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David Niven: The Man Behind the Balloon
David Niven appeared in films for over 50 years of his life, from swashbucklers such as The Prisoner of Zenda and The Guns of Navarone to the Pink Panther series. Despite his on-screen persona, Niven wasn’ t always the perfect gentleman. He was insecure both privately and professionally and used people to get ahead. But he did, he said, ‘ at least try to be a decent man.’ He knew he often failed, although it isn’ t easy to find people who ever had a bad word to say about him. In this fascinating biography of the star, Munn looks at the funny stories and the sad underlying truth, from his outrageous days with Errol Flynn and their irrevocable split – ‘ You always know where you are with Flynn. He always lets you down’ – and numerous affairs with stars and prostitutes, to an attempted suicide, his horrific experiences in war-torn France and the breakdown and blame of his second marriage. This compelling text includes interviews with his second wife, Hjordis, John Huston, Rex Harrison, Laurence Olivier, Loretta Young (they discussed marriage once), Niven’ s long-time friend Michael Trubshawe, Peter Ustinov, Ava Gardner and many more. Funny, poignant and told with the compassion of one who knew him, this is a fascinating portrayal of a legend that really gets behind the screen and autobiographical persona. ‘ Reveals the actor’ s dark side and drastically changes the light-hearted self-portrait that Niven draws of himself in The Moon’ s a Balloon’ Sunday Express Writer, actor, director and former journalist and Hollywood publicist, Michael Munn, has written 21 books, including the best selling John the Man behind the Myth and the acclaimed Richard Prince of Players
- GenresBiography
380 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 9, 2024
__________________________
Hollywood: A place where they shoot too many movies and not enough actors––Walter Winchell
This is a rather mean-spirited bio in which David Niven is portrayed as a Casanova and sex addict who believed that a married man could frequent prostitutes whenever he wants because if you pay for it, it isn’t cheating. It claims he was a drunk of highest order. And it claims that the only reason this mediocre talent managed to get a Hollywood contract was because he somehow miraculously kept meeting and partying with celebrities who enjoyed his company and did him favors. This general theme of sex addict, lothario, cheater, drunk, partier, and schmoozer is repeated over and over again.
The biographer doesn’t adequately explain why, when World War II started in Europe, this drunken, untalented whoremonger and suck up volunteered for the British Army and was made the commander of an elite group of commandos. Neither does he explain why Niven was later made an official liaison of the British Army to General Dwight D Eisenhower or why Ike praised his work.
I certainly don’t know who the REAL David Niven was. Michael Munn, the biographer, spends quite a bit of time at the beginning of the book assuring the reader that Niven told him personally that he was the only writer Niven ever wanted to pen his biography. Maybe Niven had had a drink or two at the time. I don’t know. Maybe he forgot that he had written an autobiography that was published in 1971.
3 Stars. I don’t doubt that Niven had a knack for attracting women to his bed, but I didn’t need to keep hearing about it--it made me feel sorry for him.
Hollywood: A place where they shoot too many movies and not enough actors––Walter Winchell
This is a rather mean-spirited bio in which David Niven is portrayed as a Casanova and sex addict who believed that a married man could frequent prostitutes whenever he wants because if you pay for it, it isn’t cheating. It claims he was a drunk of highest order. And it claims that the only reason this mediocre talent managed to get a Hollywood contract was because he somehow miraculously kept meeting and partying with celebrities who enjoyed his company and did him favors. This general theme of sex addict, lothario, cheater, drunk, partier, and schmoozer is repeated over and over again.
The biographer doesn’t adequately explain why, when World War II started in Europe, this drunken, untalented whoremonger and suck up volunteered for the British Army and was made the commander of an elite group of commandos. Neither does he explain why Niven was later made an official liaison of the British Army to General Dwight D Eisenhower or why Ike praised his work.
I certainly don’t know who the REAL David Niven was. Michael Munn, the biographer, spends quite a bit of time at the beginning of the book assuring the reader that Niven told him personally that he was the only writer Niven ever wanted to pen his biography. Maybe Niven had had a drink or two at the time. I don’t know. Maybe he forgot that he had written an autobiography that was published in 1971.
