A special love affair.
This is almost a prose poem to Joseph Cotten by his wife, Patricia Medina Cotten. It's quite obvious that they loved each other very much, which makes it all the more poignant when this courtly Southern gentleman of an actor succumbed first to a stroke and then cancer of the vocal chords.
After a brief description of the author's childhood and her first marriage to the actor Richard Greene, the book is given over to a simple account of the Cottens' courting, their marriage and their devotion to each other. Indeed, the telling of how the actor fell in love with the author after the death of his first wife, is so romantic that it should satisfy any woman's heart, and they both seemed to have lived for each other, he watching her face when they saw a marvellous penthouse together, and secretly buying it, she watching him to see whether he was getting tired. There is not a great deal of description of the places they visited during their many travels for films, but the author comes across as sweet and honest, and the 'plain bones' approach really works in the account of the actor's last illness. Their friends and acquaintances, such as Jennifer and David Selznick, Rex Harrison, Bette Davis, Robert Wagner and more, given an added dimension to the author's account.
After reading this book, there is a feeling of warmth and luxury that lingers.