Susan Compo is a lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. She is the author of three works of fiction, including Pretty Things and Life After Death and Other Stori
""A highly readable blow-by-blow of the actor's rocky and too-short
life....The parts of Warren Oates' life are greater than its sum;
he was not a visionary but a chameleon always searching for a new
skin to inhabit. Behind the façade, Compo finds an ordinary
human...."-- Los Angeles Times" --
"" A Wild Life offers up ample anecdotes about the actor's
antics."--Kelly Reichardt, Film Comment" --
"" A Wild Life compresses a life's trajectory with a balance of
tidiness and detours into some terrific anecdotes."-- Vue Weekly"
--
"" Warren Oates: A Wild Life benefits from terrific research by
author Susan Compo. It reads not only as a sad tale of addiction
but as a joyous celebration of a tortured artist, managing to
describe the excess while still earning our sympathy for Oates and
his demons. Additionally, fans who enjoy the films of the period
from the 1950s until his death in 1983 will find some terrific
anecdotes that will keep them reading late into the night."--Scott
Coffman, courier-journal.com" --
"" Warren Oates: A Wild Life tells an evocative story of a true
maverick set against the background of one of the richest and most
fascinating periods in American cinematic history. Susan Compo's
passion for her subject is evident on every page. She displays a
rare flair for the telling detail."--Eddi Fiegel, author of John
Barry: A Sixties Theme" --
""[Oates] lived a hard life -- womanizing, drinking, and drugging
along the way, but despite all sorts of obstacles, it seemed like a
happy life, one he faced with a Zen-like attitude."-- The Santa Fe
New Mexican" --
""A finely drawn and deeply researched portrait of Warren Oates,
set against the rich cultural and social landscape of a long-gone
American and filled with a fascinating supporting cast that
includes Robert Culp, Monte Hellman, Ed "Kookie" Byrnes, and Sam
Peckinpah. In writing this book, Susan Compo has done for the actor
what he did for so many of life's misunderstood characters--give
him depth, dignity, and importance. To paraphrase a line from Ride
the High Country, one of the actor's first films, Compo can enter
her house justified."--Deanne Stillman, author of Mustang: The Saga
of the Wild Horse in the American West" -- Deanne Stillman
""A vivid portrait of a talented actor with a raucous and
self-destructive lifestyle that shortened his career and hindered
his further success."--Armchair Interviews" --
""An informative, welcome portrait of an underappreciated American
icon."-- Kirkus Reviews" --
""An unusual and valuable book."--RINF" --
""Compo builds a convincing case that Oates was a talented rebel
often haunted by long periods of hard drinking, drug abuse and
infidelities."-- Tucson Citizen" --
""Compo seamlessly melds together quotations, analysis, and
description. She discusses Oates's private and professional life,
and her details on the creation of individual movies and involved
personalities will appeal both to fans of the actor and to those
interested in the cinema of the era."--Jim Collins, Library
Journal" --
""Compo's gem-laden playland of tales, anecdotes, gossip and deep
character study gets you right up close to the second golden era of
the silver screen, and better, takes you on one of the greatest
life-trips ever lived."--G.Q.com" --
""Emphasizes Welles's artistic and political radicalism, which has
been downplayed by numerous biographers."--RINF" --
""Enormously entertaining."--WFMU" --
""Extremely well-researched and well-written biography about a man
who pursued happiness, hipness, and Hollywood as if he were in a
fun-filled fever dream."--Robert Nott, Santa Fe New Mexican
Pasatiempo" --
""In this thoroughly readable biography, Compo gives us a vivid
portrait of a talented actor with a raucous and self-destructive
lifestyle that shortened his career and hindered his further
success."--Paul Markowitz, bookideas.com" --
""In Warren Oates: A Wild Life, author Susan Compo skillfully
captures the story of Oates' eventful life, indulgent lifestyle,
and influential career."--AHomeData.com" --
""Incredibly voluminous, fact-packed..."-- Sunday Star Ledger"
--
""It's a lively, well-researched biography."--Richard S. Wheeler,
richardswheeler.blogspot.com" --
""Susan Compo has done the necessary research and she writes quite
well."--JakartaGlobe" --
""Susan Compo has written a garrulous and superbly readable
biography of a genuine working actor--in the most honorable meaning
of the term--and for that reason alone, her book will inspire
anyone who believes that the love of the craft is about acting, not
stardom.--Nat Segaloff, author of Hurricane Billy: The Stormy Life
and Films of William Friedkin" --
""Susan Compo skillfully captures the story of Oates' eventful
life, indulgent lifestyle, and influential career."--Turner Classic
Movies" --
""The author serves up a lively and studious look at this
extraordinary man, chronicling his early life in Kentucky as well
has his later achievements and misadventures."-- Tucson Citizen"
--
""This book is not only useful but valuable; it pulls together a
big piece of a compelling and important story. Susan Compo caught
some of the contradictions that make Oates so resonant as a screen
presence and now almost an American archtype."--Tom Marksbury,
writer of the documentary Warren Oates: Across the Border" --
""This is the first major biography of Oates, and Compo has done
her homework, interviewing those who knew him best, including
ex-wives, children, friends and costars."--Wallace Stroby, New
Jersey Star-Ledger" --
""While Compo's recounting of these innumerable yarns is at times
hard to follow, fans will find the effort worth their
while."--Kelly Reichardt, Film Comment" --
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