Overview

Sam Spiegel (1904-85), the Austrian-born Hollywood film producer, won Oscar after Oscar, particularly through his famous association with British director David Lean on THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI and LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. There was also THE AFRICAN QUEEN with Bogart and Hepburn, ON THE WATERFRONT with Brando and THE LAST TYCOON with De Niro. From the University of Vienna, Spiegel went to America selling Palestinian cotton. While there, he lectured on drama and was briefly hired by MGM to advise on foreign-language versions. He was fired and went to Universal. In 1929, they sent him to Berlin to work on German productions for them, before reappearing in America calling himself S P Eagle! This dazzling biography - and literary debut - does justice to an emigre who went to America selling cotton and ended up filming a F Scott Fitzgerald novel. It depicts the good and the bad of an extraordinary man: an illuminating account of both the golden age of Hollywood and one of its most infuriatingly brilliant individuals.

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9780751535556

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Reviews

'[A] major and suitably majestic biography' Sheridan Morley, LITERARY REVIEW; 'Compelling ... [Fraser-Cavassoni] not only displays insight into Spiegel's compartmentalised personality, but also demonstrates an impressive depth of knowledge about the workings of Hollywood' Christopher Silvester, SUNDAY TIMES; '[A] massively researched and hugely readable memoir' Quentin Falk, DAILY MAIL; 'Glorious' J. G. Ballard, GUARDIAN

'Superb bio of the high-living, larger-than-life film producer, spellbindingly detailed by HARPER'S BAZAAR European editor Fraser-Cavassoni.' KIRKUS REVIEWS '[A] massively researched and hugely readable memoir' Quentin Falk, DAILY MAIL 'Glorious' J. G. Ballard, GUARDIAN 'A conscientious chronicle of an extraordinary life.' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'This is an exhaustively researched, hugely entertaining biography. It is, to quote Billy Wilder S P Lendid. ' EMPIRE 'Engaging.' SPECTATOR 'Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni is not the first to enter this territory, but she stays alert. Her account is probably the fullest yet thoroughly researched and entertaining.' ECONOMIST 'No jobbing journalist could have done more, in the way of honest research.' TLS

Sam Spiegel arrived in Hollywood a penniless immigrant, with a string of convictions for fraud behind him. Yet by the 1950s he was one of Tinseltown's big hitters, with three Oscars to his name and a lifestyle that placed him firmly on the celebrity A-list. How someone brought up in a family of devout Austro-Hungarian Jews became one of America's most loved, lauded and mistrusted film producers is the subject of Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni's ambitious biography. Ambitious because, as Spiegel's own wife commented: 'Remember Churchill's line about Russia? A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma... that was Sam.' Spiegel's early life was spent in Palestine, where he was amongst the first wave of Zionist settlers. Young and passionate, Sam was the epitome of that idealistic group of European Jews who set out in the 1920s to forge new kibbutz communities in the Holy Land. However, by the time that he had reached his 30s, Spiegel had apparently abandoned his ideals, and leaving his wife and daughter to fend for themselves, had set out to pursue a very different dream - one of fame and fortune - in America. The Spiegel that Cavassoni knew was a complex and contradictory character. At his best, he could be seen as a loveable rouge, with a taste for adventure and the high life. At his worst, he was a manipulative fraudster, a womaniser and serial liar. The real Sam Spiegel was a mystery to friends and family alike, but whatever the truth, without his vision, persistence and bloody-mindedness American movies would have been poorer products. Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge on the River Kwai, and the African Queen were just some of the films produced under his watchful eye. This is a captivating biography, set against a backdrop of Hollywood glamour and intrigue. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Born in 1963, Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni is a daughter of Lady Antonia Fraser. She worked as a company assistant on the set of Spiegel's BETRAYAL, his last picture. Since 1988 she has worked as a magazine journalist for among others, Interview and Harper's Bazaar. This is her first book.

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