Dear croite and anyone else who was wondering about Della's information pertaining to Freddie's death. Taken word for word from her book as follows.
"The question I am often asked is one I will answer here. No, I do not believe Freddie intended to kill himself.He was a kid and a clown who loved to shock peoplewith outlandish stunts and pull odd tricks to get a reaction from others or to upset them.
When he mortilly shot himself during a party at the Beverly Comstock hotel,it was Freddie trying to pull off a trick that got out of hand and backfired.
Drugs may or may not have been involved. in any event, Freddie was a victim of too much too soon"
The rest just says how she and the rest of the cast were at the funeral because they were more than castmates but Family.
Della may have her info wrong, or that's what she tells herself so she can deal with it but at least they all went to his funeral
No excuses like D.B
Sorry for the last catty remark I got emotional

Very interesting post.

No problem its understandable, I get that way too Joy.

Thank you Joy, for posting this excerpt from Della Reese's book. It makes one wonder, but we always here how people can witness one event and come away with totally different perceptions of it. I agree with you that this may be the only way she can resolve what happened within herself.

I don't like how she referred to Freddie as a clown. It sounded insulting! Why hasn't anyone else told the same story she has? Sorry, but I am angered by this woman's account of things.

What della meant was he loved to play practical jokes like clowns do. I remember fredie telling a story on a talk show that he superglued a phone piece to the reciever. When the person tried to answer it they couldnt pick up the reciever. He did this at a hotel. that is what she was talking about. He also fired the gun and fell to the floor. I believe it was his secretary who ran to see if he was alright. He got up and said ha ha I fooled you.

Yes Freddie was a practical joker. There was the time he fooled his one time roommate and fellow comic Alan Bursky with an exploding cigar.

I don't know which one , but there is an episode where Freddie lights a cigar at the end of the show and it blows up.

Bella66,
I just finished watching that one. It's the retrn of Aunt Connie. Where Chico and Ed worry that the Count Catalon is after Connie for her new found wealth and Chico pretends to be crazy to convince Connie to stay and Take care of him. When Count Catalon retrns to Spain angry at Chico and Ed for their interference sends them a gift of exploding cigars.(Doesnt Freddie look cute in that one.
I think that is one of my favorite shows.
I love to see Chico and Ed dancing,and the pure talent that Freddie had comes through loud and clear when he does all those impressions and disguises. Doesn't he look precious as a baby?
And that line where Connie says Chico I'll read you a story and you can sit on Edwardo's lap and I'll tell you about the little pig who goes wee wee all the way home. And Ed speaks up saying go easy on the wee wee at his age he may not be housebroken.

I love that!! The whole show is great I laugh until I cry

During a party at the Comstock? What party? It was Freddie with a bunch of quaaludes, a gun in one hand and a phone in the other. Doesn't Della read the literature available about the night of the shooting?

Joy, you are right that is the show! The part I thought was really funny was when he kept licking that lemon and said, "it seems like an awful lot to go throgh just to flick your bic" LOL! He was really going at that lemon like a little kid. I love that part.

Croiter, your right about Della. Her facts are definetly twisted. For some reason all of her comments point to disdain. Didn't she ever have a good thing to say about Freddie? I haven't heard one yet!

I havn't really heard of any of Freddie's "friends"say anything nice. I wish we could here from some that do have good things to say.