Bøger af David Bret

It was known as the golden age of the music-hall-and introduced to the world an exciting range of artistes whose lives were so blatantly scandalous that they were incapable of crossing the Channel or the Atlantic without raising the hackles of the censors and moral groups. Some even raised eyebrows on home soil, in an age when France was believed to have been liberated in the wake of La Belle Époque. What makes these artistes of paramount importance, even the ones remembered only for a handful of songs and anecdotes, is their influence on so many of the stars of today and the recent past. Gaby Deslys (1881-1920) was the original "Tart with a Heart", a fickle but talented young woman who achieved world fame via the casting-couch, and who maintained her legendary status by developing a unique talent for being in the wrong place at the right time, breaking hearts and dispensing with fortunes along the way, and even toppling a monarchy. Harry Pilcer was a New Yorker of Hungarian extraction who, after an apprenticeship as a rent-boy, went on to become the most famous dancer to emerge from the United States, pre-Fred Astaire. His partnership with Gaby Deslys saw them billed as the world's greatest variety act, and enabled them to pack theatres on both sides of the Atlantic. When he later teamed up with the legendary Mistinguett, she wrote her signature tune, "Mon homme" (My Man) in his honour, having described him as the great love of her life. Alternatively touching and shocking, dirty but delightful, this is their story, publicised to coincide with the centenary of Gaby's death.

MARIANNE FAITHFULL: The most enigmatic of the Brit Girls, no less popular today than back then, whose fall from grace made world headlines, but who dragged herself out of the mire to become-and remain-one of the world's most prestigious entertainers.SANDIE SHAW: The "Barefoot Princess" and one of the decade's most alluring images-she topped the British charts three times, won Eurovision, sang with The Smiths, and while the world was still at her feet bowed out of the music scene, never to return.LULU: The wee Scottish lassie with the voice which could demolish a skyscraper-the only Brit Girl to top the US charts, she married a Bee Gee, also won Eurovision, and following a slump in her career made a spectacular return singing with the boy band, Take That.Includes full UK & European 1960s Discographies.Also in this series: British Divas Of The 1960s Volume One: Dusty Springfield, Helen Shapiro, Cilla Black & Kathy Kirby.

This is the first ever biography of Dorothy Squires, for a half a decade one of Britain's most feted singers, by her friend and confidant, David Bret. They met at the height of the BBC Payola scandal, and remained close for 26 years. In this book, much of which is told in Dorothy's own words and confidences, we learn of her triumphs and tragedies, her love affairs-the tempestuous ones with bandleader-composer Billy Reid and the actor Roger Moore, whom she married-and those she kept secret from all but her most intimate circle.Bret and Dorothy Squires never hold back when discussing the ups and downs of her life. Her refusal to grant Moore his freedom after their marriage failed. Her ferocious spats with "the establishment" which saw her banned on television and radio, and resulted in impresarios turning their backs on her until she affected one of the most spectacular comebacks in show business history. The fight to clear her name when she was arrested and accused of corruption. Her name being included on entertainment blacklists in France and America. Her sad and untimely fall from grace, brought about by the many frivolous lawsuits which left her virtually penniless and resulted in her being declared a vexatious litigant, and which saw her evicted from her home and taken in by friends. And finally, her lonely demise, and the fights over her estate. Dorothy Squires' life was a veritable rollercoaster ride of intense, frequently almost unbearable emotion, but as Bret reveals in this fascinating and alternatively moving and sardonically humorous book, it was a wonderful life. Dorothy Squires: Troubled Diva contains over forty photographs and a complete UK and international discography. David Bret is one of Britain's leading show business biographers. He has also published novels, two factual books about The Wars of the Roses, appeared in around thirty films and television documentaries, and made over 700 radio broadcasts.Quotes from the book: Dorothy Squires: "What drives me is the applause. Once it's there in the bloodstream, you can't get it out. It's not the pay-cheque, it's the feeling that an audience loves you."Roger Moore, former husband: "I don't think you can develop a charisma. Either you have it or you don't have it, and she had it."

