The first Latin American actor to become a superstar, Ramon Novarro was for years one of Hollywood's top actors. Born Ramon Samaniego to a prominent Mexican family, he arrived in America in 1916, a refugee from civil wars. By the mid-1920s, he had become one of MGM's biggest box office attractions, starring in now-classic films, including The Student Prince , Mata Hari , and the original version of Ben-Hur . He shared the screen with the era's top leading ladies, such as Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, Joan Crawford, and Norma Shearer, and he became Rudolph Valentino's main rival in the “Latin Lover” category. Yet, despite his considerable professional accomplishments, Novarro's enduring hold on fame stems from his tragic death―his bloodied corpse was found in his house on Halloween 1968 in what has become one of Hollywood's most infamous scandals. A lifelong bachelor, Novarro carefully cultivated his image as a man deeply devoted to his family and to Catholicism. His murder shattered that persona. News reports revealed that the dashing screen hero had not only been gay, but he was dead at the hands of two young, male hustlers. Since then, details of his murder have achieved near mythic proportions, obscuring Novarro's professional legacy. Beyond Paradise presents a full picture of the man who made motion picture history. Including original interviews with Novarro's surviving friends, family, coworkers, and the two men convicted of his murder, this biography provides unique insights into an early Hollywood star―a man whose heart was forever in conflict with his image and whose myth continues to fascinate today. From BooklistTo the recent spate of books detailing the history of gays in Hollywood's golden age (e.g., William J. Mann's Behind the Screen [2001] and Diana McLellan's The Girls [2000]) comes a worthy addition, Soares' chronicle of one of the biggest silent stars, Ramon Novarro, whose fame was parabolic, soaring to a Douglas Fairbanks-like peak when he played the title role in Ben-Hur (1926) and peaking again with his grisly demise some 40 years after his first perihelion. In between, after sound dispelled the silents, his was largely a name from the past, a la Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, though he made the transition to talkies far better than fellow top-of-the-heap silent star John Gilbert.Still, his career spiraled down into cameo appearances and the like. By the time he was beaten to death by a couple of cruisers who may have intended only to steal some money, Novarro had been a customer of "escort services" for men for many years. However, Soares specifically accuses Hollywood sleazemonger Kenneth Anger of fabricating the lead "art-deco dildo" supposedly stuffed down the dead Novarro's throat. Dildo or no dildo, no Hollywood collection should be without a biography of Novarro, and Soares' story of this prototypical cinematic "Latin lover" fills the bill in excellent form. Mike TribbyCopyright (c) American Library Association. All rights reserved From the San Francisco Chronicle, January 5, 2003The rise and fall of Ramon (Samaniego) Novarro, the first successful Latin star in Hollywood, is superbly chronicled in this smooth, solid, exhaustively researched biography by Los Angeles screenwriter Andre Soares. . . . Soares has clearly done his homework, as this life story is notonly packed with the intricacies of Novarro's livelihood but also with Hollywood's racy, cutthroat culture. . . . Historians of Old Hollywood and devoted star trackers alike will bedelighted with this comprehensive portrait of a major actor from Tinseltown's glittery yesteryear. James Piechota. From Booklist To the recent spate of books detailing the history of gays in Hollywood's golden age (e.g., William J. Mann's Behind the Screen [2001] and Diana McLellan's The Girls [2000]) comes a worthy addition, Soares' chronicle of one of the biggest silent stars, Ramon Novarro, whose fame was parabolic, soaring to a Douglas Fairbanks-like peak when he played the title role in Ben-Hur (1926) and peaking again with his grisly demise some 40 years after his first perihelion. In between, after sound dispelled the silents, his was largely a name from the past, a la Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, though he made the transition to talkies far better than fellow top-of-the-heap silent star John Gilbert. Still, his career spiraled down into cameo appearances and the like. By the time he was beaten to death by a couple of cruisers who may have intended only to steal some money, Novarro had been a customer of "escort services" for men for many years. However, Soares specifically accuses Hollywood sleazemonger Kenneth Anger of fabricating the lead "art-deco dildo" supposedly stuffed down the dead Novarro's throat. Dildo or no dildo, no Hollywood collection should be without a biography of Novarro, and Soares' story of this prototypical cinematic "Latin lover" fills the bill in excellent form. Mike Tribby Copyright (c) American Library