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Dataloungers Who Like Reading Autobiographies and Memoirs

What are some of your favorite autobiographies and memoirs?

I think I might like to write one some day and would like to see some examples.

Preferably ones that have some kind of unusual style in they way they are written or how the story is told.

by Anonymousreply 152October 4, 2020 4:13 AM

I like the ones with tough people and light-handed ghostwriting. Miles Davis and Ozzy have good ones.

by Anonymousreply 1September 22, 2020 9:42 PM

You Should Really Read E. Jean Carroll’s Memoir What Do We Need Men For?

It's funny, caustic, unusual and has a dog in it.

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by Anonymousreply 2September 22, 2020 9:51 PM

It’s my favorite nonfiction genre, I’ve been reading biographies/ autobiographies and memoirs since 7th grade. In 6th grade I read my first adult (non-kids book) biography and it was an old library copy of Nicholas and Alexandra, by Robert Massie. It started me on reading historical biographies which I’m still doing to this day.

by Anonymousreply 3September 22, 2020 9:52 PM

I like memoirs that are written from a certain kooky perspective. An example that comes to mind is the first book by Simon Doonan.

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by Anonymousreply 4September 22, 2020 9:54 PM

Love this thread! I’ll post more later but a fav that’s top of mind is Truman Capote by Gerald Clarke. I have so many! I’ll collect my thoughts and post later.

by Anonymousreply 5September 22, 2020 9:56 PM

R2 love her so much! I haven’t read it yet, but next on my list

by Anonymousreply 6September 22, 2020 9:57 PM

Yep, Simon Doonan is good. Quentin Crisp's is a classic as well, The Naked Civil Servant.

by Anonymousreply 7September 22, 2020 10:00 PM

The Naked Civil Servant by Quentin Crisp is a one-of-a-kind delight and offers a glimpse into a whole lost world (Crisp was born in 1908) of London that will never come again. It's also very funny, brilliantly written and tough as nails as [R1] likes.

by Anonymousreply 8September 22, 2020 10:00 PM

[R7] Just beat me to it!

by Anonymousreply 9September 22, 2020 10:01 PM

The Andy Warhol Diaries for what he thought worth mentioning.

by Anonymousreply 10September 22, 2020 10:14 PM

E. F. Benson's "Final Edition: Informal Autobiography" is pretty entertaining.

by Anonymousreply 11September 22, 2020 10:18 PM

We all have our guilty pleasures. I've always hoped Eddie Redmayne would voice the audio book. Or maybe Simon Cowell.

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by Anonymousreply 12September 22, 2020 10:28 PM

Katharine Hepburn, "Me". So fantastic and great pictures also!!

by Anonymousreply 13September 22, 2020 10:28 PM

Who's In, Who's Out. The Journals of Kenneth Rose. Vol. 1, 1944-1979 Who Wins, Who Loses. The Journals of Kenneth Rose. Vol. 2, 1979-2014.

Both volumes edited by D. R. Thorpe (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London; 2018-2019)

Another journal as memoir, a marvelous storyteller telling us everything in precise detail about nothing really important. Sixty years of observing Britain's establishment and recording it all. Never married, I have no tea, and he doesn't mention it in two volumes. The stiff upper lip never so much as quivers. Asexual or deeply closeted?

by Anonymousreply 14September 22, 2020 10:29 PM

Hollywood, television, society, the Mob, drugs, primal scream therapy, Jim Morrison, Princess Margaret, Gore Vidal, Jack Nicholson, the Beatles, Jane Fonda, Edie Goetz, Natalie Wood...

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by Anonymousreply 15September 22, 2020 10:36 PM

I know it's not very DL, but "The Power Broker" by Robert Caro (biography of Robert Moses) is off-the-charts fantastic, best bio I've ever read. You'll love it especially if you have any history with NYC.

by Anonymousreply 16September 22, 2020 10:47 PM

Patti Smith’s “Just Kids,” about her friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe.

by Anonymousreply 17September 22, 2020 10:48 PM

Likewise a bio, R16, and not meaning to derail, but a shoutout as well for Caro's biography "The Years of Lyndon Johnson" yet to be finished. Caro marshals an amazing level of detail and accuracy about LBJ, the ultimate operator.

by Anonymousreply 18September 22, 2020 11:01 PM

Great thread!

I’m particularly fond of historical and political memoir/biography/diaries.

I really enjoyed Lytton Strachey’s short biography of Queen Victoria. He manages to humanise her without venerating her and it is beautifully written.

For anyone interested in British politics there are a couple of diarists who should not be missed. Alan Clark was a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher’s government, a toff with a messy love life and delusions of grandeur. He wrote three volumes of diaries which cover 30 years of his life. He is a crashing snob, but he writes well and Is brutally honest about the people he meets. It’s also quite funny to realise that he always felt himself to be on the brink of great power.

