Bill Dedman's Blog
September 15, 2016
Paul Clark Newell, Empty Mansions co-author, dies at 80
Paul Clark Newell, Jr., co-author of the No. 1 New York Times bestselling biography Empty Mansions, died on Wednesday, September 14, at a hospital in Escondido, California, with his siblings and daughter by his side. Newell celebrated his 80th birthday in January with family and friends.
Newell's book, Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune, written with journalist Bill Dedman, debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times best sellers list in September 2013. It remained on the Times list for 13 weeks, and The Los Angeles Times list for 37 weeks.
Statement from Bill Dedman: "Paul was a gracious, gentlemanly, and brilliant co-pilot. I had the great pleasure of working with Paul for the past few years on the story of his cousin Huguette Clark and her family. When we began collaborating, my journalist friends warned, don't write a book with a family member!, as they presumed he would want to shape the story to protect the reputations of his famous relatives. But Paul was focused on making sure that we told the story accurately and fairly. And that was the right approach. On the day Paul died, I received a copy of our book published in Mandarin, and I will pass that on to Paul's family. He was a dear man."
Newell's father had collected family history, particularly on his uncle, the late U.S. Sen. William Andrews Clark of Montana (1839-1925), the controversial copper millionaire, banker, and politician, who founded the city of Las Vegas as a stop on his railroad. After Paul Newell Sr. died, his son took up the baton, working for 20 years on a biography of his great uncle. After the senator's daughter, Huguette (1906-2011), became famous again in this century because of her reclusive ways and a battle over her fortune, Newell and Dedman began to work together on a biography of Huguette and her famous father.
Newell's conversations with his cousin Huguette, their correspondence, and his collection of family photographs and other research, were essential to the biography. Newell shared many conversations over nine years with Huguette about her life and family. Excerpts of those conversations, about 30 minutes of tape recordings, can be heard in the audio version of Empty Mansions. Newell received on Huguette's orders a rare private tour of Bellosguardo, her mysterious unused estate overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara, California. Newell was not one of the relatives who sought to inherit the $300 million fortune of the reclusive Huguette; as a cousin, not a nephew, he was not in line for an inheritance if her last will and testament was overturned.
Paul Clark Newell, Jr., was a 1958 graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles. After several executive roles in corporations, including Mattel, Newell worked as a real estate agent in Warner Springs, California, in the mountains outside of San Diego.
Survivors include his daughter, Leslie Newell Spangler, and her husband, Brad; their children, Eric and Jessalyn; his brother, Peter; his sister, Eve; his great-grandson, Edan; and grandnieces and grandnephews.
A memorial service will be planned.
More information:
Paul Newell discusses Empty Mansions in this video from C-SPAN at the Tucson Festival of Books: https://www.c-span.org/video/?318444-...
Newell on TV Santa Barbara: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dvT9...
Newell on the Today Show: http://www.today.com/video/today/5300...
Here is a link to a feature on Newell in the Occidental magazine: http://www.oxy.edu/magazine/fall-2013....
More information on Empty Mansions is at http://emptymansionsbook.com/.
Photos of Newell are at https://www.facebook.com/investigativ....
Newell's book, Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune, written with journalist Bill Dedman, debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times best sellers list in September 2013. It remained on the Times list for 13 weeks, and The Los Angeles Times list for 37 weeks.
Statement from Bill Dedman: "Paul was a gracious, gentlemanly, and brilliant co-pilot. I had the great pleasure of working with Paul for the past few years on the story of his cousin Huguette Clark and her family. When we began collaborating, my journalist friends warned, don't write a book with a family member!, as they presumed he would want to shape the story to protect the reputations of his famous relatives. But Paul was focused on making sure that we told the story accurately and fairly. And that was the right approach. On the day Paul died, I received a copy of our book published in Mandarin, and I will pass that on to Paul's family. He was a dear man."
Newell's father had collected family history, particularly on his uncle, the late U.S. Sen. William Andrews Clark of Montana (1839-1925), the controversial copper millionaire, banker, and politician, who founded the city of Las Vegas as a stop on his railroad. After Paul Newell Sr. died, his son took up the baton, working for 20 years on a biography of his great uncle. After the senator's daughter, Huguette (1906-2011), became famous again in this century because of her reclusive ways and a battle over her fortune, Newell and Dedman began to work together on a biography of Huguette and her famous father.
Newell's conversations with his cousin Huguette, their correspondence, and his collection of family photographs and other research, were essential to the biography. Newell shared many conversations over nine years with Huguette about her life and family. Excerpts of those conversations, about 30 minutes of tape recordings, can be heard in the audio version of Empty Mansions. Newell received on Huguette's orders a rare private tour of Bellosguardo, her mysterious unused estate overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara, California. Newell was not one of the relatives who sought to inherit the $300 million fortune of the reclusive Huguette; as a cousin, not a nephew, he was not in line for an inheritance if her last will and testament was overturned.
Paul Clark Newell, Jr., was a 1958 graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles. After several executive roles in corporations, including Mattel, Newell worked as a real estate agent in Warner Springs, California, in the mountains outside of San Diego.
Survivors include his daughter, Leslie Newell Spangler, and her husband, Brad; their children, Eric and Jessalyn; his brother, Peter; his sister, Eve; his great-grandson, Edan; and grandnieces and grandnephews.
A memorial service will be planned.
More information:
Paul Newell discusses Empty Mansions in this video from C-SPAN at the Tucson Festival of Books: https://www.c-span.org/video/?318444-...
Newell on TV Santa Barbara: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dvT9...
