Born August 7: William J. Mann

Dividing his time between Palm Springs and Provincetown, and between fiction and nonfiction, William J. Mann has published ten books since 1997. The first of his five biographies was the terrific Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star, which single-handedly lauched a Haines revival. Seek out Haines' movies, from 1922 to 1934, which are witty, effervescent delights. Mann reclaimed more queer movie lore in Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969 and Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger. Although his landmark biography Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn [Kindle] was a NYT Notable Book in 2006, it didn't quite get the widespread attention it deserved because the mainstream didn't want to hear their icon was primarily a lesbian and her endlessly hyped romance with Spencer Tracy was cover for their separate same-sex adventures. His less overtly gay How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood [Kindle] from 2009 will be followed this October by Hello, Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand [Kindle].

Mann's five novels are: The Men from the Boys, The Biograph Girl, Where The Boys Are, All American Boy, and Object of Desire [Kindle]