Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool

I have been enjoying several films at the BFI London Film Festival. One that stood out for me was “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool” which is adapted from the book by Peter Turner. It tells of the unusual relationship between a young Peter Turner and former film noir femme fatale, who most are likely to have seen but perhaps not remember – Gloria Grahame.

Grahame’s career in film began with a small part in “It’s A Wonderful Life” you may recall how George Bailey gives Violet Bick funds to escape the small town and make a name for herself elsewhere. She won an OSCAR for her role on The Bad and the Beautiful and performed with some of the leading lights of the 1950s.

In A Lonely Place

The film is based on her encounter and 2-year relationship with Turner, who she initially meets in London whilst back treading the boards. Then in her mid-fifties, divorced 4 times and surrounded in scandal she begins a relationship with Turner, who at 27 wasn’t even born when Grahame had completed work on The Bad and the Beautiful. We are shown brief insights into her chaotic world and the scandals that inevitably ended her career in film. Her last husband, Anthony Ray, was her stepson (from her second husband) and the marriage lasted from 1960 until 1974 resulting in two children.

A Woman’s Secret

The film implies that Grahame was pretty much financially ruined, appearing to possess a mobile home / caravan on the Californian coastline. Perhaps because of 4 divorces or a career that was cut short, or even because of illness, but clearly the glamour and glitter of her star had burned out. (Spoiler) Ultimately her life is cut short due to a recurrence of cancer, though this is fairly evident as the likely outcome from the start of the film, so I’m not really spoiling it for you.

Odds Against Tomorrow

There are some broad financial lessons here. The audience laughter at a scene where two pints of beer are ordered for 90 pence, was probably the loudest in a film that clearly isn’t designed to be funny; but the long-term impact of inflation is not really the most obvious lesson here. Fame that brings financial success can be very short-lived. Life as an actor can be very harsh. Divorce is financially expensive, but of course the toll on emotional reserves may also be overwhelming. Love and tenderness are often found in unexpected places and whilst care costs, it may not have a monetary price. In a world of appearances many are in danger of making similar “mistakes” or having similar experiences.

The Cobweb

Financial protection is a modern-day (or should that be post-modern?) wonder for those without capital – providing financial stability in the event of life presenting “challenges”. Running out of money isn’t as bad as running out of time, but it’s probably a pretty close race. A proper financial plan will help reveal where your resources are and what you can do to sure them up. It enables you to take a look at the future and make some adjustments in advance if you don’t like the prospects.

Here’s the trailer for the movie, which reunites Jamie Bell and Julie Walters, this time as mother and son, whilst Annette Bening gives a great performance as Gloria Grahame.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool2025-02-03T10:37:22+00:00

It’s A Wonderful Life

It’s A Wonderful Life

There’s a picture that hangs in our reception room, it’s a fairly large still from the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Most people know the movie and will have seen it at some point. For many people it’s a “feel good” movie and invariably watched at Christmas.

The film touches on various themes, greed, capitalism, social enterprise, family, relationships, honesty, mental health, immigration, vice… a plethora of ideas that could be explored. Arguably, the central idea is really that of ‘what if?” What if George Bailey had never existed? How would the lives of others be different? The central point being that we all (generally) take the importance of our own existence too lightly. We are all unique, we all have something to contribute, a part to play and the lives of others, our communities would be different without any one of us.

 

Naturally, we all (well most) have a sense of humility about quite how significant our impact is, unless you are the type of person that invariably ends up taking credit for the actions of others. There’s a fair bit of that around the world at present, most evidently demonstrated by certain political “leaders”. This of course is nothing new, simply depressingly familiar.

What we fail to clearly explain

One of the greatest difficulties I have within my role as a financial planner is quantifying and explaining the difference we have made to clients by not doing certain things. To put it another way, what we have advised against, altered, prevented, discounted, ruled out – all as part of our normal actions. Our regulator and professional indemnity insurers are still rather more obsessed with what we arranged and did rather than what we didn’t. Regulation is still largely based upon what was “sold” not what was achieved. One investment company (Vanguard) attempted to quantify the impact of fairly routine discipline that a financial planner applies for clients. They calculated that this added about 3% a year to a client’s investment returns. They called this “Adviser Alpha”. They’ve been measuring and doing their sums on this since 2001.

However, for me this still falls way short of the value that we as your financial planner can add. How much value is added by ensuring clients have a Will? Appropriate life assurance? A proper plan? That they don’t run out of money? Being challenged to really express what they want from and for their own lives….and so on.

That thing about honesty..

In the film George Bailey has built personal relationships within his community of customers, so much so that when he experiences great difficulty, largely through no fault of his own, they rally around to support him. In our litigious culture of blame and extraction of money at almost any expense, it seems unlikely that such an incident could occur. Yet if we all pause for a moment to simply reflect on the sort of people we wish to be and to spend time with, isn’t it those who share a sense of honesty, trust and mutual connection?

What if?…

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

It’s A Wonderful Life2025-01-28T13:29:10+00:00
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