Guy Williams: The Man Behind the Mask

UNAUTHORIZED biography and with good reason! Rent it from the library if you must, read at your own risk!Oh the irony! From the back cover: “his heroic image (…) has never tarnished.” Make no mistake, the author sets out to do just that, trashing and taking Guy Williams' name & image through the mud! If this was written by a fan, I'd hate to read a book written by a hater! I'm very surprised by the glowing reviews here as well as by the fact that neither the author nor publishing house have yet been sued. One reviewer 10 years ago said he gave this to his 82 yr old mother. Considering selfish, lazy and despicable are the very best ways he is portrayed in this waste of paper, I feel so sorry for her!For a book that is way overpriced at $32.95 with nothing of substance to show for, here are the main things the potential buyer needs to know: first off none of the photos are clean, on focus nor on glossy paper; they're rather grainy and a waste of money (main reason why bought this!) Obviously done on purpose since they're available free online in very good quality. And of course, AGL’s photo had to grace the back cover, glossy, clear and in perfect focus! Instead of crediting photographers, studios, Disney, ABC or magazines like a REAL author would have done, under nearly every photo Giginti-Laine (aka A.G.L.) feels the need to add either “from the author’s personal collection” or the name of the fan that supplied the photo to her, repeated twice and don't you forget it! This sense of unrightful appropriateness is very disturbing and sets the tone for what is to come...The first paragraph of the book’s prologue is also pure fiction and that should tell you all you need to know about the mindset of this "author", and I use the term loosely. It sets a deceptive tone and becomes a huge turn-off for a reader who set about to read an accurate biography, only to find from the first paragraph nothing but a bunch of hogwash. It is a detailed description of Guy walking “swinging his arms” as he walked as if the author had been there to witness it, along with pure fictional accounts of what he is thinking (mind you, not "might have been") at that very moment and what the shopkeepers are thinking as they watch him pass by is the first ludicrous red flag. Unfortunately, many more will follow...Chapter 2 begins by the author announcing that Guy’s father had “orange eyes, like those of a tiger”. See the pattern here? Keep this in mind as you read the rest of this science-fiction novel...Speaking of photos, there is also a description of a pivotal photo of Guy Williams as a child in school that the author, of course, in her disturbing entitled fashion carefully omitted to share. If not to satisfy her pompous “look what I got that you don’t” attitude, why describe it then?! After not sharing said school photo, there strangely is the photo of one Marie Pezze, who is described in the book as the sophomore school girl who missed out on a date with a young Guy Williams. Why do we need to see her face? And, more interestingly, she is described as a blonde with blue eyes, and the photo is of a brunette with black hair and dark eyes… Clearly an indication that this book is pure fabrication and more ripe with B.S. than facts!We're to believe that the family of Guy Williams, (wife, children & sister) who were interviewed by A.G.L. gave their blessing for the publishing... yet it clearly states UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY! If you look that up like I did, you'll see this means the family, the estate of Guy Williams did NOT approve of it before it went to press, otherwise this would say "authorized". So what went wrong? Could it be they had a bit too much wine and shared too much and then saw all the Jerry Springer style garbage at every turn of page and withdrew their approval? Perhaps A.G.L even made up (some?most?all?) the tawdry stories? I'd say most likely. (After all, sex and scandal sell & A.G.L. is after a few bucks here!) Toni Catalano, his daughter of the failed acting career, comes across as hateful towards her father yet nowhere near as much as his jealous sister who has to be at least 77 by now. That old Joan Fontaine/Olivia de Havilland syndrome, except Valerie (the sis) makes these two look like