Another diarist is Gyles Brandreth who wrote an unintentionally funny account of his time as an MP in John Major’s government, at a time when the Tories were reaching the end of 18 years in power. Brandreth thought that he was embarking on a great political career but really spends his time watching his colleagues fall into one scandal after another.

by Anonymousreply 19September 22, 2020 11:02 PM

this title has been taken

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by Anonymousreply 20September 22, 2020 11:36 PM

Julia Phillips' 'You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again' is honest and caustic and names (Hollywood) names.

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by Anonymousreply 21September 22, 2020 11:42 PM

Thank you, R18--I'm going to look for the Lyndon Johnson books! I don't know why I never thought to search out Caro's other work, given my extraordinary fondness for "The Power Broker." Not a derail at all, but exactly the kind of response that makes this kind of thread my favorite on DL!

by Anonymousreply 22September 23, 2020 12:56 AM

Gerald Clarke’s “Get Happy” is probably the definitive Judy Garland biography. It’s balanced and doesn’t attempt to canonize her or parody her à la JudyPills. Deeply researched and thoroughly footnoted, it’s mostly a laudatory documentary of one of the all-time greatest and most successful careers in American entertainment, but it certainly portrays the complete “warts and all” picture of a life full of heartbreak and addiction.

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by Anonymousreply 23September 23, 2020 1:32 AM

I really enjoyed Keith Richards’ “Life.”

by Anonymousreply 24September 23, 2020 1:37 AM

Edie

Haywire, the Brooke Hayward autobiography

Rotten

by Anonymousreply 25September 23, 2020 1:41 AM

I am reading Salman Rushdie's memoir Joseph Anton. It is about his days running from Khomenei's fatwa. It is pretty interesting to read his writing in another style, not magic realism but a straight and "factual" account of the events in his life after the fatwa was declared. It is a pretty self-indulgent book and, in certain portions, seems like a settling of accounts with people who betrayed him after the fatwa. Unfortunately, Rushdie's writing talents lie in magic realism and not reporting. I am plodding through the book and will, likely, skip chapters just to get to the end.

by Anonymousreply 26September 23, 2020 1:53 AM

Some of you don't seem to understand what autobiographies and memoirs are. HINT: They're not written by other people.

by Anonymousreply 27September 23, 2020 1:58 AM

"Vanna Speaks."

by Anonymousreply 28September 23, 2020 1:58 AM

Susan Lydon's "Take the Long Way Home" is very good.

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by Anonymousreply 29September 23, 2020 2:02 AM

For cunt and bitch, Kitty Kelley’s Nancy Reagan hit piece. Fabulous!

by Anonymousreply 30September 23, 2020 2:05 AM

"Chicka, chicka, chickabee. T'ee an me an t'ee an me. Ressa, ressa, ressa me, Chicka, chicka, chickabee" by Nell.

You can't say the style isn't unusual.

by Anonymousreply 31September 23, 2020 2:05 AM

I love Michael Thomas Ford's collections from My Queer Life. His writing is full of humor, and really captures real-life situations in day-to-day gay life. He's cute, too.

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by Anonymousreply 32September 23, 2020 2:13 AM

My favorite biography.

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by Anonymousreply 33September 23, 2020 2:19 AM

Just to clarify, I'm not famous or anything but for a while I have felt I wanted to put my life on paper. I haven't had extraordinary hardships but it has been a difficult road for a variety of reasons.

I'm 60 and I'd like to take a look back and wanted some examples of as many different ways to tell your own story as possible.

Thanks to all those who have shared their suggestions.

by Anonymousreply 34September 23, 2020 2:19 AM

Shelly Winters books are amazing. I also like Carrie Fisher's books. I loved Angelica Huston's tales of growing up in Ireland and subsequent escapades. Jane Fonda's autobiography is excellent, so is Michelle Obama's "Becoming."

by Anonymousreply 35September 23, 2020 2:48 AM

Q. Crisp was born in Cum Hard, near Man Chest. And The Naked Civil Servant is really good.

by Anonymousreply 36September 23, 2020 2:48 AM

'The Glass Castle' by gossip columnist Jeanette Walls is a very humane account of her difficult, impoverished childhood.

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by Anonymousreply 37September 23, 2020 2:52 AM

"Gerald Clarke’s “Get Happy” is probably the definitive Judy Garland biography. It’s balanced and doesn’t attempt to canonize her or parody her à la JudyPills."

It most certainly is NOT the "definitive Judy Garland biography." "Judy" by Gerold Frank is infinitely better, as is "Rainbow: The Stormy Life of Judy Garland" by Christopher Finch. And it sure isn't balanced. Gerald Clarke is a big ol' Judy queen. He adores her. He paints her as a total victim, totally blameless for her problems because poor little Judy was used and abused her entire life by evil people like her mother, Louis B. Mayer, her husbands and business managers. He puts forth everything Judy Garland said as the gospel truth even though she was known for making up stories to amuse or portray herself as the wronged one. Clarke wanted his book to sell, so he includes a lot of sleazy detail, telling of how Judy liked to fellate her gay lovers under the table in restaurants and such. And he relates an incident where one of her lovers, after she's sucked his cock, requests that she sing him a few bars of "Over The Rainbow", which she does, "through a mouthful of semen." Yeah, I'm sure Judy Garland's fans LOVED hearing that about dear Judy.,

by Anonymousreply 38September 23, 2020 2:58 AM

Richard E. Grant's "With Nails" is great.

