WHO THE HELL’S IN IT

Following up Who the Devil Made It (1997), a solid collection of pieces about directors from film’s Golden Age, Bogdanovich presents a series of uneven takes on film stars he has known.

The director of The Last Picture Show, etc., here attempts to enshrine 27 actors he has worked with or known, whose candlepower, he fears, is dimming with time. A strong writer, Bogdanovich creates sharp images of such famous stars as James Cagney, Lauren Bacall, James Stewart, and Henry Fonda, but also pays just tribute to the less well-known Ben Gazarra and John Cassavetes. The author, who’s done some acting himself, ably captures his subjects at work, as in his descriptions of Jack Lemmon on a soundstage in Irma La Douce. But some of Bogdanovich’s enthusiasms seem misplaced. His adoring, 75-page profile of Jerry Lewis is especially irksome for the comic’s self-serving, foul-mouthed remarks. Bogdanovich’s selection of River Phoenix and Sal Mineo as “great names of the past” is questionable, and he does not always tell a full story. He brushes aside “rumors” that Mineo, Cary Grant, and Anthony Perkins were bisexual or gay, overlooking or ignoring considerable documented evidence that Mineo and Perkins, at least, had many gay relationships, and that, more importantly, their sexual orientations may have shaped their lives. The author’s inclusion of many tales from his own life is sometimes irritating, sometimes fascinating. His frequent mentions of Cybill Shepherd wear thin, but his stories about Marlon Brando, Stella Adler, and the Actors Studio evoke the vital New York theater of the 1950s. Inside this anthology, an autobiography is trying to get out.

Often engaging, but lacks the consistent depth and keen judgment of John Kobal’s People Will Talk (1986). (120 photos)