As we did in 2021 and 2023, we're attempting to again increase book coverage in the community. This go round, we're talking to Dona about her review of Michael Gregg Mchaud's SAL MINEO: A BIOGRAPHY. So you were watching an old episode of COLUMBO and you found yourself introduced to Sal for the first time.
Dona: Right. He was talented, had charisma and was cute. So I looked him up to see who he was and turned out he was a famous actor with a brief career that did include a Golden Globe win and two Academy Award nominations. It was a sad tale and a glorious one. He was this cute little boy and his looks led to Broadway. Then they led to the movies. And he worked hard to be a real actor and not just coast his way through. He had some interesting friends throughout his career. James Dean, Natalie Wood, Yul Brenner, David Cassidy, and many more.
And you recommend the book?
Dona: I do. If I'm hesitant, it's because the author knows more than he puts on the page. I don't know. I applaud the book and I applaud the writer. But it's fairly well known that Sal and Paul Newman slept together. A detail not in the book but when friends of both of yours would be over and see what I was reading, they would bring up Paul -- among others. And it's appalling that losers like Ethan Hawke are making so-called documentaries about Paul Newman that don't acknowledge his decades of same-sex affairs while married to Joanne Woodward. He was bisexual. Why make a so-called documentary pretending otherwise? Or Dyan Cannon and her daughter and their embarrassing pretense that Cary Grant didn't sleep with men? It's like grow the hell up.
It is very sad, yes.
Dona: And the efforts to deny the truth about your own father? What is Cary Grant's daughter so afraid of? Cary Grant was an asshole, he was cheap, he was rude to women and his politics I'll leave alone. One of the best things about him was the fact that he slept with men. He's one of the great film stars of the 20th century and noting that he was bi or gay? That doesn't take anything away from him. It actually makes me more sympathetic to him because hiding in the closet might account for some of his issues. He might have been so cheap because he was afraid he'd be outed and lose everything. He might have been rude to women -- to put it mildly -- because he was angry that he couldn't be open about his affair with Randolph Scott. They lived together and they got slammed for it. But the photos make it look like that was one of the rare times in his life when he was actually happy. I think we need more truth and there's a lot of truth in this book on Sal Mineo.
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Previous book discussions:
"Book Talk (Ty, Ava and C.I.)"
"Book Talk (Stan, Rebecca, Ava and C.I.)"
"Book Talk (Trina, Ava and C.I.)"
"Books (Ruth, Jim, Ava and C.I.)"
"Book Talk (Stan, Ava and C.I.)"
"Book Talk (Dona, Ava and C.I.)"
"Book Talk (Ty, Ava and C.I.)"
"Book Talk (Mike, Ava and C.I.)"
"Book Talk (Stan, Rebecca, Ava and C.I.)"
"Book Talk (Mike, Ava and C.I.)"
"Book Talk (Ann, Marcia, Trina, Ava and C.I.)"
"Book Talk (Elaine, Ava and C.I.)"
"Books (Marcia, Rebecca, Ava and C.I.)"
"Book Talk (Kat, Ava and C.I.)"