JENKINS, Garry

PERSONAL: Married; children: one daughter.

ADDRESSES: Home—Blackheath, London, England. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Picador USA, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.

CAREER: Journalist and freelance writer. Has worked for the Daily Mail.

WRITINGS:

Daniel Day-Lewis: The Fire Within, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1995.

Empire Building: The Remarkable Real-Life Story of Star Wars, Carol Publishing Group (Secaucus, NJ), 1997, revised edition, 1999.

Harrison Ford: Imperfect Hero, Carol Publishing Group (Secaucus, NJ), 1998.

(With Stephen d'Antal) Kiri: Her Unsung Story, HarperCollins (London, England), 1998.

Colonel Cody and the Flying Cathedral: The Adventures of the Cowboy Who Conquered the Sky, Picador USA (New York, NY), 2000.

SIDELIGHTS: Garry Jenkins is a journalist who turned to writing biographies and other nonfiction books in the 1990s. His first effort is Daniel Day-Lewis: The Fire Within, which concerns the actor made famous by his Oscar-winning performance in the Irish film My Left Foot. Jenkins was unable to obtain an interview from Day-Lewis for the book, so he relied on interviews with the actor's friends, family, and associates. Although several critics faulted the book for the absence of new material, Jenkins is credited with supplying a respectful, informative biography for DayLewis fans. "Jenkins writes perceptively of DayLewis's cinematic career," commented a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Booklist contributor Bonnie Smothers added that, "Read quickly, Jenkins' prose numbs because it is so rich with detail on so many interesting and accomplished people."

After writing a book about the "Star Wars" movie phenomenon, Jenkins focused on one of the trilogy's stars for his biography Harrison Ford: Imperfect Hero. Again relying on interviews with various family members, friends, and colleagues, the author faithfully follows Ford's life from his Chicago childhood, to his struggling early years as bit-part actor and carpenter, through his success in the science-fiction films. While reviewers did not harshly criticize the biography, a Publishers Weekly writer commented, "There's little here that a regular reader of People or Vanity Fair won't already know." Charles Winecoff, writing in Entertainment Weekly, similarly felt that those seeking revelations about Ford "won't find them here."

Jenkins' cowritten biography of opera star Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, titled Kiri: Her Unsung Story, was followed by a book about Wild West showman and airplane pioneer Samuel Cody. Cody, whose real name was Franklin Cowdery and who falsely claimed to be the son of William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody in order to draw audiences, put on popular shows in England and the United States. After years of success in performing a drama called The Klondyke Nugget in England and Europe, he left acting to pursue an interest in kite flying that evolved into a love for airplanes. In 1908 he built a plane that successfully took flight for almost half a minute. He continued to work on and fly airplanes until he died in a seaplane accident in 1913. A Publishers Weekly writer noted that Jenkins "does a credible job" of describing Cody's times, while never really getting to the heart of his subject's character. On the other hand, Roland Green asserted in Booklist that the author "presents a character whose exploits make thoroughly entertaining reading."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, July, 1995, Bonnie Smothers, review of Daniel Day-Lewis: The Fire Within, p. 1851; May 15, 2000, Roland Green, review of Colonel Cody and the Flying Cathedral: The Adventures of the Cowboy Who Conquered the Sky, p. 1713.

Entertainment Weekly, July 21, 1995, D. A. Ball, review of Daniel Day-Lewis, p. 58; February 6, 1998, Charles Winecoff, review of Harrison Ford: Imperfect Hero, p. 56.

Library Journal, June 15, 1995, Julie C. Boehning, review of Daniel Day-Lewis, p. 72; May 1, 2000, Charlie Cowling, review of Colonel Cody and the Flying Cathedral, p. 130.

Publishers Weekly, June 12, 1995, review of Daniel Day-Lewis, p. 56; October 20, 1997, review of Harrison Ford, p. 66; July 3, 2000, review of Colonel Cody and the Flying Cathedral, p. 59.

Washington Post Book World, August 13, 1995, Dennis Drabelle, review of Daniel Day-Lewis, p. 11.*