Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 29, 1990 TAG: 9004290222
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by ROBERT ALOTTA
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS: THE PASSIONATE LIFE OF BETTE DAVIS. By Lawrence J. Quirk. Morrow. $21.95.
Here we go again . . . more biographies of Bette Davis.
Roy Moseley, who can best be described as a "facilitator," has written a number of books on screen celebrities, including Rex Harrison, Roger Moore, Merle Oberon (with Charles Higham) and, most recently, Cary Grant. Moseley's fascination with Bette Davis, by his own admission, began when he was a young boy, in love with an image on the screen. Later, he was able to meet the actress and become a close friend.
The story he tells is one, we presume, based on intimate contact, unlike the stories presented by Lawrence Quirk in "Fasten Your Seatbelts." Moseley's tale concerns itself with Davis' off-screen life which wasn't much to shout about. She lived simply away from the silver screen. She cooked and cleaned, and read and gardened - even at hotels where she stayed. But if her life was simple, it was also complicated by her demanding ways.
She was always a star - on or off the screen - and let no one forget it. Moseley illustrates his text with a collection of photographs, including pictures of her Mustang, the interior of her home and members of her family.
Biographer Lawrence Quirk sees Davis as one tough broad. He contends that she developed strong aggressive drives that required her to find men she could dominate. In fact, the proposal for her first marriage - to Harmon Nelson - was made by her, not him.
Her second marriage, to Arthur Farnsworth, ended when he died of natural causes. Later, she was to find that he was bisexual with a strong inclination for men. Her third trip down Davis the aisle, arm in arm with William Grant Sherry, resulted in the birth of a daughter, nicknamed "B.D." Her final marriage to Gary Merrill ended in divorce because he was content to be an actor, not a star.
Between marriages and sometimes during, according to Quirk, Bette took up with actors George Brent and Henry Fonda, and at least one director, William Wyler. Quirk contends that Bette Davis was lusted after by other members of the acting community, both male and female. His book is filled with gossip, rumor and innuendo.
He tells fascinating stories about Clark Gable's foul-smelling breath and his problems with personal hygiene. (Quirk's comments on the sex lives of Gable, Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn virtually destroyed the sex gods of my youth.) In many areas, his comments are unsubstantiated and, as such, are basically useless, beyond arousing the prurient interests of the readers.
Quirk discovered, we assume, that he didn't have enough material to fill a 464-page book - even though the publisher touts "40 years of research" - and so he added plot descriptions of every Bette Davis movie, and, in most cases, copious reviews of her and her roles.
But who was she, really?
Moseley, who was closer to her, admits that she managed to alienate everyone in her life, even those she held most dear. She split with him over his association with Charles Higham. "Any friend of Charles Higham's," she hissed to him over the phone in her best Margot Channing voice, "cannot be a friend of mine." And thus ended their friendship; it was as simple as that.
by CNB