ANDERSEN, Christopher P(eter) 1949-

PERSONAL: Born May 26, 1949, in Pensacola, FL; son of Edward Francis (a commander in the U.S. Navy) and Jeanette (Peterson) Andersen; married Valerie Jean Hess (a banker), February 3, 1972; children: Katharine, Kelly. Education: University of California, Berkeley, B.A. (political science), 1971.

ADDRESSES: Home—171 Blackville Rd., Washington, CT, 06794. Agent—Trident Media Group, 41 Madison Ave., Fl. 36, New York, NY 10010 .

CAREER: Time, New York, NY, correspondent in San Francisco, CA, 1969-71, staff writer in New York, NY, 1971-72, and in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1972-74; People, New York, NY, assistant editor, 1974-75, associate editor, 1975-80, senior editor, 1980-86; writer.

MEMBER: Authors Guild, Players Club.

WRITINGS:

The Name Game, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1977.

A Star Is a Star Is a Star!: The Life and Loves ofSusan Hayward, Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1980.

The Book of People: Photographs, Capsule Biographics, and Vital Statistics of Over 500 Celebrities, Putnam (New York, NY), 1981.

Father: The Figure and the Force, Warner (New York, NY), 1983.

(With Albert M. Myers) Success over Sixty, Summit (New York, NY), 1984.

The New Book of People: Photographs, CapsuleBiographies, and Vital Statistics of Over 500 Celebrities, Putnam (New York, NY), 1986.

The Po-Po Principle, Pan Productions (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada), 1986.

The Baby Boomer's Name Game, Putnam (New York, NY), 1987.

The Serpent's Tooth, Harper (New York, NY), 1987. Young Kate, Holt (New York, NY), 1988.

(With John Marion) The Best of Everything: TheDefinitive Insider's Guide to Collecting—For Every Taste and Every Budget, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1989.

Citizen Jane: The Turbulent Life of Jane Fonda, Holt (New York, NY), 1990.

Madonna: Unauthorized, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1991.

Jagger: Unauthorized, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1993.

Michael Jackson: Unauthorized, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1994.

Jack and Jackie: Portrait of an American Marriage, Morrow (New York, NY), 1996.

An Affair to Remember: The Remarkable Love Story ofKatharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Morrow (New York, NY), 1997.

Jackie after Jack: Portrait of the Lady, Morrow (New York, NY), 1998.

The Day Diana Died, Morrow (New York, NY), 1998. Bill and Hillary: The Marriage, Morrow (New York, NY), 1999.

The Day John Died, Morrow (New York, NY), 2000.

Diana's Boys: William and Harry and the Mother TheyLoved, Morrow (New York, NY), 2001.

George and Laura: Portrait of an American Marriage, Morrow (New York, NY), 2002.

Sweet Caroline: Last Child of Camelot, Morrow (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor of articles to periodicals, including New York Times, Reader's Digest, Ladies' Home Journal, People, Life, and Vanity Fair.

SIDELIGHTS: Christopher P. Andersen once told CA: "As a professional journalist since the age of seventeen, I have done stories on thousands of personalities, from presidents to axe murderers to movie stars. Hence my books have all dealt with people—some famous, most not—and what motivates them. In short, how and why we all do what we do. It is a daunting pursuit, but it is hard to think of a more rewarding one."

Since the mid-1980s Andersen has emerged in the front tier of celebrity biographers. A former senior editor at People magazine, Andersen has penned a series of bestsellers on the private lives of such notables as Princess Diana, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and her children Caroline and John Kennedy, Jr., Bill and Hillary Clinton, and George and Laura Bush. Andersen's list of biographies also includes movie stars, including Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, and Jane Fonda, as well as entertainers Madonna, Mick Jagger, and Michael Jackson. The author uses his skills as a reporter to uncover telling details in the lives of his subjects, generally relying on interviews with close friends, family members, and published documents. Although they are occasionally excoriated by reviewers, the books sell quite well indeed and have been translated into more than twenty foreign languages.

