Lion of Hollywood is the definitive biography of Louis B. Mayer, the chief of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer - MGM - the biggest and most successful film studio of Hollywood's Golden Age. An immigrant from tsarist Russia, Mayer began in the film business as an exhibitor but soon migrated to where the action and the power were - Hollywood. Through sheer force of energy and foresight, he turned his own modest studio into MGM, where he became the most powerful man in Hollywood, bending the film business to his will. He made great films, including the fabulous MGM musicals, and he made great stars: Garbo, Gable, Garland, and dozens of others. Despite his power and money, Mayer suffered some significant losses. As he grew older, his politics became increasingly reactionary, and he found himself politically isolated within Hollywood's small conservative community. Lion of Hollywood is a three-dimensional biography of a figure often caricatured and vilified as the paragon of the studio system. Film historian Scott Eyman interviewed more than 150 people and researched some previously unavailable archives to write this major new biography of a man who defined an industry and an era.
- ISBN10 0743269179
- ISBN13 9780743269179
- Publish Date 17 November 2012 (first published 19 April 2005)
- Publish Status Active
- Imprint Simon & Schuster
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 608
- Language English