Brad Darrach

Brad Darrach (1921-1997) was a journalist who wrote primarily for Time Inc. magazines including "Time", "Life", "People" and "Sports Illustrated". During a career which spanned the 1940s to the 1990s, he profiled such notables as Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Barbra Streisand, Robin Williams, Bill Cosby, Jack Nicholson and Miss Piggy. His 1955 "Time" cover story on Marilyn Monroe, based on a chaste 10-hour interview in her hotel bed while she was filming "Bus Stop", was the first to report on the star’s traumatic childhood; in 1984, he wrote: "Out it came for the first time, the whole hideous mess: the foster homes, the religious sadists who threatened her with hellfire, the child molester who raped her when she was 6. Simply to remember was agony for Marilyn. Sometimes she was racked with sobs; sometimes she choked on anger and disgust. Sometimes tears filled my eyes too."

Darrach’s work is widely anthologized. His 1973 Playboy interview with Mel Brooks (which won a Playboy Non-fiction Award) is reprinted in Gene Shalit’s "Laughing Matters". His reporting for "Life" on the 1972 Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky chess match is included as one of four “Best of the Best” in David Halberstam’s "Best American Sportswriting of the Century". He succeeded James Agee as "Time"’s film reviewer; several of his reviews are reprinted in "Film 67/68".

The vividness of his writing is notable; his language has appeared in several collections of quotations, including [http://quotes.zaadz.com/Brad_Darrach this] description of Elvis Presley: "The hair was a Vaseline cathedral, the mouth a touchingly uncertain sneer of allure. One, two-wham! Like a berserk blender the lusty young pelvis whirred and the notorious git-tar slammed forward with a jolt that symbolically deflowered a generation of teenagers and knocked chips off 90 million older shoulders. Then out of the half-melted vanilla face a wild black baritone came bawling in orgasmic lurches. Whu-huh-huh-huh f'the money! Two f'the show! Three t'git riddy naa GO CAAT GO!" [http://www.bartleby.com/63/20/8520.html This] description of Jackie Gleason is also memorable: "Gross in physique, gargantuan in gourmandise, oceanic in liquid capacity, prodigal of purse, a fire hose of libido and a Niagara of comic invention, the man was excess personified and one of the great entertainers of the age."

Bibliography

Books

*"Bobby Fischer vs. The Rest of the World" (Stein & Day 1974) ISBN 0-8128-1618-8

Movies

*" [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0196932/ The Search for Solutions] " (1979) (Screenwriter)

Articles

*"The Day Bobby Blew It" in Halberstam, D., "The Best American Sportswriting of the Century" (Houghton Mifflin 1999) (originally in "Life") ISBN 0-395-94514-3
*Interview with Mel Brooks in Shalit, G., "Laughing Matters: a Celebration of American Humor" (Doubleday 1987) (originally in "Playboy") ISBN 0-385-18547-2
*"A Perky Porker Hits Hollywood and Leaves 'Em Squealing," in "The Best of People Weekly: The First Decade" (Fawcett 1984) ISBN 0-449-90113-0
*"Ulysses", "Marat/Sade" and "The Underground Film" in Schickel, R. & Simon, J., "Film 67/68" (Simon & Schuster 1968) (originally in "Time") ASIN B000H7N1KC
*"Living With Liz, Life Magazine," February, 1992 (profile of Elizabeth Taylor and then-husband Larry Fortensky)
*"Send in the Clowns: For Desperately Ill Children, Laughter Can be The Best Medicine, Life Magazine," August, 1990
*" [http://www.life.com/Life/essay/hakeem/hakeem01.html A Different Kind of Superstar, Life Magazine," December, 1995] (profile of Hakeem Olajuwon)
*" [http://members.aol.com/Tvfanteel/life.htm Landon, M. as told to Darrach, B. Michael Landon Discusses His Illness, Life Magazine, "May, 1991]
*" [http://www.bootlegbetty.com/reviews/ba_People62088.htm Darrach, B. & Hutchings, D. The First Ladies of Laughter Double Up, People Weekly," June 20, 1988] (profile of Lily Tomlin and Bette Midler)
*" [http://www.carygrant.net/articles/triumph.htm The Triumph of Archie Leach, People Weekly," December 15, 1986] (profile of Cary Grant)
*"My Romance with Marilyn Monroe, People Weekly," July 2, 1984
*" [http://www.barbra-archives.com/MagazineArchives/people83.html Barbra Streisand Resurrects her Past, People Weekly," December 12, 1983]
*" [http://hometown.aol.com/the86floor/novels/timejuly.html Back to the Gore of Yore, Time," July 5, 1971] (profiling Doc Savage)

References

*"Lovinger, J. Farewell to a Writer's Writer, Life Magazine," December, 1997
*"Ellman, D. Publisher's Letter, People Weekly," December 7, 1987