Despite his much publicised love life, Warren Beatty has always guarded his privacy zealously, giving few interviews and asking his friends not to talk about him to the press. But now acclaimed biographer Suzanne Finstad has been able to obtain unprecedented interviews with friends such as Mike Nichols, Gary Hart and Senator George McGovern as well as former lovers like Joan Collins and Jane Fonda and to gain access to rare photographs, letters and diaries. The result is a fascinating and intimate portrait of one of Hollywood's key figures - actor, writer director, producer and, of course, legendary lothario. Finstad describes Beatty's upbringing, his early days playing the piano in New York cocktail lounges, his complex relationship with his older sister, Shirley MacLaine, and his romances with a iconic actresses from Joan Collins and Nathalie Wood to Julie Christie, Diane Keaton, Cher and Annette Bening, the woman he finally married. She also writes with skill and insight about Beatty's movies, from "Splendour in the Grass", "Bonnie and Clyde" (the film that made him and legend) "Heaven Can Wait and Reds", and about his flirtations with American politics.