" In this first-ever biography of Greer Garson, Michael Troyan sweeps away the many myths that even today veil her life. The true origins of her birth, her fairy-tale discovery in Hollywood, and her career struggles at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer are revealed for the first time. Garson combined an everywoman quality with grace, charm, and refinement. She won the Academy Award in 1941 for her role in Mrs. Miniver, and for the next decade she reigned as the queen of MGM. Co-star Christopher Plummer remem
Publishers Weekly,In a definitive biography, Troyan takes readers from Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson's birth in London in 1904 to her death in Dallas in 1996 as she held the hand of her good friend, the pianist Van Cliburn. Troyan's work is thorough and features many personal interviews with her family, friends and colleagues. Garson briefly worked in provincial companies and in London theater until a minor role in the film Goodbye, Mr. Chips led her to Hollywood in 1937. It was there, in 1942, that she played her defining role: Mrs. Miniver, an indomitable British wife and mother during WWII. The part won her an Academy Award, but, as Troyan explains, it also circumscribed her career, as studio officials cast her in carbon-copy roles. Even a move from MGM to Warner Bros. couldn't free her from typecasting. On the personal side, Troyan reveals that although Garson's first two marriages were dismal flops, her third, to Texas oil millionaire, rancher and philanthropist E.E. Fogelson, was supremely happy. Ending her film career in 1967, Garson did some television and stage work, but gradually confined her life to the Southwest, spending her last four years in a hospital. She expressed only one regret: "I wish I had been an actress rather than a movie star." Included in this strong biography are 48 b&w photos. Agent, Carol Schild. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