Newell on the Today Show: http://www.today.com/video/today/5300...
Here is a link to a feature on Newell in the Occidental magazine: http://www.oxy.edu/magazine/fall-2013....
More information on Empty Mansions is at http://emptymansionsbook.com/.
Photos of Newell are at https://www.facebook.com/investigativ....
November 28, 2014
Win one of 10 signed copies of the Empty Mansions paperback
Check out the Goodreads giveaway page for one of 10 author-signed copies of "Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune."
Entries close on December 10, 2014. Enter here to win: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/en....
And see more photos from the book at http://emptymansionsbook.com.
Entries close on December 10, 2014. Enter here to win: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/en....
And see more photos from the book at http://emptymansionsbook.com.
June 27, 2014
A second Huguette Clark biography
Readers of Empty Mansions,
As some of you no doubt have noticed, there's a second Huguette Clark biography on the market. I'll keep my opinions to myself, but The New York Times offers a comparison here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/29/boo....
More about the bestseller "Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune" is at http://emptymansionsbook.com/. We're grateful to readers who have pushed Empty Mansions onto the Los Angeles Times bestseller list for the 22nd week, and The New York Times list for 12.
Regards,
Bill Dedman
As some of you no doubt have noticed, there's a second Huguette Clark biography on the market. I'll keep my opinions to myself, but The New York Times offers a comparison here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/29/boo....
More about the bestseller "Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune" is at http://emptymansionsbook.com/. We're grateful to readers who have pushed Empty Mansions onto the Los Angeles Times bestseller list for the 22nd week, and The New York Times list for 12.
Regards,
Bill Dedman
May 22, 2014
Empty Mansions co-author on C-SPAN
C-SPAN's video is online from my talk on May 17 at the Gaithersburg Book Festival in Maryland. See the video here, along with our appearance in Tucson earlier this year: http://www.c-span.org/search/?searcht....
A tour of Huguette Clark's California mansion, unused for 60 years
NBC News carried my report about our recent tour with Paul Newell of Bellosguardo, Huguette Clark's home in Santa Barbara. Here's a link to the story: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/hugu....
I was fortunate to be allowed by the Clark estate administrators to be the first journalist to report on a tour of Huguette's Santa Barbara home, known as Bellosguardo. Though its owners have not visited in more than 60 years, Bellosguardo could easily be ready tonight for a dinner party. See the 1930s cars in the garage, the fine woodwork, and the gardens. We also share a beautiful set of photos as Bellosguardo was in its heyday in the 1940s. Co-author Paul Clark Newell, Jr., and I greatly enjoyed our close-up look at Bellosguardo. Perhaps someday it will be opened up to the public. A board of trustees for the Bellosguardo Foundation should be named soon.
Many more photos are at http://emptymansionsbook.com.
I was fortunate to be allowed by the Clark estate administrators to be the first journalist to report on a tour of Huguette's Santa Barbara home, known as Bellosguardo. Though its owners have not visited in more than 60 years, Bellosguardo could easily be ready tonight for a dinner party. See the 1930s cars in the garage, the fine woodwork, and the gardens. We also share a beautiful set of photos as Bellosguardo was in its heyday in the 1940s. Co-author Paul Clark Newell, Jr., and I greatly enjoyed our close-up look at Bellosguardo. Perhaps someday it will be opened up to the public. A board of trustees for the Bellosguardo Foundation should be named soon.
Many more photos are at http://emptymansionsbook.com.
Empty Mansions returns to New York Times list
More good fortune: EMPTY MANSIONS, the Huguette Clark story, returns to The New York Times best sellers list as the paperback debuts at No. 9. See http://emptymansionsbook.com/ for info on "Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune." The film version is being made by Ryan Murphy, creator of "Glee" and "American Horror Story." The book is out now in paperback, hardcover, e-book, and audio book. The Times list is here: http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-b....
Book Club discussion guide is in the paperback and online
"Huguette Clark and Paris Hilton: Compare and contrast." Random House Reader’s Circle has published a discussion guide for readers of the No. 1 bestseller "Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune." These materials are also in the paperback book, which came out this week. First, for an interview with the authors by Patrick McCord of The Editing Company in Westport, Connecticut, go to http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/rc//2.... And second, for discussion questions for readers, go to http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/rc//2.... If you prefer to have those documents in a text file for easy printing, look at http://powerreporting.com/files/book_.... "Empty Mansions" is now available in hardcover, paperback, e-book, and audiobook. More info is at http://emptymansionsbook.com/
Criminal investigation of Huguette Clark case ends with no charges
Investigations begin in the headlines but can end in silence. I thought we should get the record straight on this one. A public records request got the DA to put it in writing: The investigation ended with no charges agains the attorney, accountant or anyone else. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investiga...Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune
Film version of Empty Mansions is announced
A film version of Empty Mansions has been announced, with the option purchased by Ryan Murphy, creator of Glee, American Horror Story, and Nip/Tuck. Ryan also produced and directed Eat Pray Love, Running with Scissors, The Normal Heart, and The New Normal.
Read an announcement of the Empty Mansions film project from Deadline Hollywood: https://emptymansions.squarespace.com...
Read an announcement of the Empty Mansions film project from Deadline Hollywood: https://emptymansions.squarespace.com...
Huguette's Empty Mansion in Connecticut Finally Sells
Empty for 60 years, the extra mansion of Huguette Clark in New Canaan, Connecticut, has sold for $14.3 million to designer Reed Krakoff. This is the house that began unraveling the story of the reclusive heiress in 2009, when Bill Dedman stumbled onto its odd existence. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investiga...
