David Fantle, ca. 1960 – 2026

Film historian David Fantle, 66, died of a heart attack at his Milwaukee home on April 28. Fantle wrote several books, including Hollywood Heyday: 75 Candid Interviews with Golden Age Legends, C'mon, Get Happy: The Making of Summer Stock, Reel to Real: 25 Years of Celebrity Interviews from Vaudeville to Movies to TV, and Bad Boys: The Real Story Behind America's Hot Rebels, interviewing such stars as Lucille Ball, James Cagney, Robert Wagner, Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, among many others (and unlike two “historians” whom I shall not name, Fantle did not shamelessly invent his interviews out of whole cloth). Fantle paid the rent by working as a professor at Marquette University (I can attest that writing about show biz does not pay any rent). Chris Yogurst writes in The Hollywood Reporter, “Fantle encouraged my work, shared sources, taught me to watch for (but never fear) family members protecting legacies . . . You always left a conversation with him feeling like anything was possible. He was a true friend and a genuine gentleman and will be deeply missed.”