The author of this bio, a life-long De Havilland fan, tracked the actress down in Paris, begged to meet and interview her, and even showed up at de Havilland's doorstep without an invitation (eventually she was invited). Normally I'm very wary of bios written by obsessive fans, questioning their objectivity, but to be fair to Ms. Amador, her portrait of the reclusive Miss De. Havilland seems fair and balanced for the most part. The book looks at the actor's youth, her rather quick ascent in Hollywood, her most famous roles (such as Miss Melanie, of course) and movies, and insightfully examines her acting style and approach to different parts -- when De Havilland was less than special she's not afraid to say so. The book also recounts her ultimately successful legal battles with the studio. her famous "feud" with her sister, Joan Fontaine (which actually gets its own chapter), and her marriages and affairs (according to the diva herself, she did not sleep with Errol Flynn although she certainly wanted to).
The portrait that emerges of De Havilland is not without warts, as the lady has often come off as quite affected and too oh-so-proper to be believed. However this book will give the interested reader the basic facts and then some behind the career and life of the actress whose most interesting aspect was her appearances on film in such movies as Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, The Heiress, Lady in a Cage, The Dark Mirror, and many, many others. Inexplicably Amador supports De Havillamd's foolish, ill-advised and ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit against the producers of Feud: Bette and Joan. Admittedly she was portrayed, briefly, by an actress who was nothing like her and she would never have made comments about her sister in public, but that is hardly suit-worthy, and trying to change the laws about public figures would have been opening a can of worms that would have had terrible repercussions for journalists -- and biographers. Amador has added a new chapter after her subject's death that goes on and on and on perhaps a bit too much.
Verdict: Very good read for De Havilland fans and Hollywood observers in general. ***1/2.
2 comments:
(eye roll) Oh, no, she would NEVER have slept with Errol Flynn--Ha! A little disingenuous.
Olivia really did become the grande dame in those many, many latter years. A little insufferable, in my opinion. BUT she was a great great actor...and The Heiress is one of the finest movies ever made, and she is magnificent in it.
"The Heiress" is one of my all-time favorites, a masterpiece.
Yes, reading this bio I couldn't make up my mind if I would have found it delightful to have cocktails with Olivia, or would have found her, as you say, "insufferable." Movie stars can be so totally self-absorbed, and it gets worse as they get older, LOL. Still, as you say, she was quite an actress.
Post a Comment