'The African Queen'. 'On The Waterfront'. 'The Bridge On The River Kwai'. 'Lawrence Of Arabia'.
The legacy of multi-Oscar winning producer Sam Spiegel boasts some of the best-made and most-loved films of all time. He worked with directors Julien Duvivier, Orson Welles, John Huston, Joseph Losey, Elia Kazan, David Lean, Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Arthur Penn. But what is less well known is the astonishing life that this Hollywood legend lived: a story as absorbing as the features he made.
Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni's new biography captures the essence of this remarkable, larger than life character. She charts Spiegel's early years in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Poland, Palestine and America, and describes how bouncing cheques, spinning yarns and getting away with it soon turned out to be his speciality.
This biography depicts the good and the bad of an extraordinary man: an illuminating account of both the golden age of Hollywood and one of its most gregarious individuals.