Boy George's Take It Like a Man is also very honest and entertaining - especially all the frenemy stuff with Marilyn.

Beverly Donofrio's Riding in Cars with Boys is a classic. Working class girl is boy obsessed, gets knocked up by a heroin junkie, has to get her G.E.D. and put herself through school. I mean, we've all been there!

by Anonymousreply 39September 23, 2020 3:21 AM

Viv Albertine

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by Anonymousreply 40September 23, 2020 3:39 AM

You want quirky, and interesting, read Ruth Gordon’s “An Open Book”

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by Anonymousreply 41September 23, 2020 3:59 AM

Oldie but Goodie

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by Anonymousreply 42September 23, 2020 4:04 AM

Oops just saw r21. Sorry

by Anonymousreply 43September 23, 2020 4:05 AM

r30 r38 Neither an autobiography nor a memoir.

by Anonymousreply 44September 23, 2020 4:12 AM

Scotty Bowers "Full Service" owns this thread! Scandalous, salacious, shocking, and arousing!

There's a companion Documentary that's covers additional scandalous stuff not covered in his autobiography!

by Anonymousreply 45September 23, 2020 5:15 AM

“Bittersweet” by Susan Strasberg - one of my favorites. Wonderful colorful stories growing up with father Lee and mother Paula. The trauma of having your career peak at 16 (Diary of Anne Frank) and feeling that your famous parents never found you as talented or beautiful as their students. She had a tumultuous affair with Richard Burton and married Christopher Jones. Wonderful stories about Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Shelly Winters - a wonderful read! As a teenager when I first read it it was what I wanted to be - a sort of real Marjorie Morningstar. In my 20s I had the opportunity to take some classes from her - she was very kind - I felt kind of star struck and I didn’t love the classes. I was sad to read about 10 years later that she passed away from Breast Cancer - I think she was only in her late 50s. .... Anyway - a really good gossipy book!

by Anonymousreply 46September 23, 2020 5:45 AM

Probably not very 'DL' but, 'Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys' by Michael Collins was very entertaining. I know that astronauts are not really chosen for their creativity, and most of their bios are dry and boring, but this one was not - he has a snarky wit and yes, he wrote it himself.

by Anonymousreply 47September 23, 2020 5:52 AM

I like reading history, memoirs, or biographies of any President. My two favorite living authors of this genre are Doris Kearns Goodwin or Jon Meacham

by Anonymousreply 48September 23, 2020 5:58 AM

Joan Rivers : Enter Talking

Grace Slick : Someone to love?

Elizabeth Ashley : Actress

Lauren Bacall : By myself and then some

Sue Mengers Can I Go Now?

Moss Hart: Act One

From U.K. celebrities - Julie Walters: That’s Another Story and Paul O’Grady: At My Mother’s knee and other low places

and a pretty random one but really, really well written and researched is Jacqueline Susann, Lovely Me by Barbara Seaman.

by Anonymousreply 49September 23, 2020 6:06 AM
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by Anonymousreply 50September 23, 2020 7:26 AM

The Orton Diaries by Joe Orton, edited and annotated by John Lahr, author of the excellent biography of Orton, Prick Up Your Ears. I read both books in college. To this day, I'm haunted by his brief, tragic, yet emarkable life.

[quote]The Diaries, which cover the last eight months of Joe Orton's life from 20 December 1966 to 1 August 1967 (Orton was murdered on 9 August 1967, but no one has ever discovered the entries for those last eight days, if there were any), have been divided into three units. The first, extending to early May, details Orton's newly-found, hard-won celebrity and his reactions to his mother's death and funeral; to his triumph with Loot, winner of the Evening Standard Award as Best Play of 1966; to his being commissioned by the Beatles to write the screenplay for their next movie; to house-hunting in Brighton; and finally to his deteriorating relationship with his roomate'of seventeen years, Kenneth Halliwell. The second unit, comprising May and June, deals exclusively and exhaustively with Orton's Tangiers vacation, his sexcapades with several Arab youths, and the wit and wisdom of the English homosexual colony of that city. The last, brief unit chronicles Orton's return to London, the completion of his masterpiece, What the Butler Saw, and the misery he and Halliwell felt at being back in oppressive England. As the first diary is the most varied in its subjects and prompts the most interesting of Orton's responses, it is clearly the best and most entertaining part of the book. The Tangiers section suffers from a monotony of events, but is occasionally funny. The diary of July adds little new in terms of Orton's reactions, but provides the reader familiar with Orton's fate the thrill of an uncomfortable dramatic irony.

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by Anonymousreply 51September 23, 2020 8:26 AM

I'm glad someone brought up Joe Orton. Like Kenneth Williams said (in the diaries somewhere I think), Lahr kind of turned Orton into a cottage industry. It's expensive as hell, but if you can track it down there is also a book about the defaced library books that got Orton and Halliwell sent to jail. It has pictures of the book covers, and of their apartment, covered floor to ceiling in collages.

by Anonymousreply 52September 23, 2020 12:15 PM

“Eve Babitz and the Secret History of LA” by Lili Anolik (biography) as a useful guide to Babitz’s writing.

