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{{short description|British-born screenwriter, novelist and biographer (1924 – 2005)}}
⚫ <!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: ] -->
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
⚫ '''Gavin Lambert''' (born ] ] - ] ]) was a ]-born ], ] and ] who lived for part of his life in ]. His writing was mainly fiction and nonfiction about the ].
{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}
⚫ <!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: ] -->
{{Infobox person
|name = Gavin Lambert
|image =
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|caption =
|birth_name =
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1924|07|23}}
|birth_place =
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2005|07|17|1924|07|23}}
|death_place =
|death_cause =
|resting_place =
|resting_place_coordinates =
|nationality = British and American
|other_names =
|family =
|known_for =
|education = ], Gloucestershire<br>(independent boarding school)
|alma mater = ]
|employer = '']'' and '']''
|occupation = ], ], ]
}}

⚫ '''Gavin Lambert''' (23 July 1924 &ndash; 17 July 2005) was a British-born ], ] and ] who lived for part of his life in ]. His writing was mainly fiction and nonfiction about the ].


==Personal life== ==Personal life==
Lambert was educated at the independent school ], ], ], ], and at ], where one of his professors was ].<ref name="Incorrible">{{cite web|title=Gavin Lambert: Incorrigibly witty Hollywood writer|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/gavin-lambert-499425.html|work=]|date=20 July 2005|last=Robinson|first=David|accessdate=16 September 2009}}</ref> At Oxford, he befriended filmmakers ] and ], and they founded a short-lived but influential journal, '']'', which he co-edited with Anderson. Gambert eventually left Oxford without obtaining a degree.<ref name="Incorrible"></ref> From 1949 to 1955 he edited the periodical '']'', again with Anderson as a regular contributor. At about the same time Lambert was deeply involved in Britain's ] movement which called for more ] in contemporary movies. He also wrote ] for '']'' and '']''. In 1957 he moved to ], ], to work as a screenwriter and personal assistant to director ], whose movie '']'' (1957) he co-wrote. He claimed to be Ray's lover for a period of time. Lambert was educated at ] and ], where one of his professors was ].<ref name="Incorrible">{{cite web|title=Gavin Lambert: Incorrigibly witty Hollywood writer|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/gavin-lambert-499425.html|work=]|date=20 July 2005|last=Robinson|first=David|access-date=16 September 2009}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> At Oxford, he befriended ] and filmmakers ] and ], and they founded a short-lived but influential journal, '']'', which was originally edited by Houston.<ref name="SS20151027">{{cite news|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/comment/obituaries/penelope-houston-1927-2015|title=Penelope Houston, 1927-2015|work=Sight & Sound|date=27 October 2015|access-date=28 October 2015}}</ref> The magazine, which lasted for only 15 issues, moved to London after the fifth issue, and Lambert and Anderson took over as co-editors.<ref name="Robinson">{{cite news|last=Robinson|first=David|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/gavin-lambert-300277.html|title=Gavin Lambert|work=The Independent|date=29 April 2013|access-date=28 October 2015}}</ref> Lambert eventually left Oxford without obtaining a degree.<ref name="Incorrible" /> From 1949 to 1956 he edited the journal '']'', again with Anderson as a regular contributor. At about the same time Lambert was deeply involved in Britain's ] movement which called for more ] in contemporary movies. He also wrote ] for '']'' and '']''. In late 1955, he moved to ], ], to work as a personal assistant to director ] and worked on the script (uncredited) for Ray's '']'' (1956). Later, he co-wrote the screenplay for Ray's film '']'' (1957). According to the critic ], Lambert was Ray's lover for a time.<ref name="Robinson"/>


Gavin Lambert became an ] citizen in 1964. From 1974 to 1989, he chiefly stayed in ], where he was a close friend of the writer and composer ]. He spent the final years of his life in ], where he died of ] on 17 July 2005. He left behind a brother, niece and nephew, and named ] executor of his estate. Gavin Lambert became an American citizen in 1964. From 1974 to 1989, he chiefly stayed in ], where he was a close friend of the writer and composer ]. He spent the final years of his life in ], where he died of ] on 17 July 2005. He left behind a brother, niece and nephew, and named ] executor of his estate.


Gavin's father's half-sister was Ivy Claudine Godber aka Claudine West (1890–1943), a screenwriter who won an Oscar for her joint writing of the script of '']'' in 1942.
⚫ His papers are currently housed at the ] at ].

