Among the plethora of encyclopedic movie reference books, Fade to Black: A Book of Over 1500 Movie Obituaries (Omnibus Press) is probably alone in demanding death as a condition for inclusion. In the new 10th Anniversary Edition, British writer Paul Donnelly acknowledges the expanding girth of his book with the demise of Marlon Brando, Katherine Hepburn, Paul Newman and other stars. Each alphabetical entry ends with a category peculiar to Fade to Black—cause of death.
Donnelly includes many factoids among his hundreds of summaries of actors and directors of concern to no one but obsessive trivia buffs. Who else wants to know that Eddie Albert was born at 11:30 p.m. and grew to 5’11”? Perhaps fans of Frank Capra will be interested to learn the number of his cemetery plot if they plan to leave flowers on his grave.
Generally, the biographical sketches are accurate if dishy on private lies. A few small mistakes inevitably creep in. German leading man Hans Albers could not have earned 460,000 Deutsch Marks for a 1944 film because the currency did not yet exist. He was paid in Reichs Marks, but the sum mentioned has no meaning to anyone but an economic historian of wages and prices in Nazi Germany. Quibbles aside, Fade to Black is replete with many delightful Britishisms. Who knew that the father of Don Ameche was “an Italian publican” in Kenosha?
