Customer Reviews

Fallen Angels: The Lives and Untimely Deaths of Fourteen Hollywood Beauties

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Considering the topic, it's no wonder you'll come away from this book feeling sad and a bit depressed at the amount of young lives that were cut short, either by their own hand or someone else's (and this isn't even touching the surface! Goodness knows how many lives come apart or end in Hollywood every single day because of broken dreams or the fact that some people are cut out to be the movie equivalent of one hit wonders and they just can't deal with it).

Much has been said about Hollywood over the years, and many pop singers and groups have made references to such in their songs, but it really doesn't hit home until you've read at least one account of just how sad, confused, and chaotic Hollywood life can be.

Crivello wrote much on Marilyn Monroe (who already had a library written about her when this book was published in 1988) but he also focused a lot of attention on other well-known actresses whose end came much too soon. He focused on Barbara Payton, who, in my opinion, had to have had the saddest life of all the women in this book. Here was a woman who made a strong impression in 1950 opposite James Cagney in "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" and, instead of being given bigger and/or better roles, she was given a secondary role in "Dallas" later that year. In time, her personal life, not her acting, became the focus of attention and that eventually led to studio executives shunning her because of who she dated and her own personal downfall because her professional life suffered because of it.

My personal favorite of this book is, of course, Sharon Tate. I'm always hungry to know more about her (since the focus has been on the wrong "people" all these years) and this was probably one of the only in-depth articles about her up until 1988. It wouldn't be until 12 years later when Greg King's book, "Sharon Tate and The Manson Murders," would hit bookshelves that a true book would be written about her life.

It has been heartbreaking over the years to hear about how not only her professional life was cut short but, more importantly, how her dream of motherhood was stolen from her. But one can't grasp the depth of that loss until you read what Crivello dug up in the mid-to-late 1980's (this before the advent of the Internet and ubiquitous use of computers). Sharon was so beautiful that agents didn't know what to do with her until she met Marty Ransohoff, who decided not to groom her for TV but for motion pictures. In the short years of her movie career, she was given either minor parts or parts in movies that tanked (she even told her roommate Sheila Wells to not bother to see her movies).

I've always been struck by Sharon's sweetness in the few mentions I've read about her and it was refreshing to see that Hollywood, as well as her beauty, didn't go to her head. I really wish she had a little bit more time to see what she would have done with her acting career.

Another case that tugged at me was Inger Stevens, star of the 1960's comedy, "The Farmer's Daughter." A touch of irony here is that because she was so embarrassed to be a foreigner when she came to the US at 13 years old, and the fact that her college professor father didn't want their native tongue spoken in the house, she lost her Swedish accent (which she would need for her future role).

She misconstrued casual encounters as the great loves of her life. Those affairs affected her so deeply that she tried to commit suicide on January 1, 1960. She was found three days later by a building janitor who was asked to break into her apartment at the request of an executive from NBC who was concerned that he hadn't from her in a few days. Miraculously, she survived (she suffered lifelong physical damage, such as blurred vision in one eye).

Because of her success on "The Farmer's Daughter," she was able to save and invest her money (which she did wisely). She gave generously of her time to charity but it just wasn't enough to beat the feelings of depression and loneliness she suffered throughout her life.

The end of the book is composed of one paragraph summations of starlets who lives ended, for the most part, by swallowing whole bottles of sleeping pills or swallowing barbiturates (these two methods of suicide seem to be wide-used by former actors and actresses).

Crivello drives home the point that the "Hollywood machine" is very successful in magnifying a person's insecurities. Even when someone had a successful role, their acting career looked bright, and they were able to live comfortably because of their hard work, it still couldn't beat out depression and other negative feelings.

Money and fame just cannot buy happiness and emotional security, no matter how long or hard you try.

This is definitely worth the read but, be forewarned, you'll come away from this book with a heavy feeling at the amount of young lives that were cut short by the Hollywood machine.

