Autobiographies
James Poe
read "Love Is Nothing" by Lee Server and am in the middle of "Baby I
Don't Care"'.
Marv Soloff
Marv
David Oberman
Jim N. Beaver, author of a biography of John Garfield & an
autobiography, as well as articles on George Raft, Jimmy Stewart &
others.
Jim Beaver
"David Oberman" <dobe...@socal.rr.com> wrote in message
news:8q80551tmr32pcij2...@4ax.com...
Thanks for the kind words, but my Garfield book isn't much of a book. I was
in college when I wrote it. It was relatively easy to write that kind of
book and get it published in the 1970s (compared to now, I mean, when we
can't get a mainstream publisher for my father-in-law's autobiography!). If
I were doing the Garfield now, I would do it quite, quite differently--sort
of like Robert Nott did with HE RAN ALL THE WAY, which I consider to be the
definitive biography of Garfield.
James Olson and Randy Roberts did a spendid job with JOHN WAYNE: AMERICAN,
respectful but honest and authentic. Stuart Galbraith's dual bio of Akira
Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune, THE EMPEROR AND THE WOLF, is very good. But
probably the best movie star bio I've ever read is Patricia Bosworth's
Montgomery Clift book.
The best movie-star autobiography I've read is Sterling Hayden's WANDERER.
It's also my favorite non-fiction book.
Jim Beaver
Bill McClain
Errol Flynn's MY WICKED, WICKED WAYS is enormously entertaining but at least
partly ghostwritten and many of the incidents are fiction:
http://tinyurl.com/nopoxu
Thomas McNulty's ERROL FLYNN: THE LIFE AND CAREER seemed to me a fine piece of
scholarship (any very expensive!) which in some cases supports and in other
cases refutes Flynn's book. He also refers to some of the other Flynn
biographies (Bret, Higham) as "pathetic": http://tinyurl.com/ktrcdp
-Bill
--
Sattre Press Curiosities of the Sky
http://sattre-press.com/ by Garrett Serviss
in...@sattre-press.com http://sattre-press.com/csky.html
tomcervo
> On 2009-07-05, James Poe <cecieb...@webtv.net> wrote:
>
> > �I need a clue as to who are the best biographers of movie stars. I just
> > read "Love Is Nothing" by Lee Server and am in the middle of "Baby I
> > Don't Care"'.
>
> Errol Flynn's MY WICKED, WICKED WAYS is enormously entertaining but at least
> partly ghostwritten and many of the incidents are fiction:http://tinyurl.com/nopoxu
>
> Thomas McNulty's ERROL FLYNN: THE LIFE AND CAREER seemed to me a fine piece of
> scholarship (any very expensive!) which in some cases supports and in other
> cases refutes Flynn's book. He also refers to some of the other Flynn
> biographies (Bret, Higham) as "pathetic":http://tinyurl.com/ktrcdp
Charles Higham does not enjoy a high rep among the knowledgeable of
Hollywood, but I surrender the floor to Mr. Beaver on that subject.
Howard Brazee
<dobe...@socal.rr.com> wrote:
>Jim N. Beaver, author of a biography of John Garfield & an
>autobiography, as well as articles on George Raft, Jimmy Stewart &
>others.
And the author of a book consisting of blogs while his wife was dying
which while not being a biography, tells a lot about him, his family,
and his friends in Hollywood.
--
"In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found,
than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace
to the legislature, and not to the executive department."
- James Madison
Jim Beaver
"tomcervo" <tomc...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:3ef377e1-c04c-4b50...@c9g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...
On Jul 5, 9:26?am, Bill McClain <wmccl...@watershade.net> wrote:
> On 2009-07-05, James Poe <cecieb...@webtv.net> wrote:
>
> > read "Love Is Nothing" by Lee Server and am in the middle of "Baby I
> > Don't Care"'.
>
> Errol Flynn's MY WICKED, WICKED WAYS is enormously entertaining but at
> least
> partly ghostwritten and many of the incidents are
> fiction:http://tinyurl.com/nopoxu
>
> Thomas McNulty's ERROL FLYNN: THE LIFE AND CAREER seemed to me a fine
> piece of
> scholarship (any very expensive!) which in some cases supports and in
> other
> cases refutes Flynn's book. He also refers to some of the other Flynn
> biographies (Bret, Higham) as "pathetic":http://tinyurl.com/ktrcdp
>Charles Higham does not enjoy a high rep among the knowledgeable of
>Hollywood, but I surrender the floor to Mr. Beaver on that subject.
To paraphrase James Edward Grant, I wouldn't take Charles Higham's word that
day was light and night was dark.
Jim Beaver
Anim8rFSK
"Jim Beaver" <jumb...@prodigy.spam> wrote:
> Thanks for the kind words, but my Garfield book isn't much of a book. I was
> in college when I wrote it. It was relatively easy to write that kind of
> book and get it published in the 1970s (compared to now, I mean, when we
> can't get a mainstream publisher for my father-in-law's autobiography!).
Ack! Don wrote an autobiography, and it's just been sitting around for
years? And you couldn't get it published even as a tie-in to the Get
Smart movie or DVDs?