Nicholas Iacona (1968-94) was blessed with the ultimate in male beauty. Abused by his father, he left home at 15 to hustle on the streets of Los Angeles, changed his name to Joey Stefano, and became virtually an overnight world sensation. Yet despite his tremendous success and the adoration this brought, Joey always seemed to hold himself responsible for the traumas of his youth. A great deal has been written about Joey's drug-taking, and the mistaken theory that he spent much of his adult life with his finger on the self-destruct button. Nothing could be further from the truth as this unique and at times very moving biography disclosed. There is also a full list of Joey's films. David Bret is one of Britain's foremost show business biographers/

"I think my greatest accomplishment so far is something that doesn't show up in lights or get reviewed - and that's simply the sexual sanity that I have tried to contribute to over the last twenty years." This was Casey Donovan, speaking in 1983, four years before his untimely death. Born John Calvin Culver, he was a pioneer and will eternally remain amongst the elite of the adult film industry. Yet he was more than just a porn star. As a hustler par excellence his clients included movie stars, senators, European royalty, and ordinary fans. The love of his life was the tough-guy actor Tom Tryon, who treated him badly. His other famous lovers included Rock Hudson, Paul Newman, and Superman actor Christopher Reeve. Casey scored successes on the legitimate stage-Tubstrip toured for two years and packed theatres across North America. He acted opposite Ingrid Bergman, and played Jesus Christ in an avant-garde production of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. As a "tour guide" he escorted well-heeled clients to exotic locations. As an "agony uncle", he eloquently responded to fans' letters for four years in Stallion magazine. It is for his contribution to the cinema, however, that he was revered. He shot to fame in Boys in the Sand in 1971, the very first gay porno feature film as opposed to the tawdry "loops" of the day. He triumphed in Radley Metzger's Score, made heterosexual porn films, and remained at the top of his profession for fifteen years, a long time in the world of adult film. Away from the screen, Casey was the unassuming boy-next-door. On film nothing was too exhibitionist or outrageous for him to tackle. Published to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of his death, this is his amazing story. It includes full details of his twenty-seven films and ten theatrical runs, and more than fifty photographs.WARNING: This biography contains adult themes of a sexual nature.

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD: The creator of the unique style known as 'blue-eyed soul', she was instrumental in introducing Motown to Britain, and for several years reigned supreme on both sides of the Atlantic. Her voice, flute-like, sensual and smoky frequently in the space of the same song, was similarly unique. She remains a show business legend years after her death, yet also an enigma, a completely self-fabricated, difficult yet vulnerable woman who allowed few access to her complex, in turns exhuberant and neurotic world where at times there was little difference between reality and make-believe.CILLA BLACK: The only important British female singer to emerge from the 'Mersey Sound' explosion. The archetypal girl-next-door, her speciality was powerhouse Continental ballads, with which she was unrivalled. Her sudden death in August 2015 sent an entire country into profound mourning.HELEN SHAPIRO: The teenage sensation whose commercial career ended as the other Brit Girls were coming into their own, though she went on to fashion a successful career in jazz.KATHY KIRBY: Britain's glamorous answer to Marilyn Monroe, a phenomenally talented, technically and vocally perfect but tetchy individual for whom there was no such thing as a bed take.Contains full UK and European 60s vinyl discographies

"Do you want to know the secret of my second youth? Well, it must have something to do with my being surrounded by men. Women put too much of a strain on the heart!" Rock Hudson, 1984.Since David Bret published his best-selling biography of Rock Hudson in 2004, two key figures in Rock's story-his wife Phyllis Gates and his last lover, Marc Christian-have died, along with several others, allowing a great deal to be told which could not be told whilst they were alive. In this much-revised and extended biography, Bret discusses every aspect of Rock's life: parental abuse, discovering his sexuality while in the US Navy, his scores of male lovers, his prostitution to agents and talent scouts, the hidden truth behind his lavender marriage, his battle to conceal his sexuality from the media, his involvement with San Francisco's gay scene, and the tragedy of his final years as the first major celebrity to contract AIDS. In Rock Hudson: The Gentle Giant, David Bret has produced a rewarding portrait of a warm-hearted, wonderful man who, though atrociously maligned by the tabloids and trash-mags back in 1985 when he died, remains revered by his millions of fans around the world.Contains over 40 candid photographs, filmography, and details of all of Rock's stage and television appearances.

