Steve Monzelli came of age in the 1970s, an era now considered the Silver Age of Hollywood. He loved movies and was the consummate film buff. He collected movie stills, comic books, 16mm films and posters (including an original one for "Casablanca" worth thousands of dollars). He dressed like the characters he admired in his favorite films, and hung around film sets with the hope of becoming an actor. He also had a great love for good vodka and prostitutes, which caused more than just a few problems.
Monzelli met and became friends with many of the cinema icons of the era, including Steve McQueen, Richard Burton, Sam Peckinpah, Bette Davis and many others; and he appeared as an extra in a handful of big-budget Hollywood films, more often than not because he would sneak onto the sets.
These tales offer many hilarious and a few sad stories of a life built around one fan's obsessive love of movies.
John Gloske is a former film critic for The Hollywood Times. His previous book was the well-received Tough Kid: The Life and Films of Frankie Darro. He is a long-time small business owner in Los Angeles, California.