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by Anonymousreply 53September 23, 2020 2:21 PM
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by Anonymousreply 54September 23, 2020 2:48 PM

Oh, "3 Faces of Eve" is a perfect choice for Data Lounger. So many of them are living it.

by Anonymousreply 55September 23, 2020 2:53 PM

Nice, R54.

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by Anonymousreply 56September 23, 2020 3:11 PM

As a kid I thought “Three Faces of Eve”was the title of “All About Eve.”

by Anonymousreply 57September 23, 2020 6:24 PM

I liked "As I Am" by Patricia Neal. She's very honest about her Greek tragedy life: doomed affair with Gary Cooper, marriage to the detestable Roald Dahl, her first child dying of measles, her only son almost killed and left brain damaged when a taxi plowed into his baby carriage, her recovery from a series of strokes that almost killed her, her marriage ending when Dahl starts an affair with a woman she considered a close family friend. The woman survived all that. It's quite a story.

by Anonymousreply 58September 23, 2020 8:09 PM

R56: thanks for the link. I’m fond of this doctored cover - quite sweet

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by Anonymousreply 59September 23, 2020 8:34 PM

Ava Gardner: Love is Nothing by Lee Server.

by Anonymousreply 60September 23, 2020 8:38 PM

A Liar's Autobiography - Graham Chapman

I have never laughed out loud so much, before or since, while reading a book. While I was reading it, I was on a ferry ride, which ported and emptied out before I stopped reading and realized I was the only one left on board.

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by Anonymousreply 61September 23, 2020 8:54 PM

Great, interesting thread — I’d long been a collector of showbiz autobiographies dating back the 1970s (yes, I’m an eldergay) and have several of those mentioned upthread. Since Covid hit, I’ve been hitting Amazon and Ebay and extending my collection.

One of my very favorites is Mimi Kennedy’s “Taken to the Stage”, a beautifully-written look at the acting profession, and the struggles and choices an actor makes. It came out around 1996, so “”Dharma and Greg”, “Mom” (in which she is wonderful) and working with Woody Allen in “Midnight in Paris” are not covered, alas, but it’s still a terrific read.

by Anonymousreply 62September 23, 2020 9:18 PM

For OP, check out Among the Porcupines by Carole Matthau. I’ve attached an old thread that has some of the chapters in it. It’s just a nice collection of little stories about her life and very well done and entertaining for what it is.

Currently I’m ready American decorator Billy Baldwin’s autobiography and it’s a fun read. Lots of dishy stories about the famous society ladies of the day— Babe Paley, Bunny Mellon, Jimmy Donahue, Cole Porter, the Duchess of Windsor (he describes her decorating style to be “tacky Southern taste!”) and others. It’s a fun read, especially if you are vaguely aware of the time period.

David Niven’s autobiographies are wonderful. I knew who he was of course, but didn’t think much about him one way or another before reading his books. They are fabulous though and full of famous names from the period. (Clark Gable, Vivian Leigh, Errol Flynn, Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, William Randolph Hearst and more.) They are by far my favorite Hollywood memoirs. The books are available for free on YouTube. It’s audio of him reading the books and it takes about two hours to listen to the whole thing.

If I think of more I’ll add them!

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by Anonymousreply 63September 23, 2020 10:07 PM

[quote]Gerald Clarke’s “Get Happy” is probably the definitive Judy Garland biography.

I disagree, and I've read them all. I found it gossipy, prurient, nasty, and not well-documented. Clarke includes every tittle of gossip and innuendo, as if authenticating any of them was simply too unappealing a task. I vastly preferred Gerold Frank's "Judy", which is meticulously researched and fair, as well as marvelously constructed.

by Anonymousreply 64September 24, 2020 3:23 AM

As far as memoirs, I keep returning to "West With the Night" by Beryl Markham.

It is one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read, and knowing nothing of the author before reading it allowed me to be consumed into her world as an aviator (aviatrix!) in Western Africa in the 1920s. Everyone I knows who picks it up falls in love with it.

The mystery of its true authorship makes it all the more compelling.

by Anonymousreply 65September 24, 2020 3:29 AM

[quote] David Niven’s autobiographies are wonderful.

He stole a ton of the stories in them, though, from other celebrities and old army buddies.

by Anonymousreply 66September 24, 2020 4:42 AM

r14, I liked Vol. I of his diaries very much, because he was much sweeter when he was young and was pretty generous to other people. By Vol. II Rose had soured into a nasty old bitch, and he nasty things to say about everyone... even nasty second-hand gossip about an eight year-old Prince William!

by Anonymousreply 67September 24, 2020 4:44 AM

My favorite literary autobiography is "Speak, Memory" by Vladimir Nabokov.

by Anonymousreply 68September 24, 2020 4:47 AM

R19 Speaking of the British politics, here's the latest, instant classic: Diary of an MP’s Wife by Sasha Swire.

