Darleen Bungey Darleen Bungey i(A111326 works by)
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 4 y separately published work icon Daddy Cool : Finding My Father, the Singer Who Swapped Hollywood Fame for Home in Australia Darleen Bungey , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2020 19213044 2020 single work biography

'Who can ever truly know their parents?

'He was a glamorous heart-throb, a famous American singer performing in front of Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Clark Gable and other stars at the Academy Awards. In the 1930s, his recording of 'Hawaiian Paradise' outsold those of Bing Crosby and Guy Lombardo.

'So how did he become an Australian infantryman, fighting alongside and performing for his fellow Diggers in Palestine, Beirut, Egypt and New Guinea? Why did he leave Hollywood and the ritziest hotels in America for a modest Californian bungalow in suburban Sydney? And what caused him to cease his endless drifting from one woman to another, one marriage to another, and settle with the love of his life?

'She was a strong Aussie woman, a talented radio broadcaster and publicity agent. Why did she take a chance on this reckless vagabond and notorious womaniser?

'Seeking answers, Darleen Bungey turns her biographical skills on her own family, exploring her father's multi-layered and at times tempestuous life with a truthful eye and loving heart.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 5 y separately published work icon John Olsen : An Artist's Life Darleen Bungey , Sydney : ABC Books , 2014 8070118 2014 single work biography

'This landmark biography by Darleen Bungey, the author of the celebrated biography of Arthur Boyd, graphically depicts the forces that drove John Olsen to become one of the country's greatest artists. An exhilarating book, both trenchant and tender, it strips away the veneer of showmanship and fame to show the substance of a painter driven by a need to depict his country's landscape as Australians had never seen it before.

'Given access to his uncensored diaries and drawing on years of extensive interviews with both Olsen and those who have known him best, she explores his passionate life and follows his navigation though the friendships, rivalries and politics of the Australian art world. How did a shy, stuttering boy from Newcastle, neglected by his alcoholic father, come to paint the great mural Salute to Five Bells at the Sydney Opera House?

'This biography follows that journey - through Olsen's early experiences in the bush, particularly a formative period at Yass (a time previously unrecorded), to years of cleaning jobs to pay his way through art school, to a milestone time spent in France and Spain - and traces his constant travels and relocations within Australia, including his epic journeys into the outback and to Kati thanda-Lake Eyre.

'From a child who was never taken to an art gallery, who learnt how to draw from comics, we come to see the famous artist in the black beret, the writer and poet, the engaging public speaker, the bon vivant - whose life has been defined by an absolute need to paint.' (Publication summary)

1 Act of Creation Darleen Bungey , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 1-2 September 2012; (p. 30-31)

— Review of David Boyd: His Work, His Life, His Family 2012 single work biography ; An Open House : Recollections of My Early Life David Boyd , 2012 single work autobiography
1 The Half-Full Looking Glass Darleen Bungey , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 1 September 2012; (p. 31)

— Review of An Open House : Recollections of My Early Life David Boyd , 2012 single work autobiography
1 Portrait of the Art Critic as a Young Man Darleen Bungey , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 6-7 March 2010; (p. 32)

— Review of Robert Hughes : The Australian Years Patricia Anderson , 2009 single work biography
1 Picture of Contradiction Darleen Bungey , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 9-10 January 2010; (p. 35)

— Review of After Fire : A Biography of Clifton Pugh Sally Morrison , 2009 single work biography
1 Shifting Planes i "As stand-in for Apollo's fantastic head,", Darleen Bungey , 2009 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , July vol. 4 no. 6 2009; (p. 25)
1 Dream Worlds Darleen Bungey , 2009 single work biography
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 24-25 January 2009; (p. 8-9)
1 2 Leap of Imagination Darleen Bungey , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 300 2008; (p. 32-33)
Darleen Bungey replies to Brenda Niall's dismissal (in 'One More Falling Body') of Bungey's claim (in Arthur Boyd : A Life) that Martin Boyd committed suicide.
1 About a Boyd Darleen Bungey , 2007 single work column
— Appears in: Good Weekend , 27 October 2007; (p. 83-84, 86, 88-89)
1 17 y separately published work icon Arthur Boyd : A Life Darleen Bungey , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2007 Z1442726 2007 single work biography

'Arthur Boyd's legacy is a collection of masterpieces that define the history of Australian art in the last century. But the man himself-enigmatic, inarticulate, modest-has remained in the shadows until now.

'Based on over six years of meticulous research and hundreds of interviews, Darleen Bungey sweeps us into the intimate circle of one of Australia's most fascinating families. Arthur Boyd emerges as a passionate, dramatic figure whose self-effacing demeanour cloacked a strong personality that refused to allow his turbulent and sometimes tragic personal life to interfere with his creative genius.

'From Victoria's bohemian enclaves to the heady swirl of Melbourne and London in the years of artistic and social revolution, to the rural removes of Suffolk and the Shoalhaven, this is a journey into the mind and heart of a complex man whose absolute commitment to his art thrust aside personal adversity in the relentless pursuit of his work.

'There are art books and there are biographies. Arthur Boyd: A life is rare - a revelation of an artist's life as compelling as the writing about his art.' (Publication summary)

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