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One of the most recognizable women of our time, America knows Jane Fonda as actress, activist, feminist, wife, and workout guru. In her extraordinary memoir, Fonda divides her life into three acts: her childhood, early films, and first marriage make up act one; her growing career in film, marriage to Ted Turner, and involvement in the Vietnam War belong to act two; and the third act belongs to the future, in which she hopes to "begin living consciously," and inspire others who can learn from her experiences. Fonda reveals intimate details and universal truths that she hopes "can provide a lens through which others can see their lives and how they can live them a little differently."
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Book Description
She is one of the most recognizable women of our time. America knows Jane Fonda as an actress and an activist, a feminist and a wife, a workout guru and a role model. Now, in this extraordinary memoir, Fonda reveals that she is so much more. From her youth among Hollywood’s elite and her early film career to the challenges and triumphs of her life today, Jane Fonda reveals intimate details and universal truths that she hopes “can provide a lens through which others can see their lives and how they can live them a little differently.”
Fonda divides her “life so far” into three “acts,” writing about her childhood, first films, and marriage to Roger Vadim in Act One. At once a picture emerges: a child born to the acting legend Henry Fonda and the glamorous society princess Frances Seymour. But these early years are also marked by profound sadness: her mother’s mental illness and suicide when Jane is twelve years old, her father’s emotional distance, and her personal struggle to find her way in the world as a young woman.
By her second act, Fonda lays the foundation for her activism, even as her career takes flight. She highlights her struggle to live consciously and authentically while remaining in the public eye as she recounts her marriages to Tom Hayden and Ted Turner, and examines her controversial and defining involvement with the Vietnam War. As her film career grows, Fonda learns to incorporate her roles into a larger vision of what matters most in her life–and in the process she wins two Academy Awards, for Klute and for Coming Home.
In Fonda’s third act, she is prepared to do the work of a lifetime–to begin living consciously in a way that might inspire others who can learn from her experiences. Surprising, candid, and wonderfully written, Jane Fonda’s
My Life So Far is filled with universal insights into the personal struggles of women living full and engaged lives.
Download Description
JANE FONDA was born in New York City in 1937. She attended the Emma Willard School in Troy, New York, and Vassar College. Fonda later studied with renowned acting coach Lee Strasberg and became a member of the Actors Studio in New York. Her subsequent work on stage and screen earned numerous honors, including two Best Actress Academy Awards–Klute (1971) and Coming Home (1978)–and an Emmy Award for her performance in The Dollmaker. Fonda was also a successful producer, whose credits include The China Syndrome, Nine to Five, On Golden Pond, and The Morning After.
Fonda revolutionized the fitness industry with the release of Jane Fonda’s Workout in 1982, which remains the top-grossing home video of all time. She then produced twenty-three home exercise videos, thirteen audio recordings, and five bestselling books. She now focuses her time on activism and philanthropy, in such areas as adolescent reproductive health, pregnancy prevention, school reform through arts, and building resiliency in girls and boys by addressing destructive gender stereotypes. In 1995 she founded the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (G-CAPP), which she chairs. In 2002, she opened the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University's School of Medicine. She lives in Atlanta.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Hands down...one of the BEST EVER.......2007-08-15
This is one of the best-ever show biz (but any biz!) autobiographies I've ever read. Ms. Fonda has delivered her readers a real treat -- a thorough re-telling of her already familiar story with wit, pathos and a real desire to get to the truth and share them with her readers.
If life is a journey, she's taken a hell of a trip and it's to her credit that she pushes on and continues to fight the good fight.
She doesn't skirt around the controversy or try to shirk away her actions or culpability for any mistakes she made. She confronts it all -- head-on without fear or denial. She's to be commended for her honesty and for her uniquely American life and the truth she's pursued relentlessly all these years.
Many people are still mad about Vietnam (and but for her moment in the gun turret, wasn't she right about the whole sad affair?) but those are the same folks who think we're doing right by Iraq right now, so there's no winning that crowd over. They'll simply stay mad forever, even though she's the one who really shows her love for this country by trying to make it better and to hold its leaders accountable to the people who give them their power.
She's a remarkable human being and she can be extremely proud of this book.
I love Jane Fonda.......2007-08-11
This book is exceptional and explains in detail the life of Jane Fonda. Any fan of hers must have this book. A wonderful DVD is also included in the paperback edition.
WOW!.......2007-07-25
WOW! Sometimes, that's the only word that comes to mind when one's jaw drops.
I've watched a dozen of Jane Fonda's movies over the years (I was born in 1964) and a number of her father Henry's and brother Peter's and niece Bridget's films as well. But I never really took much interest in her beyond that - didn't know much about her personal life.
However, an interview in the L.A. Weekly recently in connection with the release of her latest film "Georgia Rule" (which I haven't yet seen) made me interested in her as a person. I then remembered that she had a autobiography out and I checked it out from the library this month and began reading it yesterday.
579 pages, with many b/w photos, most of which I had never seen before. Her developement can clearly be seen in these pictures: she went from tomboy to bombshell - talk about a late bloomer! The text is divided into three chapters/acts: a clever idea.
An important note: Fonda did not write this with someone else - she wrote it herself, which is rare these days for stars of her caliber. She is an excellent writer and very personal - it felt like she was talking to me directly. She reveals aspects and incidents in her life that few would have guessed, but she does it with grace. It is one of the most moving and fascinating autobios I have read, right up there with "Cash" by Johnny Cash, another big favorite autobio.
Her psychological insight is remarkable, her wit a joy, and her pain very real. Her story is proof that wealth and fame is no guard against misery, but unlike Paris Hilton and the likes, who are sadly famous for just being famous, the reader will care deeply about Jane Fonda.
She doesn't hate and has immense compassion and understanding for her family, for her three famous ex-husbands and even for her critics. She loves her now-grown kids and is doing much to help other kids with self-esteem issues. This book is a real eye opener - I had always viewed Jane Fonda as a strong and capable woman with no skeletons in the closet. I now know that she is indeed a strong woman - precisely because she has dealt with the skeletons and has overcome her troubles. This book is stunning and so is Jane by the way - she turns 70 on December 21. (She looks like Henry Fonda in drag, but in a good way, - the resemblance is uncanny!)
I'm on page 113 and I can't wait to get back to the rest of it. (the audio book version sounds fantastic - gotta get my little paws on that too).
Pardon my gushing, but thank you for writing this book, Jane - only you could have done the job so well. You state that you hope that by telling your story, you can help others. In that you have succeeded.
This book should be a Oprah's Bookclub pick so that it can reach even more people - especially women.
Good Read.......2007-06-09
After reading this book, I have an even stronger regard for Jane Fonda. I love that she has constantly evolved through her life and how she takes responsibility for her choices. I bet I would like her very much if I ever truly knew her.
The only thing about the book is that I wish there had been more in-depth information on the making of her films. She glosses over most of her films, and that was disappointing. But still very much a worthwhile read.
Jane Fonda's life is an open book.......2007-05-11
I always liked Jane Fonda, but after reading her autobiography, I now have a deep and sincere appreciation for her and her body of work, including her activism. I loved the brutal honesty she infused in the book. My Life So Far allowed the reader into some of the deepest corners of her life, which resulted in Jane allowing herself to heal. An added benefit was that the reader had the chance to learn some valuable lessons from Jane's experiences. Her life is a lesson for girls and women dealing with parental issues, sexual issues, relationship issues, career issues, motherhood issues, aging issues and more. Jane was able to capture her life so far in such an unapologetic and matter-of-fact manner that she became human and much less iconic. Great read. I highly recommend it.
