In a revealing new biography, Tom Sturges looks back on the life of his writer-director father despite barely knowing him
“If ever a plot needed a twist, this one does.” That’s one of the most arch, and celebrated lines in Preston Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels. It’s great comic story that’s both about storytelling, and about
comedy itself – that precious quality of laughter, which “isn’t much, but it’s better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan”. Recently, Tom Sturges, the writer-director’s youngest son, discovered that his own father’s life story was in need of a plot twist. The result is a new book, co-authored by Tom, called Preston Sturges: The Last Years of Hollywood’s First Writer-Director.
Related: Preston Sturges: how a master of daftness conquered
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