Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 02:14, 1 November 2015

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "David Bret" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

David Bret
Born	(1954-11-08)November 8, 1954 Paris, France
Occupation	Biographer
Website
www.davidbret.co.uk

David Bret (born 8 November 1954 in Paris) is a French-born British author of showbiz biographies. He chiefly writes on the private life of movie stars and singers.

Life

Born in Paris, France in 1954, David Bret was adopted by an English couple and raised in Wath-on-Dearne, South Yorkshire. He worked for several years in the retail trade, then as an administrator with the NHS, and as a singer in working men's clubs. He then began writing the biographies for which he is best known. He married Jeanne Elliss in October 1972, and has a son, Marleau, born in October 1973. He lives in West Yorkshire, England.

Biographies

Bret has written a number of biographies for several different publishers. Many of these have focused on the private or intimate lives of entertainment celebrities. Lewis Jones, in the Telegraph wrote that Bret "...for decades has churned out sensationalist biographies of such figures as Diana Dors, Barbra Streisand and Tallulah Bankhead."

Of Clark Gable

In Clark Gable: Tormented Star Bret deals at length with Gable's sex life and particularly his sex with other men. In the New York Times Sunday Book Review, Ada Calhoun wrote "How does Bret, the author of numerous celebrity biographies, know so much about Hollywood stars’ sex lives? Judging by this new book's convoluted wording, he really doesn't." She also wrote: "For all its smut, the book is painfully unsexy. ... And yet Bret undermines his own arguments. ... 'Clark Gable' teems with innuendo and exclamation points, but still presents a thoroughly joyless view of old Hollywood."

Of George Formby

In George Formby: A Troubled Genius Bret explores the " innocent innuendo" of a once hugely popular music-hall performer. Jonathan Glancey writing for The Guardian described it as "David Bret's thoughtful book about the life and unhappiness of an entertainer who would surely never make it anywhere near the top now."

Of Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo: Divine Star was criticized by Lewis Jones, who wrote: "There is little new to say about Garbo’s life, and the best one can expect of a retelling is insight, wit and a shapely narrative, none of which is provided by Divine Star." Lewis complains that:

Bret makes many errors. Of Garbo’s visit to New York in 1925, for example, he notes that she met Humphrey Bogart, one of "the biggest stars of the day", when he made his name with The Petrified Forest in 1936. He thinks that the Académie française is a drama school. And so on. He also writes incredibly badly, ..."

Christopher Fowler was more positive about Divine Star In The Independent he wrote:

Garbo biographies are virtually an industry in themselves. But David Bret is after something more. Digging into previously unsourced material and collating fresh stories from friends and fellow studio employees, he tries to close the two major gaps in his subject's life.

Fowler concludes by saying: "Bret's biography is rightly partisan and fully prepared to name enemies, which makes it a bracingly pleasurable read in these anodyne times."

Of Joan Crawford

Writing in the Washington Post Carolyn See has a very negative view of Brent's biography of Joan Crawford, calling it "... one of the ickiest film biographies I've ever read."

See writes:

"But suppose you gorged on old movie magazines and ghostwritten gobbledygook and pieces of weird gossip you overheard and then decided to rewrite what has been written and rewritten again for 80 years or so, and you picked as your subject Joan Crawford, "gay icon par excellence"? You'd produce something like David Bret's new biography."

Hollywood was not as it seemed -- sexually. That's the author's main theme here. (The "Hollywood Martyr" business of the subtitle is purely an afterthought.) Couples lived in "lavender" or "twilight-tandem" marriages.

See accuses Brent of failing to cite sources for statements and quotes in the work, and of engaging in unfounded speculation.

Quotations abound in his book, but there are no footnotes, and the index indicates only on what page people are mentioned. I think it's fair to say that "Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr" is made up of cryptic, if breezy, assertions, like: "Aspects of Joan Crawford's extraordinary, complex psyche were incorporated into many of her films . . . but such was the naivety of America during the Depression, few made the connection. The same may be said for Crawford, gay icon par excellence. Few people realised, at the time these events were unfolding, of her fondness for gay and bisexual men -- on account of their fear of being exposed by the media. Three of her husbands slotted into this category, as did many of her lovers, including Clark Gable." This is cheesiness "par excellence," as the author himself might say, and apparently little more than speculation.

See concludes that "Ultimately, it's an enormous insult to gays, assuming, as it does, that mindless cattiness and restroom innuendo are the accepted small talk of homosexuals everywhere."

