Zero Mostel: A Biography by Jared Brown

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Library Journal

Brown, author of The Fabulous Lunts: A Biography of Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne ( LJ 7/86), has written a biography which lauds the comic genius of Mostel, while not overlooking the actor's many serious character flaws. A study in contradictions, Mostel was a serious and talented painter, as well as an actor and comic whose larger-than-life personality often took over the roles he played. A victim of blacklisting during the 1950s and of a serious accident in 1960, which left him with a permanently crippled leg, Mostel rebounded to his greatest Broadway successes during the 1960s in Rhinoceros, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum , and Fiddler on the Roof . Although the text is somewhat repetitious, this is full of anecdotes documenting both sides of Mostel's personality.-- Marcia L. Perry, Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass.