Whatever you think of Raymond Carver and Gordon Lish’s partnership, there’s no denying the influence of a strong editor. Robert Gottlieb is another case in point, not only for his five-year tenure at the New Yorker but for his time as editor-in-chief at Knopf, where he published, among many other things, the memoirs of both Lauren Bacall and Katharine Hepburn. In a new Vanity Fair article excerpted from his forthcoming “Avid Reader: A Life,” Gottlieb delves into his collaborations with the two screen icons, both of which produced best-sellers.

Read More: Listen: Robin Williams & Lauren Bacall Remembered on Indiewire’s Podcast, Screen Talk

“Betty didn’t need a collaborator, and in any case would never have put up with one,” he says of Bacall (real name Betty Perske). “What she needed was a way to work.” His solution was to give her an office at Knopf where she could write distraction-free,...