David Niven

Following The Moon's a Ballon, this title presents the second part of David Niven's autobiography. This book aims to be a reminder of a much-loved actor who epitomised, for many, the essential British gent, even when surrounded by the stars of Hollywood.

Bring on the Empty Horses

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Niven, already with an autobiography in his pocket (The Moon's a Balloon), wrote this second book sharing personal anecdotes of the greatest Hollywood movie stars and moguls and personalities he'd worked with during his decades-long illustrious career. The perspective feels very intriguing and authentic: All the big stars -- Bogart, Garbo, Astaire, Flynn, etc. -- in the eyes of an insider, a fellow actor with some renown but not even close to the superstar echelon.

Niven's voice is well-articulated, sympathetic, nostalgic, self-deprecating and has a lot of dry wit. He's endlessly humble and forgiving talking about the people he loved, but more interestingly, not shy about criticizing the people he didn't like. He'll outline scandals and cover-ups and rampant alcoholism, but not salaciously so -- more as an interesting inside view of how the Hollywood marketing machine worked.

Admittedly some of his own shortcomings and blindspots come out clearly at times, like the chapter discussing his close relationship with Errol Flynn. Immediately after a series of "humorous" anecdotes about Flynn's voracious and unchecked sexual appetites, and how unabashedly and vocally he lusted after underage girls, Niven goes on a screed to tell us how absurd it is that Flynn was accused and prosecuted for rape (with such disgusting arguments like "the victim wasn't even a virgin when it happened"). Yikes, David.

On the other hand there are actors I came to appreciate more from this inside view, especially in the cases where Niven points out how counter to their own personalities they were presented to the paying audience. And hauntingly, there's an anonymized story of being involved in a female movie star's mental breakdown -- again nothing salacious, more a plea for people to see how inhumane and dehumanizing life for a starlet entering middle age could be.

An intriguing read for fans of Old Hollywood.

Bring on the Empty Horses

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