Laird Cregar: A Hollywood Tragedy
Published by McFarland, 2018. 329 pages
By Gregory William Mank

The reading goal that I have set for myself is to get through at least one book per month, and for the last couple of years, I’ve happily gone a little past that goal. But thanks to the wonderfully talented Mr. Mank, my average for this year just went up. It usually takes me 3-4 weeks to get through a book, mainly because I have to steal away time to read. But once I started this latest volume, on the actor Laird Cregar, I went through the first half of it in the first two days, finishing it off within a week. I just couldn’t put it down.

I have been a fan of Cregar’s since the very first time I watched The Lodger (1944). I was just amazed at not only how effective and well made the picture was, but also the amazing talent of Cregar. I immediately started to seek out other of his films, especially Hangover Square (1945), again being mesmerized by his performance. I started to read up on this seemingly unknown (to me at least) actor and his life in various books and online, only be to be depressed on how this brilliant performer was treated in his life, by others as well as how he treated himself. A couple of years ago, while talking to Mank at a Monster Bash conference, he mentioned Cregar was going to be the subject of an upcoming book, which I knew I would get the minute it came out. Which I did.

The subtitle of the book, A Hollywood Tragedy, is a unfortunately a perfect moniker for tale, and is probably a too common of a tale from that sordid land of Hollywood. Cregar knew his craft so well and always created such characters that drew you in, even when he was playing a ruthless killer, you still felt for him. Because of how he saw himself, and how he was treated by the some studios and press, it really lead him to an early grave, which is a loss that all film lovers will feel.

Mank does an exceptional job here giving the reader so much detail about Cregar, through every step of his very short career. While a lot of the details of what he was going through personally will never really be known, we get to hear from his family, friends, and colleagues who knew him, which really paints a sad story about a man who just wouldn’t see how great he really was. When we read at what he had to deal with in the business, like with studio head Darryl Zanuck, and how some of the press treated him, one can see how it pushed him further down the path he was already on.

Between the way Mank writes and the subject matter, I couldn’t wait to turn the page. Even though the details of Cregar’s life are sad, having to really hide who he was or even how he looked, we can still get to bask in the amazing performances that he gave that are still around thanks to digital media. I couldn’t recommend this book enough, and challenge fans to seek out Cregar’s work, especially The Lodger and Hangover Square. I don’t think you’ll regret any of those decisions.

So thank you, Greg, for not only giving us fans another joyous read, filled with so much information about a underappreciated talent, but also for helping keeping his memory alive.

You can order this book directly from the publisher, McFarland, by either visiting their website (www.mcfarlandpub.com) or calling their order line at 800-253-2187.