by bill biss
It was an unexpected Christmas present that brought my attention to William J. Mann. I had wanted a book on the noted director of The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind, Victor Fleming, but under the tree was How To Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood.Pleasantly surprised, as this was a book on Taylor that I hadn’t read and it looked intriguing, I finished it over the next several days. Mann’s attention to detail and innovative way of arranging the chapters in the book led me to interview him. Mann is an outstanding biographer. His previous book called Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn was named “one of the 100 Notable Books of the Year” by The New York Times.
He also is an award-winning novelist and has written four books on the lives of gay American men. Most recently one called Object of Desire. William’s approach, ethics and imagination all come into play for this uber-successful gay author.
The Rage Monthly: I really enjoyed the way you approached Elizabeth Taylor’s life in the context of the title “How To Be a Movie Star” and the content inside. Establishing the contacts of people interviewed in the book, did you present this idea up front of how you planned to do this book? That the premise of this book would not be just another biography of many?
William J. Mann: Exactly, because there’s been so many of them. In fact, when my editor suggested to me after I finished up my book on Katharine Hepburn, he said, “What do you want to do next?” I said, “Well…I don’t know. Give me some ideas.” He said, “How about Elizabeth Taylor?” My first reaction was it’s been done a million times before. He said, “What if we call it ‘how to be a movie star?’
Then, the gears started turning in my head and I said, “I get ya. I see where you are going with this.” It was going to be very different. It wasn’t going to be a retelling of all the marriages, the divorces and the scandals. I was trying to understand how she did it and the machinery of stardom back then and how she helped evolve it to what it is today.
Reinvention seems to be the key to success in any field. But in this world of relentless innovation, it’s rare that you’ll see an idea that has never before been tried. But—as Sean Lockhart is so adept as showing the world—those who execute it with style set themselves apart from the rest.
It’s not easy catching up with the most famous matchmaker in Los Angeles. On the same day of our interview, Patti also was interviewed by Katie Couric of CBS news and was rushing around and getting ready to celebrate the show’s premiere of the new season of the The Millionaire Matchmaker.
