Features
- Cover Type: Hard Cover with 238 pages
- Published by: University Press of Mississippi March 2006
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 1578068371
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-1578068371
-
Book Dimensions:
8 x 5.9 x 1 inches
- Weighs: 1 pounds
Book Description
Throughout the 1940s, Zachary Scott (1914–1965) was the model for sophisticated, debonair villains in American film. His best-known roles include a mysterious criminal in The Mask of Dimitrios and the indolent husband of Mildred Pierce. He garnered further acclaim for his portrayal of villains in Her Kind of Man, Danger Signal, and South of St. Louis. Although he earned critical praise for his performance as a heroic tenant farmer in Jean
Renoirs The Southerner, Scott never quite escaped typecasting.
In Zachary Scott: Hollywoods Sophisticated Cad, Ronald L. Davis writes an appealing biography of the film star. Scott grew up in privileged circumstances-his father was a distinguished physician; his grandfather was a pioneer cattle baron-and was expected to follow his father into medical practice. Instead, Scott began to pursue a career in theater while studying at the University of Texas and subsequently worked his way on a ship to England to pursue acting. Upon his return to America, he began to look for work in New York.
Excelling on stage and screen throughout the 1940s, Scott seemed destined for stardom. By the end of 1950, however, he had suffered through a turbulent divorce. A rafting accident left him badly shaken and clinically depressed. His frustration over his roles mounted, and he began to drink heavily. He remarried and spent the rest of his career concentrating on stage and television work. Although Scott continued to perform occasionally in films, he never reclaimed the level of stardom that he had in the mid-1940s.
To reconstruct Scotts life, Davis uses interviews with Scott and colleagues, reviews, articles, and archival correspondence from the Scott papers at the University of Texas and from the Warner Brothers Archives. The result is a portrait of a talented actor who was rarely allowed to show his versatility on the screen.
Publisher Description
This biography of the stage and screen star who could never escape the role of dashing villain
* Provides first major biography of Zachary Scott, a star known for his sinister, villainous roles throughout the 1940s
*Features over twenty photographs of Scott in such films as Mildred Pierce, The Southerner, and The Mask of Dimitrios
*Includes story of Scotts lesser-known television and stage work
*Expands our Hollywood Legends Series
Reader ReviewsI have always been curious about what happened to Zachary Scott - he just seemed to disappear after several years as a leading man. This biography was very informative about his life, albeit, a little slow in the childhood and beginnings but it picked up nicely. It was interesting to know that he came from a very prominent and wealthy family in Texas. His personal life was chronicled in a thorough way and I felt the book was very much worth reading. I bought it and put in my library of Hollywood memorabilia and history.
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