Book Description
With the nation at war in the 1940s, twenty-two-year-old Jack Valenti flew fifty-one combat missions as the pilot of a B-25 attack bomber with the 12th Air Force based in Italy. In the 1960s, with the nation reeling from the assassination of a beloved president and becoming embroiled in a far different kind of war in Vietnam, he was in that fateful Dallas motorcade in 1963, flew back to Washington with the new president, and for three years worked in the inner circle of the White House as special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson. Then, for the next thirty-eight years, with American society and popular culture undergoing a revolutionary transformation, Valenti was the public face of Hollywood in his capacity as head of the Motion Picture Association of America.
Been there, done that, indeed. Texas-born and Harvard-educated, Valenti has led several lives, any one of which could have provided ample material for an unforgettable memoir. As it is, This Time, This Place is the gripping story of a man who saw the terrible face of war while fighting with skill and bravery for his country; who was in the room, listening, participating, and remembering, as political decisions were made that would benefit or devastate countless lives in this country and on the other side of the world; and who championed the interest of the vast and globally influential movie industry with tenacity and vision. The list of boldface names whom Valenti knew and with whom he worked is as varied as it is astonishing in number. Aside
from LBJ, there were Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Kirk Douglas, Frank Sinatra, Robert McNamara, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Julia Roberts, Cary Grant, Lew Wasserman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas, Warren Beatty, and Bill Clinton, to begin a very long list.
The life of a man who earned both the Distinguished Flying Cross and his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is inherently intriguing, but Valenti’s warm, sometimes rueful, always engaging account gives this memoir a depth of humanity and a taste of life’s unpredictability that will linger long after you turn the final page. From growing up poor but largely oblivious to that fact in a hardscrabble neighborhood of Greek and Italian immigrants in Houston to rising to the highest summits both of national government and Hollywood, This Time, This Place is a candid and clear-eyed reflection of the joys and sorrows, ambitions and disappointments, of a life fully recognizable in its extraordinary variety. It is also a sweeping and important historical record, written by a brilliantly successful man who helped to shape politics and entertainment in the second half of the twentieth century, and who always found himself in the center of the current storm.
Customer Reviews:
I respect, don't necessarily agree with, his defense of LBJ .......2007-10-19
Yes, his descriptions of his childhood and family life as an Italian-American in Houston were interesting, especially after Valenti flashed back from Nov. 22, 1963 and shortly thereafter. Certainly, his remembrances of pilot service in Europe also were compelling. That said, and don't anyone take this wrong, neither of the above were particularly unique reading experiences. As much as I acknowlege our appreciation of our WWII veterans was long delayed and overdue, and I eat up those sort of memoirs, I had read similar recollections before. But as a backdrop and a context to his service with LBJ, it all was appropriate. That's the part I found fascinating, because as near as I can tell, Mr. Valenti's political leanings are the same as mine, and I tend to go along with the conensus -- that LBJ's unfortunate decisions to deepen our involvement in Vietnam outweighed all the good he did with the Great Society, because much of that involved ideas whose times were coming...sooner or later. LBJ deserves marks for courage and skill in pushing them through when he did, and we all should salute him. But it was going to happen at some point. I am open-eyed enough to take Mr. Valenti's defenses of LBJ's overall record with grains of salt, but I admire them. In describing the meetings in 1965, Valenti makes it clear, as others have, that Mike Mansfield and George Ball were the lone wolves in saying we should get out instead of get in deeper. Valenti runs down the roster of the LBJ advisers whose views turned out to be woefully off-target. Darn it, great leaders sense and see through misguided and bad advice, so I'm not letting LBJ off the hook, and Valenti did that a little too easily. I would have been interested, too, to know more about what he was thinking as he heard all these exchanges he describes. And he describes them in such depth -- virtual transcripts -- he either had a tape recorder, took great notes, or is taking some license in the reconstruction. But all that said, I did find that portion of the book fascinating. And if an obviously good man, such as Valenti, could be so passionately loyal to LBJ, who often has been treated unfairly (e.g., Caro), it gives me a bit of pause for thought. The rest of the book is interesting and as an overall work, I recommend it. It's funny, though, I got the sense he pulled the most punches in the movie portion.
And why do people quote from the book jacket here? I would rather read what people think of the book, and why.
Saint Jack.......2007-09-21
One must be a very dedicated movie or Jack Valenti watcher to plough all the way through this tome. Apart from the timing which cannot be faulted - he died shortly after the book was published: the book is more a diary than a literary work. Except for the opening chapter on the assassination of JFK, which is good and compelling writing, the remainder stretched incredulity a little too far.
If we are to believe what Mr Valenti tells us about himself, we should not be surprised that at the books completion, the Almighty whisked him off to heaven to be at his right hand. A more Saintly man never lived beyond the Vatican.
We learn that he started life very poor - not even any shoes. We also learn that his close relatives were very rich. That confused me. I thought these old Sicilian families stuck together. Or is that only in the Mafia? One of these relatives who did not feel able to buy little Jack any shoes, did give him a job however. The salary was not sufficient for the future $1.3 million a year boss of MPAA, so he lied to take the time off to solicit work at Humble Oil which was successful. Little Jack clearly had a talent for ingratiating himself into the affections of those who could help him. First it was the HR lady who gave him his first job at Humble. Then it was the head of the advertising department who put him to work there. Work: I use the word loosely as he seems to have spent his time travelling around the country keeping his boss from being lonely. He must have been a very seductive little chap.
Then the war intervened. Now I thought, this is where it gets interesting. He reminds us frequently that he was a war hero, so I was very keen to learn more. Unfortunately modesty prevented him from sharing with us any daring-do that he was involved in. Other than telling us that the Luftwaffe fighters held no terrors for him - indeed, he actually says that they were no problem to him. Well that's a first. I must have more than 30 books on WWII aerial combat, and I never read that before. Could it be that all the others were spoofing? We do learn at great length his mile by mile journey back to America from Italy. The war was over by this time, but low cloud and rain was more formidable than the Luftwaffe it seems.
Once back to civilian life, he takes advantage of the GI Bill and goes to Harvard. If he goes on about his time at Harvard to his everyday listeners as he does in his book, there can be few American who don't know that Jack Valenti went to Harvard. Upon completion of his course he goes back to Humble Oil. This is the second time they have him back. He learns as much as he can from them, sets up a company with a partner and promptly leaves Humble Oil. Using what he learnt from Humble he solicits business from Humble competitors. This is a life long habit of Jack's. He ingratiates himself with people until they are of no more value; then he drops them. He did that with President Johnson after he learnt that Johnson was not going to seek re-election. He would have done it to MPAA and gone to Columbia Pictures, but his devoted wife of God knows how many years wouldn't go to Los Angeles with him. Washington was more important than Jack it seems. She did offer to let him commute once a week from DC to LA.
It is at this point in the book that one loses the will to live. It becomes a page after page catalogue of the rich and famous who Jack loved deeply, and they him. Pick at random any Name from the A List, and they - and of course their gorgeous spouses, were close personal friends of the Valenti's. There is not an enemy in sight - he even had a good word for the Luftwaffe! But then this is a work more interesting for what it doesn't say than for what it does. He never mentions that he lead a crusade to prevent VCRs being introduced into America. He takes full credit for the `original' introduction of a film rating system. He expects the readers not to notice that the British Board of Film Censors has been rating movies since 1912. It is also interesting that Jack never ever mentions the British film industry. He mentions, and praises British actors and directors, but never identifies them as such. He does every other country that has a film industry. Perhaps under the overcast skies of grey old London lurk a few skeletons that Jack would prefer to keep in the cupboard.
