Synopses & Reviews
“The most complete and engrossing biography yet of this exotic Southern girl...Excellent.”—Liz Smith
She was the sex symbol who dazzled all the other sex symbols. She was the temptress who drove Frank Sinatra to the brink of suicide and haunted him to the end of his life. Ernest Hemingway saved one of her kidney stones as a sacred memento, and Howard Hughes begged her to marry him—but she knocked out his front teeth instead.
She was one of the great icons in Hollywood history—star of The Killers, The Barefoot Contessa, and The Night of the Iguana—and one of the few whose actual life was grander and more colorful than any movie. Her jaw-dropping beauty, charismatic presence, and fabulous, scandalous adventures fueled the legend of Ava Gardner—Hollywoods most glamorous, restless and uninhibited star.
“A seductive book.”—The New York Times
“Deliciously entertaining.”—Publishers Weekly
“Irresistible and finally heartbreaking.”—The Newark Star-Ledger
“Super.”—USA Today
In this acclaimed first full biography of Gardner, Lee Server recreates—with great style and vivid detail—the actresss life, from her beginnings as a barefoot North Carolina farm girl to her heady days as a Hollywood goddess. He paints the full spectacle of her tumultuous private life—including her string of failed marriages to Mickey Rooney, Sinatra and Artie Shaw—and Gardners lifelong search for adventure and love.
Ava Gardner: “Love is Nothing” is both an exceptional work of biography and a richly entertaining read.
Review
"A seductive book." The New York Times
Review
"The most complete and engrossing biography yet of this exotic Southern girl....Excellent." Liz Smith
Review
"Irresistible and finally heartbreaking." The Newark Star-Ledger
Review
"Server capably assesses the hits and misses, languishing on those electric moments when the camera caught the 'feline sprawl of her exquisite body.' A no-holds-barred view of a larger-than-life star." Booklist
Synopsis
She was the sex symbol who dazzled all the other sex symbols. She was the temptress who drove Frank Sinatra to the brink of suicide and haunted him to the end of his life. Ernest Hemingway saved one of her kidney stones as a sacred memento, and Howard Hughes begged her to marry him but she knocked out his front teeth instead.
She was one of the great icons in Hollywood history star of The Killers, The Barefoot Contessa, and The Night of the Iguana and one of the few whose actual life was grander and more colorful than any movie. Her jaw-dropping beauty, charismatic presence, and fabulous, scandalous adventures fueled the legend of Ava Gardner Hollywood's most glamorous, restless and uninhibited star.
In this acclaimed first full biography of Gardner, Lee Server recreates with great style and vivid detail the actress's life, from her beginnings as a barefoot North Carolina farm girl to her heady days as a Hollywood goddess. He paints the full spectacle of her tumultuous private life including her string of failed marriages to Mickey Rooney, Sinatra and Artie Shaw and Gardner's lifelong search for adventure and love.
Ava Gardner: Love Is Nothing is both an exceptional work of biography and a richly entertaining read.
Synopsis
"The most complete and engrossing biography yet of this exotic Southern girl...Excellent."--Liz Smith
She was the sex symbol who dazzled all the other sex symbols. She was the temptress who drove Frank Sinatra to the brink of suicide and haunted him to the end of his life. Ernest Hemingway saved one of her kidney stones as a sacred memento, and Howard Hughes begged her to marry him--but she knocked out his front teeth instead.
She was one of the great icons in Hollywood history--star of The Killers, The Barefoot Contessa, and The Night of the Iguana--and one of the few whose actual life was grander and more colorful than any movie. Her jaw-dropping beauty, charismatic presence, and fabulous, scandalous adventures fueled the legend of Ava Gardner--Hollywood's most glamorous, restless and uninhibited star.
"A seductive book."--The New York Times
"Deliciously entertaining."--Publishers Weekly
"Irresistible and finally heartbreaking."--The Newark Star-Ledger
"Super."--USA Today
In this acclaimed first full biography of Gardner, Lee Server recreates--with great style and vivid detail--the actress's life, from her beginnings as a barefoot North Carolina farm girl to her heady days as a Hollywood goddess. He paints the full spectacle of her tumultuous private life--including her string of failed marriages to Mickey Rooney, Sinatra and Artie Shaw--and Gardner's lifelong search for adventure and love.
Ava Gardner: "Love is Nothing" is both an exceptional work of biography and a richly entertaining read.
Synopsis
"[An] excellent new work . . . One can only put down Hello, Gorgeous with renewed appreciation for Barbras single-mindedness, and with some glimpse of her inner struggle." —Liz Smith, syndicated columnist
Synopsis
“Barbra Streisand’s story may be the most triumphant case of revenge in show business history . . . Mann vividly evokes the atmosphere of Streisand’s New York.”—
New York Times In 1960, Barbra Streisand was just a seventeen-year-old Brooklyn kid with plenty of talent but no connections and certainly no money; her mother brought her soup to make sure she stayed fed as she took acting classes and scraped out a living. Just four years later, she was the top-selling female recording artist in America and the star of one of Broadway’s biggest hits. In Hello, Gorgeous, the acclaimed Hollywood biographer William Mann chronicles that dizzying ascent, telling the riveting behind-the-scenes story of how Streisand and her team transformed her from an unknown dreamer into one of the world’s most beloved superstars.
“Trying to figure out the Barbra Streisand mystique is no easy task, but author William Mann expertly captures the launch of her remarkable career in the early 1960s when a unique ‘star was born’ . . . Mann's meticulous research and insightful analysis go deeper than any previous biography: shedding light on the formative years that shaped Streisand's persona, debunking some myths . . . and providing a cultural snapshot of the wild and free-spirited era in which Streisand blossomed.”—USA Today
“In his masterful book, Mann captures one of the most fully realized pictures of the multi-hyphenate superstar to date . . . Many books have been written about Streisand but few, if any, put readers as close to the subject as Mann does."—Miami Herald
About the Author
WILLIAM J. MANN is the author of Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn, which was named a New York Times Notable Book, as well as several other acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction. He divides his time between Provincetown, Massachusetts, and New York City.