Thalberg

by Bob Thomas

Irving Thalberg is one of Hollywood's success stories - and tragedies. A mogul at MGM by the age of 25, he produced classic films like Ben Hur, Mutiny on the Bounty, Grand Hotel, and hundreds more. Thalberg brought taste, daring, and vast profits to MGM before his tragic death at the age of 37. This is an authoritative look at the "boy wonder" and his achievements.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Robert Joseph "Bob" Thomas was an American Hollywood film industry biographer and reporter who worked for the Associated Press from 1944.

Born in San Diego, he grew up in Los Angeles, where his father was a film publicist. He attended UCLA. He lived in Encino with his wife, Patricia. They have three daughters. Thomas, aged 92, died on March 14, 2014 at his home.

Thomas made his mark by engaging celebrities in activities that brought out their personalities, whether by measuring their waistline after childbirth (as he did with Betty Grable) or testing just how tall a leading lady needed to be by kissing her himself (as he did with June Haver). Acclaimed as the dean of Hollywood reporters, Bob Thomas wrote about the movie business for the Associated Press since the days when Hollywood was run by the men who founded it: Jack Warner, Darryl F. Zanuck, Harry Cohn and Louis B. Mayer.

During his long history of reporting for the AP, Thomas authored at least 30 books. Many in the film industry credit his 1969 biography of producer Irving G. Thalberg as sparking their interest in pursuing a career behind the scenes. Other Thomas biographies include Joan Crawford, Marlon Brando, David O. Selznick, Walter Winchell, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Howard Hughes, Abbott & Costello, Walt Disney, and a children's book, Walt Disney: Magician of the Movies. - Wikipedia

Reviews

[Anthony Giancola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bob Thomas’s biography of Thalberg isn’t the most in depth biography in the world, but it tells his life story in an efficient way that is really entertaining to read. It’s insane to think about how young he was, and all he did in that time. The book does dip a little bit into hero worship at times, but doesn’t shy away from his controversial opinions on writer’s unions and World War II, so there’s still the attempt to have some give and take.

[Chip Carman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written bio of the master producer who died too young.

[Aimeslee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an autobio of my favorite actress' husband, MGM mogul and boy wonder Irving Thalberg (the namesake of that fancy Academy Award they give to a producer or director for body of work or significant contribution). After reading this, it becomes clear how the studio system was created and why, because Irving created all the details of it. The studios spent a ton creating a personality in each star and very few were able to play against type in their career roles. The studio system was one huge publicity operation, with good and bad features. Reading this gives you a front row seat to the genius of it all. Today's stars may diss that system, but it had many good qualities to it, especially at MGM. And that was because of Thalberg, who died way too young but lived longer than he was supposed to. So highly recommended that it's its own drug!

[Nancy Loe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty pedestrian. I like Flamini better and Marx best.