Warren Beatty Book:

		List Price: $7.99		Publisher: HarperEntertainment Salesrank: 1098383 Released: January 27, 2004
		Our Price: $2.35
		Used Price: $0.01
		Media: Mass Market Paperback

Editorial Review:

For nearly half a century, one man has embodied the glamour, sensuality, magnetism, and daring emblematic of Hollywood: Warren Beatty. Based on interviews with friends and associates, this first in-depth biography of the legendary superstar tells his complete story, offering revealing new details about:

One of the most sizzling, revealing books ever written about Hollywood, The Sexiest Man Alive weaves together the rich material of Warren Beatty's life and art in one juicy, satisfying read.

The Sexiest Man Alive: A Biography of Warren Beatty Reviews:
Is this a book?
2008-04-02 - There's not a single thing in this book that digs even remotely into Warren Beatty's talent and gumption that have made him not one of the world's best actor but one of the greatest PRODUCERS the movies have ever seen. BONNIE & CLYDE, SHAMPOO, BUGSY, and REDS are landmarks. Instead, the book is about his sex life. Which, at this late date, is ancient history! Author Ellis Amburn spends plenty of time quoting vaguely identified "sources" and credits his research to time spent around famous people (from Shelley Winters to Christopher Isherwood). A badly written, name dropping collection of junk.

I guess i'm the only reviewer who read his other bios...
2007-06-01 - ...because this one is better than most of them. There is more info on Beatty here than in any other bio (and photos i haven't seen anywhere else). I should complain that there are hundreds of quotes from other books and articles etc.? Um, no. I don't care where the info came from. The fact is, it's here, in this biography, where it belongs. If you have a problem with Beatty as a person, don't read a bio of him.

Little Acting Ability, Minimal Personality, Morals Of A Jackrabbit..
2005-08-28 - So characterizes Warren Beatty, if one interprets this excessively detailed exploration of his life. Beatty's sexual exploits ad infinitum, and those of his fellow Hollywood comrades, male and female, should be enough for anyone to rip out their cable, never watch TV or go to a movie again, and retreat into the cultured world of literature. The shallowness of the last 50 years of movie celebrity is appalling, and continues today. I expected a tad more in-depth analysis and less randy ramblings, so although the book was well-detailed with the most minute information, that doesn't mean it was well done or as meaningful as it could have been. It did, however, verify my long-held opinion that Beatty's 'talent' was horribly overrated, and I never could figure out the mystique. I bought the book hoping to find a clue, but was disappointed. Perhaps it's simply the subject that is ultimately disappointing, and no amount of literary talent or research could hide that...

Biography and film history opus as sexy as Beatty
2004-10-25 - Warren Beatty's brooding face on the cover of Ellis Amburn's biography/film history opus indicates why he has achieved an iconic status that seems reserved for Hollywood rebels without a cause. Certainly, like Kevin Costner, his output has been eclectic and iconoclastic. Amburn makes the point that Beatty, like a Don Juan Forrest Gump, inserted himself into the tumult of the New Hollywood era, the era of Pacino, Nicholson, and Roman Polanski. The insight into politics and into actors entering politics, seems particularly timely in the wake of Hollywood (brain trust) protests against the Iraq war and Arnold Schwarzenegger's successful gubernatorial run.

Schwarzenegger is one of the many names and figures striking bold poses, vogueing like Beatty conquest Madonna, in Ellis Amburn's prose, which reads like a "Beatty's Complaint" crossed with 1001 NIGHTS AT THE MOVIES, mixed in with Scott Thorson's LIFE WITH LIBERACE, which portrays a hypersexual performer who never quite grew up (though unlike Beatty, Liberace had little to do with politics or social issues).

Never content to name-drop, Amburn skillfully probes, with love, exasperation, a certain detachment, and fascination, the inner life of an aging Lothario whose film career and political carrer haves been as mercurial as his love life. Interestingly, Beatty's lasting achievements, "Reds," "Shampoo," and "Bonnie and Clyde," parallel his most lasting relationships, specifically with Julie Christie and Annette Bening, as well as his male friendships, specifically with Jack Nicholson (his relationships with gay filmmakers make an intriguing twist.) Has Beatty the rebel been tamed by Annette? If so, we'll always have the bad-boy image on the cover.

This Book Is Shallow And Meaningless
2004-07-23 - I agree with other reviewers that the book is shallow, disjointed, rambling, and too dependent on magazine profiles.

I would like to add that it is weird of author Ellis Amburn to assert that Beatty started sleeping with Natalie Wood while she was still married to Robert Wagner and that said adultery is the real reason for the break-up of that marriage.

Amburn refutes the claim by Wood biographer Suzanne Finstad that Wood walked in on Wagner while he was in a compromising position with another man and that this event ended the marriage. Moreover, Amburn knows "for a fact" that Natalie Wood was bisexual and that she and Wagner had an agreement that either one could cheat with a homosexual partner, but not a heterosexual one. Therefore, Warren Beatty wrecked the marriage. Right. I hope Mr. Amburn stays away from Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Oh, and I wish Mr. Amburn had presented more of Warren Beatty's early childhood in Richmond, Virginia. Warren, born in 1937, and sister Shirley MacLaine, born in 1934, are the only movie stars from that small city. Supposedly the place was a totally segregated southern city that remained unusually calm and non-violent during the entire civil rights era. It's no Birmingham.

Nonetheless, maybe white boys in Richmond were forbidden to discuss sex and they were told that black people combined dirty sex with devil worship in their music? It would be interesting to know if Warren Beatty was socialized this way and if it shaped the brief career he had as a honky tonk pianist before he got his big break in Splendor In The Grass. Did it also shape his and Shirleys' ultraliberal politics and Warren's friendship with Ted Kennedy and Gary Hart? Her liaison with Bella Abzug?

(Shirley was politically active as far back as 1968 when she was a delegate to the notoriously violent Democratic convention in Chicago. To what extent did her experiences in Richmond motivate her to do such a thing? Does she feel genuine compassion for disfranchised people or does she prefer to spend her time with the supernatural? How much of those traits are in Warren? Does he enjoy the supernatural?)

This book ignores those issues. All it gives you is shallow name dropping and sex acts. Don't waste your time or money on it. The only good thing that could come out of this book is that it might motivate Warren Beatty to run for president in 2008. As part of his campaign platform he could say that people are so sick of hearing the shallow stories of his sex life and Bill Clinton's that they are ready to talk about the really important stuff for a change.