Now if we can only see the males side of the story.

I think the author was a little over the top in sensationalizing these actresses as having been "driven to tragic deaths by the Hollywood star machine", but the content appeared to be well researched and informative despite this formula. For instance, some of the actresses profiled actually died of fatal illnesses like cancer, which I don't feel can be construed as having been influenced by Hollywood star making pressures. Unless, of course, the author's contention is that the stress, or perhaps cigarette smoking required by the script, resulted in a work-related illnesses?

That aside, the information often resulted in learning "the end of the story" which was why I checked this book out of the library in the first place. Carole Landis was a distant cousin who died of suicide in 1948, close to twenty years before I was born. Her mother, Clara SENTEK Ridste was my paternal grandmother's first cousin. I stress the spelling because the only error I found in the section on Carole was her mother's maiden name listed as Stentek. Clara was close with her Minnesota relatives and visited upon occassion even after Carole's death. My own sister, Carole, was named after her. I'm sure no one will ever know exactly why Carole Landis chose to end her life, but this author did a good job of fleshing out a living portrait of her and the other "angels" as people with feelings, troubles, triumphs, and anxieties like the rest of us. I appreciated the three dimensional portraits of them all.

The author did a great job in researching and putting together the tragic stories of overlooked Hollywood actresses. I'm glad that someone cared enough all these years later to put their stories in book form. Another thing I liked in the author's sympathetic tone and the way he showed respect towards all the ladies.I believe he really had empathy for them. I highly recommend this book.

The women whose brief bios are in this book are:

Gail Russell
Sharon Tate
Barbara Payton
Inger Stevens
Carole Landis
Barbara Bates
Natalie Wood
Suzan Ball
Jean Seberg
Susan Peters
Marie McDonald
Gia Scala
Jayne Mansfield
Marilyn Monroe
Thema Todd
Dorothy Dell
Lyda Roberti
Gloria Dickson
Beryl Wallace
Abigail "Tommye" Adams
Ona Munson
Marta Toren
Judy Tyler
Lynne Baggett
Peg Entwistle
Helen Burgess
Peggy Shannon
Peggy O'Neill
Mimi Forsythe
Miroslava
Pat Williams
Doreen Woodbury
Rose Stradner
Diana Barrymore

Many years ago I read a very interesting article on
Peggy Shannon by Kirk Crivello and I must admit when
I saw he had written this book and the name of Peggy
Shannon appeared in the "blurbs", I bought it -
wanting to know more about "that red headed girl". I
was disappointed - she was restricted to a paragraph
in the last chapter entitled "Shattered Dreams". Saying
that, I thought it was a well written and well researched
homage to some beautiful actresses who were all over come
by the pressures of fame.

A few observations - I would have preferred a chapter on
Peggy Shannon, Thelma Todd or even Bella Darvi than Inger
Stevens, who was troubled but certainly her only memorable
career highlight was the TV show - "The Farmer's Daughter".
Natalie Wood's death also was just a tragic accident and
didn't seem to be the result of not being able to handle
fame. The actresses I felt were the most tragic and sad were
Gail Russell and Susan Peters. Russell should never have
become an actress, she was working toward a career as a
commercial artist when a Paramount executive saw a photo of
her (she was still at high school) and she was whisked into
a movie career. She got rave reviews from the start but her
shy and demure nature got in the way and she found she could
only face the cameras or an audience with the help of a drink
or two or three.

Susan Peters - I was actually crying when reading her chapter,
she was so beautiful inside and out. A real out doorsy girl who,
you just knew would have been a big star, she had already been
nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for "Random Harvest".
She was involved in a hunting accident and at the end she just gave
up on life. I usually don't like books which dwell on the downside
and sadness of tinsel town but this book was a beautiful tribute to
some actresses who were engulfed by the Hollywood myth.

I found this book to be one I couldn't put down. The biographies in here show that being in actress is, for most of them, a struggle.