A Producer to the End.(Sam Spiegel)

When Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni told director Billy Wilder she was writing a biography of Sam Spiegel, the legendary Hollywood producer of "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Bridge Over the River Kwai," Wilder howled. "Sam Spiegel! That's quite a subject." He wasn't kidding. After seven years of research and hundreds of interviews, Fraser-Cavassoni, the Paris-based European editor of Harper's Bazaar, has turned out a delightful account of on-set intrigue and illicit affairs--in business as well as in love.

Spiegel's beginnings are fuzzy. Born poor in what is now Poland, he traveled to Vienna, Berlin, Palestine and Canada by the time he was 30- -doing what, it's not always clear. Eventually, he wound up in Hollywood and landed a job at MGM. Chased out of America by immigration authorities, he returned to Europe, where he parlayed his new credentials into a production gig. By the time he returned to Hollywood at 37, Spiegel was a small but credible player. His Beverly Hills home, replete with girls and booze, was christened "Boys Town," and became a favorite hangout of John Huston, Elia Kazan, Orson Welles and Otto Preminger. His New Year's Eve parties were the social event of the year, and helped establish his reputation as a master arranger-- essential for a producer.

But Spiegel was reckless with money. When Columbia Pictures executives balked at a $25,000 tab from the New York restaurant "21" for the "The African Queen" shoot--in London--Spiegel retorted, "You didn't expect us to eat the food in England, did you? We had steaks flown in every day." He was nearly deported by U.S. authorities more than once for his shady business practices. And in 1952, Spiegel was banned from all French casinos for cashing two bad checks in Deauville.