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87 of 91 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A BOOK TO KEEP BESIDE YOUR TV SET, December 19, 2001
This review is from: The Hollywood Book of Death: The Bizarre, Often Sordid, Passings of More than 125 American Movie and TV Idols (Paperback)
You're sitting there watching some great old movie on Turner Classics, when a familiar face stops you -- who IS that sweet old woman? and you realize that it's Auntie Em from "The Wizard of Oz." You gradually remember her name -- Clara Blandick -- and then you wonder whatever happened to her. So you pick up THE HOLLYWOOD BOOK OF DEATH, and it makes you sad to read that Auntie Em killed herself because she was in so much pain from arthritis. But then you start flipping the pages, and you just can't stop reading. You find many of your old favorites, including stars who died accidentally or were murdered, or died from booze or drugs. You start reading the group of "Puzzling Deaths," and when you look up several hours later, you realize that you forgot to watch that movie you really wanted to see. How many books can do that to you?
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38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Grave Matters, April 11, 2004
This review is from: The Hollywood Book of Death: The Bizarre, Often Sordid, Passings of More than 125 American Movie and TV Idols (Paperback)
Celebrities. There has always been an incredible fascination with the ins and outs of a celebrity and everything that goes with it. It's been that way for decades and decades. While some may be interested in what they do or spend, nothing is more interesting and fascinating than the tale of a star who's time has come and gone and are no longer with this. This decent sized book tells the tale of over 125 celebrities who have passed on to that big silver screen in the sky. Some big names, some you have probably never heard of before in your life. The big name stars that are featured in this book like Mary Pickford, W.C. Fields, River Phoenix, Bela Lugosi, Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard, and a ton of others, are always interesting to read about. But it is the people you are not familiar with that comes across as more intriguing. The book is divided into a couple of different categories dealing with the way of death. There is the first section, "Accidental Deaths", which is pretty much self explanatory. People in this section include Sonny Bono, Grace Kelly, Brandon Lee, and a dozen others. Then there is the "Alcohol And Drugs" section, where such celebs as Belushi, Barrymore, Farley, and Holden among others will be found. There is "In Obscurity", a section with lesser known performers, although Martha Raye is in here along with Clara Bow and Hedy Lamarr. This section deals with entertainrs who, well, went into obscurity. The book rounds out with "Murders", "Natural Causes", which does have a lot of people in it but does not fill up the book at all like an earlier review said. Plus, there is "Puzzling Deaths" and "Suicides". Some entertainers get a lenghty enough tribute, while some others don't. But I found each one to be appropriate to the level of star they were talking about and gave as good enough of information as there needed to be. There were definitley some doozies in here in regards to the person themself and their demise. Their is definitley bizarre and sordid stories in here as the title of the book says. While some may of died of old age or some other kind of natural cause, there is still usually enough interesting things and facts written about them that still makes it worthwhile, even when the ones that died normally, well, died normally. Plus you get fun little tall tales about people like John Barrymore. As legend has it, his body was borrowed from the morgue and taken back to Errol Flynn's house by his buddies and propped up making it look as though he didn't die. This, of course, sent Errol running out of the house. There are a few odds and ends like that here and there, and it's part of the fun that this book has between it's pages. The author, James Parrish, put together a nice and interesting book that is sure to be eaten up by any fan intrigued by the subject. I know I was.
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50 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
INTERESTING, BUT, February 8, 2002
This review is from: The Hollywood Book of Death: The Bizarre, Often Sordid, Passings of More than 125 American Movie and TV Idols (Paperback)
I have what is essentially two other copies of this book published under different titles that date back to pre-1994. This incarnation includes an index which matches cemeteries and their dead celeb residents. Beware that if you plan to use this as a cemetery tour book, there are some serious inaccuracies contained within.
What particularly irks me is that the author used bad sources for his information and didn't verify his information. This was not necessary as most of this information could have been verified online. Far better and more accurate information in print can be obtained by buying a recent book by Allen Ellenberg that covers LA County cemeteries. THE INFORMATION IN THIS BOOK IS ACCURATE AS OF ITS DATE OF PUBLICATION.
My biggest personal gripe with this book.....if you are going to repackage it as 'new', it would be really nice if an attempt were made to correct past errors. If this was done, it is not evident to me. As for the bulk of the book which contains stories of heartbreak and (eventually) death, this book is a good read. Parish is a good writer and manages to keep his reader hooked.
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