Hollywood Biography recommendations

[dhermann1]

"The Comedy World of Stan Laurel", by John McCabe. He also wrote "Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy".

 

[Doctor Strange]

If we're talking silent comedian biographies, I highly recommend Rudi Blesh's Keaton - still the best of the many books about Buster. I also still rank Chaplin's My Autobiography as one of the best books about Charlie. (But Harold Lloyd's autobio is as shallow as his film characters - stick to the later biographies by others.)

And as I've said here before, the best single-volume work on all the silent comics remains Walter Kerr's The Silent Clowns. It's a gem!

Moving into directors, I also recommend Frank Capra's highly entertaining autobiography, The Name Above The Title. And I really liked Donald Spoto's book about Alfred Hitchcock.

 

[imoldfashioned]

Gloria Swanson's autobiography, Swanson on Swanson, was a great read - from the early years of Hollywood up till the late 70's, her marriages & affairs and how the movie industry changed over the years. But it appears to be out of print. My mom saw her at The Broadway in LA shortly after the book came out one day. Swanson saw a display of her books & did a little rearranging & continued on. Mom said she did a double-take, and then quickly grabbed a copy and ran after her to have it autographed for me. Huge flamboyant script with "Michael, darling! Greetings from your friend, Gloria Swanson." How Mom kept the secret several weeks till my birthday, I don't know. I unwrapped it, looked at it, went to to flip through it and my jaw dropped, and Mom told the whole story.

What a great story! I have an autographed copy as well--she stopped by Minneapolis (must have been a book tour) and I stood in line to get her autograph when I was 13. Stupidly, I didn't get a picture with her. I still remember how tiny she was, even in huge heels.

Another good (out of print) bio is Larry Swindell's Screwball about Carole Lombard.

 

[retrogirl1941]

I just read "Million Dollar mermaid" By Esther Williams. That was really good. It gave some insight on hollywood stars from the 40's and early 50's.

Samantha

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

(But Harold Lloyd's autobio is as shallow as his film characters - stick to the later biographies by others.)

:cry:
Wow...
I think I may cry...
Harold is like the love of my life....

 

[skyvue]

I just read "Million Dollar mermaid" By Esther Williams. That was really good. It gave some insight on hollywood stars from the 40's and early 50's.

I got to wait on Esther Williams a dozen years ago or so. Served her a hamburger.

Then I got to interview a few years later when her book came out. She's a hoot.

 

[The Wolf]

I enjoyed the autobiographies of Basil Rathbone and Veronica Lake. Younger people might find them boring, however. Rathbone's talks about his time in WWI, his plays, his feelings about Sherlock Holmes and Danny Kaye but has very few anecdotes about his movies. Lake's deals with casting room couches, Frederic March's dislike of her and various amusing stories. However very few young people know her.
Sheldon Leonard's autobio covers his growing up in New York, his acting in golden age movies and producing "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "I Spy". It moves quickly and is charming.
I have to find the author's name of a Marx Brothers biography I read years ago. A lot of people still know these guys and they had lots of funny stories.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[AmateisGal]

I really enjoyed Maureen O'Hara's autobiography, 'Tis Herself.

 

[skyvue]

I have to find the author's name of a Marx Brothers biography I read years ago. A lot of people still know these guys and they had lots of funny stories.

There are a number of great books about the Marxes. Groucho's autobiography, Groucho and Me, is very entertaining, as is Harpo's autobio, Harpo Speaks.

Groucho's been the subject of a couple of biographies, Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx by Stefan Kanfer and Groucho by Hector Arce (I prefer the latter, but both are worth reading).

There's also a book by Groucho and Arce covering Groucho's years on You Bet Your Life; it's called The Secret Word Is Groucho.

Chico never wrote a book -- he was too busy gambling and philandering -- but his daughter wrote an affectionate memoir called Growing Up with Chico.

Perhaps the most highly thought of collective look at the brothers' lives and careers is Joe Adamson's Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo.

 

[Feraud]

I enjoyed the autobiographies of Basil Rathbone and Veronica Lake. Younger people might find them boring, however. Rathbone's talks about his time in WWI, his plays, his feelings about Sherlock Holmes and Danny Kaye but has very few anecdotes about his movies. Lake's deals with casting room couches, Frederic March's dislike of her and various amusing stories. However very few young people know her.

These two sound very interesting.
I am going to add them to my list.

 

[ShortClara]

I have to 5th or 6th "Runnin' Wild" by David Stenn (Clara Bow) - this book started my love affair of Clara!

I am reading Katharine Hepburn's "Me" right now and I just love it. It's written just as she spoke, it's conversational and you feel like her fun conspirator.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

For a cool ficto-bio I would suggest The Biograph Girl by William J. Mann. In it, silent film star Florence Lawrence is alive and well living in modern day NYC at age 109. In reality, she killed herself in 1938, but the book takes a twist! I love it.

 

[JazzBaby]

And I really liked Donald Spoto's book about Alfred Hitchcock.

Speaking of Spoto - he did a really good bio of Elizabeth Taylor. It's probably been updated since, I think she'd just married Fortensky in the edition I own