Bear Manor Media recently sent me a huge box of books to review and I spent the good part of the last month reading a few. Five of these books were focused on television and motion-picture actresses who cemented a legacy that is often talked about but rarely documented. Here are a few of them that might be of interest to you.
She made her TV debut in 1939 and was still on the medium eighty years later. Betty White earned her first Emmy nomination in 1951 and her last nomination 63 years later. Her longevity in television earned her a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. Betty White’s incredible career encompasses seventeen regular roles, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Golden Girls, and Hot in Cleveland. She also did thousands of guest shots on everything from The Tonight Show to Password and Match Game to SpongeBob SquarePants. This book not only documents her extensive career but includes interviews with many who worked with her.
CAROL LYNLEY: Her Film & TV Career in Thrillers, Fantasy & Suspense
Since she was a child, the beautiful Carol Lynley graced television and movie screens from 1956 until 2002. She successfully progressed from child model, to teenage idol, to ingénue in such hit films as Disney’s The Light in the Forest, Blue Denim, Return to Peyton Place, and Under the Yum Yum Tree. Then her cool beauty was put to perfect use as the bewildered blank-faced mother searching for a missing daughter who may or may not exist in the cult mystery thriller Bunny Lake Is Missing. (That movie is recommended viewing, by the way.) This propelled Lynley to adult leads where she excelled playing the lady in peril culminating with her most famous role as terrified pop singer Nonnie in The Poseidon Adventure.
Peppered with comments from Carol Lynley herself, specifically for this book, and from past published sources, it also features fascinating behind-the-scenes tales from her co-workers including Arledge Armenaki, Stephan Chase, Matt Dotson, John Goff, Howard Kazanjian, Harry Langdon, Jr., Alan J. Levi, and Tina Sinatra. Author Tom Lisanti goes beyond The Poseidon Adventure to shine a light on Carol Lynley’s underrated work in the thriller/fantasy/suspense/horror genres with this meticulously researched and well-illustrated tribute book. I am not aware of any biography about her career other than this one, and found it well-written.
Jeanne Eagels, the legendary Broadway actress (as Sadie Thompson in Somerset Maugham’s Rain) and film star (as Leslie Crosbie in The Letter), lived a life of renown, yet her rocky path to fame—with its many struggles and triumphs—propelled her into increasingly erratic behavior, culminating in a shocking ending that stunned the entire world. I have seen what I believe are the only two movies known to exist with her in the lead, which only added more fascination about the character.
This fully revised and updated edition includes new revelations and details from Eagels herself and family and friends about her Midwestern childhood; her chaotic personal life; her uncompromising artistry; and her lifelong battle with inner demons. Illustrated with a refreshed collection of 150 rarely seen images.
THAT KIND OF WOMAN: THE LIFE AND CAREER OF BARBARA NICHOLS
Even with all the movies and television films I have seen over the past decades, I know Barbara Nichols more for her role in the classic Twilight Zone episode, “Number 22.” She was known as the “dame with the shapely frame,” who changed her reddish-brown hair to platinum blonde, drew whistles as a semi-nude post-World War Two pin-up model, and was named Miss Long Island. Broadway beckoned and she drew attention in the Pal Joey musical. When Hollywood called, she filled a dubious niche in small, wisecracking roles, wringing both comedy and tragedy from cheesy, dim-witted stereotypical strippers, gold-diggers, barflies, gun molls, and floozies. It was there that she was considered in Hollywood the next Judy Holliday.
Always the life of the party and smiling before the public, her private life spiraled down into a whirlpool of troubled relationships and heartbreaking decline. Forever haunted by her unbreakable image as “that kind of woman,” the actress ultimately fell victim to the perilous price of fame, yet her sunny character and the hilarious anecdotes recalled by co-workers, directors, and relatives live on as a testament to her enduring appeal. The author has drawn from extensive interviews with Tab Hunter, Michael Dante, Marvin Kaplan, Paula Stewart, Barbara Luna, Mamie Van Doren, Shirley Knight, director William Byron Hillman, Barbara’s psychic, two of her relatives, fellow high school students, and friends.
Illustrated with more than 200 photographs from her personal archives, this is probably the best book on the subject.
From before Fritz Lang’s Fury (1936) through Alfred Hitchcock’s Sabotage (1936), William Wyler’s Dead End (1937), and Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice (1988), Sylvia Sydney walked a difficult path to stardom.
Abandoned by her father as a child, and a high school dropout, she emerged from her shell at age sixteen to a lead role on Broadway, and by age twenty, to a Paramount contract and the amorous attentions of producer B.P. Schulberg. Her appearance with Gary Cooper in City Streets (1931) prompted other studios to clamor for her services. Moviegoers wept watching Josef von Sternberg’s An American Tragedy (1931) and King Vidor’s Street Scene (1931), establishing her as the screen's foremost Depression heroine. Hollywood “paid me by the tear,” she often lamented. Sylvia acquired an impressive list of Hollywood leading men: Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda, Humphrey Bogart, and James Cagney.
On a personal note, I have seen each and every one of these films mentioned above so I was eager to dig into this book. I was not disappointed.
Scott O’Brien’s exhaustive research work reveals a fascinating insider's look into Sylvia’s salty, opinionated, and funny personal life. Illustrated with a treasure trove of 134 photos from Sylvia’s personal life and career.
