Sal Mineo

August 30, 2010
Artist and photographer Michaud delivers a prismatic portrait of actor Mineo, who made 21 films before his brutal 1976 murder. In a childhood leap from the Bronx to Broadway, the 11-year-old Mineo was cast in The Rose Tattoo in 1951 and got acting tips and inspiration from Yul Brynner during The King and I. He made the move to Hollywood and found success at a time when studios were reaching toward the new teen market: “Sal fit the bill perfectly. His tough yet sensitive image appealed to both girls and boys.” After his memorable scenes with James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, he became the youngest performer ever nominated for a Best Supporting Oscar. By age 35, however, his film career was over, and he turned his attention to directing theater; it was during this career change that he was stabbed and killed during a robbery attempt. Michaud captures the actor’s passionate, freewheeling lifestyle, and his narrative is dotted with those who worked with him: Dennis Hopper, Janet Leigh, Eva Marie Saint, and James Whitmore. Especially revealing are the intimate insights of Mineo’s fiancée, Jill Haworth, and his male lover Courtney Burr. Detailed coverage of the arrest, trial, and conviction of Mineo’s murderer brings this authoritative biography to a compelling conclusion.

Starred review from September 15, 2010

By age 22, teen idol Sal Mineo had earned two Academy Award nominations for Rebel Without a Cause and Exodus. But his meteoric rise to fame was unbalanced by a steadily declining later career, marked by failed film projects, television guest appearances, and dinner theater engagements. When he was murdered in 1976 at age 37, Mineo was facing insurmountable debt and coasting along on a faded Hollywood reputation tarnished by rumors of his bisexuality. Journalist and playwright Michaud conclusively plots the course of Mineo's life in a biography as dishy as it is astonishingly well researched. Everything from the on-the-set tales of Mineo's friendships with James Dean and Natalie Wood to his affair with singer Bobby Sherman is given a beguilingly novelistic touch. Michaud's delicate handling of conflicting accounts and widespread gossip resolves both Mineo's sexuality and his enigmatic offscreen personality, revealing him to be an incredible talent who simply could not overcome his early typecasting. VERDICT A definitive Sal Mineo biography has not existed until now, and any collection of celebrity bios would do well to own it.--Adam Waldowski, Missouri State Univ. Lib., Springfield

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2010
Sal Mineo, the exotic-looking actor who rose to fame in the 1950s, is probably most well known for his performance in Rebel without a Cause and his tragic murder at the age of 37. In this fascinating biography, Michaud outlines the actors life, telling how he was born to Sicilian coffin makers in the Bronx and how at the age of 10 he was enrolled by his mother in acting school. In his teens, he rose to stardom with a breakthrough Broadway role opposite Yul Brynner in the The King and I. He soon made the transition to screen, appearing in Rebel, for which he became the youngest person ever to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. His looks and talent soon led to more film roles and also television success, and at the height of his career, Mineo was a major celebrity. As the 1950s and early 1960s waned, the actor found roles hard to come by, although he was starring in a successful play when he was murdered in a botched robbery in 1976. Michaud provides an insider look at Mineos life and career.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)