George Cukor: A Double Life: A Biography of the Gentleman Director

Relates the life of top Hollywood director George Cukor, who guided to stardom such legendary actresses as Garbo, Bergman, Garland, and Hepburn, and who led a secret double life as a homosexual

McGilligan ( Robert Altman ) summarizes the disdain of the male heterosexual-dominated movie industry toward homosexual director George Cukor (1899-1983) when he quotes producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz: "In a way, George Cukor was the first great female director of Hollywood." Cukor, who received an Oscar for My Fair Lady , is not portrayed as a persecuted innocent in this intriguing book; we're shown that he was promiscuous, petty and, ironically, not above stereotyping homosexuals in his films. The book tells as well of the decline of Hollywood's Golden Age because of competition from television, Red Scare blacklisting and studio reorganizations. Interesting insights into Hollywood deal-making are also provided. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Rich character study of homosexual film-director Cukor, famed for his handling of actresses, by McGilligan (Robert Altman: Jumping off the Cliff, 1989, etc.). A Hungarian-American Jew with no interest in Judaism, Cukor spent his professional life fearful of exposure as a gay--though nearly everyone knew that he was one. In his early years in the theater, as a stage director in Rochester and on Broadway, homosexuality was commonly accepted, although in the 30's Cukor tried in vain to have the ``moral turpitude'' clause removed from his MGM contract. The 40's and 50's found gays less accepted and Cukor's fears justified. Only once did scandal brush him, when he and a fellow gay looking for rough trade were mugged by sailors--an incident hushed up by MGM. Cukor was famed for lavish parties and the quiet Sunday get-togethers of his ``chief unit,'' or old-time gays. He resisted any deeper feelings about sex, always paying off his young men in cash, even into his 80s. On the other side of his double life, he was the only gay film director of major rank. His career included discovering Katharine Hepburn, with whom he made ten films; directing Garbo in her greatest film, Camille, and possibly her worst, Two-Faced Woman; directing Judy Garland in A Star Is Born, Marilyn Monroe in Let's Make Love and her tragically ill-fated Something's Got to Give. Gable had him fired from Gone with the Wind, claiming he couldn't work with ``a fairy.'' Cukor's other classics included David Copperfield, Jean Harlow's Dinner at Eight, Ingrid Bergman's Gaslight, and Hepburn's The Philadelphia Story, among many others. The past recaptured, keenly and zestfully. Not to be missed. (Sixteen pages of b&w photographs--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Cukor was one of the top directors of Hollywood's studio era, and was known as the "women's director" for consistently drawing fine performances from his leading ladies. For as significant a figure as Cukor, however, there is little available information aside from a handful of critical studies of his films and a series of interviews conducted by Gavin Lambert, On Cukor ( LJ 9/1/72). This is the first full-fledged biography, and it is a good one. McGilligan ( Robert Altman: Jumping off the Cliff , LJ 5/1/89) researched archival materials and interviewed scores of backstage voices to fashion a compelling portrait of a homosexual artist working in a time and a community wherein discretion regarding one's sexual orientation was necessary. McGilligan places the open secret of this "double life" at the heart of Cukor's life and work. The book is rich in anecdotes, gossip, and lore, and should appeal to general readers and movie buffs as well as film scholars.
- John Maxymuk, Rutgers Univ. Lib., Camden, N.J.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.