Some critics have written about Andersen's attribution of sources and his tendency to highlight salacious anecdotes. San Francisco Chronicle reporter Patricia Holt called Jackie after Jack: Portrait of the Lady "one of those reprehensible pseudo-biographies with more unidentified 'sources close to the subject' than even Kenneth Starr could dredge up." In Entertainment Weekly, Lisa Schwarzbaum described Bill and Hillary: The Marriage as "a cold, damning book, jammed with tattle . . . a prime example of a kind of opportunistic celebrity muckraking—sometimes known as selling people out—that has become junky big business." On the other hand, in his Newsweek review of The Day Diana Died, Daniel Pedersen wrote: "Remarkably, after all the rehashings and inaccuracies in the oft-told saga of Charles and Diana, Andersen's book actually makes some fresh contributions. . . . The worthiness of Andersen's efforts comes partly from solid reporting." People correspondent Alex Tresniowski found that in Jackie after Jack "Andersen's scavenged clues to the reality behind the Jackie myth make for compelling reading." In Library Journal, Susan McCaffrey felt that Andersen created "an entirely sympathetic portrait of the most beloved royal."

Andersen's books are sometimes timed to be released upon anniversaries of their subjects' deaths. At other times they seek to understand the generational legacy of those in politics, royalty, or entertainment. To quote Francine Prose in People, his work reminds readers "how much damage grown-up romance can sustain—and how a life-changing passion can outlive the lovers themselves."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 1994, Ilene Cooper, review of Michael Jackson: Unauthorized, p. 554; August, 1996, Ilene Cooper, review of Jack and Jackie: Portrait of an American Marriage, p. 1850; April 15, 2001, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of The Day John Died, p. 1574; January 1, 2003, Brad Hooper, review of George and Laura: Portrait of an American Marriage, p. 809.

Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY), November 6, 2002, Mary Kunz, "An Insider's View of the First Couple," p. C1.

Chicago Tribune, July 14, 1985; July 15, 1985; July 16, 1985.

Daily News (Los Angeles, CA), August 12, 1998, "Queen of Heartlessness?," review of The Day Diana Died, p. L5.

Entertainment Weekly, August 20, 1999, Lisa Schwarzbaum, "Public Lives," p. 117.

Houston Chronicle, March 29, 1998, Clifford Pugh, "Oh, No! Jackie O?," review of Jackie after Jack: Portrait of the Lady, p. 26; August 23, 1998, Clifford Pugh, "A Year Later, Diana's Story Still Surprises," review of The Day Diana Died, p. 20.

Library Journal, March 1, 1999, Susan McCaffrey, review of The Day Diana Died, p. 126.

Newsweek, February 23, 1998, Barbara Kantrowitz, review of Jackie after Jack, p. 65; August 24, 1998, Daniel Pedersen, "The Never-Ending Story," p. 56; July 24, 2000, "JFK Jr., One Year Later," p. 64.

New York Times, October 6, 1986.

New York Times Book Review, September 13, 1987; August 7, 1988; September 1, 1996, Larissa MacFarquhar, review of Jack and Jackie, p. 5; December 1, 2002, Elisabeth Bumiller, "Dubya in Love," review of George and Laura, p. 4.

People, August 17, 1987; June 2, 1997, Francine Prose, review of An Affair to Remember: The Remarkable Love Story of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, p. 37; February 23, 1998, Alex Tresniowski, review of Jackie after Jack, p. 33.

Publishers Weekly, April 27, 1990, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of Citizen Jane: The Turbulent Life of Jane Fonda, p. 48; July 24, 2000, Daisy Maryles, "A Compelling Chronicler," p. 19; September 3, 2001, Daisy Maryles, review of Diana's Boys: William and Harry and the Mother They Loved, p. 20.

Record (Bergen County, NJ), August 26, 2001, Bill Ervolino, "On a Princely Course," review of Diana's Boys, p. E3.

Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO), March 8, 1998, "Jackie O—And Her Evil Twin," review of Jackie after Jack, p. 3E; August 30, 1998, "Queen of Contempt Rules Di Book," review of Diana's Boys, p. 3E.

San Francisco Chronicle, February 25, 1998, Patricia Holt, review of Jackie after Jack, p. E3; August 20, 1998, Leah Garchik, "The Ways in Which We Remember," review of The Day Diana Died, p. C16.

Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), September 19, 1999, "Did You Hear the Latest about the Clintons?," review of Bill and Hillary: The Marriage, p. 5.

Time, August 19, 1996, Elizabeth Gleick, review of Jack and Jackie, p. 67.

Washington Post Book World, October 30, 1977; July 19, 1987; August 7, 1988.