Ida Lupino: A Biography [Hardcover]

William Donati (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1996

"Ida Lupino (1918-1995) was more than a gorgeous image of film noir in the forties and fifties who starred in classics such as They Drive By Night, High Sierra, and Road House. Lupino also evolved into one of Hollywood's earliest female directors whose work was described by Martin Scorsese as ""resilient, with a remarkable empathy for the fragile and heartbroken."" William Donati chronicles the dramatic life of one of Hollywood's most prolific, substantive, and innovative artists, both behind and in front of the camera."

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Best known as a femme fatale in films such as They Drive by Night (1940) and Road House (1948), Ida Lupino (1918-1995) was born into a British theatrical family and went to Hollywood at the age of 15. Her first contract was with Paramount Pictures, after which she moved on to Warner Brothers, where she and Bogart made their breakthrough film, High Sierra, in 1941. Thereafter followed a succession of films noirs in which she "portrayed mad and bad dames." Considering herself "a poor man's Bette Davis," Lupino rose above the glamour of the silver screen to become a respected film director. She founded her own company, Filmmakers, which specialized in low-budget films on socially controversial themes. Lupino was married at various times to actor Louis Hayward, studio exec Collier Young and actor Howard Duff, with whom she had a daughter. Donati (coauthor with Buster Wiles of My Days with Errol Flynn) adores his subject but doesn't shrink from showing blemishes, such as the high-strung personality inclined to erratic mood swings. He depicts Lupino as a spirited, multitalented artist who besides her film career wrote many songs and made numerous radio and TV appearances. The appendix includes a detailed filmography. Photos.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Despite being published by a university press, this is a typical movie star biography. What sets it somewhat apart is the subject itself: Lupino was not only an effective second-rank movie star but also Hollywood's only female director while she worked in that capacity from 1949 to 1953. Subsequently, she continued to act and directed many shows on television (and one final film in 1966). While he sometimes displays a touching faith in the veracity of press releases, Donati has done well researching print sources. He also spoke to her co-workers (but none of her three husbands), as well as interviewing Lupino once face to face and "many" times on the phone, although the notes at the end of the book show only two citations from the phone conversations. The result will interest anyone knowledgeable about the golden era of cinema.?John Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 323 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky; 1st, No Additional Printing Listed edition (April 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813118956
• ISBN-13: 978-0813118956
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #961,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lupino was one "tough dame" both on-screen and off., April 27, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Ida Lupino: A Biography (Hardcover)