How often does that sort of thing happen do you suppose?
--
Uncle Jack: "Will, you're invisible!"
Will: "Invisible? I can't be! I can touch myself!"
--actual dialog from third season LAND OF THE LOST
Jim Beaver
"Anim8rFSK" <ANIM...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:ANIM8Rfsk-B5248...@news.dc1.easynews.com...
> In article <wVY3m.3703$Jb1....@flpi144.ffdc.sbc.com>,
> "Jim Beaver" <jumb...@prodigy.spam> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the kind words, but my Garfield book isn't much of a book. I
>> was
>> in college when I wrote it. It was relatively easy to write that kind of
>> book and get it published in the 1970s (compared to now, I mean, when we
>> can't get a mainstream publisher for my father-in-law's autobiography!).
>
> Ack! Don wrote an autobiography, and it's just been sitting around for
> years? And you couldn't get it published even as a tie-in to the Get
> Smart movie or DVDs?
>
> How often does that sort of thing happen do you suppose?
Quite often, actually. It's a damned shame, because there are some great
stories waiting to be read, from any number of fairly fascinating Hollywood
folk. But the day of Random House or Scribners publishing a biography just
because it's about a one-time star (let alone an Evelyn Keyes or Robert
Parrish), even with terrific stories and writing, are pretty much over as a
fait accompli. Brittany Spears or Octomom, yes, but Kevin Kline? Tom
Selleck? Robert Duvall? I've got my doubts one of the big houses would go
for it. It's case by case, of course, but the trend is not encouraging.
Jim Beaver
Invid Fan
<jumb...@prodigy.spam> wrote:
> "Anim8rFSK" <ANIM...@cox.net> wrote in message
> news:ANIM8Rfsk-B5248...@news.dc1.easynews.com...
> > In article <wVY3m.3703$Jb1....@flpi144.ffdc.sbc.com>,
> > "Jim Beaver" <jumb...@prodigy.spam> wrote:
> >
> >> Thanks for the kind words, but my Garfield book isn't much of a book. I
> >> was
> >> in college when I wrote it. It was relatively easy to write that kind of
> >> book and get it published in the 1970s (compared to now, I mean, when we
> >> can't get a mainstream publisher for my father-in-law's autobiography!).
> >
> > Ack! Don wrote an autobiography, and it's just been sitting around for
> > years? And you couldn't get it published even as a tie-in to the Get
> > Smart movie or DVDs?
> >
> > How often does that sort of thing happen do you suppose?
>
> Quite often, actually. It's a damned shame, because there are some great
> stories waiting to be read, from any number of fairly fascinating Hollywood
> folk. But the day of Random House or Scribners publishing a biography just
> because it's about a one-time star (let alone an Evelyn Keyes or Robert
> Parrish), even with terrific stories and writing, are pretty much over as a
> fait accompli. Brittany Spears or Octomom, yes, but Kevin Kline? Tom
> Selleck? Robert Duvall? I've got my doubts one of the big houses would go
> for it. It's case by case, of course, but the trend is not encouraging.
>
There are other outlets for those stories now, naturally, but it'll
probably be awhile before publishing it yourself by print on demand or
online are thought of as being even close to the same as having it in
your local book store. Maybe there's enough of a market and supply to
have a web store dedicated just to biographies.
--
Chris Mack *quote under construction*
'Invid Fan'
rmg
> "David Oberman" <dober...@socal.rr.com> wrote in message
>
> news:8q80551tmr32pcij2...@4ax.com...
Thanks for the tips.
I thought the autobiography of Mercedes McCambridge, "The Quality of
Mercy", was very well written and brutally honest. Unfortunately, she
endured more difficulty in her life after it was published.
Jim Beaver
"rmg" <rgbe...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1532d5f1-16fd-41f3...@o6g2000yqj.googlegroups.com...
Thanks for the tips.
RESPONSE:
I worked with Mercy (as she insisted we call her) before her book came out,
and I reviewed it very positively in Films in Review, for the same reasons
you mention. I was terribly saddened by the awful things that occurred in
her life thereafter. She was a wonderful woman in many ways.
Jim Beaver
wull
"Jim Beaver" <jumb...@prodigy.spam> wrote in message
news:xvO4m.6973$iz2....@nlpi070.nbdc.sbc.com...
My favorite biography was of Shelley Winters and it had a quote that was way
before the time of her story line.
Nowadays it would not even cause an eyelash flutter.
I read a Montgomery Clift bio but it might not have been the one mentioned
in this post. He had a very good bio and became a lifelong friend of John
Waynes's after Wayne almost refused to play in Red River with MC.
I am certain he was glad he did do the movie. It was one of his best.
I will look for the M McCambridge book. She was one of my favorites,
always, especially as a devil.
I saw her in a dinner theater play of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf in
Houston, Tx. She was excellent and fit the role better than L. Taylor.
Wull
>
Tom
> "Jim Beaver" <jumble...@prodigy.spam> wrote in message
>
> news:xvO4m.6973$iz2....@nlpi070.nbdc.sbc.com...
