The Man Who Seduced Hollywood: The Life and Loves of Greg Bautzer, Tinseltown's Most Powerful Lawyer [Kindle Edition]

B. James Gladstone

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(Author), Robert Wagner (Foreword)

Book Description

In Hollywood history, no other lawyer has achieved the movie star–like fame and glamour that Greg Bautzer enjoyed. This revealing biography tells, for the first time, the amazing story of a self-made man who for 50 years used his irresistible charm and prodigious legal talent to dominate the courtrooms, boardrooms, and bedrooms of Hollywood. Columnists of the 1930s through 1950s dubbed him “Hollywood Bachelor Number One,” and for good reason. His long-term relationships and momentary conquests were a who’s who of leading ladies. Through exclusive interviews with those who knew him best, the book uncovers the inner workings of not only Bautzer the high-powered Hollywood lawyer—whose clients included billionaire Howard Hughes—but Bautzer the man.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Greg Bautzer was freshly graduated from law school in 1936, when he decided he wanted to become a Hollywood celebrity lawyer (at a time when there weren’t four or five celebrity attorneys for every actual celebrity). He did it, too, almost immediately forging a profitable relationship with Twentieth ­Century–Fox chairman Joe Schenk. As Gladstone tells it in this unusual take on Hollywood’s golden age, Bautzer cultivated an image as a dashing, eligible bachelor, an image designed to gain him maximum exposure in the high-flying circles where he hoped to find clients. The strategy worked, as over the years, he numbered some of show business’ biggest players among his clients, not to mention the world’s most famous recluse, Howard Hughes. Bautzer got so big that he is widely considered to have ­single-handedly masterminded Kirk Kerkorian’s hostile takeover of MGM in the late 1960s. In his time, he was as famous, as widely photographed, and as talked about as many big-name celebrities. This is a very good book about a very famous man who is now, sadly, almost entirely forgotten. --David Pitt

Review

"It’s been said, accurately I believe, that lawyers really run Hollywood—from papering the deals to preserving the myths of their celebrity clients. Many have tried, but few have plied that trade with the skills and panache of Tinseltown’s original legal Lothario, Greg Bautzer. There’s another expression: it takes one to know one—and boy does Hollywood attorney-turned-author James Gladstone know Bautzer. In The Man Who Seduced Hollywood, Gladstone combines meticulous research with a breezy writing style that Bautzer himself would have loved. Lana, Ginger, Rita, Ava, they’re all here, and they were all enthralled by Bautzer. If you miss the golden age of Hollywood—before the Kardashians, Hiltons, and Lohans usurped it—you won’t put this book down, as you read about how that once glamorous world danced to the tune of Gregson Bautzer, Esq." —Gus Russo, author of Supermob and The Outfit

"Greg Bautzer was the ultimate Hollywood Insider, swashbuckling attorney, legendary dealmaker, ladies man without peer. Powerful, glamorous, fearless--he stood up to Bugsy Siegel and Joan Crawford--Bautzer made the moguls tremble and the starlets and movie queens quiver. Jim Gladstone's The Man Who Seduced Hollywood, a never-before-told story, is fascinating, startling, impeccably researched and irresistibly entertaining." —Lee Server, author of Ava Gardner: Love is Nothing

“James Gladstone breathes life into the legendary swordsman, revealing the secrets of his romances, as well his talents as a consigliere to men such as Howard Hughes, Robert Evans, and Kirk Kerkorian. Lovingly researched, thoroughly enjoyable.” —John Buntin, author of L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City

“In his time, there was no more famous a lothario or as charismatic a ladies man or power player in Hollywood than lawyer Greg Bautzer. The instant I met him I understood why: he was dashing, charming, and pulled you into his orbit before you realized you’d been snagged. James Gladstone’s biography is the first to tell his story, and it’s filled with the kind of juicy inside information about everyone from Lana Turner to Ingrid Bergman and beyond that makes for a very lively, satisfying read.” —Robert Osborne, Hollywood historian and host of Turner Classic Movies

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 2222 KB
• Print Length: 380 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1613745796
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press (May 1, 2013)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00C8X0BQK
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray:
  Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,397 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #12 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Arts & Photography > Performing Arts
  • #24 in Books > Business & Money > Industries > Performing Arts
  • #32 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Lawyers & Judges

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 70 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Untold Hollywood Story May 1, 2013

By Zantigar

Format:Hardcover

Aside from it being the first biography of this phenomenal career, "The Man Who Seduced Hollywood" makes for quite a lively, captivating read. It's as if Bautzer were the Citizen Kane of entertainment lawyers, complete with nightclub dancing and studio takeovers. Mr. Gladstone makes legal cases of the stars accessible to the reader, revealing the emotional drives behind the proceedings - including everything from Ingrid Bergman's lengthy divorce to Kerkorian's takeover of MGM. Superbly done! Written in a clear and enjoyable style, it also works like a time machine, bringing us back to the heyday of Hollywood glamour and revealing the juicy facts we all love to know. From The Brown Derby to the Café Trocadero, Mr. Gladstone vividly transports us to the Golden Age of Hollywood, whisking us to the tables and dance floors of such legends as Lana Turner and Joan Crawford. The beautiful photo section of Bautzer with what seems like half of Hollywood's finest only clinches the deal. For all those who want to know the untold story of how the wheels of Hollywood were moved, I highly recommend "The Man Who Seduced Hollywood".

