Warren Beatty

The author claims to reveal the true secret self of the reclusive, womanizing brother of Shirley MacLaine. Certainly she packs a lot of information into her biography of the handsome producer/writer/movie star, even tracing his ancestors back a few centuries. Whether or not this narrative rises above the usual Hollywood biography, whether or not Finstad is as insightful as she is informed the listener must decide. She reads her own prose briskly with comprehension but without much aplomb. Archival interview clips between the late Joe Laitin and young Beatty, Natalie Wood, and Joan Collins, which conclude the volume, are barely audible, due to poor sound quality. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine


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. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine