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Live Fast, Die Young:
The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause

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Gavin Lambert
1924-2005

Gavin Lambert
This wonderful photograph of Gavin Lambert was taken by David Ehrenstein. You can see more of David's photographs and his writing on film and politics at his website Ehrensteinland and his Fablog.
We were deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Gavin Lambert on July 17, 2005. Gavin had a great long career as a film critic, author and scenarist. He was a living historian of Hollywood and one of the few who would speak directly and frankly about the gay experience in the movie industry. He was remarkably open and gracious when we interviewed him for Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause. Although he had just returned from an exhausting trip, he instantly welcomed us into his book-strewn home in Hollywood and provided us with a warm, honest, often witty and detailed account of his friends Nicholas Ray and Natalie Wood. The afternoon we spent with him listening to him reminisce about his two friends is one we'll never forget.

One of the first film critics to recognize the talent of Nicholas Ray, Gavin met Ray shortly after he made Rebel Without a Cause and worked with the director on the screenplays for Bigger Than Life and Bitter Victory. Through Ray he met Natalie Wood, who became one of his closest friends. She later starred in Inside Daisy Clover, based on his novel. It was a part that was always close to her heart, not only because she identified with the role, but because it gave her a chance to work with Gavin.

It's a shame that Gavin never wrote the hidden history of Hollywood—because he certainly knew it. But he did write some of the best books about the movie life: including the seminal On Cukor (as important a study of an auteur—in interview format—as the more famous Hitchcock/Truffaut); his novel The Slide Area, which includes a veiled portrait of Ray; and more recently the remarkably candid Mainly About Lindsay Anderson and Natalie Wood: A Life (both of which were immensely helpful to us in our research, opening up several previously locked doors). Because of Gavin, our book is a better book. His death is a true loss, not only because he was such a terrific writer and generous raconteur but because so much unsalvageable history went with him. Although we only knew him briefly, we found ourselves counting on him internally—as a source, a friend and something of a spiritual mentor. We will always regret the fact that we did not have time to get to know him better.—Lawrence Frascella and Al Weisel

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