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Sitting Pretty: The Life and Times of Clifton Webb
Clifton Webb
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Description for Sitting Pretty: The Life and Times of Clifton Webb
Paperback. The autobiography of one of the top moneymakers in the history of Twentieth Century-Fox Series: Hollywood Legends Series. Num Pages: 280 pages, 55 black & white illustrations, filmography. BIC Classification: 1KBB; 3JH; 3JJ; APB; APF; AVGM; BGF. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 155 x 229 x 20. Weight in Grams: 404.
More than any other male movie star, the refined Clifton Webb (1889-1966) caused the movie-going public to change its image of a leading man. In a day when leading men were supposed to be strong, virile, and brave, Clifton Webb projected an image of flip, acerbic arrogance. He was able to play everything from a decadent columnist (Laura) to a fertile father (Cheaper by the Dozen and The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker), delivering lines in an urbanely clipped, acidly dry manner with impeccable timing. Sitting Pretty is his remarkable story. Long before his film career began, Webb was a child actor and later a suavely effete song-and-dance man in numerous Broadway musicals and revues. The turning point in his career came in 1941 when his good friend Noel Coward cast him in Blithe Spirit. Director Otto Preminger saw Webb's performance and cast him in Laura in 1944. Webb began to write his autobiography, but he said that he eventually had gotten bogged down in the process. However, he did complete six chapters and left a hefty collection of notes that he intended to use in the proposed book. His writing is as witty and sophisticated as his onscreen persona. Those six chapters, information and voluminous notes, and personal research by the coauthor provide an intimate view of an amazingly talented man's life and times.
Product Details
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2016
Publisher
University Press of Mississippi
Condition
New
Series
Hollywood Legends Series
Number of Pages
280
Place of Publication
Jackson, United States
ISBN
9781496807984
SKU
V9781496807984
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-50
About Clifton Webb
Clifton Webb (1889-1966) was a Hollywood star who caused the movie-going public to change its image of a leading man. In a day when leading men were supposed to be strong, virile, and brave, he projected an image of flip, acerbic arrogance. He was able to play everything from a decadent columnist (Laura) to a fertile father (Cheaper by the Dozen and The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker).|David L. Smith is professor emeritus at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Prior to his academic career, he labored a number of years in the Indianapolis television market as a producer/director, production manager, and program manager. He created, wrote, and hosted a weekly thematic movie series entitled When Movies Were Movies, which had a very successful run of ten years. He also has served as executive producer for several nationally syndicated television programs. His writings about the movie industry have been widely published. His first book, Hoosiers in Hollywood, was published in 2006. Visit his website at www.whenmoviesweremovies.com.
Reviews for Sitting Pretty: The Life and Times of Clifton Webb
David L. Smith's deft melding of memoir and biography does overdue justice to Twentieth Century-Fox's most unlikely star.
David Stenn, author of Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild I was genuinely delighted to know that a book was being written about Clifton Webb. What a pleasure it is to read this astounding account of a man my parents and I considered to be 'family.' There has never been a truly proper replacement in movieland after Clifton left us. He could do everything and did it in a singular style that could never be repeated. Reading this book, I realized once again what an important part Clifton and Mabelle played in my life as a young man. He was a meticulous and devoted friend who called me a few days before he died to tell me he was going to leave me his favorite painting, a George Bellows oil portrait of Clifton as an aristocratic young man. It has always hung in my home.
Richard D. Zanuck Clifton Webb was the unlikeliest of movie stars, but a movie star he was, and reading the completed chapters of his autobiography is a tremendous pleasure. The voice is unmistakably that of Waldo Lydecker, of Elliott Templeton, of Clifton Webb. David Smith has performed a heroic feat of archaeology in rescuing and completing this delightful book about a delightful man.
Scott Eyman, author of Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille and Lion of Hollywood: The Life of Louis B. Mayer
David Stenn, author of Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild I was genuinely delighted to know that a book was being written about Clifton Webb. What a pleasure it is to read this astounding account of a man my parents and I considered to be 'family.' There has never been a truly proper replacement in movieland after Clifton left us. He could do everything and did it in a singular style that could never be repeated. Reading this book, I realized once again what an important part Clifton and Mabelle played in my life as a young man. He was a meticulous and devoted friend who called me a few days before he died to tell me he was going to leave me his favorite painting, a George Bellows oil portrait of Clifton as an aristocratic young man. It has always hung in my home.
Richard D. Zanuck Clifton Webb was the unlikeliest of movie stars, but a movie star he was, and reading the completed chapters of his autobiography is a tremendous pleasure. The voice is unmistakably that of Waldo Lydecker, of Elliott Templeton, of Clifton Webb. David Smith has performed a heroic feat of archaeology in rescuing and completing this delightful book about a delightful man.
Scott Eyman, author of Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille and Lion of Hollywood: The Life of Louis B. Mayer