Reluctant Witness: Reviews

Reluctant Witness: Robert Taylor, Hollywood, & Communism

REVIEWS

“I can’t say that I enjoyed your book, Reluctant Witness. I was captivated. Your insight into who Bob really was: a complex man, private, shy, yet always in the public eye; embarrassed by his ‘pretty boy’ label, always immaculately dressed in public but most comfortable in blue jeans and plaid shirt. Bob was thoughtful, generous, and wealthy but always worried that he was going broke. A fear fed by his neurotic mother.

“At heart, he was a true patriot who loved his country even at the risk of his own reputation and career. He was well educated but never flaunted it. . . .

“He was the brother I never had and I think I was the sister he lacked but most of all he was my best friend, my protector and I loved and admired him.

“Thank you for remembering him so well – he deserved that.”

Ivy M. Mooring, Robert Taylor’s best friend & confidante since the late 1940s

“ . . . no better author to write it.” Terry Taylor, son of Robert Taylor, regarding Alexander’s book on his dad

“Linda Alexander has written a new book entitled, Reluctant Witness: Robert Taylor, Hollywood, & Communism. I think it's just what you're looking for! Well-documented, with lots of info about the film industry during the ‘forties’ and ‘fifties.’ You won't forget this one! A ‘must read!’

http://www.hollywoodwhispers.com

“Robert Taylor was one of the great actors of Hollywood's golden age and one of its most underrated. He starred in many classic films opposite some of the great leading ladies of the era. He was also one of the most modest and self effacing of leading men. Linda Alexander has done a superb job researching and putting together the life of Spangler Arlington Brugh (Taylor's real name). She has done an especially fine job on his early years--the years that molded him—growing up in Nebraska. Taylor might be remembered more today by mainstream critics if it were not for his testimony before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) as a so-called "friendly" witness in 1947. Alexander convincingly shows us a man who was reluctant to give such testimony and in many ways was given no other choice by his studio—MGM. To many this was an unforgivable sin, and Taylor's reputation has paid a price. He belonged to the same MGM hierarchy which included Gable, Crawford, Tracy and Harlow and, as good a screen actor as any of them, yet to a certain extent not given the same creative appraisals as his contemporaries. This book changes that. Well done!”

Biographer, Charles M. Tranberg

Fred MacMurray

I Love the Illusion: The Life and Career of Agnes Moorehead, 2nd edition

Not So Dumb: The Life and Career of Marie Wilson

“Linda Alexander’s Reluctant Witness: Robert Taylor, Hollywood, & Communism, a 361-page paperback with a cover painting by California artist Court Jones, is . . . [a] very detailed, in-depth portrayal of Taylor as a person, from his origins in southeast Nebraska until the end of a life shortened by lung cancer.

”In fact, one could state without exaggeration that Alexander reveals how his Nebraska values helped him remain a decent person despite the demands of excelling in the high-profile field of entertainment and of contributing to our nation’s security during the dangerous Cold War years.

“It is all presented in an interesting, easy-to-read journalistic style. . . .

“Alexander closed her book by recalling Robert Taylor had reported to a movie magazine in 1936 that what he wanted most out of life was ‘happiness and happiness to me implies success, financial security  and, eventually, a family and a home.’ She [author] concluded that he had found his dream.”

E. A. Kral, Nebraska Historian, & state Robert Taylor biographer

“Talented biographer Linda Alexander takes us back to the days when the studio system for developing stars was in its glory; to the days after WWII when the spread of communism was being battled and anyone who didn't agree with the 'better dead than red' type of thinking could be considered suspect.

”It was into this world a rather naive young man named Spangler Andrew Brugh stepped and came out known as Robert Taylor, the man with the perfect profile--sex symbol and one of Louis B. Mayer's biggest assets of the era.

”Ms Alexander takes the reader from the early days of Robert Taylor's life, through his marriage to actress Barbara Stanwyck, to the development and changes in his career and private life. In this book you will meet his family, friends, associates, and come to know the man he was. You will share his moments before the senate committee that considered the movie industry as rife with communists.

”A thoroughly researched story that revisits Hollywood in its heyday, when movie making was not only hard work, but a full time commitment. This is a book that any biography reader, film history buff, or nonfiction reader will enjoy all the way through, one you won't forget any time soon. It will make you look for other books by this very able author.

Enjoy. I sure did.”
Anne K. Edwards, MysteryFiction.net
 

“. . . Linda Alexander has created a verbal album of a man’s life and passions, loves and triumphs. I now feel as though I knew him, and upon reading of his death, mourned him as I would a friend. No greater accolade can be can be said of a biographer, than the fact that the reader was made to feel as though they were actually present ... experiencing each moment in time.” 

Author Debra Shiveley Welch 

“I just finished the Taylor book last night... wow... I was bawling. . . . I felt by the end I knew him. I was just choking with tears and my whole pillow was wet by the time I finished the last page. It was SO moving. I felt like I had lost my own friend!”

‘Pop/Blue-eyed Soul’ vocalist & songwriter, Natalie Brown

**** NOTE:  OTHER REVIEWS ARE INCOMING . . . & WILL BE ADDED AS RECEIVED ****