⚫ His papers are currently housed at the ] at ].


==Writing achievements== ==Writing achievements==


=== Screenplays === === Screenplays ===
Lambert became a notable screenwriter of the Hollywood studio era. In 1954, while still living in England, he wrote his first ], ''Another Sky'', about the sexual awakening of a prim English woman in ]. In 1955, he also directed ''Another Sky'' in ]. This was followed in 1958 by the Hollywood screenplay, ''Bitter Victory'' and in 1960 by '']''. The latter, for which Lambert gained an ] nomination, is based on a novel by ]. '']'' (1961) adapted a novella by ] on the affairs of an older actress with a young Italian ]. As, from the 1920s through the late 1960s, ] was rarely portrayed on the screen, gay screenwriters like Lambert learned to express their personal sensibilities discreetly between the lines of a film. "The important thing to remember about 'gay influence' in movies," observed Gavin Lambert, "is that it was obviously never direct. It was all subliminal. It couldn't be direct because the mass audience would say, Hey, no way." Lambert became a notable screenwriter of the Hollywood studio era. In 1954, while still living in England, he wrote his first ], ''Another Sky'', about the sexual awakening of a prim English woman in ]. In 1955, he also directed ''Another Sky'' in ]. This was followed in 1958 by the Hollywood screenplay, ''Bitter Victory'' and in 1960 by '']''. The latter, for which Lambert gained an ] nomination, is based on a novel by ]. '']'' (1961) adapted a novella by ] on the affairs of an older actress with a young Italian ]. As, from the 1920s through the late 1960s, ] was rarely portrayed on the screen, gay screenwriters like Lambert learned to express their personal sensibilities discreetly between the lines of a film. "The important thing to remember about 'gay influence' in movies," observed Gavin Lambert, "is that it was obviously never direct. It was all subliminal. It couldn't be direct because the mass audience would say, Hey, no way."


It was not until 1965 that Lambert adapted his own Hollywood insider novel '']'' (1963) for the screen. ''Clover'', starring ] and ], tells the cautionary tale of a teenage movie star involved in the Hollywood studio system of the 30's and her unhappy marriage to a closeted gay leading man. However, in the film version he was not fully identified as gay because at Redford's request, the husband he played was changed from homosexual to appear as though he might be bisexual. From this time on, Lambert and Wood became lifelong friends. Another of Lambert's screenplays was '']'' (1977), based on a novel by ], which describes in layman's terms a ]'s battle with ]. Later, the author also wrote the scripts for some TV movies such as ''Second Serve'' (1986) on ] ] player ] and ''Liberace: Behind the Music'' (1988) on gay performer ]. In 1997, he contributed to ]'s film ''A Personal History of British Cinema''. He was heavily quoted in ]'s book, ''Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969.'' But then, in 1965, Lambert adapted his own Hollywood insider novel '']'' (1963) for the screen. ''Clover'', starring ] and ], which tells the cautionary tale of a teenage movie star involved in the Hollywood studio system of the 1930s and her unhappy marriage to a closeted gay leading man. However, in the film version, he was not fully identified as gay because, at Redford's request, the husband he played was changed from homosexual to appear as though he might be bisexual. From this time on, Lambert and Wood became lifelong friends. Another of Lambert's screenplays was '']'' (1977), based on a novel by ], which describes in layman's terms a ]'s battle with ]. Later, the author also wrote the scripts for some TV movies such as ''Second Serve'' (1986) on ] ] player ] and ''Liberace: Behind the Music'' (1988) on gay performer ]. In 1997, he contributed to ]'s film ''A Personal History of British Cinema''. He was heavily quoted in ]'s book, ''Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969.''


===Celebrity biographies and non-fiction=== ===Biographies and non-fiction===
⚫ Lambert was also a biographer and novelist, who focused his efforts on biographies of ] and ] figures in Hollywood.


⚫ According to screenwriter and writer ], he was "a keenly observant, wryly witty chronicler of Hollywood's social mores and artistic achievements." He wrote biographies on Hollywood figures such as ''On Cukor'' (1972) on ] ] and ''Norma Shearer: A Life'' (1990) on the Canadian actress ]. His book, ''Nazimova: A Biography'' (1997) was the first full-scale account of the private life and acting career of ] actress ]. He was the author of the memoir ''Mainly About ]'' (2000) (whose title echoed that of Anderson's own work, ''About ]'').
⚫ Lambert was also a noted biographer and novelist, who focused his efforts on biographies of ] and ] figures in Hollywood.