After one has waded through pages and pages of Hollywood's `Who's Who', the book is completed with the unsurprising information that all of his three children are `...movie star beautiful, and they are all outstandingly successful.' No kidding. He even tells us that his grandchildren are perfect.
Jack Valent's life story could have been an enthralling read had it been an `unauthorised version' by Kitty Kelly or similar. Instead, it is a very boring exercise in self aggrandisement. It is said that before one writes a book, one should identify your audience. The only audience for this book is the Hollywood Hoorays who will enjoy what is written about themselves, and think kindly about Jack - and of course his children.
Well done Jack. Not so much a book, more an advertising brochure for the Valenti dynasty.
Good Read but Lacks Bite .......2007-07-15
In a sense this is two books in one. Valenti (apart from his war years) had two very different careers - as a valued aide to President Lyndon Johnson and latterly as President Motion Picture Association of America. He did sterling work in both roles.
Almost anything written about Johnson is fascinating and Valenti keeps that legend going. The author never fails to see good in people and like other Johnson aides such as Joe Califano, seemed to have a genuine love for the towering Texan.
Valenti's opening chapter on the dreadful events of November 22nd 1963 is compelling reading. The author also writes well on the meetings and decision processes that encouraged LBJ to enlarge the war in Vietnam. For those with rose tinted glasses who believe JFK would have taken the US out of Vietnam before it became a quagmire, Valenti makes it quite clear that the bulk of LBJ's Vietnam advisors were Kennedy people. Overall the section on Johnson and the White House years is enjoyable reading. The same can not be said for his MPAA memoir.
Part of the problem is that Valenti is so gushing in his praise of everyone. The number of "radiantly beautiful" or "dazzling" wives he met with adorable offspring is mind-blowing. This man would have something good to say about the devil! He alludes very gingerly to the excesses of and infatuation with Hollywood, but never provides any depth.
Valenti - who wrote a book on communication - is a wonderful writer with a flowing style that is a joy to read. It is a pity that he did not bring greater depth and I think honesty to his MPAA career.
A Truly American Story.......2007-07-05
Jack Valenti's memoir "This Time, This Place: My Life in War, The White House, and Hollywood" tells an authentically American story. Valenti, the grandson of a Sicilian immigrant, rises from his working class roots to:
* win the Distinguished Flying Cross (WWII)
* attend Harvard Business School (Veterans Bill)
* start his own successful business
* become the aide de camp to a US President (Lyndon Johnson)
* and, become the chief lobbyist and defender of the motion picture industry for four decades.
Valenti's book opens with a flashback to Dallas, Texas on November 23, 1963 as he rode in the fateful Presidential motorcade that passed the Texas Book Depository with Lee Oswald's rifle pointed at President John Kennedy. Before the day was over, he was THE confident and consigliore to a new US President, Lyndon Johnson, overseeing the president's speeches, decided whom he would see and where he would go to speak. His chronicle of his White House years reads like a fast-paced novel and has plenty of detail to satisfy historians.
"This Time, This Place" provides important events in Valenti's early formation which were the underpinnings of a remarkable life. As a working class kid from Houston, he watched his grocer grandfather practice local politics and made his own first speech at the age of 10, advocating the reelection of the Sheriff. He worked as movie usher during high school, and got himself elected class president as a night student at the University of Houston.
In 1943, he joined the Army Air Corps, taking his first solo flight only after nine hours of instruction. He piloted 51 bombing missions over Europe in a B25 winning the Distinguished Flying Cross. His descriptions of these years are among the most vivid in this book. His prose throbs with memories of an experience that was simultaneously exhilarating, terrifying and "brutal."
The section on the Hollywood years is looser. Valenti's good-old-boy Texas story-telling comes out. He is more willing to tell tales, poking fun at some of the pompous behavior and trappings of the Motion Picture Industry's celebrities.
"This Time,This Place" is told straightforwardly, acknowledging debts, sketching people he knew and giving a not entirely flattering view of himself. His self-portrait is one of restlessness, and a strong commitment to advancement.
This is a man that senators, congressman and presidents readily took calls from. His formula was simple, "It is rooted in the ability to engage in courtship, to cosset talent, to understand the human condition and to make decisions fast." He exuded charm and was able to establish relationships by being everyone's pal but he never left empty-handed.
Jack Valenti died two years after his retirement from the Motion Picture Association of America in April, 2007.
Outstanding.......2007-07-04
Jack Valenti was both a witness to, and an instrument of, history and his autobiography presents the fascinating elements of his life and all those that he came across. Written in a very easy to read, yet eloquent, style (you can hear Valenti speaking these words)the book should be read by anyone interested in the Washington, the Great Society, and movie industry scenes.
Book Description
Written at the height of her fame but not published until over a decade after her death, this autobiography of actress and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) poignantly recounts her childhood as an unwanted orphan, her early adolescence, her rise in the film industry from bit player to celebrity, and her marriage to Joe DiMaggio.
Customer Reviews:
Some Like It Hot, but this was ....Alright.......2007-08-14
The book was all about Marilyn , her life, loves and all verbatim. I know and understand more about her childhood and personal life through this book. I loved reading it and seeing all the photographs it included. I must say that the ending was so abrupt;In a way it shows how fast and unbelievably sudden Marilyn left us. The funny, witty, and even smart comments she wrote was clear to everyone she was an intelligent lady that will be remembered forever.
Good Buy.......2007-05-12
This book had a lot of information about Marilyn as well as many pictures. Good Buy!
Her Story.......2007-04-10
It was very interesting to read this book, since it came from Marilyn's own words. You read so many books written about her, but with MY STORY, I felt like I was having an intimate chat with a close girlfriend. I only wish there was more. I finished it in a few hours and found myself wanting to learn more about her years after her divorce from DiMaggio.
Surprising insights from a "blonde bombshell" movie icon.......2007-04-06
Reading this book one realizes that in real life Marilyn Monroe was very observant and insightful, the antithesis of the bubble-headed role she projected both on screen and in public. In simple, almost childishly naive conversational tones, she describes her childhood as an orphan, sexually abused by an older man and married (to another man) by her late teens. She recounts the struggle as a young actress - the seemingly endless round of casting calls and dashed hopes until she begins to get noticed by the powers that be.
Her persona may be that of someone lacking street smarts, but she is also perceptive. Her observations of the usual cast of characters at Hollywood - the movers, shakers, stars and wannabes of all stripes - is surprisingly deep. She describes the myriad women whose movie roles for ten years has been limited to walk-on extras, as walking "ten feet towards nothing" after each fleeting appearance.
Her tone is wisful and longing but she never devolves into self-pity. Her famed vulnerability and her adult/child appeal comes through as very real personality traits, not as an on screen creation. She sees herself as just another pretty girl, and cannot comprehend the magic spell she cast on Hollywood and her fans. It comes as a surprise to read her revelation about sex being no big source of pleasure for her.
I would have loved to see at least a chapter's worth of commentary on her writings. Other than for the obvious luminaries who greatly impacted her life, many people she mentioned would be unfamiliar names to readers of this book. A little background on their influences on her life would have been a welcome addition to the book.
