Wesley Britton's Blog - Posts Tagged "marilyn-monroe"

I Loved Her in the Movies: Memories of Hollywood's Legendary Actresses
Robert Wagner
ISBN-10: 0525429115 his life in Hollywood
ISBN-13: 978-0525429111
https://www.amazon.com/Loved-Her-Movi...


For his third book delving into his life in Hollywood, actor Robert Wagner chose to focus on his feelings about many of Hollywood’s leading ladies. Some he knew casually, some he knew intimately, some he knew professionally, some he knew by reputation. In most of his tributes, he looks at major actresses as we knew them from their work, his experiences with many of them, as well as his thoughts on how they lived their lives off-screen.

Wagner’s personal memories begin with a brief encounter in 1938 with Norma Shearer who happened to be the mother of one of Wagner’s childhood friends. So his introduction to famous actresses began seeing one of them at home and not up on the silver screen. Then he offers his analysis of films of the 1930s with quick hit-and run overviews of actresses like Shirley Temple with more in-depth discussions of figures like Gloria Swanson, Joan Crawford, and Irene Dunn. Wagner was surprised to learn Dunn was Cary Grant’s personal pick as his favorite co-star in comedies.

Then Wagner moves on to the films of the 1940s and his memories of Claudette Colbert, Myrna Loy, and Katherine Hepbern. In the case of Colbert, Wagner remains grateful the veteran actress was kind to him when they worked together on 1951’s Let’s Make It Legal when she was a long-time movie veteran and he was a rookie continually flubbing his lines. As he has said before, much of the style of his TV series Hart to Hart was meant to imitate the relationship Loy and William Powell shared in The Thin Man detective films.

But to attempt to review Wagner’s roll call of Hollywood’s most significant actresses just isn’t possible in a short book review. Yes, he discusses the most famous of them, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day, and Debbie Reynolds among them. Some were figures well-known in past decades and largely forgotten now like June Allison and Dorothy Lamour. Of course, he touches on the ladies he knew most intimately of all, his wives Natalie Wood and Jill St. John.

Along the way, Wagner uses nearly every complimentary adjective possible as he found much to admire in the character and professionalism of the actresses he profiles. He also describes much of the context in which the stars operated, including a long section on the Studio Club, essentially a large private dormitory for poor, aspiring actresses bunking in a supportive sanctuary. Successful actresses, Wagner claims, had to be independent, determined, and blessed with luck and timing especially in the era of the big studios. He praises those who were professional with a strong work ethic, supportive of their peers, were simply good people to be around, and likeable both on and off-screen. Very, very few names get negative profiles, notably the often late to work Raquel Welch and the disruptive Shelley Winters.

In the main, Wagner’s profiles nearly glow with positive appreciation of a gender Wagner feels has a more difficult time in their craft than their male counterparts. He notes much has changed and women now have much more personal clout than they once did. He points out, for women, reaching 40 is often the death knell for their careers as moviegoers prefer younger faces and less so mature women. There was a time when the actresses had the names that sold tickets; starting with the ‘60s, that changed dramatically with male stars taking over as the principal draws.

I’ll add, the warmth of Wagner is even more present listening to the audiobook edition as the author reads his own book for us. This isn’t a book to read for fresh revelations but rather an opportunity to explore the behind-the-scenes stories of strong women from an insider’s perspective. Perhaps you’ll gain a deeper appreciation for the figures you also love and now have even more reason to do so.


This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Feb. 6, 2017
goo.gl/Gi3EKi

Hollywood Obscura: Death, Murder, and the Paranormal Aftermath
Brian Clune
Publisher: Schiffer; 1 edition (August 28, 2017)
ISBN-10: 0764353543
ISBN-13: 978-0764353543
https://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Obsc...


In this short and fast-paced book, Brian Clune, co-founder and historian for Planet Paranormal Radio and Planet Paranormal Investigations, offers descriptions of 12 Hollywood deaths and their paranormal aftermaths from the 1930s to contemporary times. The victims include Thelma Todd, The Black Dahlia, “Bugsy” Siegel, George Reeves, Marilyn Monroe, Ramon Novarro, Natalie Wood, John Belushi, Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls, and other figures less famous but connected to Hollywood in one way or another.

The 12 short, hit-and-run biographies summarize the lives and careers of people who unexpectedly died due to murder, suicide, overdoses, accidents, or sometimes the cause of death is questionable and controversial. When a fatality is controversial, Clune presents the most prevalent theories but rarely tends to support one possibility over another. It does seem he believes Robert Kennedy was a viable suspect in the death of Marilyn Monroe. While he sketches out Robert Wagner’s known involvement in the drowning of Natalie Wood, Clune doesn’t come out and accuse the actor of, at the very least, negligent homicide.

What links each of these deaths is the ongoing sightings of the deceased’s spirits in or near places associated with them, most frequently where their deaths occurred. These descriptions are often as fleeting as the sightings themselves. None of the ghosts described are what experts call “intelligent hauntings” as there seems little effort in these spirits to try to communicate with anyone. Rather, most of the subjects are “residual hauntings,” the only paranormal term Clune explains. These hauntings are like tape loops where events in the deceased’s lives are repeated over and over. Sometimes, the psychic impressions are directly related to the subject’s death; sometimes, thy echo happier events from the past.

In many cases, the observed figures seem confused or bewildered. Clune tells us this might be due to the dead one’s inability to cross over or the spirit has something unresolved to deal with on our plane of existence. In a few cases, the deceased might move objects around. Mostly, they are seen in mirrors, sensed but not seen, or observed walking from one place to another.

Clune simply recites sightings or similar events he knows about with a minimum of editorializing. While most readers are going to learn little about paranormal experiences, many of us will learn about people we knew little or nothing about before. For example, I knew nothing about actress Thelma Todd, and I’m not convinced about one of Clune’s longest paranormal descriptions. That’s what he calls the “possible curse of Roland West's yacht, Joyita.” For one thing, Todd was found dead in her garage apparently from carbon monoxide poisoning. But conspiracy buffs suggest the volatile West might have killed Todd on his yacht and had her body moved to her garage. Thereafter, the Joyita had a series of major misfortunes over several decades and for a series of different owners. Perhaps the yacht was indeed haunted. Hard to figure why Todd’s possible revenge might have outlasted West so she could curse people she never knew.

Whatever the case, readers of Hollywood Obscura should come to the book with a skeptical eye. It’s a very short read and not likely to convince anyone of anything and I’m not sure it was supposed to. If you’re into Hollywood history or after-death experiences, this could be a fun and fast read.


This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on July17, 2017:
goo.gl/4DRnwh