Leslie Howard: The Lost Actor (Revised Second Edition) Paperback – Illustrated, 30 Oct. 2012

very good

A well researched, informative book. The author is a tad too subjective regarding what she perceives as his acting strengths and weaknesses and when writing about the qualities of his films but it's definitely an essential read for any fan of this actor.What I found interesting were the passages relating to WW2, I have to say the book added a new context for British (and American) attitudes and actions leading up to and during the war; which the author examines in relation to the film world and film propaganda.

This is a serviceable biography of that icon of British Cinema - the Man in Grey, who carved out an immortal place in film history before being killed in 1943 on a flight from Lisbon to Britain. It covers his childhood and formative years and experiences well, giving one a good idea of how the actor developed his screen persona over time. The coverage of his film output is a little patchy in places and variable in depth and quality, but I don't regard this as a big problem in the overall scheme of things. In some ways the book raises more questions than it answers. For instance, his brief service in the British Army during the Great War terminated quite quickly for no very apparent reason - was there a degree of what in WW2 was euphemistically termed "Low Moral Fibre"? And did his children really not mind that much about his effective desertion of them for a sucession of Other Women?The book is most useful in dealing with the story of how far he was involved in combating the Appeasement lobby in British governing circles during the run-up to WW2; in how, along with other activists such as Sir Robert Vansittart (who was - incredibly - banned from broadcasting on BBC Radio ever again after he spoke out about the holocaust in 1942), he tried to bring the emerging plight of European Jews to the attention of a wilfully uninterested British establishment; and in how it deals with the many myths, and the confusion of surviving authentic documentation, surrounding his death at the hands of the Luftwaffe.It does have its faults. Forgan makes a number of irritating solecisms, resulting from careless research and inadequate knowledge, regarding the war years and what went before. It states that "Leslie's father survived until after the war, when he died in July 1945" - that the war ended before July '45 will be news to the thousands of allied servicemen still fighting the Japanese in August 1945. She states that, after the Battle of Britain, "the RAF took on the nickname of 'the few'". No it didn't - the term "The Few" referred specifically to those members of Fighter Command involved in the battle, not the RAF as a whole. It refers to Erskine Childers, the Irish Republican fighter, as being "shot as a traitor by the British in 1922". Wrong again - he was shot by the Irish Free Staters, not the British. And she refers to Andre Maurois as "being unfortunately pro-Vichy at the start of the war". Vichy in the sense that she obviously means the term to be understood, i.e. the collaborationist government led by Petain after the Fall of France, did not exist until 1940.However, what really made me angry was a comment about the young pilots involved in the making of the film 'The First of the Few', with "their silk neckties and the silly moustaches". SILLY MOUSTACHES? SILLY MOUSTACHES? Those young men risked - and all too frequently gave - their lives in the most important battle in the history of Civilisation; I think they could be allowed to wear the moustaches many of them favoured without being denigrated as silly. Alternatively, F*** you, Estel Eforgan.Anyway - when I find so many slips in a book purporting to be an, if not the, authoritative book on the subject, I always wonder about the accuracy of the rest of it. The fact that she often repeats what she has just told you is another worrying factor, like she isn't really paying attention to what she's doing (although proof-reading should really sort that kind of thing out). Not having read any other book on the subject, I can't comment on the overall reliability of the work. However, despite the reservations mentioned above, I got the impression that, by and large, it was a pretty good effort, telling me essentially what I really wanted to know and, as with the possible LMF business, not speculating unnecessarily about things which are now beyond any possible verification. So, if you want a good picture of Leslie Howard the man, you could do a lot worse than Forgan's book. Just keep an eye out for slips.

This book has been well researched but is really unable to find anything new about the tragic death of Leslie Howard.It does shed some light on his early years particularly his brief military career.However at times it does not do full justice to his film career particularly his time in Hollywood.I found it disappointing how few photos were featured.Those that were could be quite curious,such as the photo of Isadore Ostrer,taken from all place the fascist publication "The Blackshirt".Furthermore despite the extensive research the author was prone to mistakes.No surprise when she goes off topic so often.there is a lot of information about the British secret service at the beginning of World War 2.She also deals with the British film crisis of 1937/8 without really understanding what it was all about.It is now very unlikely that we shall ever really know why Howard's plane was shot down.

I felt there was just the right about of detail in this biography about Leslie Howard's life, career and film details, without being prurient about his active romantic life. It helped me to understand his character in a balanced and fair way. I never had the feeling that the author presented facts in a way that judged or excused him morally or politically. He was a complex person and it was helpful to have enough reminders of the times and political forces of his time that helped to shape him, and which helped to explain his responses in terms of his own character. There is just the right amount of detail in all the areas she delves into. I really enjoyed this book, and am rewatching many of his movies with the background information in mind, which adds a lot of interest.

