Lost weight to appear in Castaway (1986) on a diet of vodka.
Narrowly missed out on playing superspy James Bond because of his love of alcohol and fighting. A new biography of the star uncovered a letter from Bond mastermind Albert R. Broccoli outlining how close he came to replacing Sean Connery in the role. Broccoli wrote, "With Reed we would have had a far greater problem to destroy his image and re-mold him as James Bond. We just didn't have the time or money to do that." According to Cliff Goodwin, author of the book "Evil Spirits", "Oliver was probably within a sliver of being cast as Bond." He adds, "But by 1968 his affairs were public and he was already drinking and fighting - as far away from the refined Bond image as you could get.".
Needed 36 stitches to repair cuts on his face after a bar fight in 1963. The incident left him with a permanent scar, which he initially feared would put an end to his screen career.
Nephew of the film director Sir Carol Reed, who directed him in one of his best roles, as the villainous Bill Sikes in Oliver! (1968).
On location for The Hunting Party (1971), Reed bemoaned the necessity of faking an American accent and this, coupled with his love of Broome Hall and English pubs, was enough to cement his decision not to move to Hollywood.
Once reckoned that the strenuous filming of The Devils (1971) took four years off his natural life.
Owned a villa in the south of France next door to Jack Hawkins' villa.
Reed died during the filming of Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000), and it cost the company $3 million to recreate his face so he could "appear" in the scenes he still had left to shoot.
Reed remains the only British film star who never had any stage work of any kind. A 1980s National Portrait Gallery show noted this, saying he was their only pure film actor.
Said that when he made the infamous drunken appearance on the Michael Aspel chat show when he sang a raucous rendition of "Wild Thing", that the producers of that show had plied him with spirits in the green room prior to the interview so that he was already plastered when he came on stage.
Shared the same dentist as horror star Christopher Lee
Some obituaries mentioned the similarity between Reed's death and Robert Newton's. Newton, who had played Bill Sykes in David Lean's non-musical version of Oliver Twist (1948), was a notoriously heavy drinker. He remained sober while filming Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), which was supposed to be a big comeback for him as an actor. Toward the end of filming, however, he indulged in one final drinking marathon and died from a heart attack, aged only 50. Similarly, Reed remained sober while filming Gladiator (2000) - intended as a big comeback - but died from a heart attack after allowing himself one final binge.
The actor he admired most was Errol Flynn.
The public house in Malta in which he died, previously known as "The Pub", was renamed "Ollie's Last Pub" in his memory.
Was dyslexic.
Was heavily criticized in the late 1980s for appearing in exploitation films produced by the infamous impresario Harry Alan Towers, most of which were filmed in South Africa under the apartheid regime, and released straight to video in the US and UK.