Good Night Sweet Prince: The Life and Times of John Barrymore

Rating:
Summary: A Gracefully Written, Insightful Book from/of Another Era...
Review: Gene Fowler wrote gracefully and eloquently of his great friend John Barrymore in this, a biography from an era in which private lives were not seen as tabloid fodder and in which an author could concentrate on the significant moments of an artist's journey rather than sensationalism. As Fowler intended, Barrymore emerges from this book not as a hell-raising, womanizing alcoholic who was also an actor, but as an artist of real merit and significance whose life was by turns quixotic, hilarious, tragic, the man himself an authentic genius (as can still be seen in some of his film performances) doomed by self-destructive alcoholism. And yet, as Fowler states, "...his spirit remained essentially young and unconquered." Highly recommended for any readers interested in writing as elegant as a Fred Astaire dance number about a great, misunderstood man and actor.