Carole Landis: A Tragic Life In Hollywood [Paperback]

E.J. Fleming (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786422009 | ISBN-13: 978-0786422005 | Publication Date: May 27, 2005

Before she was a glamorous actress, before she was a war-time pin-up star, even before she was Carole Landis, she was Frances Lillian Ridste, an insecure young girl from Wisconsin. She was strikingly beautiful, talented, and on her way to becoming a movie star, yet she spent her entire life searching for love. Though she appeared in more than 60 films during her short career, Landis was better known for her extraordinary beauty and many romantic relationships than for her acting or comedic timing. Like many starlets of the time, Landis worked her way up from uncredited bit parts (and according to rumors, from the casting couch) to leading roles in such films as Topper Returns (1940) and My Gal Sal (1942) over the course of her 11-year career. She spent more time visiting troops during World War II—traveling hundreds of thousands of miles and coming near death twice—than any other Hollywood star. Despite her seemingly glamorous and carefree life, Landis was unable to build a lasting relationship, a fact that contributed to her suicide at 29. This work examines Landis’s life and career in Hollywood, focusing on how her movie career affected her short, unhappy life.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

E.J. Fleming is also the author of The Fixers (2004), The Movieland Directory (2004) and Hollywood Death and Scandal Sites (2000). He lives in Barrington, Illinois.

Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers (May 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786422009
• ISBN-13: 978-0786422005
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,247,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fans Will Love This Book And Will Fall In Love With Carole Again, June 7, 2005

By 

MrsSchmidlapp (Hollywood, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carole Landis: A Tragic Life In Hollywood (Paperback)

This is without a doubt the definitive biography of Carole Landis. It was the first full-length biography written about Carole and in my opinion it's the best. The author did a lot of research on Carole's life and he discovered a ton of new information (like who Carole's father really was). There are many wonderful photos and some one-of-a-kind World War 2 candids you won't see anywhere else. I have been a fan of Carole for years and was shocked at how much I learned about her. By the end you will know the name of every man she dated, every address she ever lived at, her complete medical history, and even her favorite books. You will get to see all the different sides of Carole Landis - the star, the patriot, the feminist, the daughter, the friend, the seductress, and the victim. You get an in depth look at her romances with Busby Berkeley, Jacqueline Susann, and her four husbands. After reading it you will understand Carole's casual attitude towards sex and why she was plagued by vicious rumors throughout her career. I was very happy that several chapters were devoted to Carole's tireless efforts during World War 2. We are also finally given a detailed account of Carole's final hours and the events that took place after her death. The author is not afraid to put the blame for Carole's death on her lover Rex Harrison (it wasn't murder but the way he treated Carole led her to take her own life). In fact I think the only people who won't like this book are Rex Harrison fans. Carole is portrayed in a very sympathetic light but the author also makes her take responsible for many of the bad decisions her life (rushing into marriages, turning down good film roles). You will like Carole, you will want her to succeed, and you will be heartbroken by the way her story ends. I think the title of this book says it all - her life was truly tragic. The focus here is mainly on Carole's turbulent private life but you also get a good look at her career and her important films roles. There are a lot of juicy behind the scenes stories about the making of One Million BC and Moon Over Miami. At the end of the book you will find a complete filmography with notes. Of course this book is not perfect - there are some caption errors and I found it to be too critical of Carole's mother. Overall this is a wonderful biography about an unforgettable Hollywood icon and you will not be disappointed if you read it. Fans of Carole will fall in love her all over again and if you are just discovering Carole you will become her biggest fan. I hope that a movie producer read this book and decides to turn Carole's tragic story into a movie.

I also recommend EJ Fleming's book The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine which has a chapter about Carole and was the beginning of his research for this book.

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well worth reading, August 10, 2005

By 

Aunt Charlotte (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carole Landis: A Tragic Life In Hollywood (Paperback)

First, let me state my caveats as to why I am not giving this book five stars, and get it out of the way. Being a McFarland book, it was never really "edited," resulting in a fair number of typos (the funniest of which involves a theater catering to "blue color families"). And the author falls prey to--and mentions--every Kenneth Anger-inspired scandal he can squeeze in, even if they have no bearing at all on Carole Landis' life and career. Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Wallace Beery, Lupe Velez, Virginia Rappe (whom he flat-out calls a "whore")--all the old unfounded rumors are here, simply to spice up this book.

That being said, this is otherwise an excellent, well-researched bio of a neglected figure. Fleming writes well, and--unlike so many biographers--actually discusses in-depth Landis' films and performances, not settling for just dishing her private life. She was, after all, an actress, and her acting is indeed covered in-depth.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Carole deserves better, September 15, 2009

By 

Morgan Klug "Attorney & Actress" - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Carole Landis: A Tragic Life In Hollywood (Paperback)

I would have really liked to have liked this book more. I am all for bios of the stars--even (or especially) those who've been forgotten by many people. I get tired of the same thing over and over, and love nothing more than "discovering" the stories of real people who made it during the golden age of Hollywood. But.

First off, this book is so challenging to read. There needed to be an editor someplace--phrases come back one or two paragraphs later, the same things are said over and over, the timelines are hard to follow. At one point the author talks about how, even though she was an infant at the time, Ms. Landis would have been traumatized by the death of one of her brothers--I'm sure that's true, except that she was born after he died. People pop up (all of a sudden Ms. Landis's mom is living with her...since when?). There are misused words (unless free movie previews were indeed a big hit with blue 'colored' people).

I'm sure that it's very difficult to get documents from long ago, or interviews with people who would remember, but still--the author, when talking about Ms. Landis's birthdate, keeps refering to the common belief that it was on "New Year's Eve, 1919", however, he thinks it was several months 'later'--in March or April 1919. So do people believe it was New Year's Eve 1918? Or was it really 1919 and the author thinks she was older, born in spring of 1919?

The second thing is that the author for no good reason just tears apart pretty much every other actress alive during Ms. Landis's time. And for much of it he either comes right out and uses phrases like, "I think..." but it's when he just states things as fact that are opinions and gives no citations that the book really falls apart for me. Every situation involving Ms. Landis is presented like this: Ms. Landis was more beautiful and more talented and more kind than anyone and all of the rumors about her were lies. On the other hand, (insert the name of big female star of the same era)was clearly not as attractive, had no talent, couldn't act, was jealous and nasty for no reason, and by the way, they were big whores without any excuses (unlike Carole).

I'm sure Carole Landis was a lovely person. In many of her photographs and films she's lovely to look at. She's not a bad actress (the author wants you to believe that she would have had better roles but she was sooo talented that she blew others off the screen--really? How hard do you have to blow to get Victor Mature off the screen in 'One Million Years BC'?). She carried on, head high, through many difficulties, working hard. But it wouldn't have diminished her or this book to realize that Betty Grable was also compelling, Rita Hayworth could dance like a dream, that Gene Tierney was better than ok in the looks department. And the totally snide attacks sprinkled throughout the book about Grace Kelly come out of nowhere (not active at the same time in Hollywood) and so they just look like a personal problem the author has with her.

All in all, I'd rather have a flawed book about a lesser star than no book at all. You have to ignore all the issues with the book to get through it, but it's worth it just to discover Carole Landis. And think about the much better book she deserved.