loving soul-sisters!One really must wonder: why would all these people choose to see themselves portrayed as classless, spiteful haters of their own blood relative for posterity? And if the author was a fan, would she really have published this borderline trashy TMI? What did she stand to gain by it? Maybe $22 wasn't bringing enough of a cut of profits to her if she'd stuck to the facts and wrote a book half as thick? Sordid stories that paint Guy Williams in a terrible light are found at every turn of page. Yet the author never once bothers to mention his obvious nose job and other plastic surgeries. Why? Is plastic surgery more shameful in her (possibly) deluded mind than the trash she wrote that seems straight out of National Enquirer? (It IS that bad!) His expertly crafted new nose is evident, particularly when looking at his pre-Zorro photos; no doubt, the over-sharing family, who seemingly had no problems airing their dirty laundry in public, must have mentioned it to her since they took her in such (betrayed?) confidence they allegedly disclosed even stuff one doesn't tell the priest on their death bed! (Remember: UNAUTHORIZED, meaning the family never gave their blessing when it went to publication so what is made up by A.G.L., your guess is as good as mine but I have a pretty good idea! Keep in mind: scandal sells and sadly she comes across like she's out for blood & money!)Without giving you spoilers of the worst that is to come, one has to wonder why a fan would turn borderline hater? (Sorry but I know of no fan who would willfully publish such nasty, cruel words about their favorite childhood star! Particularly postmortem! What a low blow, Ms Laine!) Maybe, after all these years, the wife thought she had found a confidante? Betrayal is one word that jumps to mind here. But perhaps not so betrayed by Guy as by GG-laine? Could it be that Ms. G-L was betrayed by her husband and she projected all her hate onto Guy Willliams? Yes, the book is THAT bad. The daughter's hate towards her father is even more disturbing than his sister's. Yet the woman, much like AGL, had no qualms making a buck at his expense either, by selling her father('s photos) to fans back when she still had a website. Is it any wonder now that he was cremated as opposed to buried so fans (if evidently not family!) had a place where they could gather to pay their respects?!A foreign woman is portrayed as creepy, dangerous and/or deranged liar and we're to believe that she befriended Guy Williams in Argentina after he called her out on her lies, that all his friends warned him to stay away from her but that he nonetheless spent 5, 6 or 7 hours (AGL can't keep her fact straights so it changes at every mention) talking to her and, after she declared her obsessive love for him, he then invited her back to his place. As if! (AGL sounds as gullible as she does deceptive, conniving and malicious! Keyword "sounds", as others' interpretation has been different here. But it seems to me there's a whole lotta people in this book, from Tony Russo to Britt Lomond, to this girl and AGL who are trying to ride Guy Williams' coattails for their 15 min of (renewed) fame, either all the way to the bank or all through the mud, perhaps in the name of validating their sorry existence through him and sadly, trashing his good name in doing so.)Going by what she wrote, AGL definitely sounds more a Tony Russo (whose nose job is however mentioned) and Britt Lomond fan than a Guy Williams one. Then why didn't she leave Guy Williams alone and write their bios instead?Read at your own risk. I wish I'd never bought this book & made A.G.L that much richer and I wish I'd never read this trash. I almost needed to pick up a copy of the National Enquirer to get rid of the nastiness that this "fan" has put in nearly every page. Considering her disturbing sense of appropriateness towards the subject matter, could it be that A.G.L set out to make every fan hate him so that she remains the last fan standing with zero competition on Ebay? One could spend hours debating what possessed A.G.L to write such trash on someone she claims she admired. Some things are better left unsaid. Some lies are better not read. And, as far as I'm concerned, this book is pure trash and riddled with malicious lies. Skip at all costs!

