The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People

"Revealing! An encyclopedia of what our celebrated betters do between the sheets."-TIME

"More astonishing and outrageous than most of us would even imagine."-Forecast

"Entirely fascinating. . . . Hugely entertaining."-Auberon Waugh, Inquiry

"Something for everyone . . . eminent flashers, fetishists, flagellants, plain old down home fornicators, and goings-on galore."-Cosmopolitan

From the indefatigable Wallace family, authors of The Book of Lists and The People's Almanac series (New York Times bestsellers that sold over eight million copies internationally), came 1981's The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People.

This compelling bestseller that kept many a reader up at night with its two hundred revealing profiles and three hundred rare photos just got better with a dozen new entries on the nocturnal fascinations of the iconic Tupac Shakur, Carlos Casteneda, Jim Morrison, Nico, Wilt Chamberlain, Ayn Rand, Kurt Cobain, Princess Diana, Aleister Crowley, Anna Nicole Smith, Michael Hutchence, and Malcolm X.

Irving Wallace was the famous novelist and screenwriting author of The Chapman Report and The Word. His wife, Sylvia Wallace, wrote the best-selling novel The Fountains. The Wallace family's publishing magic lives on with Amy Wallace, author of The Sorcerer's Apprentice: My Life with Carlos Castaneda, and David Wallechinsky, author of The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics and Tyrants: The World's Worst Dictators.

Interesting stuff, to say the least.

Published over two decades ago, THE INTIMATE SEX LIVES OF FAMOUS PEOPLE still provides chuckles, giggles, and even a raised eyebrow or two as the reader becomes privy to the bedroom antics of dozens and dozens of "celebrities" (most of them historical figures). Written by the Wallace family (novelist Irving, wife Sylvia, daughter Amy and son David) this is a well-researched and sometimes overwhelming volume that presents the material as matter-of-fact and only gets risque when the subjects--through actual letters or conversations--are allowed to "speak for themselves."

The "famous people" are a veritable "Who's Who" from all walks of life and epochs of history. Henry VIII. Leo Tolstoi. Gary Cooper. Warren G. Harding. Joan Crawford. Douglas MacArthur. Elvis Presley. Page after page, person after person, the intimate tidbits of those we revere--or despise--are revealed.

THE INTIMATE SEX LIVES OF FAMOUS PEOPLE reminds me of a bag of Lay's Potato Chips. No one can read just one account; he or she will be busily turning the pages, looking for more scandal on the part of more people. I only wish this book was more contemporary. Think what a juicy chapter Bill Clinton's sex life would have been!
--D. Mikels


A Hidden Gem   July 31, 2003
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this book. From the title, one might think it is some sort of sleazy tabloid in book form. But far from it! It's a real treasure trove of interesting information that is not readily available anywhere else.

There's nothing sensationalistic about it; rather, the book helps make a large number of well-known names from movies to arts to politics, as well as historical figures from the less-recent past, seem more human and like the rest of us.

Each subject is given approximately two to five pages of coverage. Of course I don't have the knowledge to speak about the book's accuracy, but it gives every appearance of being very well researched. Yet despite its almost scholarly approach, it's quite readable and interesting. Highly recommended!

(I have the hard cover version.)