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by Anonymousreply 69September 24, 2020 12:18 PM

Nearly 70 posts and not one of you has mentioned the Diary of Samuel Pepys.

*sniff*

by Anonymousreply 70September 24, 2020 1:18 PM

70 posts and no one has named the journals of James Boswell. Also, the diaries of Cecil Beaton are interesting, particularly the entries during the years when he was a military photographer in North Africa and the Far East. Another of my favourites is John Aubrey: My Own Life by Ruth Scurr. Scurr has created Aubrey's diary by stringing together his autobiographical writings. Aubrey was Pepys' contemporary.

by Anonymousreply 71September 24, 2020 1:55 PM

Diaries and autobiography are different things.

Also, Kenneth Williams.

by Anonymousreply 72September 24, 2020 6:29 PM

That's all right r 72 I had not considered diaries, I 'm just interested in seeing the different "voices" people use in telling their own stories.

Thank you so much everybody these suggestions are very much appreciated.

by Anonymousreply 73September 25, 2020 12:02 AM

For anyone interested in history, I’d recommend A Woman in Berlin, which is basically the diary kept by an anonymous woman during the last days of WW2 and the first few months of Russian occupation.

by Anonymousreply 74September 25, 2020 12:07 AM

Mariah Carey has a new autobiography ( as if...) coming out.

by Anonymousreply 75September 25, 2020 2:23 AM

Sammy Davis, Jr.----"Yes, I Can."

by Anonymousreply 76September 25, 2020 2:31 AM

I liked the LBJ and MLK ones. Anything from the 60s.

by Anonymousreply 77September 25, 2020 2:35 AM

"This Boy's Life," by Tobias Wolff. Is also a movie. Wolff also wrote "Old School," which I also enjoyed.

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by Anonymousreply 78September 25, 2020 2:41 AM

"Shot in the Heart" by Mikal Gilmore, brother of Gary Gilmore, convicted murderer.

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by Anonymousreply 79September 25, 2020 2:42 AM

I came here specifically to recommend The Glass Castle, but, since that's already taken, I'll throw in The Tender Bar, which isn't groundbreaking in terms of the author having accomplished anything extraordinary in his life, but it is very well written.

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by Anonymousreply 80September 25, 2020 2:51 AM

Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor's travel writing serves as a sort of memoir, I think. He led a full and rich life.

by Anonymousreply 81September 25, 2020 2:59 AM

"After Midnight" a memoir written by the widow of Brad Davis. Davis was a train wreck of a person; he made a splash in "Midnight Express" but his career went downhill quickly due to his enormous drug use. Sexually molested by his mother as a child, he would cut himself and was wildly promiscuous, willing to fuck just about anything. His wife, Susan Bluestein, amazingly never divorced him despite his craziness. They had a child, a girl they named Alexandra, and he eventually got off drugs. But he ended up dying of AIDS. The memoir is a good read, although Bluestein seems to be in denial about her husband's bisexuality; she concedes that he did some gay hustling when he was young, but really wasn't into sex with guys. Yeah, right! in addition to telling Davis's sad, sordid story the memoir also gives a good depiction of the workings of Hollywood. Bluestein became a successful casting director so she knows what's she talking about when it comes to actors getting cast, productions getting financed and whatnot. It's interesting to note that she and Davis's daughter Alexandra in now a trangendered man named Alex Davis. Since she was in denial about Davis's homosexual leanings I wondered how she handled her daughter becoming a man? I don't think she's ever written about that.

by Anonymousreply 82September 25, 2020 3:25 AM

The point of this genre is to portray the author in the most positive and sympathetic light. Very limited in perspective and objectivity.

by Anonymousreply 83September 25, 2020 4:02 AM

An story of abuse, ego, anger, survival, and bad wigs......and I ain’t even taking about Faye Dunaway!

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by Anonymousreply 84September 25, 2020 4:29 AM

[quote] The point of this genre is to portray the author in the most positive and sympathetic light.

I don't think so. Some people can be pretty hard on themselves (in an autobiography).

by Anonymousreply 85September 25, 2020 5:36 AM

Mommie Dearest is the gold standard.

by Anonymousreply 86September 25, 2020 6:25 AM

From the golden years of entertainment autobiographies. TALLULAH reads a great deal like LITTLE ME. It's an entertaining read, for sure. Great fun. But very little of it is true, except for the very most bare bones facts.