Like whole book

A 1988 rerun of an episode of Disney's Zorro sparked Ms. Lane's search for "What happened to Guy Williams?" No biography had been written about him. Then, on May 7, 1989, she learned Guy Williams had died in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On the slimmest of reasons, because Guy Williams was an Italian-American and so was Ms. Lane, she decided to write Mr. Williams' biography.Starting in 1999, Ms. Lane's project turned into a nine-year odyssey. She got lucky, really lucky, in finding sources for Guy Williams information. At a Gene Autry fan convention, she met a Guy Williams fan, Kathy G., who shared her treasure trove of memorabilia with the author. While the internet was a novelty when she started, later she used it for research and found thousands of Guy Williams fans, many with more information, including Mary Spooner who had created a extensive Guy Williams website.Ms. Lane was so intent on making sure the biography reflected Mr. Williams life accurately, she sought interviews with family, friends, co-workers and more and was able to get in-depth interviews with most of them, including his wife, Janice, who opened her home to the author. From all the people Ms. Lane met, Guy was always described as a gentleman.Ms. Lane tells the story of Guy's life from birth to death and beyond. Her stories, interviews, pictures and extensive details recreate Guy's life as a child, youth, young adult and life as a model and actorBorn Armand Joseph Catalano, Guy Williams, was brought up in an old-school catholic Italian home. He loved classical music, played chess, took fencing and horse-riding lessons and behaved in a courtly manner.The love story between Guy Williams and his wife, Janice Cooper, is wonderful. It also captures New York of the 1940s. They were both models and meet during a photo shoot. I found it amusing that this drop-dead, handsome man was stunned by Janice's beauty claiming, she was "...the most gorgeous creature I had ever seen."Ms. Lane's biography includes a wealth of pictures from Guy's school pictures to family pictures over decades, to magazine covers and actor's head shots and to clips from various films and TV shows. One picture I was taken with was an early True Romance cover shot featuring a young Grace Kelly and Guy Williams.Guy's life was not perfect but came close. Like most people, sometimes we struggle to understand those closest to us. Guy's little sister never got to know Guy and he never got to know her, so they had many misunderstandings throughout their lives. Plus, while Guy was a loving father, was, at times, at odds with his children.Another characteristic that also stood out was that Janice and Guy made life-long friends in Hollywood. To me, that said a lot about Guy and Janice as people. They were down-to-earth people.Guy's career in modeling and acting illustrates how difficult those careers are and how the highs and lows can be devastating.I appreciated Ms. Lane's detailed description of Hollywood, Walt Disney, and an actor's life in those days.What I admired about Walt Disney was his commitment to quality. One reason, I think, Zorro was such a popular show was because Disney brought professional filmmaking standards to making a TV show. Everyone involved with the show wanted it to be a professional and accurate show. The longer shooting schedule, the fencing choreography; the horse riding scenes, the music, the reconstructed Mexican town, Mexican and Native American actors were used to make the stories authentic.Many of the themes in the Zorro shows are relevant today.Sadly, it was also because Mr. Disney wanted more control over his shows, he battled with the network that broadcast Zorro, as a result the show was cancelled at the height of its popularity.Even though, the story of Zorro has been made into several films starring Douglas Fairbanks, Robert Livingston, Reed Hadley, Tyrone Power, Frank Langella, and Antonio Banderas, Guy Williams has been considered the best Zorro of all.As you follow Guy's life and career, enjoy all the details. Note that after Guy Williams' death, his fans petitioned for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and succeeded.In the author's words:"Guy had some predictable traits, but he was also a walking paradox: masculine yet sensitive, firm yet gentle, conservative yet nonconforming, macho yet intellectual, simple yet complicated. Being somewhat of a mystery is what made him so fascinating, and he probably liked it that way. Overall, Guy was determined to be happy, and he wanted to make everyone around him happy. That was his nature. To enjoy life to the fullest was his goal."Lane, Antoinette (2011-04-09). Guy Williams, The Man Behind the Mask (Kindle Locations 100-103). BearManor Media. Kindle Edition.Guy Williams' personality makes me wonder: where can you find a guy like Guy today? Where can you find a TV show like Zorro? We Need Zorro Today. Z.

Great story about a guy I only knew as Zorro in my childhood in the Netherlands. The writer explains a lot about who he was and background info about the years he lived in. This way you get a real feeling of how life was back then. Although you soon get the feeling this man was almost a saint, she(the writer) does pinpoint a few flaws in his armour. But that makes him only more human to me.A gentleman through and through. A man true to himself. Laidback, and by making some (in hindsight) wrong choiches, never accomplished his true movie potential.It`s fun to read, with only a few dull moments, and I had to read it till the end as quickly as I could.Even if you are not a big fan this is worth the money.

Ottimo libro, piuttosto corposo, con ben 495 pagine, narra la storia di Armando Catalano, in arte Guy Williams, l'indimenticabile protagonista di Zorro della Disney. Completamente illustrato in bianco e nero, presenta la biografia dell'attore più completa mai pubblicata, con aneddoti e risvolti assolutamente inediti.Consigliato a tutti gli appassionati di Zorro

O livro é um excelente trabalho de pesquisa da escritora Antoinette Girgenti Lane. Merecia uma edição em português para os fãs brasileiros do saudoso Guy Williams.

Wonderful book, wonderful man