This compassionate account goes past the blithe persona Niven presented (both on screen and in his memoirs), into his failings, disappointments, and tragedies. Born in London in 1910, the future suave performer tempted expulsion with schoolboy devilry; he later served in the British army before emigrating to the U.S. His film career started in 1934 and lasted nearly to his death in 1983, but he failed to achieve "stardom." The terrible sorrow of Niven's life was the death of his wife Primula, killed in a fall during her 20s when their sons were babies. His second marriage, to a Swedish model, was unhappy. There were other romantic involvements in Niven's life and many facets to his career that Morley reveals. During World War II, for instance, he gave up Hollywood and returned to his homeland to fight for England; yet was so afraid of poverty that throughout his career he accepted demeaning parts in many movies. The moon's other side was darkest at the end when Niven succumbed to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease.