Customer Reviews

Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career

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I didn't know much about Kay before and I really enjoyed learning about her life. The authors used Kay's private diaries as the source for this book. There's quite a lot of juicy stuff in there about Kay's numerous affairs (with men and women) and her many abortions. The book also goes into a lot of detail about Kay's volunteer work during World War 2 when she traveled the world with Carole Landis, Mitzi Mayfair, and Martha Raye. What I liked best is that the authors include many of Kay's own diary entries in the book. This is really Kay finally telling her story to the world. There is also a filmography, lots of pictures, and a complete chronology of Kay's life. This is one movie star biography that is worth every penny!

I know there are other biographies out there about Kay but this one is simply the best.

Finally! The definitive biography on the life of almost forgotten movie star, Kay Francis, perhaps the screen's most notable diva of the 1930's and 40's, blessed with both an educated fashion sense and a speech impediment... Still a devoted legion somewhere out there, her remembering fans as well as newer devotees will be thrilled with the immense amount of research and meticulous attention to detail that obviously went into the writing of this book. Authors Lynn Kear and John Rossman have completely overshadowed any other fizzled efforts to capture this most fascinating subject, placing her back in her well deserved role as one of Hollywood's brightest and most beautiful cinematic stars.

Brimming with historic photographs, publicity shots, and movie stills, this tremendous effort uncovers genealogical occurrences prior to Kay's birth, thoroughly examines the less successful stage career of her mother, actress and vaudevillian Katherine Clinton, and unravels the many financial blunders of her often absent father, Joe Gibbs. The book then follows Kay through a most unstable adolescence and reveals the ravenous details of Kay's meteoric rise from secretarial school and fashion savvy hopeful to the top of her chosen profession as she became, during The Great Depression no less, the highest paid film actress on the Warner Brothers' lot. The authors have also mined the cryptic details of calendar diaries left behind by the elusive star and in doing so, have reconstructed her extraordinary appetite for sexual escapades with both men and women, some of them legendary Hollywood icons like herself.

Kay Francis-A Passionate Life and Career, McFarland copyright 2006, captures the decadence and moral abandonment of what was undoubtedly Hollywood's most fascinating era with well placed poignancy and understanding. In these pages, the authors have revealed their subject as a mere mortal capable of bizarre behaviors and ethical meandering while celebrating her tremendous international success as a film star and acknowledging her passionate disdain for the entertainment industry that gave her everything. Francis' later years, some of them spent back on the stage in both Broadway and summer stock ventures, are also well documented as she begins to slip into the obscurity she often said she craved and finds herself living a more isolated existence and dealing with health issues, many of them brought on by the hedonistic exploits of her exotic and wayward youth.

Authors Kear and Rossman have sculpted a remarkable and definitive review of the legendary life and career of this not quite forgotten movie star. They've included a chronology, complete with film release dates, and a detailed filmography of all 68 of her motion pictures, as well as chapter notes acknowledging their meticulously researched sources. With apologies to "Miss Fwancis", we must acknowledge this book to be the most memorable Hollywood biography we've read in recent years.

This year movie buffs are extremely fortunate because out on the market is not one but two wonderful new biographies of the actress who "couldn't wait to be forgotten"--Kay Francis. Lynn Kear and John Rossman have done a superb job of detailing Kay's life with an especially rich section about her early life--prior to Hollywood stardom. The book also captures the essence of the jazz age of the 1920's when women were coming out of their shells and becoming less uninhibited. In many ways Kay Francis was the epitomization of the free spirited women of the jazz age. The book, as usual for a McFarland product, is lovely to look at and the picture quality is superb. Both books quote from Kay's diaries which were long forgotten at a University archives. The diaries provide much of the dynamic revelations in the narrative--Kay's candid thoughts about her life and (many) lovers. Kay Francis certainly did, as the title says, have a passionate life--and a career which movie buffs and fans can easily appreciate. We are fortunate to have this wonderful book as a reminder of that life and career.

This book is a treasure of intimate details and provides a unique perspective on the 1920's, 30's and 40's. This is not a stereotypical romantic view of that time, but a gritty investigation of the life of Kay Francis and the Hollywood elite. It is well written with numerous authentic photographs and references to the private journals of Kay and her decadent world. It is an honest and revealing portrait of an individual and how "the other half lived". I highly recommend this book for history and movie buffs both.

This is one of the best biographies I have ever read. You can tell the authors put a lot of time and effort into this work - it's a true labor of love. Filled with beautiful photos and extensive bibliographical notes, this one is a keeper. Who knew Miss Francis was such a "wild child"? Whether you're a film scholar or a movie buff, Lynn Kear's book deserves a special spot in your bookcase.

