The Importance of Being Eddie

In his memoir, Eddie Fisher raises Cain on memory lane

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In the 50s, singer Eddie Fisher made headlines with his marriages to Debbie Reynolds, Elizabeth Taylor, and Connie Stevens. Now, in his new book, Been There, Done That, Fisher is enjoying new notoriety, GEORGE WAYNE tracked him down for a game of truth or dare.

George Wayne:Mr. Fisher, some say a better title for your autobiography would be Been There,

Done That ... Made Half of It Up. Yet, you stand by it.

E.F. Absolutely! I may have been on drugs—

G.W.For some 30 years—

E.F. But that certainly doesn't mean I lost my mind or memory.

G.W.But didn't you try to cause a sensation with this book?

E.F. I didn't have to go out of my way.

My life has been incredible.

G.W.Your daughter Carrie says you've lost your marbles.

E.F. I've lost my marbles?!

G.W.And Michelle Phillips says Eddie Fisher never stuck his prong inside her.

E.F. She said she was eight months pregnant at the time.

G.W.Is this just one of your wet dreams?

E.F. Can you say that in a magazine?

G.W.We say it all, then the powers that be excise and edit.

E.F. I remember Michelle Phillips so very well. She had a perfect body! She couldn't have been pregnant at any month!

G.W.So you are saying that you did have an affair with her.

E.F. Absolutely, 1968, the Frontier Hotel. But it's like Elizabeth [Taylor] and Sinatra—they deny.

G.W.Did Liz really abort Sinatra's child?

E.F. Yes. She told me through the years I was with her. She talked about how she despised Sinatra for what he did. He didn't marry her.

G.W.G. W. finds it very interesting that AnnMargret hasn't come forward to deny that she gave Eddie Fisher a blow job at the Frontier Hotel.

E.F. That was at the Desert Inn. How could I forget that moment? I remember Edie Adams walking into the dressing room in her chinchilla coat and saying, "Oh, I'll be at the bar."

G.W.Tell me one thing, Eddie. Who was the better oralist, Ann-Margret or Liz Taylor?

E.F. Ann-Margret, by far.

G.W.It must be those Swedish genes.

E.F. She was just a beautiful girl. With Elizabeth, she has tried to make nothing of our wonderful love affair. G.W.Three years of marriage.

E.F. Yeah, that's not a long time ...

G.W.But you've outlived most of your conquests. You also say that a lot of men came on to you in the 50s.

E.F. Well, everybody thought my manager was homosexual, but he was neutered.

G.W.He was a eunuch?! There is another story where you're in a steam room and Noel Coward comes on to you. "Just touch me a little bit," he begged you.

E.F. "Oh, just let me pat it once!" And he was serious! And we became terrific friends.

G.W.And then Elizabeth: "Until I was with Elizabeth, I had never known a woman who enjoyed being hit." Mike Todd would hit her around.... "Bam! 'What'd I tell you.' ... Bam! All I saw was... her feet as he dragged her into his bedroom."

E.F. Her first husband kicked her when she was pregnant, and I am absolutely certain that she loved it!

G.W.Then the confrontation with Richard Burton in Rome.

E.F. Oh my God! I'll never forget. Burton and I were having a fight and Elizabeth kept calling to see what was happening. Burton said to her, "This man loves you so. How could you do this to this man? If you're not careful, I'm going to take him upstairs and fuck him myself!"

G.W.When was the last time you saw Liz? E.F. Sardi's in the 70s. I'd like to face her right now. I told my story just right in my book, and for her to respond in such a way... G.W.Now, G.W. needs to hear more about that priest playing with Monty Clift.

E.F. Oh my God. I didn't know that made the book. He was a priest at a state penitentiary. The toughest-looking guy. We were at a restaurant and the priest's hand went down under the table. I was shocked.

G.W.What did Monty do?

E.F. I'm sure more happened. I've never talked to anyone like you! This is Vanity Fair?! G.W.We get to the root of every matter. One last point: "Dr. Feelgood"—Dr. Max Jacobson— was jacking up you and J.F.K. at the same time? E.F. "Shooting the stars," that's a good description. He got away with murder. Oh, it was just awful behavior.

G.W.And J.F.K. gave you his monogrammed shirt while he was being jacked up?

E.F. Yeah, it was so big, and I lost it. I've lost everything but my mind!