The first full-length Barbara La Marr biography, Barbara La Marr: The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful for Hollywood, written at the request of Barbara’s son, is an in-depth examination of the turbulent life and laudable career of one of the silent screen’s most infamous sex goddesses. Few stars have burned as brightly and as briefly as Barbara La Marr, and her extraordinary life story is one of tempestuous passions as well as perseverance in the face of adversity. (Available on the University Press of Kentucky website and from other booksellers and online retailers.)
Reviews:
Named one of the “Best Film Books” of the year by the Huffington Post.
Named one of the “Best Celebrity Bios of the Year” by The Entertainment Report.
“The ‘Girl Who Was Too Beautiful’ moniker is both a blessing and a curse for Barbara La Marr’s legacy. It ensures her place in the pantheon of Hollywood’s most intriguing figures, but at the same time discourages modern audiences from viewing her as anything more than Roaring Twenties eye candy. Therefore, the task that Sherri Snyder has undertaken is invaluable; Snyder manages to humanize an actress who is all too often defined merely by her physical appearance and freewheeling lifestyle. Expertly researched and captivatingly written, Barbara La Marr: The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful for Hollywood manages to paint the most complete picture of La Marr’s life to date. A scholarly work on Barbara La Marr was long overdue; the silent film community as a whole should be thankful that Snyder was not only up to the task, but has created a work that will serve to define La Marr’s life and career for decades to come.” ―Charles Epting, editor, Silent Film Quarterly
“Snyder’s work is fresh and enthralling. Her dedication and compassion for her subject shines through. And we are richly rewarded with a truly well-written biography of a long-forgotten star.” ―Stephen Michael Shearer, author of Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life, Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr, and Gloria Swanson: The Ultimate Star
“Snyder’s completed manuscript is impressive in both its scope and detail…A fluid and captivating narrative.” ―Christina Rice, author of Ann Dvorak: Hollywood’s Forgotten Rebel and Mean…Moody…Magnificent!: Jane Russell and the Marketing of a Hollywood Legend
“Sherri Snyder peels away the gossip to reveal the truth of the life of Barbara La Marr. Snyder illuminates La Marr’s artistic struggles and personal demons with depth and sensitivity. Scandal seekers take note! The truth is far more compelling than any fictional account on record.” —Karie Bible, co-author of Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays: 1920-1970, film historian, and Hollywood Forever tour guide
“Sherri Snyder digs deep into the life of Barbara La Marr, giving an in-depth look at the intelligence and talents of the ‘Girl Who Was Too Beautiful.’ We see the real three-dimensional La Marr for the very first time, a thoughtful, generous, and creative woman who died much too young.” —Mary Mallory, film historian and author of Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays: 1920-1970, Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found, and Hollywood at Play: Celebrating Celebrity and Simpler Times
“Through archival research, as well as talking to family and friends, Snyder has been able to untangle the myths and lies and find the truth at the heart of Barbara La Marr’s short but dramatic life. This book provides much needed insight into the workings of a young Hollywood, but more than that, it ensures that Barbara La Marr has now been rescued from obscurity and can rightly be remembered not only for the importance of her film career, but for her life as a daughter, friend, wife and mother.” ―Cinema Retro
“Some may say [Barbara La Marr] was destined for a life of ruin, but in Sherri Snyder’s skillfully written biography about the ‘too beautiful’ silent screen vamp of the 1920s, La Marr’s story becomes a compelling look into a young, beautiful woman’s brief journey to fulfill her destiny.” —Greg Autry, Splash Magazines
“There are two truly remarkable things about this book. The first is the amazing skill, talent, and commitment the author made in bringing to life a person long gone from the planet and almost as long gone from having any currency with modern culture. The second is an equally amazing lack of judgment about the subject by the author. She unflinchingly records missteps and episodes of questionable taste and integrity, but remains objective and allows the reader to arrive at their own assessment of her subject…This book is clearly in the same quality category as David Stenn’s books on Clara Bow and [Jean] Harlow in its apparent exhaustive research and the result that someone of whom little was known, is suddenly completely defined. The book is just short of an autobiography.” —Richard Adkins, film historian and former Hollywood Heritage Museum executive director
“Packed with extensive research and never-before-released documents, Snyder’s biography of La Marr transports the reader to a bygone era of glamour mixed with decadence, a life of hope and despair. Ultimately, we witness the birth of a great actress and the many challenges she faced in her struggle to the top.” —Roz Templin, The El Segundo Scene
“This gripping biography by Sherri Snyder details every twist and turn of La Marr’s breathless existence from teenage rebel to beloved star.” ―Sight & Sound
“Snyder beautifully steps up to the task of providing film scholars a thoughtful and well-researched depiction of La Marr’s life, career, and legacy. Snyder’s work offers an honest and incredibly personal perspective of La Marr’s life. Snyder’s prose justly portrays both the rewarding and challenging moments throughout La Marr’s life and career.” —Annette Bochenek, Hometowns to Hollywood
“Sherri Snyder, the author of Barbara La Marr: The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful for Hollywood, aims at shedding a well-deserved light on silent cinema’s forgotten actress…[She] grants La Marr her final close-up, but instead through the medium of writing rather than cinema. Snyder’s written biography fulfills the glory La Marr lusted for and acts as homage to the life of a female film figure Snyder describes as ‘an incredible, multitalented woman’…It is a poignant portraiture of a phoenix, in this case Barbara La Marr, that arose from the ashes of film history and has been renewed by Snyder’s meticulous research and writings.” —Film Matters Magazine
“One of the things I love most about University Press of Kentucky is its penchant for releasing stellar biographies on long forgotten Hollywood legends. Author Sherri Snyder does a wonderful job here of telling Barbara La Marr’s life story from its very beginnings in the late nineteenth century to its very end in the mid-1920s. It’s extremely evident that Snyder’s research was meticulous because literally nothing was glossed over.” ―Super Veebs
“Get a hold of Sherri Snyder’s definitive biography, Barbara La Marr: The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful for Hollywood…Sherri has the intelligence, insight and sensitivity to get Barbara’s complexity.” ―Dixie Laite, writer and Mayor at Dametown.com
“Rich with details, and never becoming discursive, Barbara La Marr: The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful for Hollywood is a fascinating study of a life and career that will cause the reader to have greater respect and admiration for its subject. It is one of the best film books of 2017.” ―James L. Neibaur, film historian and author of over two dozen books, including The Films of Judy Garland, The Mae West Films, The Monster Movies of Universal Studios, and Clark Gable in the 1930s