⚫ He also wrote the book ''GWTW: The Making of ]'' (], 1973). Working as a ] ], Lambert was able to interview and gain personal remembrances of most of the cast and crew involved with the film, including dismissed director George Cukor and star ] (]).<ref name="Lambert">{{cite book |title=GWTW: The Making of Gone With the Wind |last=Lambert |first=Gavin |year=1976 |orig-year=1973 |publisher=]|edition=mass market paperback |location=New York |page=53 }}</ref>
⚫ According to screenwriter and cinema Professor ], he was "a keenly observant, wryly witty chronicler of Hollywood's social mores and artistic achievements." He wrote biographies on some Hollywood stars, such as ''On Cukor'' (1972) on ] ] and ''Norma Shearer: A Life'' (1990) on the Canadian actress ]. His book, ''Nazimova: A Biography'' (1997) was the first full-scale account of the private life and acting career of ] actress ]. He was the author of the memoir ''Mainly About ]'' (2000) (whose title echoed that of Anderson's own work, ''About ]'').


⚫ His final biography, ''Natalie Wood: A Life'' (2004) supplied an insider's look at actress ] and chronicled everything concerning her life, since Lambert was a friend of Wood for sixteen years. The book was praised by Natalie Wood's daughter, ], as "a wonderful biography on my Mom. It will be the definitive biography on my mother." Lambert's biography includes Wood's relationship with ], and interviews with the people who knew Wood best, such as ], ], ], ], ] and ]. In his book, Lambert controversially claimed that Wood frequently dated gay and bisexual men, including director ] and actors ], ], ], ], and ]. Lambert said that Wood supported homosexual playwright Mart Crowley (a later lover of Lambert's) in a manner that made it possible for him to write his play, '']'' (1968). Lambert's final book was ''The Ivan Moffat File: Life Among the Beautiful and Damned in London, Paris, New York and Hollywood'' (2004).
⚫ He also wrote the book ''GWTW: The Making of ]'' (], 1973). Working as a ] ], Lambert was able to interview and gain personal remembrances of those involved with the classic 1939 film, including dismissed director George Cukor and actress ] (]).<ref name="Lambert">{{cite book |title=GWTW: The Making of Gone With the Wind |last=Lambert |first=Gavin |coauthors= |year=1976 |origyear=1973 |publisher=]|edition=mass market paperback |location=New York |isbn= |oclc= |page=53 |url= |accessdate=}}</ref>

⚫ His final biography, ''Natalie Wood: A Life'' (2004) supplied an insider's look at actress ] and chronicled everything concerning her life, since Lambert was a friend of Wood for sixteen years.The book was praised by Natalie Wood's daughter, ], as "a wonderful biography on my Mom. It will be the definitive biography on my mother." Lambert's biography includes Wood's relationship with ], and interviews with the people who knew Wood best, such as ], ], ], and ]. In his book, Lambert controversially claimed that Wood frequently dated gay and bisexual men, including director ] and actors ], ], ], ], and ]. Lambert said he was involved with Ray and that Wood supported homosexual playwright Mart Crowley (a later lover of Lambert's) in a manner that made it possible for him to write his play, '']'' (1968). Lambert's final book was ''The Ivan Moffat File: Life Among the Beautiful and Damned in London, Paris, New York and Hollywood'' (2004).


===Novels and short stories=== ===Novels and short stories===


Lambert also wrote seven ]s primarily with Hollywood settings, among them ''The Slide Area: Scenes of Hollywood Life'' (1959), a collection of seven short stories that portray a bevy of tinsel-town lowlifes, '']'' (1963), ''The Goodbye People'' (1971) about Hollywood's beautiful people, and ''Running Time'' (1982), a portrait of an indefatigable woman from child starlet to screen goddess, but also a unique life history of the American film industry. In 1996, Lambert wrote the introduction to ''3 Plays'', a collection of works by his longtime friend, ]. Lambert also wrote seven ]s primarily with Hollywood settings, among them ''The Slide Area: Scenes of Hollywood Life'' (1959), a collection of seven short stories that portray a bevy of tinsel-town lowlifes, '']'' (1963), ''The Goodbye People'' (1971) about Hollywood's beautiful people, and ''Running Time'' (1982), a portrait of an indefatigable woman from child starlet to screen goddess, but also a unique life history of the American film industry.
Other works of fiction included ''Norman's Letter'' (1966), which received the Thomas R. Coward Memorial Award for Fiction, ''A Case for the Angels'' (1968), and ''In the Night All Cats Are Grey'' (1976).

