From Clint Eastwood and Fritz Lang to Alfred Hitchcock and George Cuckor, Patrick McGilligan has written biographies of known studio figures. With his new book, Oscar Micheaux: The Great and Only, he turns to an African American figure who pioneered independent filmmaking.
Micheaux, who
wrote, produced and
directed some 40 feature length films between 1919 and 1948, was
virtually forgotten after he died in poverty in 1951 and most of his
movies were lost forever. McGilligan unearths previously untold stories
about this complex visionary and celebrates Micheaux's courage in being
the first director to film controversial stories based on interracial
romance, skin-color hypocrisy and life in the ghetto.