David Bret
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David Bret (born 8 November 1954 in Paris) is a French-born author of celebrity books and one of Britain’s show business biographers. He chiefly writes on the private life of movie stars and singers in a somewhat sensationalizing style.
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[edit] Life
Born in Paris, France in 1954, David Bret was adopted by an English couple and raised in Wath-on-Dearne, South Yorkshire. He worked for several years in the retail trade, then as an administrator with the NHS, and as a singer in working men's clubs. He then began writing the biographies for which he is best known. He married Jeanne Elliss in October 1972,and has a son, Marleau, born in October 1973. He lives in West Yorkshire, England.
One of Britain's leading celebrity biographers, Bret has counted amongst his admirers, friends and acquaintances Dorothy Squires, Melina Mercouri, Peggy Lee, Marion Montgomery, Montserrat Caballe,Serge Reggiani, Elizabeth Welch, Alice Sapritch, Damia,Kirsty McColl, Elaine Paige, Amalia Rodrigues, Maria da Fe, the late gay porn star, Joey Stefano, H M The Queen Mother, and Greta Garbo. He had a particularly close association with Marlene Dietrich and the great French chanteuse, Barbara (Monique Serf), becoming one of their closest confidantes. All of these people have dedications in his books, and praise him very highly. More recently, Elizabeth Taylor, about whom he is to publish a posthumous book, claimed to have read some of the script and described him as, "A shit, but a lovable shit!"[citation needed]Doris Day has said of him, "He is a writer with a soul."
[edit] Show business biographies
His first biography The Piaf Legend, about Edith Piaf was published in 1988 to great acclaim. This book led to a close friendship with Marlene Dietrich, who asked Bret to produce the last CD release during her lifetime, 'The Essential Marlene Dietrich' and to write her life story, which was published in 1993, the year after her death.
Next came biographies of Mistinguett and Maurice Chevalier, the former published in the United States. Bret followed this with his first biography of Morrissey, who flatteringly said of him, "This one I want to dust down and stick on the mantelpiece." In 1995, Bret published Gracie Fields, The Authorised Biography, which was his first work to cause a scandal with Bret's revelations about Gracie Fields' love life. Even more controversial was George Formby: A Troubled Genius which though detailing for the first time Formby's trip to South Africa and his condemnation of Apartheid, raised the hackles of The George Formby Society with its revelations that he and his wife Beryl had had an open marriage, and that Formby had once been sectioned due to mental illness. The book continues to sell well.
Another subject of Bret's biographies was Maria Callas, and Bret's revelations about her were controversial. He asserted that Callas was keen on trying to "convert" gay men, and that she her language was often obscene. This led to a massive public row with Callas's friend, Franco Zeffirelli which in turn led to them "sparring it out" in a German television documentary, though the pair never actually met.
In 2007, Bret published a second biography of Edith Piaf, Piaf, A Passionate Life, to compliment the biopic, 'La Vie En Rose'. Bret also penned works on Rock Hudson, Rudolph Valentino, Tallulah Bankhead, Errol Flynn, Joan Crawford, Barbra Streisand and Clark Gable. Bret's biography of Doris Day is to be published in 2008.
[edit] Other work
Bret has also written many newspaper and magazine articles, for instance, for The Stage, and he has lectured at the University of Chicago. He had adapted songs from the original French for his godmother, actress Jacqueline Danno, and for his friend the French chanteuse Barbara (Monique Serf). She commissioned him to adapt her theme song, Ma plus belle histoire d'amour, into English. Bret also appears in the Italian documentary, 'Rudy', which tells the story of Rudolph Valentino.He also made a trio of documentaries for the E! channel in the USA: Freddie Mercury, Valentino and Tallulah Bankhead.
[edit] Controversies and reviews
Billed by his publisher, Robson Books (London), as a show business biographer, Bret primarily writes about the life of deceased stars.
His biography of George Formby was favorably reviewed by The Guardian. Publishers Weekly appraised his 1998 work on Maria Callas though revealing that the "emphasis is on scandal rather than music in this racy biography." In his 1989 book on Édith Piaf, the reviewers of Publishers Weekly said, "Bret presents little new information" and referred to his publication on the French star Mistinguett as being more about her bizarre lifestyle than about her art. Indeed, since that time Bret switched to the successful British tabloid style of sensationalizing the narrative. The trip to Chicago came about by way of a back-handed compliment delivered by Moira Shearer who commented, after reading his Valentino, "Valentino had the eyes of a pig...and the best thing to do with Bret's book once you have read it is to bin it, then wash your hands." This resulted in filmmaker Ken Russell writing a glowing tribute in The Sunday Times. Similarly, Bret received strong criticism by Professor Lincoln D. Hurst, an Errol Flynn expert and noted film historian and scholar who has appeared in several Flynn bios for television and on DVD and who published lengthy criticisms after reading Satan's Angel.