Estel Eforgan's Leslie Howard-Biographie ist ein (offensichtlich) sehr genau recherchiertes Buch mit ausführlichen Quellenangaben bzw. Anmerkungen am Ende eines jeden Kapitels. Das Buch bietet viele interessante Informationen zu Howard's Familienhintergrund, seine Kindheit (während der er u.a. ungefähr 5 Jahre in Wien/Österreich-Ungarn lebte) und Jugend, seine Zeit beim Militär (während des 1. Wks) und einen guten Überblick über seine Theaterkarriere/-laufbahn.Howard's Zeit als Filmstar (vor dem Krieg, 2. Wk) wird in einem eigenen Kapitel ("1931-1939: Film Star") behandelt. Leider werden mehrere Filme nur sehr kurz bzw. kurz abgehandelt (um einige Bsp.e zu nennen: "Smilin' Through" in weniger als einem Satz, "Devotion" in kaum 3 Zeilen, "It's Love I'm After" in mehreren Sätzen, "British Agent" in 2 Absätzen).Howard's Aktivitäten nach seiner Rückkehr nach England im August 1939 werden im Buch viel Platz eingeräumt. Eforgan geht wichtigen/interessanten Fragen nach - u.a. der Frage, ob Leslie Howard ein Spion/als Spion tätig war und widmet sich ausführlich Howard's Projekt/Film "Pimpernel Smith". Das mit diesem Projekt und der Zeit von August 1939 bis Juni 1941 befasste Kapitel enthielt für meinen Geschmack tw. eine Überfülle an historischen Informationen ( andere Leser mögen das aber anders empfinden).Howard's Arbeit im Radio wird im Kapitel "July 1940-April 1942: Propaganda" u.a. mit langen Zitaten dargestellt (mMn sehr interessant).Die Theorien (Haupttheorien) zum Abschuss des Flugzeugs/zum Hergang/zum Grund für den Abschuss des Flugzeugs, in dem sich Leslie Howard und 12 andere Passagiere befanden, durch Piloten der deutschen Luftwaffe im Jahr 1943 werden von Eforgan vorgestellt und sie setzt sich auf seriöse Weise mit dem Quellenmaterial auseinander.Was das Bildmaterial anbelangt, so finden sich im Buch erstaunlicherweise kein Foto von Howard's Frau und kein Foto von Howard's Freundin.Fazit: Sehr empfehlenswert wenn man Genaueres über Leslie Howard wissen möchte - auch wenn mehrere seiner Filme nur sehr kurz bzw. kurz behandelt werden.4 Sterne

A lot of research went into this biography of actor Leslie Howard. However, I still found the author to have the attitude that Howard could do no wrong in anything he attempted. In the film Of Human Bondage, it was Howard's performance that stood out, not Davis' memorable turn as the cockney waitress and the only time the Motion Picture Academy received write-in votes when a player (Davis) was not nominated. Howard's turn in Pygmalion was better than Wendy Hiller's most remembered film role. The book also mentions that Howard, as co-director on Pygmalion was the one who held cast and crew together yet Gene Phillips book on David Lean indicates that Howard was only on the set for the scenes in which he appeared. Even Howard's extra-marital affairs were brushed off became he was looking for intelligent and exciting women. It was mentioned that Howard's numerous affairs caused unhappiness and complications with his family but it really did not mention what these complications were. Additionally, the book made no mention of Howard having his wife take care of his mistress during the mistresses' final illness, as daughter Ruth reported in the documentary Leslie Howard, The Man Who Gave a Damn. All in all, I did learn some new things about Howard but found the book hard to read with a lot of background information that I felt really did not matter. It was obvious the book was written by a fan of Howard's, which is not a criticism, but the writing should have been more balanced. It would have been nice to learn what happened to his wife, son, and daughter after Howard's untimely death but that is not to be. (No mention is made that both children wrote their own biographies of Howard). Nor is there any mention of any memorial services for Howard or any protests that should have been made by the British government for the shooting down of a civilian aircraft. The author should have tied up the loose ends by letting us know what happened to the principal players in Howard's life.

Beyond being the best book ever written on Leslie Howard, and certainly the best researched, this book is interesting to anyone who has a deep interest in WWII. There is much history in here, and sometimes what is just as interesting is the history that COULDN'T be found. Makes you realize there is still, to this very day, many secrets still hidden away from the public eye concerning the Second World War. Howard was a hero of his time and an inspiration to anyone who is ready to speak out against evil forces ... in any generation.

If you have purchased the hardback you may wonder if you should purchase this second edition. The answer is yes. There is so much new information and new pictures that this could be a new book. EForgan is a skilled researcher and excellent writer.And the price is half the cost of the hardback.