Rex Harrison: The First Biography

A biography of the stage and film actor best known for his role as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, showing him to be a complex and difficult man as well as an extraordinary actor

The authors (Roger Moore cover Harrison's career in almost too-much detail in a biography that is more interesting as a history of the actor's performances than as an account of his personal life. We're told little beyond well-publicized stories of scandalous affairs and about his six marriages. Reginald Harrison, born in England in 1908, left home as a youth and acquired fame as he grew into his persona, Rex. Cast in major roles because of his immaculate delivery and urbane wit, the actor was feted in London and then called to Hollywood. But his career in film seemed doomed when actress Carole Landis killed herself for love of him, and he and his second wife, Lilli Palmer, were forced out of Hollywood. On Broadway, however, he starred in the Tony-winner, Anne of the Thousand Days and other plays, and his greatest triumph would be playing Shaw's Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady on both stage and screen. Photos not seen by PW. Nostalgia Book Club selection.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This would indeed appear to be the first biography of Rex Harrison, although he figured prominently in the memoirs of various other persons (often his ex-wives), and he did produce his own critically maligned autobiography, Rex (1975). The present book is perhaps a bit too reserved; nevertheless, it is a better-than-average show business biography, conscientiously assembled. Some of Harrison's wives and children cooperated in the writing of this book; Harrison himself did not. The star of My Fair Lady is shown to be incredibly self-centered and a generally disagreeable individual, although not without some virtues. Recommended for larger libraries. Nostalgia Book Club selection. John Smothers, Mommouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.