Dreadful Man

Plot

In 1972, Broadway and movie actor George Sanders committed suicide at the age of 65 because, he wrote in a note he left, "I am bored." Brian Aherne, himself a famous and distinguished actor, was one of Sanders'close friends. In this intimate biography, he takes us into the private life of an amazingly talented star whose unpredictable behavior and brash temperament often led the author to joke that he was "a dreadful man," but who was nonetheless capable of genuine kindness and compassion. Sanders was undeniably a remarkable character As a young man in the Argentine, he shot a man in a duel. While living in California, he was offered the lead in the Broadway production of South Pacific after spending $5,000 to make a record of himself singing "Some Enchanted Evening" and sending it to Rodgers and Hammerstein, only to turn the role down. Always obsessed with escaping taxes, he turned his life into a continual worldwide excursion and lost over a million dollars in speculative business deals. Aherne recalls Sanders' brief, stormy and often hilarious marriage to Zsa Zsa Gabor, his long and happy marriage to Benita Colman, his sad deterioration and tragic death. A Dreadful Man is a splendid examination of a complex and fascinating personality. At the same time, it is a touching and extraordinary book about the friendships in a group of exceptionally gifted, talented and charming people: Sanders, mercurial, quixotic and moody; Benita Hume, Ronald Colman's widow, who eventually married Sanders; and Brian Aherne himself, not to mention a cast of equally distinguished players, who move through this brilliant narrative and those remarkable, lively and fascinating letters with wit and con brio.