Some critics[who?] say that Bret's writings, promoted as biographies, are salacious in describing the sex lives of their subject, often bisexual or homosexual. In his biography of Maurice Chevalier,sanctioned and approved of by the French star's family, who are close friends of Bret, he reveals letters proving that Chevalier had a relationship with a British soldier during World War I. His writing on Freddie Mercury was criticised for being mostly about the late singer's supposed sexual excesses as was his book on Rudolf Valentino that dwelled on numerous homosexual affairs as well as the lesbianism of Tallulah Bankhead.
Bret's preoccupation with homosexuality resulted in a book on Elvis Presley released in the UK in 2002 and in the USA a year later. This 337-page book deals with the singer's career on film and TV and analyzes his every celluloid appearance, including his 33 films, documentaries, TV appearances, tributes, biopics and retrospectives. It was launched with an advance publicity notice that "The truth regarding the professional relationship between Colonel Tom Parker", whilst Bret virulently opposes controversial allegations made by some members of Elvis's family that Presley slept with his own mother, raped his wife, held wild sex and drugs parties and left a fan brain-damaged." The book claims that Elvis had an affair with actor Nick Adams and that his manager Parker had been able to blackmail Presley by threatening to reveal "secret information" that he was homosexual. Similar accusations, almost certainly true, are also to be found in a manuscript book and a newspaper article by Elvis's stepmother, Dee Presley. However, they were rejected by most fans. (For other books on Elvis upsetting his fans, see also Albert Goldman.)
Morrissey: Scandal and Passion was advertised as a "fully up-to-date biography packed with revelations; accusations of racism and fascism; confessions of physical abuse." The book talked about Morrissey's being subjected to gay-bashing; the wrongful accusations of his supporting pedophilia, while insinuating that Morrissey himself was gay. With the publisher's assertion that it was a "fully up-to-date biography" and after a journalist with The Guardian newspaper had given a favorable review to his 2001 book on the late entertainer George Formby, that newspaper reviewed the second Morrissey book. The Guardian review called it "thin gruel", whilst Morrissey's nod of approval[citation needed] (he had wanted another biographer, Johnny Rogan, to die in a car-smash) earned it a thumbs-up from fans. The first print run sold out in two days.
Since 1988, Bret has been published by Robson Books, though tremendous clashes of personality arose when this "family" was incorporated in the Chrysalis, then the Anova group. As a result of this, in May 2007 Bret acquired his entire back catalogue and returned to Jeremy Robson, who branched out on his own as JR Books--the revised "Piaf, A Passionate Life" was their first release.
During the rift with Anova ("There is only one thing worse than being told one has three months to live, and that is working for Anova," Bret says), Bret signed a one-off deal with Mainstream, for the rights to his 'Elizabeth Taylor: The Lady Was A Vamp'. Their subsequent press-release declared that on account of its "explosive" content, this only be published after her death. As a result of the announcement, Miss Taylor gave her legendary interview with Larry King.
In 2008, Bret is to publish what promises to be a hard-hitting biography of Doris Day which his publishers say that, whilst immensely reverential towards her, "will finally lift lid on the fact that she was anything but the archetypal girl-next-door".
[edit] Bibliography
In the following partial bibliography, note that the publisher frequently changes the title for the same book from any hardcover version to paperback. Plus, the title and year of publication may vary depending on the country of issue.
- Doris Day: Reluctant Star (2008)
- Clark Gable: Tormented Star (2007)
- Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr (2006)
- Rock Hudson (2004)
- Morrissey: Scandal and Passion (2004)
- Elvis: The Hollywood Years (2002)
- Barbra Streisand (2000)
- Errol Flynn: Satan's Angel (2000)
- Valentino: A Dream of Desire (1999)
- Piaf: A Passionate Life (1999)
- George Formby: A Troubled Genius (1999)
- Maria Callas: The Tigress and the Lamb (1998)
- Freddie Mercury Story: Living on the Edge (1997)
- Tallulah Bankhead: A Scandalous Life (1997)
- Marlene My Friend: An Intimate Biography (1996)
- Gracie Fields: The Authorized Biography (1996)
- Morrissey: Landscapes of the Mind (1994)
- Maurice Chevalier: Up on Top of a Rainbow (1993)
- The Mistinguett Legend (1991)
- Piaf: A Passionate Life (1989, revised 2007)
