"As a starlet she set the social pace: boozing, swearing, taking her pick of men; ahead of her time. Her acting break came in 1946 with The Killers with Burt Lancaster. Rarely has anyone been more sexual on screen doing so little; she gave Lancaster an erection during a screen kiss, to the hilarity of the crew."

"Before boredom set in she was sustained by the banter and loose intimacy of movie sets. MGM loaned her out for too many bad films and her studio contract meant she earned less than contemporaries. She chose European exile over Hollywood and, in spite of her liberal values and lack of racial prejudice, moved to Franco's Spain (with its advantages of a muzzled press). She was barred from Madrid's Hotel Ritz for peeing in the lobby. By then life was an exhausting round of insomnia, booze, forced gaiety, mood swings, tantrums, and being driven around by a chauffeur while consuming an entire thermos of gin in the back of the car. "