3 Stars. I don’t doubt that Niven had a knack for attracting women to his bed, but I didn’t need to keep hearing about it--it made me feel sorry for him.
February 18, 2023
I love biographies of the players in Hollywood's golden age, and I've read several about and by David Niven. Niven's own work is filled with engaging, tall tales, and this one reframes (or debunks) those stories and makes a larger than life character real, addressing tragedy and conflict with a kindness and empathy like no other biographer would do. Niven was a good actor but also an amazingly talented raconteur. This biography puts the story straight without tearing down the world Niven painted for himself. Go read The Moon's a Balloon and Bring on the Empty Horses, and then read this!
September 16, 2021
Decency and compassion from the author make this book a wonderful read.
When reading about a very public figure who was privately very flawed, who had lots of flawed friends and family who either celebrated his flaws or lied about them and lied about people around him, who lied so often about himself from the beginning of his career to the end, it is important to have an author who can cut through the lies and the bile to present a clear picture for the reader.
The author cuts through the lies and lays bare the often difficult truth. He doesn't shame or blame.
I appreciated his accounts of his personal interactions with David Niven the most.
When reading about a very public figure who was privately very flawed, who had lots of flawed friends and family who either celebrated his flaws or lied about them and lied about people around him, who lied so often about himself from the beginning of his career to the end, it is important to have an author who can cut through the lies and the bile to present a clear picture for the reader.
The author cuts through the lies and lays bare the often difficult truth. He doesn't shame or blame.
I appreciated his accounts of his personal interactions with David Niven the most.
May 7, 2024
Who's your daddy?
This review is either a tribute to making up your own mind about which books you'll read OR a tribute to my inherent cheapness. In short, I read a book I wouldn't have read if I'd paid attention to the critics and wouldn't have bought if it was priced higher than 99 cents. And I enjoyed much of it and I'm glad I read it. So there!
David Niven stumbled into a career as a leading man in 1930's romantic comedies because no other career for which he was remotely qualified paid well enough to support his lavish lifestyle. Adolf Hitler brought down his high-flying plane, along with many others. Niven, a career soldier before he jumped ship and headed for Hollywood, decided to go home and enlist when his government declared war on Germany. He was admired for doing so, but his Hollywood career never recovered.
So he headed back to Europe and made movies there, most of them highly forgettable. Fortunately, he had a Plan B, which was to exploit his charm and the story-telling ability that made him a popular A-list guest in L.A. This time he would put his stories into books and charge for them. "The Moon's a Balloon" and "Bring on the Empty Horses" were best-sellers and Niven's book tours introduced him to a new generation of fans. (Being in the first two Pink Panther movies didn't hurt, either.)
His books were lighter-than-air fluff that were designed to sell, NOT to record the truth. As a writer, Niven took himself no more seriously than he did as an actor. Money's money and the books raked it in.
After his death in 1983, celebrity biographer Graham Lord wrote an "authorized" biography, which I haven't read. I'm not interested in the relatives' sanitized version of the dead guy's life. I loved movie critic Sheridan Morley's fine book "The Other Side of the Moon." The ultimate show-business insider, Morley produced a well-balanced portrait that impressed me as being as close to the truth as you can get when writing about a man who never told the same version of his stories twice. It's also well-written and (if you skip the descriptions of every movie Niven ever made) entertaining.
This author started life as a writer for film-fan mags and waited until 2009 to write his version of Niven's life. It contains startling revelations which he claims were made to him by Niven and his second wife Hjordis, both of them conveniently dead by the time of publication. Niven's sons denounced it as vicious nonsense, insisting that their father would never have confided in a hack like Munn and that Munn was lying. (Like their Dad did in HIS books, but let that go.)
The two startling revelations concerned Niven's own paternity (supposededly confided to Munn by Niven himself to set the record straight) and the paternity of the oldest of the Niven's two adopted daughters (supposededly confided by the second wife.) My take is that the sons would have objected violently to Munn's book even if they believed it to be true because it's a sympathetic treatment of their step-mother, whom they cordially hated. DNA testing would put paid to both claims, but I've never heard that the sons persued that option.
