First to Leave the Party

Author: Salah Bachir

Publisher: McClelland & Stewart

Salah Bachir, who immigrated to Canada from Lebanon in the 1960s, has been a gay activist who has worked in the film world for over four decades. While this has given him undeniable front-row access to Hollywood’s biggest stars, it is Salah’s personal charm and kindness, his philanthropy, his overall style (think hats, scarves, brooches, pearls, diamonds) and deep involvement in the art world that has made him a friend, companion, confidante, and/or lover to so many — including Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Joan Rivers, Mary Tyler Moore, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Edward Albee, Orson Welles, Aretha Franklin, Norman Jewison, and Elizabeth Taylor — although it’s true that Katharine Hepburn once turned him down, very nicely.

Collected here in this wonderful book are personal stories of them all — some short, some long, some surprising, others juicy, and all fascinating. Through them we get to know Salah, a larger-than-life character that embodies the many worlds he shapes — the kind of person it would be hard to make up if he didn’t already exist.

About the Author:

Salah Bachir immigrated to Toronto from Lebanon with his family in 1965. He is a gay activist who has worked in the film world for over four decades and a successful entrepreneur, executive, publisher, author, and patron of the arts. In 1999, he became the founding president of Famous Players Media and was the president of Cineplex Media from 2005-2021. Salah Bachir was inducted into the Canadian Film and Television Hall of Fame in 2017. He is a recipient of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario in recognition of his leadership as an entrepreneur and for his commitment to the arts and social justice.