David Bret

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David Bret is a French-born author of celebrity books and one of Britain’s show business biographers. He chiefly writes on the private life of movie stars and singers in a somewhat sensationalizing style.

[edit] Life and work

Born in Paris, France, Bret now lives in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. He began writing many biographies that were published in Britain. After being published in Britain, Bret’s literary agent sold two of his biographies to Carroll & Graf and St. Martin's Press, major publishers in the United States. Since the late 1980s, several more or less successful biographies appeared, including Morrissey: Landscapes of the Mind (1994), Gracie Fields: The Authorised Biography (1996), George Formby: A Troubled Genius (1999) and Piaf: A Passionate Life (1999). Bret has also written innumerable magazine articles, for instance, for The Stage, and lectured at the University of Chicago.

Billed by his publisher, Robson Books, London, as a show-business biographer, Bret primarily writes about the life of deceased stars. The quality of Bret's biographical writing is different. His book on George Formby was favorably reviewed by The Guardian. Publishers Weekly appraised his 1998 work on Maria Callas though revealing that the "emphasis is on scandal rather than music in this racy biography." In his 1989 book on Édith Piaf, the reviewers of Publishers Weekly said, "Bret presents little new information" and referred to his publication on the French star Mistinguett as being more about her bizarre lifestyle than about her art. Indeed, since that time Bret switched to the successful British tabloid style of sensationalizing the narrative.

Some critics say that Bret's writings, promoted as biographies, even became notorious for dwelling on the homosexuality or bisexuality of its subject. They also pointed out repeated inaccuracies in the books involving what most people would consider as fundamental such as in his book on Maurice Chevalier where he refers to the mother of U.S. President John F. Kennedy as being Ethel Kennedy. His writing on Freddie Mercury was panned for being mostly about the late singer's supposed sexual excesses as was his book on Rudolf Valentino that dwelled on numerous homosexual affairs as well as the lesbianism of Tallulah Bankhead and Marlene Dietrich in his books on them. In his somewhat inaccurate publication on the late Errol Flynn, Bret provided another rehash of already published writings and continued to dwell on homosexuality and alleged the late actor was a pedophile.

Bret's preoccupation with homosexuality resulted in a book on Elvis Presley released in the UK in 2002 and in the USA a year later. This 337-page book deals with the singer's career on film and TV and analyzes his every celluloid appearance, including his 33 films, documentaries, TV appearances, tributes, biopics and retrospectives. It was launched with an advance publicity notice that "The truth regarding the relationship between Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis is exposed and the controversial allegations that Presley slept with his own mother, raped his wife, held wild sex and drugs parties and left a fan brain-damaged are explored." Indeed, such allegations are critically discussed and partly rejected by the author. The book claims that Elvis had an affair with actor Nick Adams and that his manager Parker had been able to blackmail Presley by threatening to reveal "secret information" that he was homosexual. Similar accusations are also to be found in a manuscript book and a newspaper article by Elvis's stepmother, Dee Presley. However, they were rejected by most fans. (For other books on Elvis upsetting the fans, see also Albert Goldman.)

Following the Presley book, Bret's next effort was a second volume on British singer Morrissey that came out in 2004 under a racy title, unlike the first book he had written ten years earlier. Morrissey: Scandal and Passion was advertised as a "fully up-to-date biography packed with revelations; accusations of racism and fascism; confessions of physical abuse." The book talked about Morrissey's gay-bashing; the accusations of supporting pedophilia, while insinuating that Morrissey himself was gay. With the publisher's assertion that it was a "fully up-to-date biography" and after a journalist with The Guardian newspaper had given a favorable review to his 2001 book on the late entertainer George Formby, that newspaper reviewed the second Morrissey book. The Guardian review called it "thin gruel."

Bret's latest book, released two months after the second Morrissey paperback in 2004, was about the late Rock Hudson. It was billed as a full account of Hudson's "colourful private life."

[edit] Bibliography

In the following partial bibliography, note that the publisher frequently changes the title for the same book from any hardcover version to paperback. Plus, the title and year of publication may vary depending on the country of issue. Note too that David Bret has also authored books on interior decoration not listed here.