Niv · the Authorized Biography of David Niven

"Twenty years after his death, David Niven is remembered with warmth, affection, and as one of the funniest and most lovable men who ever lived." "For more than forty years, from the late 1930s, he portrayed on-screen the impeccable values of a lost breed of English gentlemen - handsome, beautifully spoken, elegantly dressed, witty, with perfect manners, and utterly charming, Niv, as his friends called him, was much the same off-screen. Both men and women were enchanted by his charisma, humor, and joie de vivre." "In addition to his countless cinematic triumphs, including his Oscar-winning performance in Separate Tables, Niven also enjoyed tremendous success with his hilarious autobiography The Moon's a Balloon and Hollywood memoir Bring on the Empty Horses, which sold millions of copies and confirmed him as one of the great raconteurs." "Yet behind those twinkling eyes, Niven's life was punctuated by tragedy and he was often deeply unhappy. From the death of his father when Niven was five to the stepfather he loathed, through to the death of his beloved first wife and his volatile and disturbing second marriage, tragedy and hardship were never far away. Yet through it all Niven was determined to make people laugh." "Niv is the authorized account of a remarkable life. Graham Lord has interviewed scores of people from all over the world, among them Niven's ninety-six-year-old sister Grizel and his great friends Lauren Bacall, John Hurt, Patrick Macnee, Roderick Mann, Sir Roger Moore, Sir John Mills, Sir John Mortimer, Michael Parkinson, Fiona Thyssen, Sir Peter Ustinov, and Robert Wagner." Using new material from Niven's private papers, manuscripts, unpublished stories, and correspondence, Lord has written a portrait of a brave and brilliant man.