Edward Z. Epstein

Edward Z. Epstein, a native New Yorker and graduate of New York University, has written nineteen books to date, for publishers including Simon & Schuster, Delacorte, Crown, St. Martin’s. He’s written the first (and to date, only) full-scale biography of legendary Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Jones, Portrait of Jennifer; co-authored the only dual biography of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Paul and Joanne; the original full-scale biography of Clara Bow, The ‘It’ Girl: The Incredible Story of Clara Bow; the first biography of Lana Turner, Lana: The Public and Private Lives of Ms. Turner; the first book on Judy Garland, Judy: The Films and Career of Judy Garland. Other subjects have included Mia Farrow, Rita Hayworth, Jane Wyman, Loretta Young, Paulette Goddard, Bob Hope, Brando, and Lucille Ball. (Subsidiary Rights sales for the books were substantial. Movie and television rights to the Garland book were bought by MGM; Fox purchased rights to the Mia Farrow book, produced a mini-series and Epstein received two on-screen credits).
Other non-fiction books include Notorious Divorces; Rebels: The Rebel Hero in Films; The Films of World War II; Those Great Movie Ads; Those Lips, Those Eyes; Gable & Lombard & Powell & Harlow; and The Ince Affair, a novel based on the mysterious death of movie producer Thomas Ince aboard William Randolph Hearst’s yacht (published by NAL). 
Epstein is also a dedicated figure skater, a former Middle Atlantic States Novice champion. He’s the author of Born to Skate: The Michelle Kwan Story (Ballantine), and his articles on figure skating have appeared in, among other periodicals, Scandinavian Review, New York’s Sunday News Magazine, Cutting Edge, the annual Ice Theatre Journal, and Dick Button’s 25th Anniversary World Professional Figure Skating Championship Celebration. He helped organize a festival of Sonja Henie’s films for New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and wrote the official museum notes for the series.
He has written articles for Cosmopolitan magazine on the lives of Ava Gardner and Natalie Wood. His play, Ava, based on the life of Ms. Gardner, was optioned by legendary producer David Brown (after Mr. Brown’s death, rights to the play have reverted to Epstein).