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by Anonymousreply 87September 25, 2020 11:59 AM

[R87] Great choice! I have read and re-read it over the years and it's wonderful. Very amusing - it really captures Tallulah's voice and devil-may-care mindset.

by Anonymousreply 88September 25, 2020 3:44 PM

"Still Me" by Christopher Reeve, is very good. In it he speaks candidly of his life before and after the terrible accident that left him a vent dependent quadriplegic at age 42. The title of his memoir is derived from something his wife Dana said to him after the accident. He said to her "Maybe we should let me go" and and she told him:

"I am only going to say this once: I will support whatever you want to do because this is your life, and your decision. But I want you to know that I'll be with you for the long haul, no matter what. You're still you. And I love you."

by Anonymousreply 89September 26, 2020 10:03 PM

I read Philip Glass's "Words Without Music" a few years ago and loved it. Great time to be in NYC and he has a mind.

by Anonymousreply 90September 26, 2020 10:09 PM

Marlene Dietrich's biography by her daughter Maria Riva who was there for most of it is terrific. An insightful look at the career of a major star during Hollywood's golden era. One who was an egomaniac to a frightening degree. Riva's anger, bitterness and feelings of being exploited by the person who should have loved her most come through without apology.

by Anonymousreply 91September 26, 2020 10:20 PM

R80. I hated "The Tender Bar" but can't remember why.

by Anonymousreply 92September 26, 2020 10:41 PM

R77, "Autobiographies and memoirs."

by Anonymousreply 93September 27, 2020 12:10 AM

My dictionary defines autobiography as "writing the story of one's own life." A person keeping a journal / diary is certainly meeting that definition and with quite likely more honesty.

by Anonymousreply 94September 27, 2020 7:29 PM

If the diary is being written with an audience in mind, sure.

by Anonymousreply 95September 27, 2020 9:39 PM

Aren't those usually the ones that get published R95?

by Anonymousreply 96September 27, 2020 10:55 PM

I wouldn't say that, necessarily, R95. I don't think Pepys was writing with publication in mind, for instance. Or Virginia Woolf.

by Anonymousreply 97September 27, 2020 11:09 PM

Damn it, I meant R96.

by Anonymousreply 98September 27, 2020 11:10 PM

Pepys wrote his diary in code. It's hard to know if he thought it would be easily de-coded.

Some diarists published their diaries during their lifetime. Edmond de Goncourt is one example and had to experience the "how dare you" reaction. For anyone familiar with 19th century French literature and history the diaries of the Goncourt brothers are a treasure trove of anecdotes about Flaubert, Zola, Daudet, Gautier, Turgenev etc.

by Anonymousreply 99September 28, 2020 12:52 AM

One of my favorites was Personal History by Katharine Graham.

She was an interesting (if flawed) character and her story is really an amazing picture of an American woman and how that life changed over the years.

by Anonymousreply 100September 28, 2020 1:00 AM

Gloria by Swanson.

by Anonymousreply 101September 28, 2020 1:07 AM

[quote] Boy George's Take It Like a Man is also very honest and entertaining - especially all the frenemy stuff with Marilyn.

Yes, it was great.

I also have liked the books by both of the members of Everything But The Girl.

by Anonymousreply 102September 28, 2020 1:09 AM

The Chips Channon diaries are superbly written and an interesting look at the time and people of the aristocracy during the abdication.

by Anonymousreply 103September 28, 2020 1:23 AM

Joan Crawford, My Way of Life

Also if it's going to be a straightforward memoir (My Way of Life is NOT) it's nice when the author has some reflection instead of just telling what has happened to them. So I'd recommend:

Esther Williams, The Million Dollar Mermaid

Rosemary Clooney, Girl Singer

Tennessee Williams, Memoirs

Me and My Shadows, Lorna Luft

Debbie: My Life, Debbie Reynolds

Another Life, Michael Korda

as well as Noel Coward's autobiographies, letters, and diaries

by Anonymousreply 104September 28, 2020 1:28 AM

Klaus Kinski's "All I Need Is Love" is a hoot. Since he was totally crazy who knows how much truth there is to anything he says. But his memoir is entertaining. It reads like a cheap porn novel. On every other page he's having sex with a girl or woman and he describes the encounter in graphic detail. Here's an excerpt from "All I Need Is Love":

"Why am I a whore? I need love! Love! Always! And I want to give love, because I have so much of it to give. No one understands that I want nothing from my whoring around but to love."

"She undresses hastily, like an addict who hasn't had a fix in a long time. She has an almost childlike torso. All her ribs are visible, and she barely has any tits, only big pink nipples. She has an uncommonly wide pelvis, and her short legs make it seem even wider. My cock is hard as a rock. She takes it."

by Anonymousreply 105September 28, 2020 2:26 AM

Striaght Life bio of Art Pepper Harrowing tale of drug addiction and prison life and offers a window into the worlds of 50s jazz and California's Synanon cult of the 1970s. NOT an easy read, but I can't recommend this one enough.

by Anonymousreply 106September 28, 2020 2:50 AM

Anita O'Day's "High Times. Hard Times" is another great memoir about addiction (heroin) and the post-war jazz scene. Amazing life and career.

by Anonymousreply 107September 28, 2020 2:53 AM

Errol Flynn : My Wicked Wicked Ways

by Anonymousreply 108September 28, 2020 1:49 PM

So nobody's read I'll Cry Tomorrow by one of DL's great icons?

by Anonymousreply 109September 28, 2020 9:41 PM

What’s that one about the kid who booked himself into Payne Whitney and hung out with Mary Martin’s husband? You bitches told me about it. That was great.

