Being Hal Ashby. Nick Dawson

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      Screen Classics

      Screen Classics is a series of critical biographies, film histories, and analytical studies focusing on neglected filmmakers and important screen artists and subjects, from the era of silent cinema to the golden age of Hollywood to the international generation of today. Books in the Screen Classics series are intended for scholars and general readers alike. The contributing authors are established figures in their respective fields. This series also serves the purpose of advancing scholarship on film personalities and themes with ties to Kentucky.

      SERIES EDITOR

      Patrick McGilligan

      BEING HAL ASHBY

      LIFE OF A

      HOLLYWOOD

      REBEL

      Nick Dawson

      THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY

      Copyright © 2009 by The University Press of Kentucky

      Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,

      serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre

      College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University,

      The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College,

      Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University,

      Morehead State University, Murray State University,

      Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University,

      University of Kentucky, University of Louisville,

      and Western Kentucky University.

      All rights reserved.

      Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com

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      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Dawson, Nick, 1980–

       Being Hal Ashby: life of a Hollywood rebel / Nick Dawson.

       p. cm.—(Screen classics)

       Includes bibliographical references and index.

       ISBN 978-0-8131-2538-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)

       1. Ashby, Hal. 2. Motion picture producers and directors—

       United States—Biography. I. Title.

       PN1998.3.A7635D39 2009

       791.4302′33092—dc22

       [B]

       2009001258

      This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting

      the requirements of the American National Standard

      for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.

      

Manufactured in the United States of America.

      Member of the Association of

      American University Presses

      For my parents, Agathe and Ken Dawson

      Contents

       Acknowledgments

       Prologue

       1. Enter Hal

       2. The Artist as a Young Man

       3. Los Angeles

       4. Doors Open…

       5. The Family Man

       6. Norman

       7. Motion Picture Pioneers of America

       8. 1968

       9. Where It's At

       10. The Director

       11. Harold and Maude

       12. Nicholson

       13. The Last Detail

       14. Shampoo

       15. Glory Bound

       16. Coming Home

       17. Double Feature

       18. Being There

       19. Lookin' to Get Out

       20. Like a Rolling Stone

       21. Getting Out

       22. Old Man

       23. The Slugger's Wife

       24. 8 Million Ways to Die

       25. The Last Movie

       26. Starting Over

       27. Do Not Go Gentle

       Filmography

       Notes

       Index

       Illustrations follow page

      Acknowledgments

      I first became interested in Hal Ashby when I read Peter Biskind's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls some ten years ago. In 2002, after writing a biographical sketch of Ashby for a biography class, I joked to my tutor, Carole Angier, that I would turn it into a book. Well, the joke was on me. Carole, a brilliant biographer, proved to be