I went through a biography phase a few years ago. I never read biographies. I always feel they are so boring. But every now and then I like to broaden my reading horizons – after all I am a librarian and have to be able to recommend all types of books.
It all started as I was browsing the new book shelf at the library and came across Tippi Hedren’s biography titled Tippi: A Memoir. I have been fascinated with Tippi since I saw the movie The Birds at a very young age. In that movie, her lipstick was perfect, her nails were beautiful, she was beautiful. And then there was the movie Marnie, again, she was just so pretty. And the best thing about the movie Marnie is the red that would overtake the screen when Marnie had one of her episodes. Seriously, if you haven’t seen the movie, you should watch it just for that.
But, I digress. Here’s what I learned in her biography:
- She was stalked by Alfred Hitchcock
- She rescued wild lions and tigers, they lived at her house in California with her children
- She has been mauled by said lions and tigers multiple times – turns out even though you raise them as cubs, when food is around they still have a wild nature
- They would escape into the neighborhood where she lived
- She created a preserve for big cats called Shambala
My other foray into biographies was reading about Frank Sinatra. I had recently been to Las Vegas and we saw the show “The Rat Pack”. So again, browsing the new book shelf at the library, I came across The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi. Eliot was Frank’s former manager. Because I read this one, I had to read one other Frank Sinatra biography – Frank and Ava: In Love and War.
Here’s what I learned in these:
- Frank suffered from depression, possibly undiagnosed as bipolar
- People took advantage of him, especially later in life (my impression from the books)
- Ava Gardner was the love of his life
I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of these and I would highly recommend them.
-Kelley