Graceann's review
Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star by William J. Mann
Graceann's review
rating:
bookshelves: biography
recommended for: Biography Fans
status: Read in November, 1998
rating:
bookshelves: biography
recommended for: Biography Fans
status: Read in November, 1998
William Haines was a fun and interesting actor who is unfairly forgotten today - he played the "Wisecracker" who always got his comeuppance by the final reel. Devastatingly handsome and incredibly witty, he was popular on and off the screen. He was, however, openly gay (Joan Crawford referred to he and his partner, Jimmie Shields, as the "happiest marriage in Hollywood") and refused to toe the company line by marrying for appearances' sake. Gone from the screen in 1934, he became one of the 20th century's most sought-after interior decorators, and his pieces are still prized. William J. Mann covers all of this and more, in an engaging, compulsively readable style.