An unsigned reveiw in Publisher's Weekly is more neutral, writing: "Bret chronicles her films, her feud with Bette Davis and dismisses her daughter's Mommie Dearest tirade, but he revels in Hollywood's sexual excesses, and fans who crave a lively insider view will most appreciate this bio."

Of Maria Callas

An unsigned review in Publisher's Weekly says of Maria Callas: The Tigress and the Lamb that

Bret, clearly a Callas aficionado, glosses over the controversial aspects of the voice and emphasizes her total commitment to her art, her brilliant resurrection of nearly forgotten bel canto roles and her extraordinary dramatic skills. He also recounts all the sensational details of Callas's life .... The emphasis is on scandal rather than music in this racy biography..."

Of Errol Flynn

An unsigned, undated review in Publisher's Weekly says of Errol Flynn: Satan's Angel that "Bret, however, takes on the Flynn mythology in this new biography." The review goes on to say that:

With the same gusto and verve of his subject, Bret plows through Flynn's escapades and accomplishments. It may be difficult for some to reconcile Bret's assessment of Flynn as some sort of hard-living heroic figure, or an "essentially good man," after reading about the actor's deplorable treatment of women, his sexual voyeurism, his penchant for underage girls and his hatred of Jews.

Other work

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "David Bret" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Bret has also written many newspaper and magazine articles, for instance, for The Stage, and he has lectured at the University of Chicago. He had adapted songs from the original French for his godmother, actress Jacqueline Danno, and for his friend the chanteuse Barbara. She commissioned him to adapt her theme song, Ma plus belle histoire d'amour, into English. Bret also appears in the Italian documentary, 'Rudy', which tells the story of Rudolph Valentino. He also made a trio of documentaries for the E! channel in the USA, discussing Freddie Mercury, Valentino and Tallulah Bankhead.

Bibliography

In the following partial bibliography, note that the publisher frequently changes the title for the same book from any hardcover version to paperback. Plus, the title and year of publication may vary depending on the country of issue.

• Diana Dors: Hurricane in Mink (2010)
• Jean Harlow: Tarnished Angel (2009)
• Trailblazers: Gram Parsons, Nick Drake & Jeff Buckley (2009)
• Doris Day: Reluctant Star (2008)
• Clark Gable: Tormented Star (2007)
• Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr (2006)
• Rock Hudson (2004)
• Morrissey: Scandal and Passion (2004)
• Elvis: The Hollywood Years (2002)
• Barbra Streisand (2000)
• Errol Flynn: Satan's Angel (2000)
• Valentino: A Dream of Desire (1998)
• Piaf: A Passionate Life (1999)
• George Formby: A Troubled Genius (1999)
• Maria Callas: The Tigress and the Lamb (1998)
• Freddie Mercury Story: Living on the Edge (1996)
• Tallulah Bankhead: A Scandalous Life (1996)
• Marlene My Friend: An Intimate Biography (1993)
• Gracie Fields: The Authorized Biography (1995, reprinted 2010)
• Morrissey: Landscapes of the Mind (1994)
• Maurice Chevalier: Up on Top of a Rainbow (1992)
• The Mistinguett Legend (1990)
• The Piaf Legend (1988)

References

1. ^ Calhoun, Ada (30 March 2008). "Frankly, My Dear ..." The New York Times. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
2. ^ Jones, Lewis (6 August 2012). "Greta Garbo: Divine Star by David Bret: review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
3. ^ Glancey, Jonathan (24 November 2001). "Book review: George Formby by David Bret". The Guardian.
4. ^ Fowler, Christopher (28 July 2012). "Greta Garbo: Divine Star, By David Bret: At last, she's ready for a close-up". The Independent. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
5. ^ See, Carolyn (5 January 2007). "Hollywood Babble-On". Washington post. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
6. "Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr: David Bret, Author". Publisher's Weekly.
7. "Maria Callas: David Bret, Author". Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
8. ^ "Errol Flynn: Satan's Angel: David Bret, Author". Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
9. "TheMistinguett Legend By David Bret". Kirkus Reviews. 20 May 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2015.

External links

• Official website

Template:Persondata

• Use dmy dates from July 2013
• 1954 births
• Living people
• English biographers
• English people of French descent
• People educated at Wath Comprehensive School
• People from Paris
• People from Wath-upon-Dearne