Stewart Granger

Stewart Granger was one of the few Brits who made it as a swashbuckling Hollywood screen idol during the golden age of the movies. His most famous roles - in films such as "Scaramouche" and "King Solomon's Mines" - established him as a prototypical man of action: uncomplicatedly masculine, chivalrous, something of a buccaneer. But his time at the top was short: not only did Hollywood move on to more complex films, starring more youthful, enigmatic figures like James Dean and Marlon Brando but Granger also gained a reputation for being prickly and difficult to work with. The later years of his life were characterised by unsuccessful business ventures and parts in Western TV series before a belated come-back in the action-movie, "The Wild Geese". His private life, however, was complicated and spectacular: a torrid affair with Deborah Kerr (subsequently his co-star in "King Solomon's Mines") and then marriage to Jean Simmons, the love of his life. Don Shiach's biography is the first serious and comprehensive account of this contradictory, difficult star's life and career, which has left several memorable movies.