Book Description
Told in his own words, a very personal story from the star of many beloved and classic comedies, including Young Frankenstein, The Producers, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate FactoryGene Wilder is one of the great comic actors who defined the 1970s and 1980s in movies. From his work with Woody Allen, to the rich group of movies he made with Mel Brooks, to his partnership on screen with Richard Pryor, Wilder's performances are still discussed and celebrated today. KISS ME LIKE A STRANGER is an intimate glimpse of the man behind the image on the screen. In this book, Wilder talks about everything from his experiences in psychoanalysis to why he got into comedy-his first goal was to be a Shakespearean actor-to how a midwestern childhood with a sick mother changed him. He writes about the creative process on stage and on screen, and divulges moments from life on the sets of some of the most iconic movies of our time. He also opens up about his search for love and his marriages, including his marriage to comedienne Gilda Radner. But the core of KISS ME LIKE A STRANGER is an actor's search for truth and a thoughtful analysis of why the choices he made-some of them so serendipitous they were practically accidental-changed the course of his life.
Customer Reviews:
Gene Wilder - Actor, Comedian, Human.......2007-08-21
I am amazed at the negative commentary about this book. I loved Gene Wilder the actor before I picked up the book and love him after having read the book.
We are all a mishmash of polar opposites -we can go from being egocentric, narcissistic, to benevolent, tender and compassionate ... all in a single day. It is as if you are disappointed to find out that Gene Wilder is simply a real human being. Making him something else is about your pathology, not his.
I think it took a lot of courage for him to be vulnerable and revealing. It is a literary voyage alongside a fellow sojourner who gives to us what he may still be searching for. His failures at loving may be different than our own, but don't kid yourself, we all fail. No rocks here, just a "thank you" for the joy he has given, and warm wishes as he struggles toward the very light we all aim for - love.
Great book Jerry!
Audio Version is a MUST HAVE.......2007-07-19
If you're curious about the life of Gene Wilder (and you should be) pick up the AUDIO VERSION of Kiss Me Like A Stranger, read by Gene himself. It is altogether warm, funny, sad, insightful, intelligent and candid. The only problem with it is that I am on disc 4 out of 6 and alreday I am wishing it was longer, I do not want it to end. Otherwise I couldn't be happier with this purchase and will be giving this gem of an audio book as a gift to several people. Go ahead and treat yourself.
I read these reviews---makes me feel like I can't trust reviews in the future!.......2007-07-08
I read Gilda Radner's book, "It's Always Something" which she completed only weeks before she died. And so when I was recently taking a flight, I picked up Gene Wilder's book to read on the plane. Sadly, I DID need another book on the way back. This one won't take you cross country.
There are two camps in these reviews. People who blindly give this book 5 stars and say they love Gene Wilder. But they never actually tell us what they thought was so great about this book. WHY do they give it five stars?
The other group, generously giving this book 2 stars, comments on his narcissism, his unwillingness to feel needed by anyone in his life, his current wife's greatest asset being that she hangs poetry on her refrigerator reminding her she is on her own.
Here's the thing. Gilda Radner loved Gene Wilder unconditionally, even to the day she died. She loved every thing about him, even his insistence on pushing her away. She loved the way he smelled, his looks, his humor, his mind, his character. She loved him totally. Gene Wilder on the other hand, doesn't seem to have loved her at all. He seems at best to have tolerated her---and that not very well or consistently. In one chapter he describes not having had sex with Gilda for about 6 months, (because she had had a grapefruit sized tumor removed from her body, was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation!) and perhaps as a tribute to what he sees as his own nobility, comments that he didn't ask her to "relieve" him in other ways. He then goes on to describe how, as a result of his deprivation he was of course immediately attracted to the woman who became his fourth wife, when he saw her skirts swishing about her legs.
Gilda was sick in bed having chemotherapy, and he is having dinner in a new woman's apartent. And then, when Gilda dies, he discusses with his therapist whether it's too soon for him to get married again, because the tabloids might make him look like a selfish jerk (Because he IS one!).
Look, I am all in favor of celebrity memoirs. Their artistic and celebrated lives create narratives of experience that we don't normally have access to. I like to read the kinds of books that give insight into famous people and in the circles in which they work and live, and I especially enjoy one person's reactions to them. Shelley Winters' three part autobiography revealed so much about the theatre scene of New York in the 50's, so much about her roommate, Marilyn Monroe, and so much about "the method". I felt as though I learned something in reading those books.
Here I learned that a Gilda Radner was sadly mistaken in whom she chose to love, and maybe the best book to read would have been one from HER therapist. I'd like to understand how someone so consumed with love could have chosen someone so consumed with avoiding it. It's pretty easy to understand why Gene Wilder, one of the greatest narcissists ever, would have chosen Gildan Radner---America's sweetheart who adored HIM above all others. When I put this book down, I felt disgust.
Truthful and honest.......2007-04-29
This was one the the best autobiographies/memiors I have ever read. Heartfelt and very touching Mr. Wilder has so many good insights on life. Extremely funny and at times heartbreaking it is a very quick read on which you do not want to put down. Its a must read for any fan.
Hearing him talk abou the book was more fun than reading it.......2007-03-19
I bought this book after hearing Gene Wilder on the radio, and found the book itself less compelling than the interview. I assume part of the blame since it's probably not right to expect people to reveal every detail of their lives simply because they are famous, but then again, if you are famous and you write a memior a certain amount of kiss and tell is expected. It does not have to compromise one's personal life, though. I would like to have known more, for instance, about the writing process for Young Frankenstein, the working relationship with Mel Brooks, how the actor's craft meshes with the screenwriter's, and how that all translates to what happens on the set. After reading this, I am not as well acquainted with Mr. Wilder's talents as I had hoped.
Book Description
*The most celebrated "voice" in Hollywood speaks for herself!
* Beloved show-biz icon Nixon dubbed songs for Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn--now she tells her story for the first time
* Entertaining behind-the-scenes celebrity stories from six decades of performing
Everyone knows Marni Nixon...even if they think they don't. One of the best-known and best-loved singing voices in the world, Nixon dubbed songs for Natalie Wood in West Side Story, Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, and Deborah Kerr in The King and I. She was the voice of Hollywood's leading ladies, arriving in filmland after a debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at 17 and continuing her career with Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, Stephen Sondheim, Rogers and Hammerstein, and many others. Her inspiring autobiography reveals Nixon as a singer, an actress, and a woman fighting for artistic recognition. Today, a survivor of breast cancer, she works on Broadway and television's Law & Order SVU, tours with her own stage show, and teaches master classes in voice. Marni Nixon: The Voice of Hollywood reveals the woman behind the screen is revealed, in a frank, funny biography that is as remarkable as the woman whose story it tells.
Customer Reviews:
Lots of info.......2007-10-03
I had long known about Ms. Nixon's film work, dubbing for Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn, but this memoir filled in a lot of gaps. I really enjoyed it.
Fun for film buffs.......2007-01-13
If you have ever wondered who sang Kerr's songs in KING & I or Wood's in WEST SIDE STORY, then this is the book for you. Marnie Nixon was the dubbed voice of many non-singing stars'in some of their best roles. Here she tells her story and while at times it drags a bit, I found it very interesting and entertaining. The chapters about her work in film are espcially engaging.
marni Nixon bio.......2006-11-10
Enjoyed this book so much.It was fun to read about all the colleagues she had worked with during her career. A very pleasant read.
Hollywood's most famous vocal "Ghost" appears in the shimmering flesh!.......2006-10-19
Marni Nixon's was one of those famous people who fascinated me from the moment I heard her story of being the vocal "ghost" in three of Hollywood's most remarkable musicals. Her's is a story I was waiting to hear, and with this great book, it was worth the wait.
