Book Description
John Schlesinger's extraordinary career in cinema, stage, opera, and television spanned half a century. It was, however, his films that made him famous, including such classics as Billy Liar, Darling, Midnight Cowboy, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Day of the Locust, and Marathon Man, as well as The Falcon and the Snowman, Madame Sousatzka, and Pacific Heights. In Edge of Midnight, best-selling author and historian William J. Mann chronicles Schlesinger's life and career-from his early documentary days at the BBC to his Academy Award for the X-rated Midnight Cowboy and his glittering nights as a Hollywood host. The author draws on Schlesinger's tapes, diaries, production notes, and correspondence, as well as on interviews with Schlesinger, his family, his partner of 36 years, and his friends. Also included are revelatory, often hilarious anecdotes about, and interviews with, such celebrities as Sir Laurence Olivier, Julie Christie, Dustin Hoffman, Glenda Jackson, Dirk Bogarde, Ian McKellen, Sean Penn, Sally Field, Rupert Everett, and Madonna. This fascinating biography of Schlesinger, who died in 2003, will be a must-have for every film buff.

About the Author
William J. Mann is the author of two previous Hollywood history best-sellers, Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood and Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, as well as three novels. He lives in Provincetown, MA.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"John Schlesinger's career in cinema, stage, opera, and television spanned half a century. It was, however, his films that made him famous, including such classics as Midnight Cowboy, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Marathon Man, Billy Liar, Darling, and Day of the Locust, to The Falcon and the Snowman, Madame Sousatzka, Pacific Heights, Cold Comfort Farm, Separate Tables, and An Englishman Abroad." "In Edge of Midnight, author and historian William J. Mann chronicles Schlesinger's life and career, from his early documentary days at the BBC, to his emergence as one of the four Angry Young Men of British film in the 1960s (along with Lindsay Anderson, Karel Reisz, and Tony Richardson) who sought to bring working class issues to the screen, to his Academy Award for the X-rated Midnight Cowboy and his glittering nights as a Hollywood host, to his death on July 24, 2003, brought on by a massive stroke two years earlier." In writing this authorized biography, Mann received the full cooperation of Schlesinger himself, as well as that of his family and his companion of 36 years, Michael Childers. In addition, he was granted complete access to tapes, diaries, production notes, and correspondence, as well as interviews with many of the actors, crew members, friends, and colleagues who shared their thoughts and memories.

FROM THE CRITICS

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