Openly gay author and film historian William J. Mann must be an agent's dream client: Not only is he a talented fiction writer ( having penned a series of best-selling gay-themed novels ) but he's also able to craft compelling, exhaustively researched and fabulously entertaining non-fiction books. A devout film historian, Mann has written best-sellers on William Haines, the movies' first openly gay star; a history of gays and lesbians in Hollywood; and fascinating biographies of Katharine Hepburn, director John Schlesinger and, most recently, the woman who broke the movie-star moldElizabeth Taylor. Mann's book, How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor In Hollywood, tracks the rise of Taylor from child star to the pinnacle of worldwide renown. Among other things, the book tackles Taylor's ability to utilize her MGM studio training in dealing with the press when it has come to her many husbands, illnesses and her larger-than-life fame, which essentially created the groundwork for the celebrity culture of today.
Along the way, Mann's richly detailed book, which focuses on important facets in Taylor's life, is sprinkled with the large coterie of gay menMontgomery Clift, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Roddy McDowall, etc.who have surrounded, delighted and helped shaped this one-of-a-kind movie star. The book arrives in paperback in late April. Mann, a bit of a dreamboat himself, talked about the Taylor book and his next project.
Windy City Times: I loved that you focused on key aspects of Elizabeth Taylor's life, [ including ] the years when she really was a movie star because there are already, like, 50 biographies of her.
William Mann: Exactly, and that's why that approach appealed to me when my editor suggested we do thisget behind the scenes and show how she laid the groundwork for everybody from Madonna to Britney and all that. I realized that I would need to do it in a different way than what had been written before.
WCT: It's your contention that her [ MGM ] training helped her in dealing with the press on one hand and her inner strength on the otherusing the press to her advantage, right?
William Mann:Yes. She wasn't a Judy Garland who was going to crumble in that system. She didn't like the studio system and fought against it, and it made her tough and turned her into a survivor. I think the experience of her first marriage to Nicky Hilton, which was completely studio-arranged and basically a photo op wedding, was something she learned fromthat she would need to take her career into her own hands and do things her way.
WCT: I think this is the first time I've read that her father was bisexual or gay.
William Mann:It's been mentioned before in David Heymann's book probably 15 years ago. People kind of said, "Well, we shouldn't touch that because Elizabeth herself has never talked about that," and my background is something that isn't going to ignore something as pertinent as thatand the evidence does seem to be there. I just decided to treat it as normally as anything else in her life.
WCT: That's one reason why I loved your book so much. You really do write a lot about how gay men have been so influential in her life.
William Mann:Oh, sure. It's the same thing with her second husband Michael Wilding. When they've talked about the experience of Hedda Hopper outing himprevious biographers have made it seem as if Hedda were making this up and that's not understanding the way Hedda Hopper works. She never would have made a case for this if she didn't know for certain that this was true. Understanding that made me understand Elizabeth's marriage to him a little betterespecially coming off the disastrous marriage to Nicky Hilton. Given the fact that gay men were so much a part of her life and she loved gay men, the idea of marrying a gay man would probably seem terrific to her after that horrible first marriage because she knew her gay friends treated her well. That gave me some insight into her character.
WCT: Talking about her comfort level with gay mensomething she shared with Judy Garland and many other stars of that era and todaywhat about the ladies? Did Liz ever indulge in that area?
William Mann: [ Emphatically ] Never. Never. There wasn't a bisexual bone in her body. She loved men. She didn't have any prejudice against lesbians by any means but there was just never any inclination on her part to go there at all. [ She ] fell in love, madly, with very heterosexual men and her best friends were always gay men.
WCT: Is there any star today who would interest you to write about who would have the impact Elizabeth Taylor had?
William Mann:Well, I don't know that I'd necessarily want to write about them but I feel that somebody like Angelina Jolie has some of that old-time glamour to her. She has the movie-star glamour; the offscreen persona is glamorous and quirky and unpredictable; and she does some really good onscreen work. She has that balance going onwhich is true of Elizabeth as well.
WCT: Let's talk about a few of your earlier books. I know there was talk at one point that a biopic might be in the works about the William Haines book.
William Mann:It is. In fact, there's also a Broadway musical in the offing.
WCT: [ Laughs ] "Make it gay, make it gay, make it gay."
William Mann: [ Laughs ] Yes, indeed. That book came out in 1998 and I still have people, no matter what book I do, inevitably come up to me and say, "You know, I just loved 'Wisecracker'" so that book has had quite the life and I think William Haines might be do for a little bit of a comeback in the next couple of years.
WCT: Is there a next subject that you can talk about?
William Mann:Well, yes. I've agreed to stay with Hollywood for at least one more book. So I'm doing another divaanother gay favorite. It's going to be called Hello Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand. But it's just going to be early Streisand. I can't imagine writing about Hollywood much past 1970.
WCT: And she's been covered a lotlike Liz.
William Mann:Right. So, again, the agreement with my editor is that it's going to be just the early, early Barbra. The young teenage girl from Brooklyn arriving in Manhattan deciding that she wants to become the biggest star in the world and ending with "A Happening in Central Park" in 1967 when she was making Funny Girl. That will be the last big set piece of the bookthat concert that brought more people to Central Park than anybody else in history up to that point. In the course of those six years, this little girl who was living in a walk-up hovel...
WCT: Carrying the cot around with her.
William Mann:Yes, exactly. From that to her drawing a quarter of a million people to Central Park is a very small, short simple story but I also think it's going to be really interesting.
WCT: I assume you're researching now, but any idea when that will see the light of day?
William Mann:Probably 2012 because technically that's her 50th year in showbiz if we mark it from her first Broadway show and her first record contract.
Visit www.williamjmann.com .