For anyone interested in musicals, Hollywood or performing, Ms. Nixon's wonderful book will be a boon. From her personal stories about Hollywood to her journey from singer to remarkable actress, the book is a wonderful read.
Her story would make one of the most fascinating movie musicals ever. Part "Singing in the Rain" and part Hollywood Grimm's fairy tale, I want to see this story made into a movie musical. Anyone out there listening?
Bravo to Ms. Nixon! Thank you for sharing your amazing story. I was completely enthralled as well as inspired.
My Fair and Wonderful Lady.......2006-10-12
"I Could Have Sung All Night" by Marni Nixon is a wonderful, enjoyable autobiography of her life. Marni Nixon has dubbed singers Audrey Hepburn (My Fair Lady), Deborah Kerr (The King and I), and to my surprise Natalie Wood (West Side Story). Growing up with these movie musicals I knew about Marni Nixon's dubbing in "My Fair Lady", but when reading the chapter on "West Side Story" regarding the dubbing for Natalie Wood, I was surprised. When watching West Side Story, I really thought it was Natalie Wood doing her own singing!
Marni Nixon tells wonderful stories about her travels in Israel with Liberace, her stint with Victor Borge, and many other anecdotes.
The book is a fun and entertaining read, and I could not put it down. Thank you Marni Nixon!
Book Description
For the first time, porn legend Aiden Shaw takes fans behind-the-scenes to the gay adult film world that made him a star. My Undoing ventures from locales such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and London, to the sets of premiere studios like Falcon, Catalina, and Studio 200.
Yet, this is not the typical adult film memoir, where stars drop names and titillate readers with explicit moments. Although My Undoing shares in unsparing detail all the hot stories about the sex and drugs that fueled Aiden's life, it more profoundly follows him through a course of rocky and unfulfilling relationships. As Aiden eloquently and often humorously points out, the romantic life of an adult film superstar is sometimes lonely and lacking in love. But not love only in the form of a relationship, rather also love from within himself. The book is equally moving for his revelations about his Irish Catholic family, his Positive HIV status in the sex industry, and his recovery from a near fatal car accident that left him temporarily paralyzed.
Customer Reviews:
Lavern.......2007-10-06
Because this book is a personal memoir, I will review it in a "personal" way.
I am "Lavern" in this memoir. Lavern is my middle name. I was a friend of Aiden Shaw's (real name Aiden Brady) for 7 years and experienced most of the events in this book. Aiden is an existential amoral nihilistic hedonist. "do unto others as you would have others do unto you" carries no meaning to him. Self-centered narcissism is the rule of the day. I have never met someone with such incredible amounts of true charisma. It is other-worldly, probably developed in a previous life. His "accident" was not an accident at all but intentional, due to his frustrating struggle with his impossible idealistic fantasy of "love" and his inability to acheive the idealism. His refusal to "learn" anything from his experiences and manifest change is a self-serving exercise for his hedonism. This book is a replay of his first book "Brutal" (fantastic!) and not written nearly as well. There are glimmers of his unique insight from "Brutal". Aiden IS incredibly observant of others and equally judgemental. His roomate in 1994 once told me that Aiden even observed how he turned a doorknob. His phenomenal construction of "Aiden Shaw", having just previously been a "tranny" ( as Aiden confided) is a masterful acheivement. Maybe he has realized a more real idea of what constitutes a love relationship, specifically with David Michael, aka David Logan ( his longtime "baby" as he always called him).
I observed and tolerated Aiden's tragic abusive treatment of others for a long time because I was learning so much I could apply to my own life in a positive way. When his abusive behaviour turned on me, I set out to teach him a lessen, instead of crawling away and licking my wounds like hundreds of others, letting him get away with it yet one more time. Plus, I was sure it would give him plenty of juicy matterial for his next book, (prediction fullfilled).
In the end, Aiden writes non-fiction far better than the boring "novels" he aspired to pen.
Lavern, San Francisco. (ps) I don't look like ANYTHING he described.
A Sad Life.......2007-05-26
I still can't figure out why anyone would lay down in the middle of the road, at night, and let a car run over their head. Next time, try laying in the grass along the side of the road.
A Porn Star's Story.......2007-05-21
One of the most popular gar porn stars of all time shares how sex and drugs ruined his life. You'll gain insight into the meaning of life.
Aiden Shaw Tells All.......2007-01-27
AIDEN SHAW TELLS ALL
LITERARY PRIDE--a gay reading circle
Shaw, Aiden, My Undoing: Love in the Thick of Sex, Drugs, Pornography and Prostitution. Carroll& Graf. 2006.
Ah--the life of a porn star. Those are the men who get paid to do on the screen what so many of us wish we could do and get paid for it. Aiden Shaw, yes, Aiden Shaw, one of the most popular gay porn stars ever tells it all in his book. My Undoing. This is a truthful book, brutally honest to the point that it is sometimes painful, but while it hurts to read, it sheds light on the inside of a world most of us will never have an opportunity to know.
Aiden Shaw has starred in over fifty adult films--showing it all. At the same time as being a male clothing model (I remember seeing him in a JC Crew catalog), he was baring himself on video and he became at icon. His book tells what is behind the icon and the price he paid to achieve this legendary status. Shaw became so popular that his name was used for Carrie's boyfriend on "Sex and the City" and his modeling pictures adorned the finest fashion magazines. In his autobiography he tells for the first time how the real man behind the name rose to such heights and then hit the depths. His personal stories dealing with sex and drugs are not for the faint hearted. His life, fueled by substance abuse in a quest to find love, is not a pretty story but it a realistic telling of that kind of existence. The aura of the porn star bedding the most beautiful men is just that-- an aura. When the shoot is over, so is the romance. Shaw tells how hard is it for one who publicly displays everything to find love and settle down to a regular life style. Herein is the core of the book--the quest for love and acceptance. Here is a "smart...honest glimpse" into a life, a saga that is not easy to put down.
Who would have thought that a porn star could write with such eloquence and insight? Shaw destroys the notion that a porn star is only that--a sex object with nothing between his ears. (The rest of the equipment he needs no testament.) The humor in the book mixes easily with the pain and Shaw emerges as a complex individual with more than an average share of intelligence--his quick wit suffuses his writing and his melancholy style gives it life. Having once been in awe of his physical attributes, I must admit that I am now in awe of his mental attributes as well.
The theme of the book appears to be, as I said before, the quest for love--not just for a significant other, but for love of oneself as well. In his quest for love, Shaw brings into the story the details of his having been raised Roman Catholic, of his HIV-positive status and his return to life from a near fatal accident that left him partially paralyzed for a period. Writing of several relationships that left him unfulfilled as well as several that were not meant to be, Shaw shows us a side of him we would never have imagined--his vulnerability. Here is a man who personified sex with his swagger and who could not find a way to use his charm for a lasting relationship.
Of course, we want a happy ending and whether there is one or not is for you to discover when you read the book. I am not telling. But what I will tell you is that this is a terrific read and should not be missed nor misjudged.
It means nothing!.......2007-01-18
There is no deeper meaning, he warns you from the start so read this book for any other reason! Taste him, feel him, touch him, be him, read about a life you do not have! Maybe do not even want! I like him and I love reading his work. I truly enjoy sensing his music, Whatever! Listen to them late at night in your own personal space!
