A writer of many books about the entertainment industry, Boze Hadleigh-Garcia tries to answer burning questions about Latino legends like Lupe Velez, Ramon Novarro and Rita Hayworth and many other Hollywood stars.

By Cris Franco

Just in time for the holidays comes the perfect gift to bestow your hardcore cinephile friends, familia – or yourself! It’s the latest literary offering from Boze Hadleigh-Garcia (nom de plume “Boze Hadleigh”) and it’s a deliciously decadent look at Hollywood’s sordid underbelly, titled: Scandals, Secrets, and Swan Songs. As its name implies, this 269-pager gives us an extreme close-up on the public disasters, private disgraces and often tragic final days of many a screen legend. 

Hadleigh’s 27th book is delivered with his trademark Hollywood insider POV that replaces Hollywood’s legendary rumors with Tinsel Town’s unreal reality. Judiciously researched, three of the selections explore the exploits of La La Land’s darkest final bows by answering the burning questions: Who drove the original “Mexican Spitfire,” Lupe Velez, to take her own life and that of her unborn child? How did a misunderstanding with a male “escort” lead to the murder of silent film macho Ramon Novarro? What devastating disease slowly ended the life of the devastatingly beautiful Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino)? The aforementioned are only a few of the one-hundred matinee idols Hadleigh exposes with his masterful mix of historical journalism and movie-biz macabre.    

Cleverly organized into chapters with titles such as, “Drugs: John Belushi, River Phoenix, and Chris Farley”; “Fatal Obesity: Laird Cregar, Victor Buono, John Candy” and “Accidents: Susan Peters, James Dean, Jayne Mansfield, and Christopher Reeve,” Hadleigh cuts to the chase and brings us the bizarre backstories and dizzying ironies that brought mammoth talents the likes of Phil Hartman, Dorothy Dandridge, Carrie Fisher, John Belushi, Natalie Wood and Robin Williams to fall victims of their own fame, delusion and destiny. Hadleigh is a gifted biographer who has written a terrific (sometimes terrifying) book – a fascinating forensic look into the human wreckage strewn on the boulevard of broken dreams. Ah, Hollywood!

Scandals, Secrets and Swan Songs is available on Amazon.com and other places where books are sold.

Featured Photos: Author Boze Hadleigh-Garcia (Photo: Courtesy, self) / Book cover of ‘Scandals, Secrets, and Swan Songs’