brad lewis
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Brad Lewis Biography Brad Lewis is a novelist, biographer, playwright, screenwriter, and former actor. His focus has ranged from the bizarre world of celebrity doctors to detailed histories of Jewish-American development, with particular interest to the entertainment industry.He co-wrote the bestselling biography of Milton Berle, My Father, Uncle Miltie, with the comedian’s son William Berle, a candid look at the irreplaceable American television icon. Lewis’ novel Dysplasia is a scalpel thriller centered on the sordid lives and weird sexual habits of "celebrity doctors", exposing the seamy side of high profile specialists who perform unnecessary surgery on their female patients. Lewis has written often about the Hollywood scene, and is no stranger to celebrities and celebrity doctors. He personally and professionally has known Henny Youngman, Rodney Dangerfield, Louise Nevelson, Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew, Frank Sinatra, Willie Mays, Diane Keaton, Hugh Downs, Henry Mancini and Henry Kissinger. Anonymous underworld “businessmen,” often sent their lady friends for treatment in his offices. That experience with known mobsters contributed to Lewis’ interest in how gangsters, Hollywood, and Washington somehow connect in the American landscape. As an actor, Lewis appeared on television in As the World Turns, Love of Life, The Guiding Light, and trained at the prestigious H. B. Studios in Manhattan, with its founder Herbert Berghof and fabled acting teacher William Hickey. He appeared in many off and off-off Broadway productions. Lewis has advanced degrees from CUNY (Psychology) and New York University; a fellowship at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, and St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital. A popular talk show guest, he has appeared on numerous radio and television programs. Lewis is a native New Yorker. |
 Author Brad Lewis EDITORIAL REVIEWS Steve Harvey, "Only in LA", Los Angeles Times A colorful biography of the Mick, a nattily attired, 5-foot-5-inch L.A. gangster who declared he never killed anyone who ``didn't deserve killing" and who feared nothing but germs (hence, his habit of taking 2- to 3-hour showers). ``Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster" is a fascinating portrait of how a Boyle Heights newsboy grew up to cross paths with movie stars, religious leaders, jetsetters and newspaper folks when he wasn't dodging assassination attempts on Sunset Boulevard. Lewis' book shines a light on an often overlooked chapter of the history of crime, L.A.'s mid-20th century underworld (called the ``Vicecapades'' by one columnist). Mickey struck me as a guy I would have loved to dine with as long as it wasn't on Sunset Boulevard. ----Steve Harvey, "Only in LA", Los Angeles Times Allan R. May Americanmafia.com This is Mickey Cohen! Inside and Out! The most comprehensive biography ever written about Hollywood's bantam gangster. Bradley Lewis gives us the complete story of the most famous West Coast mobster in history, complete with his ties to the underworld hierarchy across the United States. Lewis shows us multiple sides of Cohen and for the first time gives us a clear understanding of his far-reaching influence, separating fact from fiction along the way. -- AmericanMafia.com - Allan R. May Arthur Marx "Never in my years of reading for pleasure, has such an infamous mobster as the late Mickey Cohen been written about with such insight, truthfulness and good humor as Brad Lewis has accomplished in this page-turning bio. For anyone into Jewish or even gentile folklore, this is a must read." ----Arthur Marx, author of Life With Groucho, The Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, Goldwyn: A Biography of the Man Behind the Myth , Red Skelton, The Secret Life of Bob Hope , Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime (Especially Himself ) - Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, and the play, The Impossible Years. Book Description "I have killed no man in the first place that didn't deserve killing . . . I had no alternative. It was either my life or their life."-Mickey Cohen A marvelously detailed biography of the mobster who controlled Los Angeles for the Mafia, from Bugsy Siegel to Carlo Gambino and the John F. Kennedy assassination. Mickey Cohen was above all a master blackmailer of stars, and they all are on parade within these pages: from Marilyn Monroe to Lana Turner and Dean Martin to Sammy Davis Jr. A vast portrait of America and organized crime from the 1940s to the 1970s seen through the life of Mickey Cohen. |