Book Description
Sue Carswell grew up with two families: her own and the one comprised of the orphans living in her backyard. Though the Carswells’ house is on the grounds of the Albany Home for Children, where Sue’s father is an administrator and her mother a nurse, Sue and her four rowdy siblings are not permitted to play with the Home’s young residents. Instead, plagued by irrational fears, Sue observes these troubled souls from a distance. As she watches the orphans come and go, she fantasizes that in their unorthodox world a girl as unusual as she might just fit in.
Racked with insomnia and panic attacks, Carswell feels increasingly out of step with her so-called normal family. While lauded for her exceptional creativity, behind the gregarious mask is a frightened and depressed girl. Throughout her life, she remains fiercely attached to her gentle, compassionate mother who, like the children next door, grew up without parents.
With a structure reminiscent of Michael Cunningham’s The Hours, Sue Carswell’s remarkable book skillfully weaves together stories spanning the decades and capturing generations of both the Carswell family and the Albany Home. Curious about the past, Carswell tracks down some of the Home’s previous inhabitants, searching all the while for the ever-elusive happy ending. In the process, she revisits her own turbulent childhood and discovers the parents she never fully understood.
Writing poignantly about the tremendous void left by the death of a mother, Sue Carswell has created an utterly original rendering of family and loss, sharply observed, paradoxically tender, and illuminated by Sue a wry, witty narrative voice.
Faded Pictures from My Backyard parlays the literal orphan into a larger story about one woman’s triumph over fear. A study in emotional dislocation held aloft by humor, this is a stirring narrative about the times that matter most and the connections that last. Above all, this is the affecting tale of the lasting love between a mother and daughter.
Customer Reviews:
Quite a Backyard...........2007-04-04
Sue's father is the Director of a home for disturbed children. It's interesting the expertise and wisdom that he can give to other troubled children, but when it comes to his own daughter, he's in denial. Very candid and extremely well written.
Sue Carswell's Beautiful Backyard.......2006-01-06
Sue Carswell's astonishing, spectacular book is, without a doubt, the most courageous book I have ever read. Carswell opens her heart, her psyche, and her soul to the reader and the world, and does so with monumental skill, humor, and candor. When you finish this book, you feel you know the author better than anyone, other than yourself, because she has revealed herself so generously. What a comfort her struggle with her demons will be to so many people.
I laughed out loud at points and cried (something I haven't done in years while reading a book). Her voice evolves over the course of the narrative and will be in my head for a very long time, maybe forever. So sweet, so sad, so resilient. Ms. Carswell invites readers in to her wirting process in the beginning of this book, and at the end, she brings you back to her flickering computer screen. Even though much of the book is painful to experience, I didn't want it to end and so I read the Acknowledgments as if they were a part of the story and, in a way, they are.
I tried to find one thing I didn't like about this book, but the only thing I was unsure about (the lack of quote marks), I ended up loving. Their absence is liberating.
I recommend this book to absolutely everyone. Put it on the top of your list for 2006.
Beauty in the Backyard.......2005-12-01
The tender love emanating from the pages of this book touch the depths of one's soul. Whether she knows it or not, Ms. Carswell has attained spiritual greatness, although the book does not seem to be written to that end. The love she has for her mother and the empathy she holds for the orphans are the true essence of its beauty.
Reminiscent of the style in which Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, the author so poignantly captures the voice of a child trying to make sense of the sadness which is her backyard; while at the same time she interjects bouts of comic relief that can only come from pure childhood innocence. As she ages in the book her voice does also. It is brilliantly done.
I highly recommend this book. You will cry. You will laugh out loud. And, because Ms. Carswell reveals her heart so openly, you will love.
A Memorable Read -- Do Not Miss.......2005-06-10
Carswell's book is a tremendous, insightful read. There are so many beautiful images and her writing just flows off the pages. The story is captivating and the characters -- her family members -- are honestly drawn and with great humor.
I literally could not put this book down. Not only is the writing fantastic, her changing voice as she matures and ages is something I don't think I've ever experienced as a reader before. The stories themselves are all intertwined and her observations of her mother and her own self-reflection are devastating, moving, hilarious, wrenching, and lovely. It's a wonderfully fascinating story and for anyone who grew up in a large family in the 60s, it is especially fun.
If you want your humanity button pushed!.......2005-06-08
Faded Pictures From My Backyard is the story of the Carswell family, told by oldest daughter Sue, using an age-appropriate child's voice through the years.
The father is an administrator at the Albany Home for Children. The family lived just this side of the home/orphanage-and they never, ever were allowed to interact with the children. The Carswell children never understood the "why" of this rule, and it was described as another "it's complicated" answer to some questions.
The orphans ranged from 6 to 18 (when they left to make their way in the world). The only parents these children knew were the houseparents paid to care for them. How they must have secretly envied the five Carswell children with both a mother and a father, especially at holidays ... and bedtime.
Saturdays the Home's children were dressed in their best hand-me-down clothing to line up and wait for visitors who might be a parent or it might be a new mom and dad come to adopt them. Children were on display every Saturday, and seldom is one selected or even visited.
Some were truly orphans, others relinquished to the home for "adult" reasons, and others became residents because they had mental illness, or considered incorrigible.
The author herself has frequent childhood bouts with anxiety, baseless fears and worry, way beyond a normal child's. We later learn that although her father worked with troubled children - or better said, children with troubles, and the mother was a nurse there, both choose to minimize their daughter's maladies, and not get her treatment.
Her book follows these children and her family as they struggle, learn and grow up. At a 1989 reunion the former Home residents told wonderful stories of hope and love. Some were very successful, others succumb early to depression and misdirection. Some Home children had difficulty when adults because they never learned traditional relationships and what "mother love" is.
The author however has received tremendous "mother love" all her life - and had as one of her fears that her mother Elaine would die when she was young (as her mother had).
The famous quotes used are annotated that each writer also lost one or both parents while young.
The book is a great story as you cheer for them, worry for them, and then grieve with them all. In the 1960s such residential homes still existed. Kind counselors, houseparents and support staff cared for and about these children, and you will too. www.ArmchairInterviews says Faded Pictures From My Backyard is a very worthwhile read if you want your humanity button pushed a couple dozen times.
Book Description
MY HUSBAND, MY FRIEND THE REAL STEVE McQUEEN - FROM ABANDONED CHILD TO GLITTERING SUPERSTAR TO HAUNTED MAN.... Now his wife of 15 and a half years, Neile, who rode the dazzling Hollywood roller coaster with him, reveals A Steve McQueen no one knew - his good side, his crazy side, his dark side....
Customer Reviews:
Painfully honest about a super cool man yet a horrible husband.......2007-05-04
I have always been a fan of Steve Mcqueen ever since I can remember. I always had a certain image of my idols and unfourtunately once you read about them and how they were as parents and partners or as a human being then it shatters that image not that I only like bad boys. I am glad I read this book because it just shows you bad is cool and to be honest its probably more interesting reading about what they did, in Steve Mcqueen's case sleeping with whomever came to him while married telling his wife that he only loves her and just F**** the others, how understanding of her to stay with him as long as she did.
She writes very honestly and I enjoyed the book alot, I had heard things about this cool man but to read it first hand from his first wife and certain details it was a surprize.
Steve McQueen by Neile.......2005-09-27
I just recently read this book for the first time. Its a very interesting book and I'm glad Neile wrote it. She married Steve McQueen before he was Steve McQueen movie star. Neile was actually more successful than Steve when they married. She was the breadwinner for a while after they married. No one can accuse her of marrying for money or fame. After they married, she basically became his supporter and helper to climb that ladder of success and fame. She did a great job too. Steve always trusted her judgment, even after they divorced.