Kay Francis fans and classic movie buffs should rejoice as Lynn Kear and John Rossman have written the perfect companion book to Scott O'Brien's excellent biography, "I Can't Wait to be Forgotten". While O'Brien's book expertly focuses on Kay Francis' film and theater career, "Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career" delves deeply into Kay's private life.
As a long-time Kay Francis "fan-atic" and researcher, I was impressed with the wealth of information included in this book. The authors have done an amazing job of collecting and compiling previously unknown materials on this reclusive and enigmatic actress. Utilizing Kay's personal diaries and scrapbook collection, the authors have created an accessible and fascinating look at one of Hollywood's best (and most neglected) actresses of the 1930s. The information on Kay's parents and her later television and stage appearances are particularly well documented. This book also includes many lovely and rare photographs.
For too many years, this elegant and highly accomplished actress has been ignored by modern day film audiences. Only a handful of her films are commercially available on VHS and DVD. It is hoped that this book, along with Mr. O'Brien's book, will help spark a renewed interest in her film career. Those who have fallen under her spell due to several excellent films, such as "One Way Passage", "Trouble in Paradise", "Confession", "In Name Only" and countless other classic film, will agree that Kay Francis' time has finally come.

Kear and Rossman have made a major contribution to our understanding of this glamorous and intriguing star. With great skill, they meet the reader's expectation of being told a captivating story, while staying true to the demands of scholarship. The book is extremely well-researched, and as thoroughly documented as any scholarly user could want, but never dull or plodding. Supplementing the text is a generous selection of striking photos.

This will be *the* work on Kay Francis for quite some time to come. If you've been tantalized by the brief mentions of Francis in other film writings, here's your chance to find out more -- lots more.

I must admit, I didn't know a lot about Kay Francis going into this book but I had seen her in a couple of films and I went the extra mile to delve deeper into her life and career. I was glad I did! Oh, what a life! Oh, what a career!

This book is the definitive reference to Kay's life, both on and off the screen. Her exciting career, her steamy sex life and the best part...much of this book is based on Kay's own personal diary entries. You can't get better than that!

If you know nothing about Kay and you're intrigued with her life, the way I was, you'll learn everything you want and need to know by reading "Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career." If you know everything about Kay Francis, you're wrong. You only THINK you do! Without a doubt you'll learn something new here with the turn of every page!

Great book!

Kay Francis is one of those actresses that you either get or you don't. It isn't that she's so complex, it's that Kay is in on the joke and those who enjoy her performances are in on it too. Yes, she's dressed to the nines while playing someone down on their luck -but you didn't come in off the Depression era streets to see someone in rags, now did you? She wasn't the best actress and she wasn't the worst, she was better than Norma Shearer (and I love Norma!) despite Mrs Thalberg's Oscar.

It always surprised me that no one had written a dishy biography about Kay Francis. She was such a huge star in the 1930s and she did have all those husbands. Unfortunately for potential biographers, but fortunately for her, Kay was discrete. And Kay had a lot to be discrete about. She told much of it to her diary and based on the extracts presented here, Kay is my new dead best friend. Anyone who can sum up a day with "Read my new script - dear God!" is girlfriend material.

The authors cover Kay's career in detail and with the loving assessments of devoted fans. I'm right there with them in enjoying Kay's performances in movies like Mandalay and I Found Stella Parish. As film historian Jeanine Basinger put it in A Women's View, Kay was presence, not talent. That's not as harsh as it sounds, it's a simple assertion that Kay wasn't trying to be the great tragedian. Kay was focused on entertaining, not winning awards.

Kay did have a little time left over for her personal life. You can either look at it as quite depressing - 3 divorces, multiple abortions and a drinking problem - or you can see it as a strong woman living her life on her terms in times when women had few options. I prefer the latter interpretation and with lines from her diary like "Did something and had good time but can't remember" you get the feeling Kay preferred the latter, too.

This is a book for Kay Francis fans and movie buffs who want to know more about an undeservedly forgotten star.

This is a very detailed book about the life of Kay Francis. The authors present a chronology of Kay Francis' life based on her diaries and other extensive research. Kear & Rossman provide intimate details of her life in an unbiased and thoughtful manner. The authors were able to convey their love of Kay thru the book. We receive a glimpse into the life of a Hollywood actress in the 20s & 30s. This book will appeal to people interested in Kay Francis and Hollywood. I enjoyed it because it shows the individuality of Kay Francis. Her charity work, midwestern values, sexual encounters, and career are all presented in the book. The pictures were great and interesting.
The book left me wanting to know more about Kay Francis and the movies she starred in. I highly recommend this book.