Synopses & Reviews
The first independent investigation of Woody Allen, our era's most celebrated, distinctive, and confounding filmmaker, reveals the controversial private life behind the icon. Until now, there has been little scrutiny of that life. The reason: Woody viewed biographers as the Ebola plague, dangerous, uncontrollable contagions that might squish his public persona into mousse.
Allen's prolific achievements are all but unparalleled in cinematic history. To fans, his films have always represented an ongoing autobiography, through which he has bared his self-deprecating overanalytical soul to the world. It was not until 1992, when his stormy private life turned into sensational headlines, that the cracks in the familiar persona appeared. The lines separating art and fact, myth and reality, public and private life, became increasingly blurred.
Marion Meade has tracked down scores of people in Allen's life who have never before spoken to an Allen biographer: boyhood pals; Brooklyn neighbors and teachers; colleagues Buddy Hackett and Mel Brooks from his early career as a television writer and stand-up comic; actors Maureen Stapleton, Max von Sydow, and Bob Hope; director Sydney Pollack; and the film reviewers who have followed his career for decades Vincent Canby, Roger Ebert, Stanley Kauffmann, Andrew Sarris, and John Simon. She also details the numerous examples of art imitating life in Allen's films, particularly the extraordinary saga behind his marriage to the adopted daughter of his long-time lover, Mia Farrow.
In reconstructing Allen's life, Meade explores the cult of celebrity in America how it is our own infatuation with the rich and famous that has made it possible for this supremely talented man to shrewdly manipulate both the media and the moviegoing public.
Review
"Scorching." New York Daily News
Review
"In the second Allen bio in as many months, novelist and biographer Meade provides a psychologically nuanced, tough-minded portrait of the filmmaker that's a good counterpoint to John Baxter's exhaustive coverage of Allen's oeuvre....While Meade certainly doesn't slight Allen's work, she has a better feel than the Paris-based Baxter for Allen's milieu, including the role of New York film critics, and uses a broader mix of sources to reconstruct it. (Allen refused to cooperate.) Accenting her agile narrative with pertinent shtick from his films, she presents Rashomon-like observations from friends and enemies about Allen's loyalty and ethics....Though she recognizes that 'the ubiquitous Greek chorus' of film critics still debate Allen's legacy, and that the filmmaker has indeed endured his scandals, Meade's pointed citation of Allen's ongoing rancor toward both his first wife and Farrow is what lingers in the reader's mind." Publishers Weekly
Review
"A literary Hedda Hopper dishes dirt on the director and evokes pity rather than disgust. Veteran biographer Meade gets down to business in her first chapter, which recounts Mia Farrows discovery of his erotic photos of her teenage daughter Soon-Yi. That unbeatable opening segues into a chronicle of Allen's life on-screen and with women, backed by a broad range of interviews with ex-wives, film associates, and paparazzi....Fueled by tart anecdote, graphic scene-making, and glib analysis, Meade's tell-all charges like a 20-muleteam People article. But it delivers on the biographical form's promise of illuminating portraiture, explaining why, after decades of boyishness, Allen now appears older than his age." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"This is not a vile book; it is accurate to its sources, its presentation of the facts of Woody Allen's life, while highly selective, is not irresponsible. It is actually quite a bit of fun to read, sort of like spending an evening reminiscing...with someone you have known familiarly but not intimately a former office mate or a world-renowned American filmmaker whose life is as crammed with detail as that of any 64-year-old..." New York Times Book Review
Review
"Insightful...colorful." London Sunday Times
Synopsis
Based on interviews with dozens of people who know him, both friend and foe, this biography examines the life and career of Woody Allen.
Synopsis
Comedian and filmmaker Woody Allen's closely guarded privacy came to an end in 1992 when he began a romantic relationship with then-wife Mia Farrow's adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. Up until that point, Allen had managed to portray his neuroses as a joke; after his break-up with Farrow, the public regarded Allen in a new light. In her biography, Meade reveals Allen to be a man as deeply troubled as he is remarkably talented. A director, actor, author, and clarinetist, Allen has won several Oscars and toured the world with his jazz band. He also spent decades considering suicide every day, and maintained a fierce control of his portrayal by the media. Through numerous interviews with childhood friends, colleagues from his days as a television writer and standup comic, actors who've worked with him, and numerous people in the film industry, Meade creates a challenging and well-rounded portrait of this familiar figure.
Description
Includes bibliographical references and index.
About the Author
Marion Meade is the author of Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This? ("Finally, this biography restores Parker to her true stature," raved the Chicago Tribune.) She has also written biographies of Buster Keaton, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Madame Blavatsky, and Victoria Woodhull, as well as two novels. A graduate of Northwestern University and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Meade has contributed articles to The New York Times, the Village Voice, Ms. Magazine, and Brill's Content.