Solid bio of the famous film producer, whose reputation has perhaps ebbed a bit these days – he was a legend in his life time, but the pinnacle film of his career, The Best Years of Their Lives, is not well remembered comparatively, especially for a film that was once the second biggest hit of all time. (Interestingly, it came out in 1946, a year that was Hollywood's most successful in terms of admissions and the high water mark of the classical system commercially - 1939 was the high water mark critically.)
The subtitle for this book really should have been “survivor” – Goldwyn just simply gusted it out, despite setbacks, despite being fired an amazing number of times. A refugee, he made a name as a salesman and arrived in Hollywood right at the beginning but took forever to really make a name (for a variety of reasons, one of which was his desire for independence). He eventually struck gold when he found William Wyler, the ideal director for him.
Goldwyn was a risk taker, hard worker, and he made his own luck. He was also a major dag, very human. He married well (eventually) to actor Frances Howard, who seems to brought a lot to him but to have slightly resented him (she loved her gay best friend director George Cukor). Worth a read.
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