Customer Reviews

Ann Sheridan: A Bio-Bibliography (Bio-Bibliographies in the Performing Arts)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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God bless Marge Shultz for shedding some light on the glamorous Ann Sheridan, a woman who had great talent to match her great sex appeal. This book tells you everything about Ann's upbringing, films(King's Row), television work (Pistols & Petticoats), and love life. My only complaints are the price($65.00), and the lack of pictures (A women as beautiful as Ann was warrents several pictures in a book about her!!!!). But overall Good Buy!!!

This is the only book (so far) on the wonderful actress Ann Sheridan. Thank goodness it's good! Ms. Schultz did an excellent job researching Sheridan's personal life and career. Although this is not a biography but rather a guide to her career, the book does provide a brief biography with lots of quotes from Sheridan and colleagues. The flaws are the fault of the publisher--not the writer. There is only one photograph. Also, no attempt has been made to make the book appealing. The design is drap and unappealing. Greenwood should be ashamed to charge so much. Again, this is not the writer's fault. Hopefully, this able writer/researcher will find a better publisher next time.

Ann Sheridan, a great Warner Brothers film star of the forties, probably never received her due. She started as a beauty contest winner in 1933 at the age of 18, worked as an extra and in bit parts at Paramount Pictures, toiled in B pictures at Warner Brothers for a few years and finally hit the big time in 1939, mainly due to a publicity stunt whereby she became billed as the Oomph girl. She probably made more poor films than any other actress who reached the top. What a waste! She could sing, play both comedy and drama and projected a forthright image which was very attractive. Her performances in "Torrid Zone", "The Man who Came to Dinner", "Kings Row", City for Conquest" and a few others have stood the test of time.

Margie Shulz is the best of the bio bibliographers. She has done a superb job compiling not only the film career of Sheridan but also her work in stage and television until she died of cancer far too young in the mid sixties. Even though the book is really an index, Shulz has still managed to provide real insight into Sheridan's likeable personality in the biographical essay which begins the book.

All the books in this series are expensive but there is not much available on Sheridan except some great interviews so it is worth the price for any true fan.

.....I knew I wasn't getting a full fledged bio when I ordered this book but if I had known that I would be getting a scant 42 page synopsis of Ann's life then I certainly would not have ordered it. Ms Schultz has written a fine reference book that is good for library historians but is not good reading for Sheridan fans who want to know more about this movie icon.

.....I got pretty much the same info on Wikipedia for free. On Wiki it claims that Ann had a child out of wedlock that she named Richard Sheridan and gave up for adoption. Then when she was in her final days, dying from cancer, she hired detectives to find her son so that they could be reunited before her death. She never revealed the identy of the father. I know that much of Wiki is unsourced so I don't know if this story is true or not. If anyone who reads this post has any info on this subject please leave me a comment.

.....Sheridan was a straight shooter who never got seduced by her fame or glamor girl image. What you saw was what you got. She had to fight with the studio bossess to get the role of Randy in King's Row. She had been treated by the studios as an empty headed chanteusse or a gangster's moll in many of her films but in King's Row she proved that she could act and it was by far her greatest role.

.....I hope someday that a skilled biographer will write a book filled with pictures and stories about her early days as a red headed tom boy growing up in a small North Texas town. Her early years mirrored her character in King's Row which is probably why she delivered such a fine performance.