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| Donald Spoto | |
Donald Spoto, the prolific biographer "whose subjects included Jesus and Joan of Arc, but who was best known for his books on Alfred Hitchcock, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and other high-profile entertainment figures, some of which made news with startling claims," died February 11, the New York Times reported. He was 81.
Spoto always had a fondness for movies, especially those directed by Hitchcock, whose work he first encountered when he was 10 and saw Strangers on a Train at the RKO Proctor's Theater in New Rochelle, N.Y. In 1976, he told the Westchester Rockland Newspapers of New York: "The film completely wiped me out. It devastated me. I found its imagery overpowering. And after that, I found that every single Hitchcock film that came along absolutely mesmerized me."
Spoto's first book, The Art of Alfred Hitchcock: 50 Years of His Motion Pictures (1976), was more of a cinephile's guide, but he made a bigger impact with The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983), published three years after his subject's death. "It was a thorough biography that cut through the carefully cultivated image that the director had sought to project and delved into his harsh treatment of some of his stars and other unflattering details," the Times noted.
Subsequent books include Blue Angel: The Life of Marlene Dietrich (1992); Marilyn Monroe: The Biography (1993); Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean (1996); Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn (2006); and Otherwise Engaged: The Life of Alan Bates (2007).
Spoto's research "sometimes earned attention beyond the book review section," the Times wrote. "In Laurence Olivier: A Biography (1992), his claim that Mr. Olivier, who was married to Jill Esmond, then Vivien Leigh and then Joan Plowright, had a 10-year affair with the comic actor Danny Kaye drew considerable publicity."
Although he wrote more than two dozen books, being a biographer was something of a second career for him. Spoto had previously held several teaching positions, including in the theology department at Fairfield University and the department of religion at the College of New Rochelle. He drew on his theological training and interest in Christianity for The Hidden Jesus: A New Life (1998) and Joan: The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint (2007).