George Sanders: An Exhausted Life

by Richard Vanderbeets

An intriguing portrait of a complex personality. --Michael Medved,Sneak Preview

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

271 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1990

Reviews

[Jennifer Lafferty]

A very thorough and insightful portrait of a complex actor. I enjoyed this well researched in-depth biography of the iconic George Sanders, who came across as even more interesting than his indelible persona.

[Mark Mellon]

This was an interesting bio, although disappointingly rather cursory, even if it's considered the best of this fascinating actor. The master of languid British disdain, Sanders had a lively career portraying foppish cads. Among other interesting features, Sanders was an illegitimate descendant of the Romanovs through his father. This might account for his quite Slavic inset eyes and very proud Russian nose.

One deficiency in the book is that, while the author pays attention to some of his most famous roles in films like Rebecca, he ignores a lot of his other work. He does do a good job, however, of discussing Sanders's personal life, his deep, lively intelligence, reclusive nature, affairs of the heart (to include Zsa Zsa Gabor), and involvement late in life with a disastrous business scheme.

All in all, this is probably the best bio of Sanders to be found, given that it's been forty-five years since his death and most people have probably largely forgotten him by now.