by Anonymousreply 110September 28, 2020 9:50 PM

R110. One of These Things First by Steven Gaines

by Anonymousreply 111September 28, 2020 10:22 PM

Here are some autobiographies that I would recommend:

"Fortunate Son" by Lewis B. Puller Jr. It won a Pulitzer Prize. Puller was the only son of "Chesty" Puller, the most decorated marine in the corp's history. Of course he followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Marines. He went to Vietnam and after a few months returned home missing his left leg above the knee, his right leg at the torso, most of his left hand and a thumb and forefinger of his right hand. He tells the story of his attempt to make a new life for himself and his wife and children. He became an alcoholic and he he had to deal with that, too. He went on to become a lawyer, and at the end of his autobiography it seems that he found some semblance of peace and acceptance. But he still suffered from his ordeal in Vietnam and his injuries. He struggled with his alcoholism and became addicted to painkillers. His marriage ending, he couldn't deal with living anymore and killed himself with a gunshot. He was 48 years old.

"American Daughter Gone To War" by Winnie Smith. Smith was a 21 year old with romantic notions about being a combat nurse. Reality soon hit her in the face when she was assigned to an intensive care unit in Saigon. Smith describes the horrors of war in unrelenting detail. She doesn't come across as a very likable person but her story is engrossing. Her time in Vietnam was indeed a hell on earth.

"Autobiography of a Face" by Lucy Grealy. At the age of nine Grealy was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a cancer of the jaw. A third of her jaw was removed to save her life and left her facially disfigured. She was taunted and bullied in school because of her face and endured many surgeries to improve the way she looked. It's a well written autobiography and very interesting but it's misleading. At the end of the autobiography the reader is led to believe that Grealy has finally come to terms with how she looks and will not obsess over it anymore. But that wasn't the case.

"Truth and Beauty" by Ann Patchett. The novelist Ann Patchett was Lucy Grealy's bosom buddy. They knew each other in college (Grealy always snubbed Patchett's attempts at friendship but Patchett didn't fault her for that) but got to know each other as roommates when they were both at the Iowa Writer's Workshop. Patchett was forever in thrall to Grealy, forgiving her no matter how badly she behaved and she behaved badly a lot. Patchett's memoir reveals Grealy to be a train wreck personality; infantile, supremely self absorbed, maddeningly irresponsible and compulsively promiscuous. Contrary to the ending of her book she is never satisfied with the way she looks and undergoes surgery after surgery to make herself look better. Women swooned over the "'beautiful friendship" between the two women but in reality it's a story of excruciating co-dependence. Patchett is the very definition of the word "enabler"; no matter how awful Grealy is she's always there to feed her, take care of her, pay her bills. Grealy, after basking in brief celebrity after her memoir made a splash, spent money recklessly and lived it up. She eventually started taking heroin and became a junkie, in addition to being addicted to painkillers due to all the surgeries. Penniless, she was staying in a friend's apartment in New York when her body was found; she died of what seemed to be "an accidental overdose" of heroin. Patchett's memoir is good reading, but it's also infuriating. Grealy needed some tough love; Pathett's "unconditional" love simply helped her remain a drug addict until it finally killed her.

by Anonymousreply 112September 29, 2020 1:53 AM

I second the Grealy book and the follow up memoir by Patchett about their friendship. Memoirs by poets are something that are usually beautifully written and with a great amount of introspection. There’s one by Michael Ryan called The Secret Life, which explores his sex addiction and how he would have sex with anyone it was so intense for him.

by Anonymousreply 113September 29, 2020 3:03 AM

[quote]Esther Williams, The Million Dollar Mermaid

Ha! I've read a ton of Hollywood autobios, and while moderately entertaining, Esther's book is full of fabricated stories as seen through the eyes of a BIG DRUNK! Either she wasn't very bright, or entirely misunderstands many of the events in her own life. You can tell where she's making shit up, and all of her problems with other Hollywood types, and there are many, involve drinking. She was pretty, but a total mess, and a liar.

Ruth Gordon's meticulously written "My Side" is surprisingly engrossing. She's a wonderful writer.

by Anonymousreply 114September 29, 2020 3:15 AM

One might think a visual artist may not make for the best writers, but the photographer Sally Mann’s Hold Still is beautifully lyrical about her life growing up in rural Virginia. She was a magnificent speaker as as well.

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by Anonymousreply 115September 29, 2020 3:20 AM

The Fervent Years by Harold Clurman. It's focused more on the Group Theater and the evolution of the art of acting in America than specifically on Clurman. However, Clurman was part of the Group Theater and he is writing about part of his life. It's a great book, well written, and it records a group of artists who were enormously influential in our culture, right up to today.

by Anonymousreply 116September 29, 2020 3:25 AM

The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown

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by Anonymousreply 117September 29, 2020 3:32 AM

Believe it or not but Mia Farrow's autobiography, "What Falls Away," is beautifully written.

by Anonymousreply 118September 29, 2020 7:37 AM

Speaking of Mia Farrow, Frank Sinatra's long-time valet, George Jacobs, wrote a tell-all memoir Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra, with some good gossip. George was fired in the end because he had a dance with Mia.

by Anonymousreply 119September 29, 2020 2:48 PM

Yes R119. I found it so interesting that though Frank Jr. said it was "character assassination" the Sinatra estate not only didn't find some way to sue (nor did Mia or anyone else still alive), but they made no statement about the book. Legally you can't libel the dead, but if they'd wanted to officially make more noise about the book, they could have.

