Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A hard read for me, but the whole story at last., April 2, 2007
Right off, let me note that this book is about my mother, Barbara Payton, so of course I have a strong reason to care about it. My initial reluctance to be interviewed by Mr. O'Dowd, and my deep doubt about the use for another person out to make money off my mother made it a hard sell. But, I came to know John and trust him to tell the whole story, to tell it from all sides, to research it to an extent that would be laudable for any biography, and to include the good and the bad, leaving it for the reader to reach his or her own conclusion. I love my mother and have always been proud of her, but I'm realistic that her life was mostly great success and great failure. The author has done a good job. I found the book a pleasure and an agony to read, but I'm grateful for it and hope you will give it a read. It is a fine piece of work. - John Lee Payton
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hollywood horror story with heart, May 14, 2007
"Unputdownable" is a clunky word that turns up far too often in book reviews, but it's applicable to this meticulously researched bio of Payton, who for a short time was one of Hollywood's golden blondes--and was for a painfully long time among the most miserable and dissolute of Hollywood's forgotten lost souls. O'Dowd has contacted relatives, former spouses, and many other primary sources to relate what will be the definitive account of the life of this clever, beautiful, and ambitious woman who was done in by her own demons, genetic predispositions, and impulsive, incautious behavior. To O'Dowd's credit, he makes Payton's sudden rise to fame as compelling as her crash-landing; seldom has an actress catapulted so rapidly from near-obscurity to starring roles in A-pictures opposite the likes of James Cagney and Gregory Peck. The book isn't just the final word on Payton, but the last word on her handsome but wretched consort, actor Tom "Detour" Neal, and the vicious love triangle whose third party was film star Franchot Tone. In the end, the intertwined relationships annihilated Payton and Neal's careers, and almost literally killed Tone (in one of the most infamous and brutal fistfights in Hollywood history). Payton's subsequent decline is awful, and Neal's dissipation and early death are nearly as hideous. O'Dowd writes with a relentless vigor that often shades to purple, and can't quite make up his mind whether Payton & Neal's downfalls were the results of our stars' flaws, a rapacious and uncaring Hollywood system, or that old standby, fate. O'Dowd's uncertainty, though, emerges as a positive element that allows the reader to decide the truth--if any meaningful truth at all exists in this tangled, obsessive story. The comments of Barbara Payton's son, elsewhere on this page, are touching because they reflect his mother's ability to love, and her inability to provide responsible care. In all, a remarkably affecting biography, handsomely produced by Bear Manor.
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Should be Required Reading for Lindsay Lohan, April 11, 2007
I became fascinated with Barbara Payton's tortured life several years ago when I was fortunate enough to see a rare screening of her "star turn" in the Atomic Comedy, "Run for the Hills" opposite the always underrated Sonny Tufts. My host for this screening casually mentioned Payton's pitiful latter years as a drunk and prostitute and I became intrigued. She seems so wholesome in "Run for the Hills"! Unfortunately, until now, the biographical material on this troubled star was difficult to track down. Payton's own autobiography, "I Am Not Ashamed" was a book she "wrote" for a quick check and is mostly fiction.
Ms. Payton's is one of the saddest stories ever to come out of Hollywood and one that Lindsay Lohan should memorize verbatim before it is too late. John O'Dowd's obsessive, meticulous book is the definitive record of this tragic show business figure. How could a stunning, charming actress like Payton go from co-starring with the likes of James Cagney and Gregory Peck to trading lines with Sonny Tufts and a gorilla?! Buy the book and find out for yourself.
For the benefit of all the young Hollywood tarts who can't read, someone should adapt this cautionary tale into a film. At the moment, I have no suggestions on who could play Payton, but Harrison Ford would be a natural for Tufts!
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