WARREN BEATTY

Finstad has achieved a dynamic, dramatic, yet poignantly sensitive bio of a Hollywood superstar. Dylan Baker delivers the book, not as an actor, but as an unbiased reporter, yet he vividly recounts Beatty's childhood with his sister, actress Shirley MacLaine; his struggles to become a movie star, producer, and director; his legend as a ladies' man; and his marriage at age 54. Baker's clean, clear reportage deftly uses interviews with Beatty's friends, colleagues, and lovers, as well as excerpts from diaries, letters, and family papers, while supporting it all with a fifty-year history of film-making. The audiobook bonus is an added treasure of intimacy: off-the-cuff conversations with Beatty himself, Joan Collins, and others. M.T.B. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/ JUL 06]