Leigh, Wendy

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Leigh, Wendy

PERSONAL:

Born in England; has been married twice.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Journalist and author.

WRITINGS:

What Makes a Woman GIB (Good in Bed), Penthouse Press (New York, NY), 1977, published as Frankly Speaking: What Makes a Woman GIB (Good in Bed), Muller (London, England), 1978.

What Makes a Man GIB (Good in Bed), Signet (New York, NY), 1979.

The Infidelity Report: An Investigation of Extramarital Affairs, Morrow (New York, NY), 1985.

(With Theresa Davis) Fragrance Sense, Fawcett Columbine (New York, NY), 1985.

The Secret Letters of Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy (novel), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2003.

BIOGRAPHIES

Arnold: An Unauthorized Biography, Congdon & Weed (Chicago, IL), 1990.

(Ghostwriter) Zsa Zsa Gabor, One Lifetime Is Not Enough (autobiography), Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 1991.

Liza: Born a Star, Dutton (New York, NY), 1993.

Prince Charming: The John F. Kennedy, Jr., Story, Dutton (New York, NY), 1993, revised edition, Signet (New York, NY), 1994.

Edward Windsor, Royal Enigma: The True Story of the Seventh in Line to the British Throne, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1999.

True Grace: The Life and Death of an American Princess, Thomas Dunne Books (New York, NY), 2007.

Author of astrology column for the Sun and a sex advice column for GQ. Contributor to periodicals, including Mail on Sunday, Guardian, Observer, London Times, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Cosmopolitan, Time, People, and Newsweek.

ADAPTATIONS:

The Secret Letters of Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy was adapted as a play.

SIDELIGHTS:

British journalist Wendy Leigh is the author of a number of best-selling biographies, including Prince Charming: The John F. Kennedy, Jr., Story and True Grace: The Life and Death of an American Princess. A contributor to such publications as the London Times, Cosmopolitan, and GQ, Leigh has also penned a novel, The Secret Letters of Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy. Though some reviewers contended that Leigh's narrative style leans more toward gossip than scholarship, her works have proven popular with readers.

Leigh's controversial 1990 work, Arnold: An Unauthorized Biography, examines the life of bodybuilder, actor, and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger. Recounting Schwarzenegger's rise from a shy youngster in Austria to the seven-time winner of the Mr. Olympia contest, star of The Terminator and other blockbuster films, and multimillionaire entrepreneur, Leigh also sheds light on some unsavory aspects of her subject's past. The author describes Schwarzenegger's numerous love affairs, notes his use of performance-enhancing anabolic steroids, and reports that his father was a member of the Nazi party. Though Lorenzo Carcaterra, reviewing the work in People, observed that "the pieces of the man's life fail to fit into any compelling form," Columbia Journalism Review contributor Neal Koch stated: "Leigh persuasively portrays Schwarzenegger as a crude womanizer—perhaps a misogynist—of limited morals who has been given to expressions of racism, anti-Semitism, and admiration for Hitler's ability to lead." Leigh later claimed that Schwarzenegger and his associates attempted to sabotage her promotional campaign for the book, a charge he denied.

In Liza: Born a Star, Leigh profiles Academy Award and Tony Award-winning actress and singer Liza Minnelli, the daughter of film legend Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli. The author presents Minnelli as an immensely talented yet emotionally needy individual who both adored and competed with her mother. Minnelli's career spiraled as she turned to drugs and drifted through a series of affairs with such men as Bob Fosse, Peter Sellers, and Martin Scorsese; she has dealt with her addictions through a number of visits to rehabilitation clinics. According to a reviewer in Publishers Weekly, Liza "is more expose than biography, revealing Liza and almost all of her intimates at their worst." Leigh also served as the ghostwriter for One Lifetime Is Not Enough, the story of Zsa Zsa Gabor, the Hungarian actress and socialite perhaps best known for her nine marriages and countless affairs. Writing in People, Joanne Kaufman described the work as an "artfully artless, amusing autobiography," and a Publishers Weekly critic stated that "Gabor comes across as a frank, spontaneous woman who craves intimacy, excitement and power."

John F. Kennedy, Jr., the son of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, is the subject of Prince Charming, an "uncritical recapitulation of his life," in the words of People reviewer Ralph Novak. Using interviews and previously published materials, Leigh traces Kennedy's youthful exploits and chronicles his relationships with Madonna, Cindy Crawford, Daryl Hannah, and other celebrities. The author's "research is impressive," noted Entertainment Weekly contributor Joanna Powell, who added that "what could have been a riveting narrative is … little more than a straight chronology, pasted together with clunky quotes." According to Novak, "General Kennedy family groupies may find Leigh's book a handy fantasy feeder."

In Leigh's critically acclaimed biography True Grace, the author looks at Academy Award winner Grace Kelly, who abandoned her acting career in 1956 to marry Monaco's Prince Rainier. "I have always admired her as an elegant, stylish, and breathtakingly beautiful Hollywood star," Leigh noted on her Web site, "a strong and wonderful woman—an American icon whose life was all too short." Leigh spent more than three years researching the work and interviewed more than one hundred people who had not talked to previous Kelly biographers. Writing in Library Journal, Rosellen Brewer called True Grace "a good addition to the oeuvre for gossip mavens," and Booklist contributor Carol Haggas stated: "Leigh's iconoclastic rendering strives to reveal the fragile woman behind the famous image."

Leigh blends fantasy and reality in The Secret Letters of Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy, "a richly researched and oddly successful novel," remarked a critic in Kirkus Reviews. Set during the 1950s and 1960s, the work concerns the complex relationship between the women, who were both intimately connected with John F. Kennedy. Writing in Booklist, Kathleen Hughes described the work as "fairly compelling to read," and the Kirkus Reviews contributor deemed it "strong, warm, and engaging."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 2003, Kathleen Hughes, review of The Secret Letters of Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy, p. 1147; February 15, 2007, Carol Haggas, review of True Grace: The Life and Death of an American Princess, p. 32.

Columbia Journalism Review, January-February, 1991, Neal Koch, "Strong-Arming the Hollywood Press."

Entertainment Weekly, November 12, 1993, Joanna Powell, review of Prince Charming: The John F. Kennedy, Jr., Story, p. 56.

Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2003, review of The Secret Letters of Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy, p. 107; January 15, 2007, review of True Grace, p. 63.

Library Journal, March 1, 2007, Rosellen Brewer, review of True Grace, p. 86.

People, May 28, 1990, Lorenzo Carcaterra, review of Arnold: An Unauthorized Biography, p. 28; December 23, 1991, Joanne Kaufman, review of One Lifetime Is Not Enough, p. 26; January 24, 1994, Ralph Novak, review of Prince Charming, p. 31.

Publishers Weekly, November 1, 1991, review of One Lifetime Is Not Enough, p. 65; December 28, 1992, review of Liza: Born a Star, p. 56; January 22, 2007, review of True Grace, p. 178.