John Agar was an odd kind of movie star - the son of a meat packer, he launched into global fame by marrying Shirley Temple, which resulted in a movie contract from David O. Selznick. He lucked out with some of his early film roles, which included parts in classics such as Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and The Sands of Iwo Jima. Agar was an awkward, inexperienced actor, but he looked good on a horse, moved well and didn't bring down any of these films - indeed his work in Iwo Jima was genuinely good.
He was given a few leads - Breakthrough, The Magic Carpet -but he couldn't really carry a film and his career took a nose dive when he divorced Shirley. He copped a truckload of bad publicity for this and the fact he was always being arrested for alcohol related incidents.
His career received a second chance when he was signed by Universal Studios in the mid 50s, for whom he made a number of films, mostly science fiction epics - some of them of very high quality, like Tarantula. He kept busy acting for the rest of his life, though he occasionally had to boost the old income earnings via real estate and other odd jobs. He kept relapsing with drinking and made the mistake of not renewing with Universal when he had the chance - bland handsome types like Agar were always better off under contract. But his second marriage was happy, and they had a couple of kids who seem to love him.
The book is an interesting one - Agar is a relentlessly cheery upbeat sort of chap, forever trying to look on the bright side. He decries attitudes of the younger generation, and all the swearing and violence in films today, takes the blame for his own mistakes. Shirley Temple doesn't get that much of a mention - he simply says they were very much in love, the mum was a piece of work, their marriage suffered... he denies that he cheated on her but admits to drinking a lot. His biggest regret is being estranged from his child with Temple and smoking and drinking so much.
It's a short book and disappointingly slight. There's some stuff on John Wayne and John Ford but not a lot; it's slight on his classic Westerns and war films and sci fi efforts. He talks wistfully about wanting to make more Westerns - indeed I'm surprised Universal didn't use him more for them. The book is fleshed out with some typically strong interviews Tom Weaver did with him which focus on the sci fi stuff. But all the way through I wanted to know more - I mean how many actors worked with Shirley Temple, John Ford, John Wayne, Sam Katzman, Charles Griffith, early AIP, Sidney Pink, Audie Murphy, Larry Buchanan...
Agar comes across as a likeable, amiable guy who was a bit of a goose. The book is a quick read, it's entertaining - but I feel you could do a more solid book on Agar.
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