>
>
>
>
>
> > "rmg" <rgber...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
Thanks for the tip. I'll look for the book at the library, but in the
meantime, what's the quote?
Tom
wull
"Tom" <drs...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:3bb597fb-6691-435d...@d4g2000yqa.googlegroups.com...
You would see it when you read the book, but here goes.
As I remember it her real name was Shirley Shrift. She and Marilyn Monroe
were roommates.
They were getting ready to go out on the town. And she said: "I put on my
fuck me shoes and we went
to find whatever"
Being from an older generation and very conservative, I was shocked but
quite amused. I followed her from her thin , attractive days till her final
days as large as she could be. She was always an excellent actress
and quite amusing. I think she won 2 Academy Awards.
Wull
Tom
william
>
> To paraphrase James Edward Grant, I wouldn't take Charles Higham's word that
> day was light and night was dark.
>
and I even know that if Higham says it's raining, you better look out
a window and check. Reading about Hollywood and actors is like
watching a production of Roshomon with a cast of thousands. The best
at it make mistakes and the incompetent re-circulate myths and public
relations. Higham finds someone willing to make ridiculous statements
and then Higham publishes them as sourced facts. He's worse than
incompetent.
William
www.williamahearn.com
rmg
> "rmg" <rgber...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
Based on what I've seen of her work and read about her, it must have
been quite an experience to have acted with her. The first time I saw
her, in All the King's Men, I was just astonished at her performance
(as apparently were others, as she won the Oscar that year). She more
than held her own against Broderick Crawford, no mean feat, and she
took the relatively minor role of Sadie and brought complexity and
pathos (and a bit of rage) to the character. I've seen most of her
films, but I assume there's an entire library of radio performances
still left to explore (assuming the shows are even available).
Thanks.
Jim Beaver
Based on what I've seen of her work and read about her, it must have
been quite an experience to have acted with her. The first time I saw
her, in All the King's Men, I was just astonished at her performance
(as apparently were others, as she won the Oscar that year). She more
than held her own against Broderick Crawford, no mean feat, and she
took the relatively minor role of Sadie and brought complexity and
pathos (and a bit of rage) to the character. I've seen most of her
films, but I assume there's an entire library of radio performances
still left to explore (assuming the shows are even available).
RESPONSE:
It was an interesting situation, acting with Mercedes McCambridge. She was
the guest artist at a college in Dallas. There were a few of us pro or
semi-pro actors and a few student actors. We were doing Christie's THE
MOUSETRAP. McCambridge, of course, was the name we hoped would draw an
audience. (It did.) But the great, lovely surprise (at least the way I see
it) is that I killed Mercy's character about 15 minutes into the play and
she never came back. Because she was an Oscar-winner and all, the audience
figured she must be the real killer or there must be some fakery involved in
her death because she "has to" come back, doesn't she? She's the star! But
she didn't, and I think it added to the mystery of the play. (Though I
suspect some people felt more bait-and-switched than joyously punk'd.)
She was wonderful to work with, though. Have I written about this? I can't
recall. Can't recall breakfast either, anymore. If I have written this
before, you can bail out anytime you want. On risk of repeating myself:
she told great stories about people she'd worked with. I most remember her
talking about touring the south doing CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF with herself as
Big Mama and John Carradine as Big Daddy. (Why they always cast fat guys as
Big Daddy, when a lean-and-hungry type like Carradine so much better
suggests the dying-from-cancer aspect that everyone's trying to deny in the
play, is a puzzlement to me.) She talked about driving around Atlanta late
at night looking for all-night drugstores to get painkillers for Carradine's
crippling arthritis.
She gave great acting notes, in an irresistible manner. She hooked me
early: "You've got a wonderful quality about you, so very much like James
Mason. So elegant and precise in your delivery," etc., etc. Then:
"However....perhaps you might consider waiting until after I enter before
starting your speech...." That sort of thing. Talk about a spoonful of
sugar. (And her notes to me were the first and in all likelihood the last
times anyone has ever compared me to David Niven or James Mason. But I
lapped it up.)
My favorite thing, and one I can't imagine I haven't shared here or on some
ng, was when, one night, just before curtain, I passed by one of the student
actresses and whispered, "Break a leg." The young girl turned on me in a
fury. "Don't talk to me! I'm concentrating!" Mercy was standing nearby.
At the act break, we were in the dressing room and Mercy started talking, to
no one in particular, about concentration. She said, "The sign of an actor
concentrating well is not that they fall apart if you disturb them. The
sign of a good actor concentrating well is that nothing CAN disturb them."
It was a terrific lesson in concentration, but it was also a sweet and
affecting defense on my behalf. (The student actress turned a few shades of
red, to my joy.)
I'm sorry if I repeat myself. I'm getting old, I guess.
Jim Beaver
rmg
> "rmg" <rgber...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
Great stories. Thanks for sharing them. And, no, I don't think
you're repeating yourself.
Anim8rFSK
<03ded945-529e-4609...@26g2000yqk.googlegroups.com>,
rmg <rgbe...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Even if he is, I'd rather listen to him twice than most others once.