SAM SPIEGEL: The Incredible Life and Times of Hollywood's Most Iconoclastic Producer, the Miracle Worker Who Went from Penniless Refugee to Show Biz Legend, and Made Possible The African Queen, On the Waterfront, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Lawrence
Natashya Fraser-Cavassoni, . . Simon & Schuster, $25 (480pp) ISBN 978-0-684-83619-5
Spiegel (1903–1985) won three Oscars for producing, as the subtitle coyly mentions, a series of memorable films; he is also the sole producer to win the best picture Oscar three times within eight years. The resourceful Spiegel arrived in the U.S. from Austria in 1927 as a bogus diplomat, bouncing checks and serving jail time. In Berlin, he worked with Universal Studios' German film office. Fleeing Nazis, he moved on to London, Paris and Mexico, always encountering problems with the law. Back in the U.S. in 1939, he established himself in Hollywood with
Reviewed on: 01/20/2003
Genre: Nonfiction