In 1996, Lambert wrote the introduction to ''3 Plays'', a collection of works by his longtime friend, ].
⚫ ==Further reading==
*] (July 19, 2005), "Gavin Lambert, 80, Writer Who Chronicled Hollywood Life, Dies." '']''.


==References== ==References==
{{reflist}} {{Reflist}}

⚫ ==Further reading==
*{{cite news|last1=Waxman|first1=Sharon|author-link1=Sharon Waxman|title=Gavin Lambert, 80, Writer Who Chronicled Hollywood Life, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/19/arts/gavin-lambert-80-writer-who-chronicled-hollywood-life-dies.html|access-date=30 October 2015|work=The New York Times|date=19 July 2005}}


== External links == == External links ==
* *
* * {{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* * {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713161706/http://www.paulbowles.org/gavinlambert.html |date=13 July 2019 }}
* * {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104001638/http://ehrensteinland.com/htmls/g012/gavinlambert.html |date=4 November 2020 }}
* *
*{{imdb name|id=0483149|name= Gavin Lambert}} *{{IMDb name|id=0483149|name= Gavin Lambert}}
*{{Screenonline name|id=454558|name=Gavin Lambert}} *{{Screenonline name|id=454558|name=Gavin Lambert}}

{{Authority control}}


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Latest revision as of 05:40, 25 September 2024

British-born screenwriter, novelist and biographer (1924 – 2005)

Gavin Lambert
Born(1924-07-23)23 July 1924
Died17 July 2005(2005-07-17) (aged 80)
NationalityBritish and American
EducationCheltenham College, Gloucestershire
(independent boarding school)
Alma materMagdalen College, Oxford
Occupation(s)Screenwriter, novelist, biographer
Employer(s)The Guardian and The Sunday Times

Gavin Lambert (23 July 1924 – 17 July 2005) was a British-born screenwriter, novelist and biographer who lived for part of his life in Hollywood. His writing was mainly fiction and nonfiction about the film industry.

Personal life

Lambert was educated at Cheltenham College and Magdalen College, Oxford, where one of his professors was C. S. Lewis. At Oxford, he befriended Penelope Houston and filmmakers Karel Reisz and Lindsay Anderson, and they founded a short-lived but influential journal, Sequence, which was originally edited by Houston. The magazine, which lasted for only 15 issues, moved to London after the fifth issue, and Lambert and Anderson took over as co-editors. Lambert eventually left Oxford without obtaining a degree. From 1949 to 1956 he edited the journal Sight and Sound, again with Anderson as a regular contributor. At about the same time Lambert was deeply involved in Britain's Free Cinema movement which called for more social realism in contemporary movies. He also wrote film criticism for The Sunday Times and The Guardian. In late 1955, he moved to Hollywood, California, to work as a personal assistant to director Nicholas Ray and worked on the script (uncredited) for Ray's Bigger Than Life (1956). Later, he co-wrote the screenplay for Ray's film Bitter Victory (1957). According to the critic David Robinson, Lambert was Ray's lover for a time.

Gavin Lambert became an American citizen in 1964. From 1974 to 1989, he chiefly stayed in Tangier, where he was a close friend of the writer and composer Paul Bowles. He spent the final years of his life in Los Angeles, where he died of pulmonary fibrosis on 17 July 2005. He left behind a brother, niece and nephew, and named Mart Crowley executor of his estate.

Gavin's father's half-sister was Ivy Claudine Godber aka Claudine West (1890–1943), a screenwriter who won an Oscar for her joint writing of the script of Mrs. Miniver in 1942.

His papers are currently housed at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.

Writing achievements

Screenplays

Lambert became a notable screenwriter of the Hollywood studio era. In 1954, while still living in England, he wrote his first screenplay, Another Sky, about the sexual awakening of a prim English woman in North Africa. In 1955, he also directed Another Sky in Morocco. This was followed in 1958 by the Hollywood screenplay, Bitter Victory and in 1960 by Sons and Lovers. The latter, for which Lambert gained an Academy Award nomination, is based on a novel by D. H. Lawrence. The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961) adapted a novella by Tennessee Williams on the affairs of an older actress with a young Italian gigolo. As, from the 1920s through the late 1960s, homosexuality was rarely portrayed on the screen, gay screenwriters like Lambert learned to express their personal sensibilities discreetly between the lines of a film. "The important thing to remember about 'gay influence' in movies," observed Gavin Lambert, "is that it was obviously never direct. It was all subliminal. It couldn't be direct because the mass audience would say, Hey, no way."

