The Moon's a Balloon and Bring On The Empty Horses Box Set

by David Niven

" Peut-être bien le meilleur livre jamais écrit sur Hollywood. " ( The New York Times Book Review )

S'il fallait décerner un prix d'élégance aux acteurs, alors David Niven recueillerait tous les suffrages. Rarement le complet rayé et le trait de moustache auront été si bien portés à Hollywood, et l'on ne s'étonnera pas que Ian Fleming pût l'imaginer dans le rôle de James Bond. Est-il annoncé au casting d'un film qu'on s'attend à le voir dîner en chemise à plastron, nœud papillon et slippers aux pieds ; avec lui, on pressent surtout les dialogues ironiques et toute la panoplie de l'humour " so british " – ce tranchant de l'intelligence. Mais avant la célébrité, Niven aura connu une véritable vie d'aventures. Renvoyé pour indiscipline de plusieurs écoles britanniques, insolent à l'armée, mis aux arrêts pour insubordination, il se gagne la sympathie du geôlier en partageant une bouteille de whisky puis s'échappe par la fenêtre. On le retrouve quelques mois plus tard aux États-Unis, versé dans le plagiat littéraire, le commerce de spiritueux, la danse professionnelle et même la course de poneys, avant que le destin se ressaisisse et le pousse vers les caméras des grands studios. Ainsi débute une carrière de près de cent films avec, très vite, des rôles principaux. Niven révèle surtout une disposition pour les comédies romantiques où sa souriante désinvolture fait merveille ; il rencontre ensuite le succès international, d'abord grâce à son rôle de Phileas Fogg dans Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours de Michael Anderson (1956), puis avec Les Canons de Navarone (1961) de John Lee Thompson et Les Cinquante-Cinq Jours de Pékin (1963) de Nicholas Ray. Parus et traduits en deux volumes dans les années 1970, introuvables en français depuis, ses souvenirs sont ici republiés pour la première fois. Tout refroidit vite, la gloire d'un acteur en particulier. Mais que l'on se rassure dans les librairies : peu de choses sont aussi vivantes qu'une page écrite par David Niven.
" Peut-être bien le meilleur livre jamais écrit sur Hollywood. " –; The New York Times Book Review
" Désopilant. " –; The Dailymail
" Une lecture hilarante. " –; The Sunday Telegraph

Genres: Biography, Autobiography

Paperback

Published January 1, 1977

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. This is David^^Niven.

James David Graham Niven, known as David Niven, was an Oscar winning English actor and novelist. Niven wrote four books. The first, Round the Rugged Rocks, was a novel which appeared in 1951 and was forgotten almost at once. In 1971, he published his autobiography, The Moon's a Balloon, which was well-received, selling over five million copies. He followed this with Bring On the Empty Horses in 1975, a collection of highly entertaining reminiscences from Hollywood's "Golden Age" in the 1940s. It now appears that Niven recounted many incidents from a first person perspective which actually happened to other people, and which he borrowed and embroidered. In 1981, Niven published a second and much more successful novel, Go Slowly, Come Back Quickly, which was set during and after World War II, and drew on his experiences during the war and in Hollywood. He was working on a third novel when his health failed in 1983.

Aming his many movies he appeared in A Matter of Life and Death (1946), The Bishop's Wife (1947), and Enchantment (1948), all of which received critical acclaim. Niven later appeared in The Elusive Pimpernel (1950), The Toast of New Orleans (1950), Happy Go Lovely (1951), Happy Ever After (1954) and Carrington V.C. (1955) before scoring a big success as Phileas Fogg in Michael Todd's production of Around the World in 80 Days (1956). He won the 1958 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Major Pollock in Separate Tables, his only nomination for an Oscar. Niven appeared in nearly a hundred films, and many shows for television.With an Academy Award to his credit, Niven's career continued to thrive. In 1959, he became the host of his own TV drama series, The David Niven Show, which ran for 13 episodes that summer. He subsequently appeared in another 30 films, including The Guns of Navarone (1961) The Pink Panther (1963), Murder by Death (1976), Death on the Nile (1978), and The Sea Wolves (1980). He died at his home from ALS ( "Lou Gehrig's disease" in the US and motor neuron disease (MND) in the UK) on 29 July 1983 at age 73

Reviews

[Cindy Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some slow going. Especially his early life up through his military days. His early Hollywood days were certainly entertaining and educational - who expected those types of hijinx? OMG!

I had to read the follow up book just to have the complete perspective on his life.

[Lynne Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the stories are laugh out loud funny. 'Bring on the Empty Horses' was fabulous. Mr. Niven was a good actor and a pretty funny guy. I can remember him hosting part of the Academy Awards when a streaker ran naked across the stage. Niven's off the cuff response: "Well, there goes a man not afraid of exposing his shortcomings." I liked him a lot.

[Ellie Revert · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed David Niven very much in my youth, but these stories about the dilletance of the Hollywood scene only served to depress me.

[Christian Duplessy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hollywood de l'intérieur, des années 30 aux années 60, une merveille d'humour!