I wouldn't bet heavily on Munn's veracity, but then I'm not a betting woman. It's an entertaining book and I join Munn in feeling like Hjordis Niven got the short end of the stick when she married the charming actor and moved to Hollywood with him. Her conversations (as reported by Munn) are frank and believable.
As to Munn's reported conversations with Niven himself, there's no way of knowing. Niven once answered the question of why he spent his life pretending to be other people with the flip answer "I suppose because I never liked myself very much." But was it a flip answer or the plain truth? Niven didn't like himself and that comes through in his own books.
He also craved attention and would have been unwilling to exit life without dropping a bombshell that would have put all eyes on him once more. He couldn't have known that Munn would wait thirty years to drop the bomb. So his "startling" revelations may have been the truth or a lie he told to make his life seem more glamorous and upper-crust than it actually was. Who knows?
It's not as good as Sheridan Morley's biography of Niven, but it's quite readable. It's just as likely to be true as anything David Niven wrote about himself or that any writer wrote about him. If you're obsessed with the strict truth, why read celebrity memoirs or biographies in the first place? Ignore the critics and the humorless sons and enjoy the ride. Then draw your own conclusions. Really, is it THAT important?
This review is either a tribute to making up your own mind about which books you'll read OR a tribute to my inherent cheapness. In short, I read a book I wouldn't have read if I'd paid attention to the critics and wouldn't have bought if it was priced higher than 99 cents. And I enjoyed much of it and I'm glad I read it. So there!
David Niven stumbled into a career as a leading man in 1930's romantic comedies because no other career for which he was remotely qualified paid well enough to support his lavish lifestyle. Adolf Hitler brought down his high-flying plane, along with many others. Niven, a career soldier before he jumped ship and headed for Hollywood, decided to go home and enlist when his government declared war on Germany. He was admired for doing so, but his Hollywood career never recovered.
So he headed back to Europe and made movies there, most of them highly forgettable. Fortunately, he had a Plan B, which was to exploit his charm and the story-telling ability that made him a popular A-list guest in L.A. This time he would put his stories into books and charge for them. "The Moon's a Balloon" and "Bring on the Empty Horses" were best-sellers and Niven's book tours introduced him to a new generation of fans. (Being in the first two Pink Panther movies didn't hurt, either.)
His books were lighter-than-air fluff that were designed to sell, NOT to record the truth. As a writer, Niven took himself no more seriously than he did as an actor. Money's money and the books raked it in.
After his death in 1983, celebrity biographer Graham Lord wrote an "authorized" biography, which I haven't read. I'm not interested in the relatives' sanitized version of the dead guy's life. I loved movie critic Sheridan Morley's fine book "The Other Side of the Moon." The ultimate show-business insider, Morley produced a well-balanced portrait that impressed me as being as close to the truth as you can get when writing about a man who never told the same version of his stories twice. It's also well-written and (if you skip the descriptions of every movie Niven ever made) entertaining.
This author started life as a writer for film-fan mags and waited until 2009 to write his version of Niven's life. It contains startling revelations which he claims were made to him by Niven and his second wife Hjordis, both of them conveniently dead by the time of publication. Niven's sons denounced it as vicious nonsense, insisting that their father would never have confided in a hack like Munn and that Munn was lying. (Like their Dad did in HIS books, but let that go.)
The two startling revelations concerned Niven's own paternity (supposededly confided to Munn by Niven himself to set the record straight) and the paternity of the oldest of the Niven's two adopted daughters (supposededly confided by the second wife.) My take is that the sons would have objected violently to Munn's book even if they believed it to be true because it's a sympathetic treatment of their step-mother, whom they cordially hated. DNA testing would put paid to both claims, but I've never heard that the sons persued that option.
I wouldn't bet heavily on Munn's veracity, but then I'm not a betting woman. It's an entertaining book and I join Munn in feeling like Hjordis Niven got the short end of the stick when she married the charming actor and moved to Hollywood with him. Her conversations (as reported by Munn) are frank and believable.
As to Munn's reported conversations with Niven himself, there's no way of knowing. Niven once answered the question of why he spent his life pretending to be other people with the flip answer "I suppose because I never liked myself very much." But was it a flip answer or the plain truth? Niven didn't like himself and that comes through in his own books.