But then, in 1965, Lambert adapted his own Hollywood insider novel Inside Daisy Clover (1963) for the screen. Clover, starring Natalie Wood and Robert Redford, which tells the cautionary tale of a teenage movie star involved in the Hollywood studio system of the 1930s and her unhappy marriage to a closeted gay leading man. However, in the film version, he was not fully identified as gay because, at Redford's request, the husband he played was changed from homosexual to appear as though he might be bisexual. From this time on, Lambert and Wood became lifelong friends. Another of Lambert's screenplays was I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977), based on a novel by Hannah Green, which describes in layman's terms a teenager's battle with schizophrenia. Later, the author also wrote the scripts for some TV movies such as Second Serve (1986) on transgender tennis player Renée Richards and Liberace: Behind the Music (1988) on gay performer Liberace. In 1997, he contributed to Stephen Frears's film A Personal History of British Cinema. He was heavily quoted in William J. Mann's book, Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969.

Biographies and non-fiction

Lambert was also a biographer and novelist, who focused his efforts on biographies of gay and lesbian figures in Hollywood.

According to screenwriter and writer Joseph McBride, he was "a keenly observant, wryly witty chronicler of Hollywood's social mores and artistic achievements." He wrote biographies on Hollywood figures such as On Cukor (1972) on film director George Cukor and Norma Shearer: A Life (1990) on the Canadian actress Norma Shearer. His book, Nazimova: A Biography (1997) was the first full-scale account of the private life and acting career of lesbian actress Alla Nazimova. He was the author of the memoir Mainly About Lindsay Anderson (2000) (whose title echoed that of Anderson's own work, About John Ford).

He also wrote the book GWTW: The Making of Gone with the Wind (Little, Brown and Company, 1973). Working as a Hollywood screenwriter, Lambert was able to interview and gain personal remembrances of most of the cast and crew involved with the film, including dismissed director George Cukor and star Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O'Hara).

His final biography, Natalie Wood: A Life (2004) supplied an insider's look at actress Natalie Wood and chronicled everything concerning her life, since Lambert was a friend of Wood for sixteen years. The book was praised by Natalie Wood's daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner, as "a wonderful biography on my Mom. It will be the definitive biography on my mother." Lambert's biography includes Wood's relationship with Elvis Presley, and interviews with the people who knew Wood best, such as Robert Wagner, Warren Beatty, Tony Curtis, Paul Mazursky, Tab Hunter and Leslie Caron. In his book, Lambert controversially claimed that Wood frequently dated gay and bisexual men, including director Nicholas Ray and actors Nick Adams, Raymond Burr, James Dean, Tab Hunter, and Scott Marlowe. Lambert said that Wood supported homosexual playwright Mart Crowley (a later lover of Lambert's) in a manner that made it possible for him to write his play, The Boys in the Band (1968). Lambert's final book was The Ivan Moffat File: Life Among the Beautiful and Damned in London, Paris, New York and Hollywood (2004).

Novels and short stories

Lambert also wrote seven novels primarily with Hollywood settings, among them The Slide Area: Scenes of Hollywood Life (1959), a collection of seven short stories that portray a bevy of tinsel-town lowlifes, Inside Daisy Clover (1963), The Goodbye People (1971) about Hollywood's beautiful people, and Running Time (1982), a portrait of an indefatigable woman from child starlet to screen goddess, but also a unique life history of the American film industry. Other works of fiction included Norman's Letter (1966), which received the Thomas R. Coward Memorial Award for Fiction, A Case for the Angels (1968), and In the Night All Cats Are Grey (1976). In 1996, Lambert wrote the introduction to 3 Plays, a collection of works by his longtime friend, Mart Crowley.

References

  1. ^ Robinson, David (20 July 2005). "Gavin Lambert: Incorrigibly witty Hollywood writer". The Independent. Retrieved 16 September 2009.
  2. "Penelope Houston, 1927-2015". Sight & Sound. 27 October 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  3. ^ Robinson, David (29 April 2013). "Gavin Lambert". The Independent. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  4. Lambert, Gavin (1976) . GWTW: The Making of Gone With the Wind (mass market paperback ed.). New York: Bantam Books. p. 53.

Further reading

External links

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