In the best cigarette-stained vernacular of 1940's film noir, Ida Lupino was one "tough dame." With steely eyes, a husky voice, and a tongue quickened by candor, the woman earned her celluloid stripes by rarely backing down. And judging by William Donati's well- researched work, Ida Lupino: A Biography, the actress's headstrong screen persona matched her real-life manners. Like a downtown train, Lupino had moxie. When Lupino died two years ago at age seventy-seven, interested readers were still waiting for the star's definitive biography. Donati's book fills that void. The author offers up a linear, plainspoken account of Lupino's long career as a film and television actress, and, more important, her maverick role as one of Hollywood's first female directors. British-born, and reared in a famous, theatrical family, Lupino landed in Hollywood in 1933, determined to succeed. Her ambition, however, bordered on arrogance. Despite a generous $600 a week salary from Paramount, the young actress opposed the studio's plan to cast her as an ingénue. Donati recounts how Lupino upset the applecart by refusing to appear in Cleopatra, where "she was given five lines and expected to stand behind Claudette Colbert waving a large palm frond." Lupino's defiance led to a suspension, her first scrap in a lifelong tangle with studio heads. Her early frustration with "shallow roles and mediocre films" hastened both a break with Paramount and a shrewd, propitious makeover. Gone was the blond, Kewpie Doll look modeled after Jean Harlow. In its place, Lupino reverted to her natural brown hair, while fashioning a dark, hard-boiled mien that became her stock in trade. By the early 1940s she was working at Warner Brothers, winning acclaim in They Drive by Night, Out of the Fog, The Sea Wolf, and her benchmark film, High Sierra, where she earned top billing over a still unheralded Humphrey Bogart. Donati examines the full Lupino canon - performances consisting mostly of a woman gone bad, gone mad, or, if nothing else, a woman dangerously out of kilter. Still, he fails to note the irony in a fiercely independent Lupino, who, having once rebelled against typecasting, being typecast just the same. In one melodrama after another, Lupino played femme fatales, prone to anger, hysteria, and ill fortune. The actress herself liked to say that she made her money as "a poor man's Bette Davis." It's no wonder that Lupino's roles rattled the Motion Picture Producers and Distributers of America, or MPA - a watchdog group headed by Joseph Breen. In one example, Donati cites the MPA's Production Code taking exception to Lupino's "bad girl" portrayal in The Sea Wolf: "Before filming, the Breen Office informed Warner Brothers that Ida's character could not be a prostitute nor could she be referred to as a slut. A revised script made her `a fugitive of justice.'" Acting chores aside, the more trenchant sections of Donati's Ida Lupino: A Biography center on the woman's pioneering role as a director. Lupino's second career, this time behind the camera, was christened by chance in 1949 when she substituted for an ailing Elmer Clifton on the set of Not Wanted. Soon, Lupino was directing low-budget, but socially conscious and progressive movies for Filmakers, an upstart company which she partially controlled. Not Wanted tackled the then taboo subject of unwed mothers. Lupino's other directorial efforts include The Bigamist, The Hitch-Hiker, and Never Fear, a merciful and realistic look at America's polio epidemic. Except for Not Wanted, these films were unprofitable, yet they afforded the female director a freedom to visit artistic avenues ignored by standard matinee fare. Donati makes a case for Lupino as Hollywood's first feminist - a heady title long before modern feminism came into vogue. Years later, Lupino oddly disparaged the feminist movement. Donati quotes from a 1972 interview: "Ida proclaimed she was not `one of the ladies who go in for women's lib. Any woman who wishes to smash into the world of men isn't very feminine. . . . Baby, we can't go smashing. I believe women should be struck regularly like a gong.'" Unlike the rap sheet of scandals that often saturate current biographies, Donati's book is refreshingly tame. While there is the usual litany of broken marriages - Lupino had three husbands, Howard Duff being her last and most satisfying - the author's raciest anecdotes concern Lupino's self-professed "psychic powers" and her bizarre affinity for mysticism. And if Donati's prose sometimes devolves into boosterism: "Ida was finally achieving the screen recognition she deserved," his aboveboard agenda is admirable. Where film historians ultimately rank Lupino's work remains debatable. One thing, however, is certain: Ida Lupino was a feisty woman. On-screen and off, she shot holes in Hollywood's male-dominated club. Not bad for the cinema's favorite gun moll.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a look at Hollywood's forgotten queen, Ida Lupino, November 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Ida Lupino: A Biography (Paperback)

William Donati's book, Ida Lupino, a biography, was very interesting and well written. Some of the data is in line with the A and E biography, but some is not. I have to agree with just one of the other reviewers in the fact that very little is said about Ms. Lupino's daughter, Bridget Duff as a grown woman. It came out very strongly that Ms.Lupino had a never ending concern about what her father thought. Ms. Lupino's roles on the screen were that of woman who, while flawed, were very interesting. One could not help to think about what would have happened if she was given better roles. Her constant feuds with Warner Bros. and many suspensions for not accepting lousy parts were outlined in the book. Another thing that the book does not go into is, why after 60 plus movies as an actress, 6 as a directors and 100+ as a TV director, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and sciences and the Emmy Awards has completely overlooked Lupino. Overall, I liked the book very much.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Reasonable overview, many open questions, November 21, 2004

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This review is from: Ida Lupino: A Biography (Paperback)

Donati has written a respectful and seemingly accurate portrait of Ida Lupino as star, director and woman. A reader looking for basic biographical data on a deeper-than-encylopedia level will find what they are looking for with this book.

Donati, unfortunately, writes with a noticeable lack of flair and manages to nearly make Lupino boring. This is no mean feat, given how colorful and important she was. He does not place her films into a critical or historical context. Nor does he really explore her character on anything more than a surface psychological level. Furthermore, in his focus on her romantic life, he overlooks or skips over other important relationships that she had with other women. The most obvious omission is her adult relationship with her daughter.

Useful for class assignments, but other readers may want to wait for a better treatment.