Neile takes us from their humble beginnings to the heights of Steve's fame. She got to enjoy Steve's success for a few years with him before it really started to go to his head and poison their relationship, along with the drugs and women.
Anyone who is interested in the life of Steve McQueen and his career can't ignore this book. Neile was Steve's first wife and longest marriage (15.5 years together) and the mother of his two children. She shares so many interesting stories of their times together. She tells of a cross-country car drive she and Steve made early in their marriage. Steve wanted her to see the US. Once they arrived in New York from California, Neile told Steve she finally knew what America looked like - a blur. Steve loved speed - as in fast cars and motorcycles. Later he came to love another kind of speed.
There are so many interesting stories about so many interesting people - Frank Sinatra, Yul Brenner, Robert Vaughn, James Garner, Paul Newman. Also, Natalee Wood, Lee Remick, Faye Dunaway, Jacqueline Bisset, Suzanne Pleshette, all Steve's co-stars at one time or another. And of course, Ali MacGraw, his co-star in "The Getaway" who married Steve after his divorce from Neile. She was not the reason for the divorce and Neile always liked her and still does. She didn't know his third wife, Barbara Minty, very well, but thought Barbara looked like she could be Ali's daughter.
Neile covers Steve's life all the way to the end when he died of cancer at age 50. I remember when he died in 1980. I was 23 and thought he was getting on up there. Now I realize how many more years he should have had and that he died young.
Book Description
An authoritative insight into the life of the man most film fans consider the "one and only" Tarzan - Olympic swimming champion Johnny Weissmuller -- this book offers an intimate look at Weissmuller's early life, middle years, and later decline, through swimming training, Olympic triumphs, failed marriages, a Hollywood life as Tarzan of the Apes, and subsequent career as Jungle Jim.
Written by his only son, this biography is a sensitive yet unsentimental portrayal of the man who was Tarzan to movie fans around the world. Johnny Junior's inside perspective on his father's life and career includes interviews with his father's celebrity friends and former wives, recollections of conversations with his father over the years, and family stories involving international icons such as Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, Robert Mitchum, Joe Louis, and many others. There are "surprises" in the text and many photos from private collections that have never before been printed or seen by the general public.
Customer Reviews:
A great tribute by a son about his famous father........2007-01-28
In the thirties and forties there was something big film wise to look forward to nearly every year, bigger than the anticipation of the next Star Wars, Bond or Potter film. It was Tarzan and most of those years there was only one Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller. To many today he is still the only Tarzan.
Tarzan fans in our generation actually embraced a parallel universe in the jungle man's world. There was the long time favorite given us by author Edgar Rice Burroughs, an articulate educated Lord Greystoke who could stow away his tux, put on a loin cloth to lead Tantor and his herd of elephants. Then there was the bigger than life Johnny Weissmuller on the screen who portrayed a Tarzan of few words, gave a battle cry that is more familiar today than most any other sound byte and whose biggest vocabulary word was "Umgawa!" Whether we were first introduced to the book Tarzan or film Tarzan, we could love both. Weissmuller himself was familiar with the concern Burroughs had about the portrayal that first MGM and then RKO required and wished also that he could have a bigger speaking role. However, the money was good and he couldn't object too much. When Burroughs himself made Tarzan films and hand picked Bill Brix with his well spoken vocabulary the films bombed.
In "Tarzan My Father" the author Johnny Weissmuller, Jr. gives a portrayal unlike others in the past. It is not an apology or a "daddy dearest". Johnny Jr. loved his father and admits there were both good and bad things that can be related. However, even in the bad, Johnny Weissmuller is more the innocent taken in by business managers, partying big name friends and two of his five wives, especially the last one who did all she could to trash his name and memorial while making money off of interviews. There is also a rebuttal against Esther Williams's recent book with interviews that reveal she has lied about Johnny Weissmuller as she did other legendary Hollywood heroes.
Johnny Jr. covers the myths behind the legend and uses documentation when needed. When stories conflict he gives both sides as would a true historian. I found myself looking at older books I have on the father and find that in general the son has been forthright in his handling of events. There is also detailed information about his father's sports career which makes him also legendary in that world as well. I had an opportunity to meet Johnny Weismuller briefly in the Roanoke Valley of Virginia and the man I saw was the man described by his son. It was a moment I will always remember. He was both generous and kind.
The book covers the father's friends and cronies, people like Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Red Skelton and others who are icons today. In his own case the author knew well Robert Mitchum, Ricky Nelson, Burt Reynolds and Elvis. There are great pictures in the book that will delight any and all film fans.
Yes, the book is very personal and unlike some, the author does it not to exploit his name but to give honor to one of the great film heroes of the 20th century. The book itself is endorsed by Danton Burroughs, secretary of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. This is a tribute and it shows us a man bigger than life who greatly influenced more than one generation.
Johnny Weissmuller had what some might call a simplistic philosophy that his son paraphrases as "A man should stand where God places him-jungle trails or Hollywood streets-and fight for those things he believes."
Tarza, My Father.......2006-06-25
Excellent book, told me more about the man than i ever knew. my own father is a johnny fan of his era, a swimmer too. I grew up to know the legend of what he was. After reading the book he is more of a man then i could of imagined. What a great read.
Cheetah could've written a better story.......2006-05-23
I have gone about 1/3 of the way through this book and have been very disappointed. The events are told unevenly and there is little insight to this potentially great story or stories behind the man. I thought I would get greater insight from his son but so far very little is revealed. The writing is very choppy and I am surprised that the professional writers helping JR couldn't write more fluently. It is like they took all the notes and forgot how to put them into words. the book is extremely short and is more like a magazine article. There seemed to be so much waiting to be told. Amazon should send half my money back because all I got was half a story.
A must get for all Johnny Weissmuller fans.......2006-02-23
It was a very fascinating read and gave a great insight to the life of Johnny Weissmuller and how the studios treated stars then.
I would recommend it to anybody that liked the Tarzan movies.
A Great Read
MGM -You made a Big Mistake !.......2004-06-29
My daughter gave me a copy of this book for Father's Day this year along with the last MGM Tarzan movie that I was missing " Tarzan Escapes". This book is loaded with all kinds of good stuff written by Weissmullers son, Johnny Jr..It has some great pictures in it too. For Folks like myself who grew up watching (or just wanting to watch) Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan and knowing that nothing either before or after his movies was worth it's weight in Dog Dung then you also will really enjoy this book! My kids were raised hearing phrases like "That used to be a full grown man" or "Ma-ha-wani Sleep,Ma-ha-wani Sleep" or better yet "That was a close one, we almost lost the rifles". Yes there was only one REAL Tarzan and folks from my generation know that his name was Johnny Weissmuller. Boy did MGM screw up when they stopped making Tarzan Movies and let Johnny go to RKO, If only they knew how big his movies would become in the future! When Tarzan answered Jane as he was feeding a bottle to Boy and said "Him no choke",I'm certain MGM did a lot of choking in years to come. It was kind-a like SUN RECORDS selling Elvis Presly's contract to RCA for 50 grand a real no-brainer. This book tells the whole Hollywood story and how so many stars of that day really turned Hollywood into "SIN CITY" but Johnny was one of very few who kept to clean living and avoided all the garbage! This book is a real good deal! "ENJOY"
Book Description
Marlon Brando was the brightest, boldest, and most iconoclastic acting talent of our time. But while his courage and imagination as an artist brought applause and attention from around the world, Brando shunned nearly everything that goes with celebrity status. He was one of the most reclusive personalities in modern times and a legend beyond compare. He was also an equal opportunity provocateur -- a dazzling baffler -- be it on stage, on screen, or in his private life. Always true to his nature, he never failed to surprise. He did things his way -- The Way It's Never Been Done Before.
