Groucho The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx

This definitive biography of one of the world's greatest comedians unflinchingly yet affectionately uncovers the man behind the cigar. Here is the amazing career of the man the world recognized as Groucho: the improbable disasters of the vaudeville years; the Marx Brothers, an act so funny W.C. Fields refused to follow it; the unprecedented Broadway success ofThe CocoanutsandAnimal Crackers; the cinematic triumphs ofDuck SoupandA Night at the Opera; and the marvelous come-back career as king of the game show hosts withYou Bet Your Life. Here, too, is the man himself: a lonely middle child who aspired to be a doctor; a man who sabotaged three marriages; a father alternately indulgent and cruel. Intelligent and thorough, hilarious and sad,Grouchois a spectacular biography of the century's most influential comedian.

Stefan Kanfer's books include <b>The Eighth Sin, A Summer World, The Last Empire</b>, and <b>Serious Business</b>. He was the primary interviewer in the Academy Award-nominated documentary <i>The Line King.</i> A former writer and editor at <i>Time</i> and a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library, he has been a writer-in-residence at the City University of New York, the State University of New York at Purchase, and Wesleyan University. He lives in New York and on Cape Cod.<br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>