Nominate a Biography: what authors say

The brief, madcap life of Kay Kendall by Eve Golden and Kim Kendall*

To me, writing a biography is like painting a portrait: you not only have to show all the lights and darks, but 'the time and the place' as well as 'the girl'. In other words, the background, supporting players, clothing, etc for Kay Kendall, I wanted to get across what it was like to grow up in England in WWII, what it was like to be on a film set in the 1950s, and how leukemia was treated at the time. I was amazingly lucky to not only get interviews with so many of Kay's relatives and coworkers, but to find researchers at the bfi, the BBC, etc, eager to help me.

I am amazed that no one had yet taken on a biography of Kay, seeing how popular she was. It was a bit forward of me, as an American, to write about such a quintessentially British actress! And I was happily surprised to find that her sister, Kim, did not censor a word: "Oh, if you're going to write a biography, why not tell it all?" she said.

Most of my books are about people from the more-distant past: Anna Held, Theda Bara; I have to work exclusively from second-hand sources. Which can be restful, in a way: dealing with newspaper clippings and correspondence is a lot easier than stalking Mitzi Gaynor and Stanley Donen for an interview.

One of the best biographies I have read lately is Emily Leider's recent Dark Lover: The Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino, the best book written on the star. I'm glad she got to him before I could, as she did so much better a job than I would have. She studied his films, took him seriously as a performer, and handled the question of his sexuality with intelligence and finesse.

* Permission granted by the publishers, University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, KY