He also craved attention and would have been unwilling to exit life without dropping a bombshell that would have put all eyes on him once more. He couldn't have known that Munn would wait thirty years to drop the bomb. So his "startling" revelations may have been the truth or a lie he told to make his life seem more glamorous and upper-crust than it actually was. Who knows?
It's not as good as Sheridan Morley's biography of Niven, but it's quite readable. It's just as likely to be true as anything David Niven wrote about himself or that any writer wrote about him. If you're obsessed with the strict truth, why read celebrity memoirs or biographies in the first place? Ignore the critics and the humorless sons and enjoy the ride. Then draw your own conclusions. Really, is it THAT important?
March 15, 2024
Recommended with a grain of salt.
If you read reviews there is a percentage that claim that Michael Munn may be, to state it politely, unreliable. His Wikipedia page backs this claim up in no uncertain terms.
David Niven, by his own concession, backed up by Mr. Munn's cited personal experiences and interactions with Mr. Niven, is also unreliable.
So, you have a possibly unreliable author writing about a probable liar, or to put it more politely, an exaggerator of the highest degree, self-proclaimed.
It lends itself to a "chicken or egg" scenario.
Mr. Niven, if anything can be said to be true from this account, was a man who needed to be liked. He found he could accomplish this through becoming interesting and likable, by creating a crafting (and stealing) stories to garner attention.
And he succeeded. This didn't make him a great actor, nor, depending upon your point of view and value system, a nice person. I don't think I would have liked him.
But he did live during interesting times surrounded by interesting people. And so, three starts for what might be true.
PS - an excellent companion piece to this would be The Fixers, by E.J. Fleming.
If you read reviews there is a percentage that claim that Michael Munn may be, to state it politely, unreliable. His Wikipedia page backs this claim up in no uncertain terms.
David Niven, by his own concession, backed up by Mr. Munn's cited personal experiences and interactions with Mr. Niven, is also unreliable.
So, you have a possibly unreliable author writing about a probable liar, or to put it more politely, an exaggerator of the highest degree, self-proclaimed.
It lends itself to a "chicken or egg" scenario.
Mr. Niven, if anything can be said to be true from this account, was a man who needed to be liked. He found he could accomplish this through becoming interesting and likable, by creating a crafting (and stealing) stories to garner attention.
And he succeeded. This didn't make him a great actor, nor, depending upon your point of view and value system, a nice person. I don't think I would have liked him.
But he did live during interesting times surrounded by interesting people. And so, three starts for what might be true.
PS - an excellent companion piece to this would be The Fixers, by E.J. Fleming.
September 2, 2023
A quick read that attempts to get the "story behind the stories" from two of the most successful memoirs in Hollywood history. Mostly, it's a pleasant read, and it's fairly easy to suss out what's true and what's fabricated for the sake of a good yarn. But the last third of the book gets bogged down in details about Niven's second wife, Hjördis. He seems to have been exceptionally controlling of her, and she, stuck in a gilded cage with no agency, became an alcoholic and a depressive. And that sums up the last 50 pages. Glad I read it, though. Niven is a fascinating, one-of-a-kind artifact of his time.
February 5, 2024
Fun to read because the author was friends with/interviewed so many of Niven's contemporaries and so could provide additional lenses on the embellished stories Niven was so great at telling - but also relied fairly heavily on those stories. Stays on the surface, doesn't shy away from Niven's incessant womanizing but also doesn't provide much at a peek at the forces driving him - ironically the book is much better at humanizing Hjordis Niven. But then, the author was good friends with Niven and even though this was supposed to be the "man behind the ballon" perhaps friendship won out.
October 31, 2020
This is the David Niven story, worts and all. As such, it is rather sad after all when you look at the list of movies he made only half a dozen stand out and the rest were a waste of resources. He was also a sex addicted drunk, but a very entertaining one as evidenced by his two movie biographies which have got to be the ultimate name dropping diaries of all time. But worth a read.
August 19, 2021
I have read two other Niven biographies and this one is a bit different from the other two.
It is a shorter read, yet I think you actually get more insight on the man as a much greater portion of this book is based on numerous first hand interviews conducted by the author.
