You See, I Haven't Forgotten [FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]

Montand, Yves; Hamon, Herve; Rotman, Patrick

Edité par Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1992

A propos de cet article

Fine unread condition red boards, navy blue cloth spine, with silver front cover and spine lettering contained in a fine condition non price-clipped photographic dust jacket. Includes Preface; Epilogue; Acknowledgments; Index and Photographic credits. Illustrated with two sections of black-and-white photographic plates. A remainder dot at the lower page edge. Translated from the French by Jeremy Leggatt. "Yves Montand was one of our century's greatest entertainers - consummate music-hall performer, singer, dancer, star of stage and screen. His extraordinary life story is captivatingly told for the first time in this unusual book - part memoir, part biography - a unique collaboration between Montand and two writers. Born to Italian Communist peasants who fled Mussolini's Italy, Montand grew up in the seething port city of Marseilles, where he worked in his sister's hairdressing salon and dreamed of the movies. By the age of seventeen he had sung his first song in a music hall. The rest is the stuff of legend, re-created here in fascinating and vivid detail: the fantastic successes on the Riviera; the endless, obsessive rehearsals to refine every aspect of his performances; the wartime crises during the German Occupation; Montand's triumphant conquest of Paris, as the city opened its arms to the "singing prole" from the Midi whose every appearance was a glamorous, sold-out event. Adding to the legend, of course, were his engrossing liaison with Edith Piaf and his introduction to the luminaries of Parisian cultural life, including Jacques Prevert, Marcel Carne, Pablo Picasso, and dozens more. By the time of his brutally affective starring performance in Henri-Georges Clouzot's chilling The Wages of Fear, he had achieved unimaginable celebrity and was married to the charismatic Simone Signoret. The story of the intense but sometimes turbulent love between these two magnetic, highly competitive, and extremely political artists is a central part of the book. Despite his limitless success in France, Montand had longed from the start to go to Hollywood, and perhaps the most riveting chapters of his life story focus on his coming to America to make movies. The description of his rehearsals and evental love affair with Marilyn Monroe is, of course, required reading, but there is much more - Montand's perfectionist dedication to every aspect of filmmaking; his friendship with Arthur Miller and other writers; his fascination with American politics; and his frank views on Hollywood stars, roles, and movies. Montand maintained his incomparable personal and professional vitality to the end of his life, and even turned in some of his most memorable film and cabaret performances after the death of his beloved Simone. His last years saw increasing political activism, a return to the music-hall stage, a late second marriage, and the birth of his first child in 1988. The mesmerizing full story is superbly presented, not only in the narrative of his biographers - informed by unprecedented access to all of Montand's friends, associates, and family members, as well as to his personal archives - but in the voice of Montand himself. We hear it throughout - a voice at once lucid, amused, intelligent, tough, and seductive. "You see, I haven't forgotten." - from the inner front and rear jacket flaps.

N° de réf. du vendeur 009111

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: You See, I Haven't Forgotten [FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]
• Éditeur: Alfred A. Knopf, New York
• Date de parution: 1992
• Langue: anglais
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Illustrateur: Sieff, Jeanloup (front-of-jacket photograph); Schachmes (back-of-jacket photograph); de Wilde, Barbara (jacket design)
• Édition: 1st Edition
• Impression: 1st Printing
• État de l'article: Fine
• État de la jaquette: Fine