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for anyone interested in behind-the-scenes Hollywood History May 13, 2013

By R. Gale

Format:Hardcover|Verified Purchase

Actually, this might better be described as a Behind Behind-The-Scenes Hollywood history. We know about the men who ran the studios, but we don't know much about the men who advised them. This book provides a fascinating look at someone with whom I was unfamiliar, but who had his hand in an amazing number of high profile deals, and had another appendage in an amazing number of gorgeous movie stars. This was a man who screwed a lot of his female clients and they thoroughly enjoyed it! The book covers deal making, divorces, organized crime in Hollywood, and Howard Hughes (among other things), and is full of juicy and often unbelievable anecdotes involving Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Joan Crawford, Ingrid Bergman and Bugsy Siegel, to name just a few. Business will never be done this way again, and this gives us a compelling look at the way it was. Highly recommended!

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Business as Pleasure: A wonderful romp through Hollywood history May 13, 2013

By David O. Neuschulz

Format:Hardcover

This is a captivating tale of a man whose rise as a film industry power-broker nearly matches the trajectory of the Golden Age of Hollywood itself. Gladstone does a marvelous job bringing Bautzer to life in the context of a whole panoply of well-known Hollywood stars and elite. Indeed, within the industry, no distinction was made between Bautzer and the stars he represented and bedded; Bautzer was unquestionable A-List in Tinseltown. But the magic of the book is the magic of Bautzer himself, a man of dynamic charisma and self-destructive inner demons. Gladstone illuminates the ineffable way in which charisma sets the course of Bautzer's career, as well as the way in which seemingly opposite personality traits can coexist in a single person. Even more so, the author should be commended for not simply presenting a tale of schadenfreude (we've all read "Oh, look how all that glitz and glamor merely plastered over a seedy, gritty underbelly!" before), but really presents the industry as it was (and is), a series of interlocking, sometimes rational, sometimes irrational relationships. This little gem is, in its own way, the best precis of the Golden Age of Hollywood to come out in years!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb biography of a Hollywood legend! June 26, 2013

By StellaStar

Format:Hardcover|Verified Purchase

Whoever takes a serious interest in old Hollywood and starts exploring the web will, sooner or later, stumble upon the name of Greg Bautzer. The more you explore, the more and more the name pops up at the most unexpected of places. Greg Bautzer, Greg Bautzer. Why, you ask? He was, in a nutshell, the lawyer to the stars. His power in Hollywood was huge, and his reach was wide and his mark was deep.
This was a man who helped create Tinsel Town as we know it today.
Yet, why do more than 95% of the movie going public, who know who Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Charles Chaplin, Kate Hepburn (and so on) are, have no clue who Bautzer is?
Despite his obvious merits, Bautzer is not well known today.
The problem with him is that all info you can gather online puts him in a secondary role - he was either Howard Hughes' close associate, or Joan Crawford's boyfriend, Lana Turner's fiancée, Ingrid Bergman's lawyer, and the list goes on. It is an impressive one, speaking of a colossal figure, but the fact remains - Bautzer is always the marginal one, the less distinguished of the two names.

For this reason, I was very much surprised when Bautzer's biography surfaced. Never in a thousand years did I expect that, of all the neglected Golden Era Hollywood personalities (and that's a long list!), he would be one of the few selected to get his own book.
Mister Gladstone, the author, made a great choice. Bautzer was both a active player and spectator during many a hours that shaped Hollywood. His unique position - always there but never in the focus, makes him a wonderful subject for a biography, albeit not an easy one to write. Mister Gladstone strikes gold in this unenviable, gargantuan task that after all the heavy loads carried, reaps its own sweet reward.

Bautzer was a man of great complexity and extremes.
On the one hand, he was - as a true Tinsel Town resident - often a shallow and superficial man. Examples: dating several women at the same time - being a sucker for keeping up appearances, egoistical and a hedonist who liked to drink.
On the other hand, he was a genius lawyer, intellectually sharp, immensely charismatic - and most important of all - loyal and devoted to the very end to his friends and family.

Both sides are well presented and balanced in the book - I got a feeling of knowing so much about the man - not just the facts and dates, but HIM, his core and personality. Now comes the "biggest" ingenuity of the book (the very thing that puts it in a five star category - not an easy category to reach) - how much it is written in "Bautzer style".
Let me elaborate: while a familiarity develops towards Greg during reading, I never "felt" for him. Before you think this is a bad thing, I will say this: Bautzer was not a meek and overly emphatic man and this is exactly how he would have done it. Never in the book did I ache for him or shared his pain (as I did in some of the other biographiesI read in the past) - always he came off as an almost larger-than-life force, an intimidating ball of fire set on burning all hindrances and obstacles. There is no false sentimentality and things are made swiftly and to-the-point. Nothing sappy and lovely-dovely to find here. This way to go through life is both a blessing and a curse - it made him a powerhouse but also an emotional cripple. But that was just the way he was, and I accepted him as such. Pure genius from Mister Gladstone.

A warm recommendation to anyone interested in the golden age of Hollywood, a well written biography that gives a "second life" to a true Hollywood legend. Read more ›

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Hollywood of Old June 27, 2013

By Loretta Stromberg

Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

As a youth during the glamour days of Hollywood I was aware of the lawyer who dated the young starlets. Those were the times all of us teenagers dreamed of being rich movie stars. Lana Turner was like Cinderella only real.
This book tells all that was behind all the glitz and glam. All the gauze curtains were pulled away and the wizard was revealed. This was one of my favorite books I read, I read 64 that year. If the golden days of Hollywood intrigue you then you'll enjoy this book.