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Rating: 
Summary: JO COTTON'S MRS REMEMBERS
Review: As someone who has collected every film, book & magazine about Jennifer Jones, I am casting my net wider and reading biographies of people who knew her, i.e.Paticia Cotton nee, Medina.She wrote this book in 1998 as a suggested therapy by a friend, following the death of her famous husband Joesph Cotton from throat cancer in 1994.Born in Liverpool, England in 1920 of middle class parents, her mother was quintissentially English while her father was Spanish - hence - Medina.She attended an all girls' boarding school and eventually "got into movies".Of her first husband, Richard Greene (of the 1950's British tv series: "Adventures of Robin Hood" fame), she alikened to her "twin brother".There was evidentally no real passion, just friendship, and an amicable divorce soon followed. Her initial film career was in European films since she was fluent in French, Italian and Spanish.I must say she is very frank about her first sexual experiences sur la Continent!Eventually she moved her base to Hollywood but did not let the star system blind her to her family.She was not averse to giving up a chance of a film part if she wished to go back to England especially to see her mother to whom she was especially close.I wanted to see an example of her acting after reading this book, especially in the 1940's when she was at her most attractive.I found "They Met In The Dark (1943) with James Mason, still in print which I obtained through Blackstar.co.uk.In this film she played Mary a manacurist but unfortunatly not being the principal female star (it was Joyce Howard), she got bumped off after the first reel.With her good looks, black hair and perfect shoulders, she was often csst in the "femme fatale" roles and rarely saw her part to the end of the film.Certainly her work seems mainly undistinguished, what we would call today a "Hollywood starlet". The services of a professional literary editor whould have improved the style and content since the chapters and sentences a rather "punchy". The greater part of the second half of her autobiography is taken up with being Mrs Joseph Cotton and sublimating her career to his, then nursing him through the disease which finally killed him.There are some interesting vignettes of famous Hollywood stars e.g.Rex Harrison giving intimate sketches to which the gossip columnists of the day were not privy.Jennifer Jones was a life-long friend in the genuine sense to her husband (and to her) as they did four films together.
Rating:
Summary: Brief and patchy recollections spend little time on movies
Review: Not being partial to reading Hollywood memoirs, I am left with no basis for comparison. The only interest I had in this book was that for a while she was my favorite actress and at first was thrilled to find this book. The lens, however, is not so much on Hollywood as it is on the more personal impressions of a person remembering and commenting on her past. Divided in two, between the first part, "The Living was Easy" covering from her early years through the apex of her career during the 50's in the first 75 pages, then meeting Joseph Cotton and stories from her marriage another 90 pages. The second part, "Only When I Cry", the last 50 pages, details his illness and ends with his passing. Reads like it could have been a novel, if it were fleshed out, sometimes it reads as if your sitting and hearing quick stories from your grandmother over tea. Sometimes an obscurity isn't explained or a commonplace reported. The friends enter and exit like any friends, but they have names like David Niven or Jennifer Jones. It's a difficult book to rate, and it would have been nice if it had been a picture book because she is very lovely, possessing Hollywood's most beautiful shoulders. Her own character arises from this as a timid tempest and the admiration and love she has for her husband Joseph Cotton is boundless. I always know a good book because I read it quickly, but if it takes 8 months to get through a 220 page book, I can only recommend it for those who have an interest in either of the two actors. The title no doubt arises from a publisher's wish to give the work a slant; this actress never got the film she needed to launch herself into the list of Hollywood icons.
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