The Fixer
Moguls, Mobsters, Movie Stars, and Marilyn
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3.8 • 31 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
A riveting tell-all biography that delves into the extraordinary life of Hollywood’s most infamous private detective and “fixer” to the stars, revealing newly discovered shocking revelations from his never-before-seen investigative files.
During the height of Hollywood’s Golden Age, one man lorded over the city’s lurid underbelly of forbidden sin and celebrity scandal like no other: Fred Otash. An ex-Marine turned L.A.P.D. vice cop, Otash became the most sought-after private detective and fixer to the stars by specializing in the dark arts that would soon dominate the entertainment industry.
Otash was notorious for bugging the homes, offices, and playpens of movie stars, kingmakers, and powerful politicians, employing then state-of-the-art methods of electronic surveillance and wiretapping for a who’s who list of clients for whom he’d do “anything short of murder.” He lied to federal authorities to protect Frank Sinatra from criminal liability; recorded Rock Hudson’s coming out confession to his estranged wife; moved in with Judy Garland to help her get sober; taped President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy’s tragic love affairs with the greatest sex symbol of all time, and listened to Marilyn Monroe die.
Based on Otash’s never-before-seen investigative files and personal archives, The Fixer takes readers inside the sensational and nefarious world of the man whose life inspired the private eye characters portrayed by Jack Nicholson in Chinatown and Russell Crowe in LA Confidential.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Young (Expediton Deep Ocean) and Westphal, a former corporate communications executive, team up for a colorful biography of Fred Otash (1922–1992), "Hollywood's preeminent private detective" in the 1950s and '60s. After joining the LAPD in 1945, Otash became "fascinated with the Hollywood power structure" and the city's "dark underbelly." Leaving the force in 1955 to become a private investigator, he took on assignments from Confidential magazine, digging up and verifying "scandalous exposés" of Clark Gable, Joe DiMaggio, and other celebrities. Later, he earned a reputation as a prime Hollywood "fixer" who kept stars' secrets on the down-low, as when he helped Judy Garland through a messy divorce from Sid Luft during the late 1950s. Drawing on Otash's "museum-worthy treasure trove" of diaries, interview transcripts, and investigative case files, the authors recount such tantalizing exploits as the detective's surveillance of Marilyn Monroe and her lovers. However, Young and Westphal sometimes lean into cartoonish private eye tropes ("I think you're fishing," Otash quips at one point, "and I'm not biting"), and cast a relatively uncritical eye on the detective's efforts to secure proof of various stars' homosexuality. Still, those eager for a peek into classic Hollywood scandals will be well satisfied.
