Notorious: The Life of Ingrid Bergman - Hardcover

For years, Ingrid Bergman was called the most notorious woman in Hollywood – and one of the most shameful women of the century. From her position as America’s most beautiful, admired and loved actress, she plummeted with astonishing swiftness and was, overnight, pointed out as an immoral woman – ‘an apostle of degradation’, according to one US Senator.

The cause of Bergman’s fall from public grace to national disgrace was her love affair in Italy with director Roberto Rossellini, to whom she bore a child out of wedlock while she still had a husband and daughter in Hollywood. The scandal knocked all other international news from the headlines of the world’s newspapers in 1950.

After a tragic childhood in Sweden, Bergman moved to Nazi Germany and later to Hollywood in its golden age. Arguably the most international star in the history of entertainment, she acted on stage, screen and television in five languages and won three Academy Awards, a Tony and an Emmy. Even to the end, while valiantly fighting an eight year battle with cancer, she continued to work and to earn honours and accolades.

Ingrid Bergman’s life story is as compelling as any of the women she portrayed in dozens of memorable movies and plays – an impressive list that includes 'Intermezzo, Casablanca, Gaslight, The Bells of St Mary’s, 'three of Hitchcock’s films ('Notorious, Spellbound' and 'Under Capricorn), Anastasia, Hedda Gabler, Autumn Sonata 'and 'A Woman Called Golda'. Whether acting the role of saint or sinner, Bergman found in her characters the extremes of her own passionate nature.

Best-selling biographer Donald Spoto, who knew her and had unprecedented access to her husbands, friends, lovers, directors, and co-stars – as well as to her papers, letters and diaries – has written the definitive account of this consummate actress and brave woman. 'Notorious: The Life of Ingrid Bergman' is the epic story of a great actress who not only altered the shape of international celebrity but also significantly changed the world’s ideas about what a woman could be.

Donald Spoto, who earned his PhD at Fordham University , is the author of fifteen books that have been translated into more than twenty languages – among them highly praised biographies of Alfred Hitchcock, Tennessee Williams, Laurence Olivier, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. He lives in Beverly Hills, California.

OTHER TITLES BY DONALD SPOTO

'The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock '(1983)
“Absolutely compulsory reading.”
NEW YORK TIMES

“Ranks with the best recent literary and political lives.”
OBSERVER

'The Kindness of Strangers: The Life of Tennessee Williams'(1985)
“Probably the best biography of an American playwright since Louis Sheafer’s two volume study of O’Neill. Most accurate, and a full portrait told gently and justly.”
LOS ANGELES TIMES

“Likely to remain the definitive work for years to come, a biography as industriously researched as it is beautifully and sensitively written – a riveting chronicle.”
TIME OUT

'Laurence Olivier: A Biography '(1992)
“Rivetingly interesting, admirably researched and exquisitely written – wonderful!”
SIR JOHN GIELGUD

“An astute and complex portrait, embroidered with credible psychological insight and an impressive understanding of Olivier’s craft. A remarkable book.”
WALL STREET JOURNAL

'Marilyn Monroe: The Biography'(1993)
“As I read Donald Spoto’s 'Marilyn Monroe', I was seduced into utter fascination by his fairness, his accuracy, his lack of hysteria, his willingness to probe beyond the myths, his empathy, his feminism, his extraordinary humanity.”
WASHINGTON POST

“Immensely readable, this book lacks sensationalism and is more scrupulously researched and better written than all those previous hack jobs.”
NEW STATESMAN

'A Passion for Life: The Biography of Elizabeth Taylor '(1995)
“Donald Spoto is a class act. A smaller and quieter book than its highly publicised counterpart – and in the end a much more substantial read.”
THE TIMES