doors) — Morrison found a way to vanish, with the help of his girlfriend Courson.
There was much talk among his numerous exes of ‘a secret about the death’. One, Ellen Sander, says on camera: ‘Yes, I know that secret and you are not going to get it out of me.’
He was buried in the city’s Pere Lachaise cemetery (where Oscar Wilde, Frederic Chopin and Edith Piaf are also interred)
Another, Sally Stevenson, says she spoke to him about the plot of a book she was writing about a rock star who hated his life and decided to fake an on-stage electrocution and disappear. ‘He whispers in my ear: ‘If you don’t finish the book, I might steal your ending.’
Finn interviews the singer’s former assistant Robyn Wurtele, who was with Morrison and Courson in Paris, and she says: ‘You are close now, Jeff.’
She gives him some old slides, showing herself and Courson in Sausalito, California, around a year after Morrison’s death.
In one frame, two figures can be seen, reflected in her glasses. One is Courson — but who is the tall man next to her? Could it be Morrison?
A private investigator tells Finn that Morrison’s social security profile is – bafflingly – active and traces it to the New York area.
The show is not endorsed or authorised by the singer’s estate or record company.
Frank Skinner is 68 and happy to poke fun at his advanced age. Warming up the audience before recording his new Radio 4 show, One Person Found This Helpful, he said: ‘I am Frank Skinner. You might have done me in History.’
Matthew Rhys plays Inspector Leach in the three-part adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero, which screens from Sunday night on BBC One.
During the drama he has to play tennis against actor Oliver Jackson-Cohen, who is playing retired Wimbledon champion Nevile Strange.
Matthew Rhys plays Inspector Leach in the three-part adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero, which screens from Sunday night on BBC One
During the drama he has to play tennis against actor Oliver Jackson-Cohen, who is playing retired Wimbledon champion Nevile Strange
Rhys said: ‘They’ve chosen two actors who have never played tennis. ‘We had this wonderful South African coach called Francoise who looked on with abject horror at our first lesson. And at one point he said: ‘You know what, you two are so bad that you’re on exactly the same level — and maybe people will think that’s just how they played tennis in 1936.”
More bad news for ‘fans’ of Russell Brand. Two weeks after I revealed that he has closed his charity, the Stay Free Foundation, it appears that his Stay Free media company is shutting, too.
HMRC has filed a notice for ‘compulsory strike off’ against Stay Free Media Ltd, the broadcasting company based in a pub in Henley-on-Thames.
Brand moved to Florida last autumn with wife Laura and their three children. The comedian, who was interviewed by police over allegations of rape and sexual abuse — which he denies — is still selling Stay Free T-shirts, hoodies and coffee cups on his website.
Millie as Pammy… stranger things indeed!
Millie Bobby Brown was famous for her buzz-cut when she played Eleven in Stranger Things
Millie Bobby Brown was famous for her buzz-cut when she played Eleven in Stranger Things. But on the promotion trail for her new film, The Electric State, she confessed that she was hoping to emulate a different icon altogether: Baywatch-era Pamela Anderson.
The actress, who has just turned 21, rocked up with bleached blonde hair secured in a messy topknot, a heavy fringe, thin brows and overlined lips. ‘With this look I was going for Pamela Anderson,’ she said.
Brown was wearing a striking gown from tiny label Annie’s Ibiza, with the Celestius gown (£7,950) and bolero (£1,250) both a part of the AW 2023 collection, which was shown at London Fashion Week in that year.
The Electric State is an adaptation of a popular illustrated novel. Brown stars as a teenager trying to find her missing brother, with help from a robot he’s sent to her.
It’s been made by the Russo brothers, with a terrifyingly large $320 million budget, and will stream on Netflix from March 14.
MasterChef with Gregg is put on the back burner
Masterchef is on ice. The veteran amateur cookery competition has been in crisis since allegations against co-presenter Gregg Wallace surfaced last year.
One-time grocer Wallace, 60, stepped away from the show in the wake of a number of allegations that he had indulged in sexist banter and harassed contestants. He denies any wrongdoing.
When the scandal broke in November, a series of amateur MasterChef was all but complete. Chef Anna Haugh stepped in for the last few filming days alongside John Torode.
That show has now been edited and is ready for broadcast on BBC One. It usually goes out between February and April, but has yet to be scheduled for release.
Sources say the BBC feel they have no option but to wait for the outcome of an inquiry into what went on, which is being conducted by lawyers at the firm Lewis Silkin.
They did not want to scrap the show, as it would have punished those who took part.
It was not possible to edit out Wallace’s contributions, as he tastes the dishes alongside Torode and also chats to contestants.
Lawyers are still interviewing everyone from former contestants to the crew — and of course Wallace himself. Word is that he has yet to give his account.
Then they will report to production company Banijay and the Beeb, with the findings expected to be made public. The Corporation will then decide if it can be shown.
A planned celebrity Christmas MasterChef was scrapped.
In January this year, food critic Grace Dent started filming Celebrity MasterChef alongside Torode. It’s not clear whether she will end up being a permanent replacement for Wallace, and indeed whether Torode will continue in his role.
In all, 13 individuals said that Wallace had made inappropriate sexual comments. Wallace said through lawyers that he has never engaged in sexual harassment. In an Instagram video he said there were ’13 complaints’ from ‘over 4,000 contestants’ he had worked with in 20 years on the BBC show.
He went on to say the allegations came from ‘a handful of middle-class women of a certain age’. He later apologised for those remarks.
Brooklyn’s cooking is pasta joke now
Brooklyn Beckham, spotted out and about this week in head-to-toe Burberry for a Fashion Week party, seems to love to take a bold swing.
His latest cookery video, in which he prepares ‘Truffle Alfredo’, has attracted torrents of snark, which is not surprising as he proudly shows himself making the dish using sauce… from a jar.
‘After this video, a lot of Italian grandmas have passed away!’ exclaims one unimpressed viewer. Another adds: ‘Bro just filmed himself heating up a meal!’
Brooklyn starts by boiling a pack of pasta, which he adds to a frying pan, along with the contents of a jar of sauce. He then, inexplicably, decants a tiny portion into what seems to be a coffee cup.
Brooklyn Beckham, spotted out and about this week in head-to-toe Burberry for a Fashion Week party, seems to love to take a bold swing
Over this small target he attempts to grate a very large (and very expensive) piece of black truffle. Predictably, much of it falls onto his kitchen counter.
One viewer comments: ‘This is satire.’ Another awards him 10/10 for his ‘jar opening skills’. Yet another wonders: ‘Why did he put it in an egg cup and then grate £3k worth of truffle onto the worktop?’
One wag asks for the recipe for ‘this incredible meal’.
The oldest Beckham child has been putting out cookery videos since 2022.
Despite attempting to rub butter onto a cold omelette and using a blowtorch on a cheese toastie, he has picked up endorsement deals and now has his own ‘Cloud 23’ range of hot sauces.
Experts are describing the Oscars race as ‘wild’ — by which they mean there is no clear favourite in most categories ahead of the ceremony on Sunday.
Some believe that Demi Moore, who seemed a sure thing as Best Actress for The Substance a month ago, may now lose out to Anora’s Mikey Madison.
Anora seems to be the one to beat for Best Picture, though Conclave — starring Ralph Fiennes as a Cardinal — is having a last-minute surge, apparently appealing more to Oscar voters than The Brutalist.
It’s very much a story of Davids and Goliaths, in terms of budgets, with Anora and The Brutalist both costing under $10 million to make, and Conclave double that. Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown had a budget of $70 million.
Emilia Perez will probably be shut out of everything, apart from the supporting actress race, following the fallout from historic tweets by lead actress Karla Sofia Gascon. She and Netflix have made up after a crisis, and she will now attend the ceremony, although it’s still not clear if she will do the red carpet.