Not as much second hand information as I feel the other two contained.
Although they were all very entertaining.
It is a shorter read, yet I think you actually get more insight on the man as a much greater portion of this book is based on numerous first hand interviews conducted by the author.
Not as much second hand information as I feel the other two contained.
Although they were all very entertaining.
March 7, 2023
After reading the previous autobiographies it was interesting to get at the "truth" of the matter. Behind the Hollywood machine, and the ego, it was a man after all. Interviews with friends and family and David Niven's own admissions made it a less entertaining read than his autobiography but much more human and accessible read.
November 4, 2022
Warts and all
Delves deeper into the life of film star David Niven. Nowadays they’d call him a sex addict. Some surprising revelations about him and the coterie of celebs he associated with. The one about his second wife and JFK is depressing.
Well written.
Delves deeper into the life of film star David Niven. Nowadays they’d call him a sex addict. Some surprising revelations about him and the coterie of celebs he associated with. The one about his second wife and JFK is depressing.
Well written.
August 6, 2023
Engaging biography of actor and sometimes author David Niven which I enjoyed reading
Author writes about the good and bad things that took place throughout his long life without making judgements, and he lets Niven tells his story and he recalled things
Author writes about the good and bad things that took place throughout his long life without making judgements, and he lets Niven tells his story and he recalled things
January 3, 2024
Compared to Niven’s own memoir I read a few months earlier, this one was a very honest and thorough look at Niven’s life, with many interviews shortly before his death where he clearly wanted to clear the air on some of his past statements and stories.
September 24, 2024
Better Books are available
I don’t know who the author is but he seems to have pretty much regurgitated large passages from other Niven biographies plus the two autobiographies from the man himself. There is nothing new here. Glad it was free.
I don’t know who the author is but he seems to have pretty much regurgitated large passages from other Niven biographies plus the two autobiographies from the man himself. There is nothing new here. Glad it was free.
April 4, 2025
Walter Mitty
May 20, 2025
Another chance to laugh with David Niven
I read both books written by David and enjoyed them, but this book showed the real David Niven. He was very promiscuous
I read both books written by David and enjoyed them, but this book showed the real David Niven. He was very promiscuous
February 27, 2017
Nice read. Doesn't gloss out the rather edgy side of the 'typical British gentleman' who was well liked but no angel.
May 13, 2013
I'm not sure I believe a lot of what Munn writes, but this is nevertheless an entertaining book with some nice stories about the movies.
Anything said about David Niven's personal life should be viewed with doubt as 1) it is not clear if Munn didn't just make it up (as Niven's sons claim) and 2) Niven used to make up stories about himself (and others) up all the time and I don't see why he wouldn't have done so too in his interviews with Munn if they took place as Munn says they did.
So, definitly not a work to trust as relieable research about the actor, but not bad as entertainment for movie fans.
Anything said about David Niven's personal life should be viewed with doubt as 1) it is not clear if Munn didn't just make it up (as Niven's sons claim) and 2) Niven used to make up stories about himself (and others) up all the time and I don't see why he wouldn't have done so too in his interviews with Munn if they took place as Munn says they did.
So, definitly not a work to trust as relieable research about the actor, but not bad as entertainment for movie fans.
January 16, 2015
I love David Niven.
His life was amazing, full of both tragedy and ecstasy and many shades in between. This is the first biography I've read, though I've read both of his Autobiographies and 2 of his novels (which all share some of the same stories.)
This book fills in some more details, with extensive interviews of friends and his wife. It covers his entire life including his death.
It shows more of the man, outside of the self-image. He is still a shining example of a human being in my view.
Fascinating.
His life was amazing, full of both tragedy and ecstasy and many shades in between. This is the first biography I've read, though I've read both of his Autobiographies and 2 of his novels (which all share some of the same stories.)
This book fills in some more details, with extensive interviews of friends and his wife. It covers his entire life including his death.
It shows more of the man, outside of the self-image. He is still a shining example of a human being in my view.
Fascinating.
February 14, 2013
Review to follow...
January 21, 2016
Read Niven's books; they're much better written and enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews