Roddy McDowall

Praise for Samuel Garza Bernstein:

“With his conversational style, witty critiques, and rigorous research, Garza Bernstein has managed to swat away myths and inaccuracies while casually revealing new, intimate details of the life of one of Hollywood’s most sociable, yet guarded, figures. And all the while, he gives readers the gift of feeling they’re walking alongside Roddy on his seven-decade journey. Roddy McDowall: An Actor’s Life sets a new standard for Hollywood biographies, one by which all others may be measured.” —Burt Kearns, author, Marlon Brando: Hollywood Rebel

“Samuel Garza Bernstein’s comprehensive and loving portrait presents the Roddy we knew and admired.” —Ileanna Douglas, actress and author, Jungle Red: The Making of MGM’s The Women on Roddy McDowall

“Roddy is somewhere out there welcoming us all to devour this splendid book.” —Chris Sarandon, actor on Roddy McDowall

“In a Bernstein star biography, you’re not just getting the story of a single character – but of an entire place and time and almost forgotten way of life. I think Roddy would have loved to dish the delights of this book, at one of his fabled Studio City dinners.” —Kim Powers, author, Rules for Being Dead on Roddy McDowall

“Samuel Garza Bernstein has managed to beautifully convey this multifaceted man around whom so much love and admiration and gossip has gathered. We think we know so much about people, and there has been so much conjecture about Roddy. The truth is so much more interesting, and Garza Bernstein has elegantly and fully shared it with us. No axes to grind, but also no attempt has been made to soften the man and the life he led. This is an honest and admirable book.” —James Grissom, author, Follies of God: Tennessee Williams and the Women of the Fog on Roddy McDowall

“To read this book is at many times to feel that you are back in Roddy‘s gorgeous company.” —Joanna Gleason, actress on Roddy McDowall

“A life well-lived and a story well-told.” —Richard Natale, author, Greenwich Connection on Roddy McDowall

“A spirited portrait of a Hollywood legend.” ―Publisher’s Weekly on Starring Joan Crawford

“A bold and complex amalgam of biography, critical analysis, Hollywood gossip, and fantasy. Garza Bernstein successfully balances the apocryphal with scholarly truth, camp with sober insight. It’s a satisfying, hearty stew spiced with wit and a genuine love and respect for its eternally fascinating subject.” —Charles Busch, American actor, playwright, screenwriter on Starring Joan Crawford

“A delicious melange of biographical details, cultural criticism, and fanboy fantasia that brings the most vivacious actress of the twentieth century screamingly to life.” —Frank DeCaro, author of Drag: Combing Through the Big Wigs of Show Business on Starring Joan Crawford

“Samuel Garza Bernstein writes about a woman we all wish we knew because she sounds like a f―king hoot! And he does a great job of telling you why we should all wish she was in our circle of friends if we got to dip back in time.” ―Karen McCullah, screenwriter, Legally Blonde and author, The Bachelorette Party on Starring Joan Crawford

“Garza Bernstein brings the real Joan to vivid life, in a style that’s both dishy and intimate, but also as erudite and thoroughly researched as a PhD thesis. The men, the movies, the moxie, it’s all here.” ―Kim Powers, author of Rules for Being Dead and The History of Swimming on Starring Joan Crawford

“Blends both fact and fiction in a way that will keep readers turning pages and begging for more.” ―Julie Kenner, bestselling author of Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom and The Prada Paradox on Lulu