No one shared as much of Brando's private fields as his lifelong friend and business confidant, George Englund. For more than five decades, Brando and Englund were each other's most trusted ally and closest compadre. Even at their first meeting, at a Hollywood party in 1956 -- the kind of occasion where Brando was most on guard against any who would attempt to get close to him -- he and Englund forged close ties. From that initial meeting right up to the eve of the superstar's death in the summer of 2004, Brando and Englund were in nearly constant contact. They traveled together, worked together, and played together. They consoled and cajoled each other through their marriages and divorces, the births and tragic deaths of their children, good and bad business deals, and the onset of aging, concluding with Brando's death at the age of eighty.
"I remembered what Mark Twain wrote," Englund says, "'that everybody is a moon with a dark side he doesn't show anyone else.' I felt this was an appropriate hour for a book that looked at the other side of Marlon, that told of the man and friend and father he was. There has not been such a book in Marlon's lifetime, even including his autobiography, and I felt that after our long years of friendship, perhaps I should attempt to write it. I knew the difficulty I would encounter; to write about Marlon is to work with delicate glass, for he was, without question, the most complicated personality I ever met or knew about.
"I once thought what a grand time he and I would have writing the book about our friendship together. That possibility has passed away, for Marlon is gone now -- I must make the attempt to write of us alone. I summon to the task the sacredness, which, when we were at our best, Marlon and I laid upon our friendship."
Customer Reviews:
"A Friend, Indeed"...................2007-07-06
What is "friendship?"
I am sorry to say that I felt the book, "The Way It's Never Been Done Before: My Friendship With Marlon Brando," was a betrayal. The book's author, George Englund, was a "friend" to Marlon Brando for decades. When I purchased the book, I expected a poignant remembrance from a beloved friend of Marlon Brando. This book was anything but that, in my opinion. Then, I realized that George Englund's book was published in 2004. Marlon died in 2004. You do the math.
Sad...terribly sad...Marlon was right. He had reason to feel distrust of people, even of those who claimed to be his friends.
Marlon deserved better.
As for the details contained in the book, the "dish" had no juice. I thought that most of it was George Englund attempting to elevate himself and telling his OWN life story...which was VERY boring. I bought the book to read about Marlon, not to read about George Englund.
George Englund should have titled the book, "The Way It's Always Been Done Before: My Friendship With Myself...Oh, and Did I Mention Marlon Brando?"
Includes some interesting information if you're a fan of Brando's, but perhaps not what you'd expect from a friend.......2006-11-29
While their friendship lasted for nearly fifty years, from 1956 to Brando's death in 2004 (with a noticeable break in the 1990's), I can't help feeling that all George Englund wanted all these years was to get information about Marlon so he one day would be able to write a book like this one. He claims that they were very close, and he has a reason for saying so, inasmuch as the two talked about quite personal experiences and memories. But then, if a pair of friends really are so close, is it so natural of one of them to write an entire book about the other, making everybody able to know incidents the victim didn't want anybody else to know?
George Englund's book THE WAY IT'S NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE: MY FRIENDSHIP WITH MARLON BRANDO opens with some reflections from the author, written a few months before the actor's death. "Marlon is an old man. I both laugh and weep as I write the sentence. Marlon Brando old? It can't be true. It is, though; he is eigthy. But it isn't the number of years that's significant, Brando could still be youthful. It's how the years have treated him and how he has treated them." The book eventually covers the first meeting between George and Marlon, the opening of their film-company Pennebaker and the filming of a movie Englund directed which Brando starred in, the lesser known THE UGLY AMERICAN from 1963. All this is interesting stuff to any Brando-fan like myself. But as the book goes on, I slowly begin to feel a certain disgust against Englund. Was he really a friend? He frequently describes Brando's relationships with women in a tasteless way. It might be possible that Brando was far from being a saint all the time, but even so, that's no excuse for a self-called "friend" to make the whole world aware of it more than already. Englund also takes the liberty to present an entire telephone conversation he once taped between him and Marlon shortly after the killing of the boyfriend of Marlon's daughter. Needless to say, the conversation includes plenty of intimate information about the tragedy.
Englund reaches the peak, however, when he talks about his friend's behavior in the court room after the murder. Englund admits that he didn't attend the court during the trial and never saw any clips of it on television or anywhere else, but when he read in the newspapers that Marlon began to cry in court, he knew Brando was lying, " he acted. But this wasn't the greatest actor of his time seizing everyone's imagination, this was a former champion, overweight, out of shape, sloppy with his technique." A somewhat nice friend.
Englund also uses the opportunity to largely tell about his own children's problems with drugs -- and he's even namegiving them.
The book also has flaws concerning its structure, in my opinion; although pretty well written word-wise, Englund moves from one time to another back and forward which I found to be very confusing at times. For example, he mentions one incident when he visited Marlon's house while the actor watched ON THE WATERFRONT on TV; it took me a while to figure out that this was at the end of his life.
Brando said, several times, "My friends don't write books about me." In a well-published interview with Laurence Grobel, he stated, "["Friends who write books about me] weren't friends from the beginning." The big irony here lays in that Englund in his book even admits this, and says that a friend doing a book about Brando was the biggest sin you could do towards him. I'm glad you realize what you are, George.
I recommend this book only to the biggest Brando-fans out there who've already read the actor's lovingly autobiography.
A fantastic read.......2006-05-29
The problem with biographies of Marlon Brando, and celebrities in general, is that they are often written by an outsider, someone who had little or no personal acquaintance with the subject and is sometimes just out to cash in on their celebrity. It is these problems with most biographies that makes George Englund's biography of Marlon Brando such a joy to read.
Englund's friendhip with Brando started in 1956 and his biography therefore thrusts us directly into the height of his fame and spares us the date and details of his birth and upbringing. These often constitute the more tedious parts of other biographies. Another common problem with biographies is that they have a tendency to simply list off the actions and professional achievements of their subjects, sometimes giving them the appearance of a prolonged C.V. This is another area where Englund's book comes into its own. His close relationship with Brando allows him to recount many very personal and revealing tales that allow the reader to feel a closeness to Marlon that is difficult considering how private a man he was. The difficulties of Brando's life are well documented, but the accounts offered here are far more vivid and moving. The writer is not pre-occupied with sensationalism or scandal, merely the real story and the emotion felt.
'The way it's never been done before' is a fascinating read and is a must have for anyone that is passionate about the work of Marlon Brando, surely the screen's greatest ever actor
Touching, but only a partial portrait.......2006-01-02
George Englund's memoir of Marlon Brando is that, a memoir and far from a full-scale biography. It is a touching remembrance, filled with genuine affection for its subject, but not so much as to make the author blind to the shortcomings and warts of the greatest of all our film actors. In its affection it is a welcome departure from some of the more vicious tabloid-like portrayals of Brando--Peter Manso's biography comes to mind. At its best Englund's work is distinguished by some really beautiful interludes and gripping passages--his description of visiting his own absentee father after decades is especially moving. One senses that Englund believed he was privy to the whole of Brando, the insider of all insiders. His graphic description of Brando's last night is almost an exercise in trying to prove to himself, and us
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