David Niven (1) (1910–1983)

David Niven was one of the big film stars during the golden age of Hollywood, working from roughly the mid-1930s through the 1960s and beyond. By no means a great 'actor', his character and a combination of British upper class manners with a down to earth humanity and compassion, plus his self-awareness of his limitations, carried him a very long way. Suave, debonair, hell-raiser and one-of-the-boys could all be applied to him, often at the same time.

This memoir focuses on his early life, his early army career, his introduction to the USA and film acting, his early film career, his marriage and his World War II career. Later volumes of memoir expand on these themes and cover new material.

There is nothing particularly revelatory or shocking in what is revealed here. The magic here, and it is magic, is the way he tells his story. Niven is a born raconteur, telling his story well and with a huge dollop of humour.

This is an enormously entertaining and very funny read.… (mer)

Chosen for my reading group. It started off well - DN's childhood was interesting especially when reflecting that it was only 100 years ago and yet it was so different to now. But sadly when it moved on to his time in the army, it became really boring and mostly stayed there. It did improve slightly once he was in Hollywood but I went to this party and met these people got old very quickly. It was very impersonal in style - he just seemed to fall into things and never seemed to worry about anything much.
And boy he liked women.......
It wasn't a terrible read but it didn't do much for me either.… (mer)

A promising first outing with room for improvement.

I quite liked the stories of his upbringing, which certainly had its difficulties and challenges, with him definitely needing a proper Father figure in his life. It really is remarkable to think about where he started and ended up. Being kicked out of schools and the times being what they were, he was not shown a lot of mercy. Everything would change when he got into the new Stowe School.
J.F. Roxburgh, headmaster of said school, had a profound impact on Niven. He absolutely idolized him. I was hoping we would hear about correspondences between them throughout the years, or some sum-up, but alas, that never came to be. That is unlike Nessie, a young lady he had a sort of relationship with when he was a teenager. A quite heart-warming little tale, she moved to America while he was in the army, and he never heard from her again.
Niven's time in the army is divided into two sections, his first stint in the early thirties and then during WWII. The first stint did not really catch my attention, and the abundance of names he served with started flowing past my head. His stint in WWII was a tad better, but still left much to be desired. He writes that other authors have done a better job at portraying the war, and whilst that may be true, that is not the point of reading the book. We read it to hear your perspective, and your experiences.

In time, he got a lucky break, took the ball, and ran with it. Before that, he was even a bootlegger. He was given this lucky break by Sam Goldwyn, who would have a portrait of Niven from WWII on his piano. He never took it down, not even during rough times in their relationship, and David Niven was released.
The book certainly has its share of name droppings here and there, some are substantiated with stories more than others. I quite liked the relationship he had with Olivier and Leigh, godparents of his first son, but it would have been nice if it stayed a bit longer with the names put forth.
I would've loved to hear more behind the scenes stuff of the films he worked on. He does that perfectly with "Around the World in 80 Days", but I desperately wanted more of it, as I was frantically glued to the pages that revolved around Hollywood. We don't really hear anything about his portrayal of James Bond in "Casino Royale" from 1967, which is a shame. Some background on how it came to be, how he was approached, his portrayal as opposed to that of Sean Connery would have been neat. But then again, I would've loved to have heard more about a lot of his films.

There are two sections of photos, 39 in total. Although I love the addition of them, they are just jammed into these two sections by themselves, even showing people yet to be mentioned. Even though they feature captions, most pictures should have been placed alongside the general writing to really flesh it out, and get some more background. The pictures themselves are great. One is quite sad, which was taken with his Father on the day he left for the front in WWI, never to return. He mentions it meant little to him when it happened, at age 5, but it would mean a lot more as he got older. We never hear about it, though...

You are, more or less, always kept at an arm's length from Mr. Niven, which is both a plus and a minus. It is without a doubt intended, as he writes, some of the attraction of classic Hollywood was the mystery around the big stars. He does, however, let his guard down a little bit here and there, for example when his first wife tragically dies after a fall, not even reaching thirty years of age. It was heartbreaking to read leading up to it and what he went through afterwards.

It could have done with some better pacing and even editing. Sometimes it just jumps from one thing to another, almost feeling like taking the needle of a running LP in the middle of a song. He never had a biological child with his second wife. Suddenly, in the book, it's mentioned she just suffered her second miscarriage. We never heard of the first one, or the impact of either. Another example is how he suddenly became a father for the second time. Not leading up to it, a lovely meeting between him and Primmie, his first wife. Both examples just come out of nowhere and ruins the flow at the time.

The ending was incredibly odd and did not fit in at all, sticking out like a sore thumb, focusing very quickly Niven's being acquainted with the counter culture of the late '60s. He prefaces it with rewarding the loyal reader, and as he did not know how to really end the book, he sought the advice of a "writer friend" who said to bring the book up to date and then stop writing. Terrible advice. The last chapter was going so strong, and then it just ended on a dud.

I may have pointed out a lot of detractors, but it comes from the heart, as I really enjoyed reading this book. It has genuinely funny moments that had me laughing, such as a brief moment with Noël Coward:
"Uncle Noël! Look at those two little doggies! What are they doing?"
"The little doggie in front," said Godfather Noël, "has just gone blind, and his friend is pushing him all the way to St. Dunstan's."
Sitting down with the writings of Mr. Niven is never a bad idea, it is often quite fun, and I definitely feel like watching a lot more of his films.

"The Moon's a Balloon" is a good place to start with David Niven, but he would surpass this book with his subsequent recollections about the Golden Age of Hollywood in "Bring on the Empty Horses". This does, however, not detract this from being a charming book, by a charming man.… (mer)

My introduction to David Niven was, honestly, a line from the pilot episode of Knight Rider: "well, ain't you the David Niven?" Beyond than his (honorary) gentlemanly reputation, I hadn't a clue, until I watched him in The Elusive Pimpernel, where he plays my favourite literary character, Sir Percy Blakeney. So I decided to read his memoirs, part one, when I should probably have opted for a straight biography to start with.

To be honest, although very entertaining - his bawdy anecdotes made me laugh - I struggled to get through Niven's selective life story. His childhood was like a boy's own adventure written for Playboy, with a cockney 'ore with an 'art of gold' taking the fourteen year old free spirit under her wing and into her bed, and then his army service and war career filled far too many pages. And he wasn't kidding about the name-dropping, either! When you're a Hollywood actor who can count Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn among your good friends, and your son's godfather is Noel Coward, a supporting cast of the rich and famous is inevitable, but the tributes to 'Golden Age' actors and directors come thick and fast here. I must give bonus points, of course, for his friendship with JFK:

Countless volumes have been written about this extraordinary human being and the earthshaking moments he lived through and often controlled. I shall never forget him for his simplicity, his humour, his kindness, his interest in other people and, above all, his love of life.

I was genuinely upset to read about his first wife, Primmie, who died in her twenties after falling down a flight of cellar stairs during a game of sardines at Tyrone Power's house. Such a shocking and senseless loss brought the real man to the surface and retired the raconteur for a brief chapter. I'm glad that he found happiness with his second wife, though.

Good fun in parts, but I think I learned more about the people he knows rather than the actor himself.… (mer)