The Good, the Bad and the Dolce Vita

Book excerpt: Born and raised in Brooklyn with a street fighter's instinct and sharp Jewish wit, Mickey Knox leaves the army for the bright lights of Hollywood. But when the rise of McCarthyism puts an abrupt end to his hopes of working in American films, Knox debarks to France and Italy to work in European cinema. It turns out to be the best move of his life. This book—where every major film actor and writer of the last century appears—is a wonderful, gossipy history of European cinema as seen through the observant eye of Knox. From arguing with John Wayne, teaching Anna Magnani to articulate English, to fending off Zsa Zsa Gabor's advances and getting lost in Italy with a hungry Orson Welles, Knox was in the midst of it all, watching with a dry smile and a witty comeback. Of the colorful cast of characters who have passed through his life—Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Ava Gardner, Anthony Quinn, Henry Fonda, Burt Reynolds, Sam Fuller, Elvis Presley, Gore Vidal—one lasting friendship runs throughout the text. That friend—Norman Mailer—writes a preface to "a rare warrior of that rarely heroic world of stage and screen." Black-and-white photographs are included.