Martin Gottfried (1933–2014)

Skimmed, because I was mostly interested in his relationship with Ruth Gordon and their son, Jones Gordon, though it had some entertaining stuff.

If the name isn't familiar, he was a theater producer and director, the wonder boy of the late '20 with four consecutive hits. But his career faltered and flamed out, eventually. He was a mean SOB who took great pleasure and pride in being a mean SOB - tormenting playwrights with false promises about producing their plays, insulting and belittling show more actors. He directed Laurence Olivier in "The Green Bay Tree" and on opening night he whispered to Olivier waiting in the wings, "Good-bye, Larry. I hope I never see you again." Olivier got his revenge by basing his portrayal of Richard III on Harris' movements, expressions, and appearance. George S. Kaufman famously said that when he died, he wanted to be cremated and have somebody throw his ashes in Jed Harris's face.

It's interesting to wonder what attracted Ruth Gordon, a woman of huge kindness, sweetness, and kindness to him. Probably some of it was his intelligence, and vice versa. He was hugely successful and Ruth liked the finer things in life, and in 1928 he was at the top of his game and sexy. She had Jones with him because she was afraid it was her last chance to have a baby after several abortions. Ruth got smart and moved on, but there was no shortage of women who were willing to put up with him. At least two who got involved with him killed themselves, apparently because of him.

He was hateful to his son Jones, too. When Jones was four years old he told a friend, "That kid's no good." Later, as a young man, Jones lived with him and endured constant criticism and thrown ashtrays.

Anyway, this book is mostly a collection of anecdotes about Harris and I ended up enjoying it, while feeling sorry for anyone who ever tried to do business with him or be in any kind of relationship with him. What a monster. Of course he lived to be almost 80, the stinkers always do. show less

As a fan of Angela Lansbury I very much enjoyed this, but there was an awareness throughout of this being an “authorised” biography. The advantage, obviously, is the tremendous access that Gottfried had while writing. The disadvantage is that certain subjects are definitely glossed over in deference to Angela’s wishes (her first marriage, her children’s drug use, etc). He writes that nothing that relates to Angela was censored, only things that impacted on other people’s privacy. show more Which may in fact be the case, but the many laudatory passages throughout don’t really suggest journalistic independence. Nevertheless I would recommend it to fans, as there is lots of interesting material. show less

A pleasant enough biography. Sometimes a bit gushing in its love for Burns but it does a pretty good job of covering his life.

Charming and inspiring, but not really more than you would expect. Gottfried is a New York theatre critic, so naturally this biography is most enamored with Lansbury's Broadway career (certainly a legitimate stance, since that's where she has had the most success). To his credit, Gottfried doesn't short on the details of the star's life in film and television. Personally, I would have preferred an autobiography. This is a good biography, but by no means a transcendent one. As a rabid fan of show more the actress, I enjoyed it, but I would limit my recommendation to a "fans-only" audience. show less