William J. Mann
Encyclopedia
William J. Mann is an American
novelist, biographer
, and Hollywood historian best known for his 2006 biography of Katharine Hepburn
, Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn. Kate was named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2006 by The New York Times
.
and, after working briefly as a Capitol Hill aide, received his Master's degree at Wesleyan University
.
, for which he won the Lambda Literary Award
, Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood (2001), and Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger
(2005).
Mann's most recent biography is How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor
in Hollywood. "Reading this life is like gorging on a chocolate sundae", Publishers Weekly wrote of the book. In 2009 Mann also published a novel, Object of Desire.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novelist, biographer
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
, and Hollywood historian best known for his 2006 biography of Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
, Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn. Kate was named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2006 by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
Early life and education
Mann was born in ConnecticutConnecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
and, after working briefly as a Capitol Hill aide, received his Master's degree at Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
.
Career
He worked as a journalist at Metroline magazine, New England's oldest gay publication, from 1992 to 1995. Mann published his first novel, The Men From the Boys, in 1997, and continued with a series of books set in Provincetown, although he has also set his fiction in Palm Springs and Los Angeles. In addition, Mann has written the nonfiction books Wisecracker (1998), a biography of film star William HainesWilliam Haines
Charles William "Billy" Haines was an American film actor and interior designer. He was a star of the silent era until the 1930s, when Haines' career was cut short by MGM Studios due to his refusal to deny his homosexuality...
, for which he won the Lambda Literary Award
Lambda Literary Award
Lambda Literary Awards are awarded yearly by the US-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works which celebrate or explore LGBT themes. Categories include Humor, Romance and Biography. To qualify, a book must have been published in the United States in the year current to the award...
, Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood (2001), and Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger
John Schlesinger
John Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director and actor.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
(2005).
Mann's most recent biography is How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
in Hollywood. "Reading this life is like gorging on a chocolate sundae", Publishers Weekly wrote of the book. In 2009 Mann also published a novel, Object of Desire.
Non-fiction
- Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William HainesWilliam HainesCharles William "Billy" Haines was an American film actor and interior designer. He was a star of the silent era until the 1930s, when Haines' career was cut short by MGM Studios due to his refusal to deny his homosexuality...
(1998) - Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood (2001)
- Edge of Midnight: The Life of John SchlesingerJohn SchlesingerJohn Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director and actor.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
(2005) - Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn (2006)
- How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth TaylorElizabeth TaylorDame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
in Hollywood (2009)
Fiction
- The Men From the Boys (1997)
- The Biograph Girl (2000)
- Where the Boys Are (2003)
- All American BoyAll American BoyAll American Boy is a novel by William J. Mann.Fourteen-year-old Walter Day was a good son, the smartest boy in his class, an archetypal "all-American boy" growing up in the 1970s...
(2005) - Object of Desire (2009)