A fascinating real-life story of "the fixer" in Hollywood, Fred Otash, who like "Zelig" was at all the critical events in history because he was often called in to deal with crisis management - from Judy Garland to Marilyn Monroe, among many others. He also had secret recordings (some lost forever) but included here is a transcript of Rock Hudson with his wife Phyllis Gates (a cover-up marriage) confessing to being gay so she has leverage for a pay-out. This part of the book really saddened me to read -- and made me dislike Phyllis and her lawyers and to an extent Fred Otash who arranged the recordings. So on the one hand, he was hired to protect people from damaged reputations, and on the other hand, he used his detective work to also expose people. So while there is a lot he did that helped people, he had an incredible amount of power to harm people too. He had recordings of the night Marilyn died but those were lost to history. He was set to be interviewed on 20/20 but the story was killed by the executives of ABC because of reputational damage to their friends in high places. A fascinating read, written by someone who knew him (his parents were neighbors with him towards the end of his life).

Thank you to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

Manfred Westphal met Fred Otash, the ex-LAPD officer turned showbiz shamus, in a scene out of a Hollywood movie: Otash and his mother lived in the same building. Westphal spent years trying to set up Otash’s story as a film or TV show. Now, in this biography co-authored with Josh Young and based in part on Otash’s personal records, he’s telling it himself. (Westphal notes that the private detective’s most private records were destroyed by Otash’s attorney upon his death, and that the manuscript to Otash’s own memoir mysteriously vanished at the same time.) If you’re already familiar with Otash’s tale—as you might well be, given that he inspired CHINATOWN’s Jake Gittes and appears in fiction by James Ellroy—you’ll likely be underwhelmed by what you find here. Westphal illuminates a few interesting chapters from Otash’s life, like his stint working for Judy Garland during a contentious stretch of her marriage to Sid Luft, but for the most part he covers well-trod ground with little new material: the infamous “Wrong Door Raid” involving Joe DiMaggio and Frank Sinatra; Otash’s work as a fact-checker for CONFIDENTIAL magazine, the Lana Turner/Johnny Stompanato affair. Much of the archival matter, like a windy transcript of a conversation between Rock Hudson and his wife, isn’t particularly interesting. And don’t expect any bombshells regarding the death of Marilyn Monroe; Westphal and Young hype that material, but the most damning revelations are about ABC spiking a 20/20 segment about Monroe’s death in which Otash spoke on the record in the 1980s. The prose becomes more Ellroy-like and overheated as the book progresses, almost as if to compensate for the lack of investigative fireworks. THE FIXER offers some nice details and a less sensationalistic portrait of Otash than expected; Westphal’s affection for the man is evident. An intriguing if underwhelming read for fans of Hollywood history.

I knew quite a bit about the MGM fixer, Eddie Mannix, before I started this one, but I was totally intrigued by this nonetheless. I loved the details about how Otash operated (e.g. the surveillance van), and was chuffed to learn that he lived in the condo development I bought my first place in (The Park Wellington) — so that was all easy to imagine. My only quibble is that I found the Otash past fascinating, I was less enamored of the what felt like authorial intrusion, I.e. in the prologue. If I weren’t so fascinated by the concept I might have put it down.

Excellent in death look at famed Fred Otash LAPD and private investigator that knew the dirt on Marilyn and the Kennedy’s and so much more

Very good read about Mr. Otash and his involvement with the police department and then as a private investigator. I remember hearing about him and Marilyn Monroe. It was always said he had a recording of her death. This book was really good and well written. Lots of interesting juicy tidbits about stars. Highly recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on my thoughts.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC. The title and cover alone got me interested! The man who knew how Marilyn died?! Yes I am in! Table for one please ! There were so many juicy tidbits in this book! I kept googling names and faces so I could keep up with the story. This was a page turner !! I didnt want to put it down!

Thank you to Net Galley and Grand Central Publishing for the chance to read and review this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
This is a biography of Fred Otash, Private Investigator and "fixer" to the stars. He did most of his work during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Lots of Stars are mentioned, but this book mostly focuses on Rock Hudson, Marilyn Monroe, Lana Turner and the Kennedy Brothers. It also explains how Mr. Otash got started. I enjoyed this biography. It was very well written, with lots of juicy gossip included. If you like to read books about Old Hollywood, then this book is for you.