Paris-born David Bret is one of Britain's foremost show business biographers and has spent 30 years writing about the famous and infamous. Now, he dishes the dirt on himself. He speaks affectionately about his long-suffering mother and eccentric family. He recalls celebrities who became mutual confidants: French singer Barbara, Dorothy Squires, Marlene Dietrich. He remembers show business friends with fondness: Damia, Serge Reggiani, Alice Sapritch, Melina Mercouri, Joey Stefano, and recalls his meeting with Greta Garbo. He writes of his friendship with Peter Sutcliffe in pre-Yorkshire Ripper days. But while speaking of these people with affection, he takes no prisoners when discussing his enemies, especially the physically and mentally abusive adoptive father who made his childhood and youth a misery. Also he does not hold back when discussing his many love affairs. David Bret has never been less than honest in sticking his head above the parapet in his best-selling books and when expressing his opinions on a myriad of topics, and he is wholly unsparing when writing about himself...

David Bret is one of Britain's leading celebrity biographers. He has also published novels, stage plays, and two factual volumes on 15th century history. Additionally he has appeared in around thirty films and television documentaries, and made over 700 radio broadcasts. In this monologue he recalls his grandmother's funeral in February 1972, as seen through the eyes of his much-loved Aunty Kate, who had a peculiar way of looking at the world. It was one of the saddest days of Bret's life, yet upon reflection and when recounted by Kate, it becomes so unintentionally hilarious.

There has been renewed interest in Richard III since the discovery of his remains beneath a Leicester car park in the autumn of 2012. Part of the mystery was solved on 4 February 2013, when it was revealed that he was not the diminutive, hunchbacked monster of Tudor myth, but a tall (for his time), good-looking man who suffered from scoliosis of the spine, a condition which would not have been noticed as he went about everyday life. If the Tudor propagandists perpetrated this myth-their theory being that to sanitize Henry VII, it was necessary to blacken the name of his predecessor-what else was made up? Richard remains the most controversial monarch to have occupied the British throne. During his brief reign he was loved and respected by his subjects. His fighting skills were second to none: his loyalty towards his brother, Edward IV, cannot be disputed. From an early age he was compelled to find his own way in life in a violence-orientated world: the brooding archetypal loner who, even when he acquired power, still preferred the quiet Yorkshire countryside to the artificialities of the royal court, where no man was trusting of his fellow. Edward IV's sudden death plunged England into chaos. Richard, named by him as Protector of his young sons, Edward V and Richard of York, was faced with the dilemma that England would again succumb to the anarchy brought about by the last royal minority-that of Henry VI. He was also faced with the rapaciousness of the boys' family, the much-hated Woodvilles. The boys were placed within the Tower, but were never seen again, setting in motion a mystery which has never been solved. Did Richard kill his nephews, or were they dispatched by the Duke of Buckingham, or by Henry Tudor and his scheming mother, Margaret Beaufort? What was the true nature of the relationship between Richard and Buckingham? Was Buckingham hoping to use "bromance" as a means of ensnaring Richard to be used as a scapegoat for the heinous crime he was about to perpetrate? Or was Richard simply too trusting, caught out when he was at his weakest-mourning a brother he had adored? The fact that he still has many thousands of devoted supporters, more than 500 years after his death, only points to the fact that Richard III was more than just a king. He was a legend.

From her fairytale childhood to her impressive array of movies and marriages, Elizabeth Taylor's life, both on and off the screen, has enchanted, saddened, appalled, and entertained us for the past seven decades.Elizabeth Taylor: The Lady, The Lover, The Legend-the first new biography to be published following her death-strips away the Hollywood veneer to reveal the woman as she really was. Through his incredible depth of knowledge, biographer David Bret sheds new light on the Elizabeth Taylor we thought we knew: her feud with Louis B. Mayer, her friendship with Montgomery Clift, the abuse she suffered at the hands of Nicky Hilton, the real story behind the Taylor-Fisher-Reynolds love triangle-and, of course, her epic relationship with Richard Burton, just as stormy in real life as it was on film. With compassion and admiration, Bret describes Taylor's later years, including her fight for AIDS awareness and support for gay rights, her strange friendship with Michael Jackson, and her deteriorating health leading up to her untimely death in March 2011.Elizabeth Taylor: The Lady, The Lover, The Legend is a shockingly honest, richly detailed book about one of the greatest Hollywood superstars of all time.