A Dreadful Man: A Personal Intimate Book About George Sanders

Aherne, Brian

ISBN 10: 0671247972 / ISBN 13: 9780671247973

Published by Simon & Schuster, US, 1979

About this Item

Simon & Schuster 1979 2nd Printing Fine/Near Fine DJ Grey cloth spine with silver lettering and parchment color boards. 16 photo illustrated pages. Bright glossy dust jacket with back upper edge mended. In Plastic. 16+224=240 pages. 15.1 ounces. Size: 8 3/4 x 5 3/4 x 7/8 inches.

Seller Inventory # 374061

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Dreadful Man: A Personal Intimate Book About George Sanders
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster, US
• Publication Date: 1979
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0671247972
• ISBN 13: 9780671247973
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 2nd Printing.
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine DJ

About this title

Synopsis

In 1972, Broadway and movie actor George Sanders committed suicide at the age of 65 because, he wrote in a note he left, "I am bored." Brian Aherne, himself a famous and distinguished actor, was one of Sanders'close friends. In this intimate biography, he takes us into the private life of an amazingly talented star whose unpredictable behavior and brash temperament often led the author to joke that he was "a dreadful man," but who was nonetheless capable of genuine kindness and compassion. Sanders was undeniably a remarkable character As a young man in the Argentine, he shot a man in a duel. While living in California, he was offered the lead in the Broadway production of South Pacific after spending $5,000 to make a record of himself singing "Some Enchanted Evening" and sending it to Rodgers and Hammerstein, only to turn the role down. Always obsessed with escaping taxes, he turned his life into a continual worldwide excursion and lost over a million dollars in speculative business deals. Aherne recalls Sanders' brief, stormy and often hilarious marriage to Zsa Zsa Gabor, his long and happy marriage to Benita Colman, his sad deterioration and tragic death. A Dreadful Man is a splendid examination of a complex and fascinating personality. At the same time, it is a touching and extraordinary book about the friendships in a group of exceptionally gifted, talented and charming people: Sanders, mercurial, quixotic and moody; Benita Hume, Ronald Colman's widow, who eventually married Sanders; and Brian Aherne himself, not to mention a cast of equally distinguished players, who move through this brilliant narrative and those remarkable, lively and fascinating letters with wit and con brio.