It has specific details on Frank's mammoth cock, Juliet Prowse's mesmerizing shaved pussy, the woman who was the last stop down the street if Frank wanted some poontang and no one else was handy, Marilyn's feminine hygiene, and much much more. He was with Sinatra from the early 50s to the late 60s, so the whole From Here to Eternity film resurgence, the Capitol to Reprise transition in his recording career, the tv specials and lots of concertizing, it's a fascinating read.

by Anonymousreply 120September 29, 2020 8:58 PM

Jane Fonda's "My Life So Far"

Not only is it well-written, but she's had a remarkable life

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by Anonymousreply 121September 30, 2020 12:12 AM

Patricia Neal's autobiography "As I Am"

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by Anonymousreply 122September 30, 2020 12:14 AM

A couple I've read recently that I can recommend...

Diana Athill's "Stet"

Barbara Cook's "Then and Now"

by Anonymousreply 123September 30, 2020 1:04 AM

Call her Miss Ross

Nemesis (Kennedy/Onassis saga)

Sons of the Father JP Kennedy

Torn Lace Curtain Rose Kennedy

Incidents in the life of a slave girl

Montgomery Clift

E Taylor the last star

Roots/Queen (read them back to back)

Henry VIII and his court

Lady sings the blues, 1956

by Anonymousreply 124September 30, 2020 1:42 AM

Most of the ones mentioned at R124 are not autobiographies or memoirs. Montgomery Clift never did an autobiography or memoir. And" Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star" was a gossipy tome by Kitty Kelley. "Calle Her Miss Ross" was a biography. "Roots" was a novel and Queen was a "partly factual historical novel." The only thing mentioned at R124 that could be called a memoir is "Lady Sings The Blues" and even that isn't much of one. It was pretty much written by William Duffy and it contained many inaccuracies. Right from the beginning it was bullshit. It started out with this startling intro: ""Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married; he was 18, she was 16, and I was three." But the truth was that her parents were never married. When she was born, her mother was 19, her father was 17 and they never lived under the same roof. Anyone wanting to know Billie Holiday's true story should read a biography of her. There are several good ones out there.

by Anonymousreply 125September 30, 2020 3:45 AM

His name was William Dufty - with a T - uh hem. Yes, I know that what I listed are not AUTObios or memoirs. The OP should have asked for a list of BIOs, period.

by Anonymousreply 126September 30, 2020 11:06 AM

Carly's Simon's memoir, Boys in the Trees, surprised me - it's beautifully and poetically written, none of that perfunctory typical ghostwritten crap. It also has plenty of dirt if that's what you're looking for. There's an incident with James Taylor after their divorce - they had just had sex - that I haven't been able to forget since. Every time I see him I think of it now. That man is seriously fucked up.

by Anonymousreply 127September 30, 2020 11:38 AM

Dory Previn wrote two autobiographies. Midnight Baby and Bog-trotter. They are both compelling reads. If you're a fan of Dory's music, the books are a must. Lots of background there. Lots.

by Anonymousreply 128September 30, 2020 1:00 PM

So it doesn't get lost on the list, Torn Lace Curtain by Frank Saunders is great and true.

Frank worked for Joe Kennedy and then Rose after his death. He saw a lot.

He was also married to my cousin so there's that too.

by Anonymousreply 129September 30, 2020 1:38 PM

OMG, BHmanny. I remember Frank - he used to drive Rose to the New England Baptist Hospital where she got all her medical care back when it and the NE Deaconess were still the Lahey Clinic's hospitals. I worked there then for one of her doctors and Frank would drive her to the office from Hyannisport. I never saw the book - I'll have to get it.

Rose was a tough old bird: she lived until she was 105, proving that only the good die young.

by Anonymousreply 130September 30, 2020 2:39 PM

Some more good showbiz-related autobiographies: “The Gift Horse” by Hildegard Knef

“Original Story By” by Arthur Laurents

“Cybill Disobedience” by Cybill Shepherd

“Cue the Bunny on the Rainbow” by Alan Rafkin

“Accidentally on Purpose” by Michael York

by Anonymousreply 131September 30, 2020 2:50 PM

Berry Gordy - To Be Loved

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by Anonymousreply 132September 30, 2020 2:59 PM

My Dog Tulip by JRR Ackerley

Very memorable book by a gay man who gets his first pet when in his fifties. It was a dog owned by a hustler he tricked with who went to prison. He finds focus and love unexpectedly after a life alone.

Truly moving and without a trace of anthropomorphism.

“I realized clearly, perhaps for the first time, what strained and anxious lives dogs must lead, so emotionally involved in the world of men, whose affections they strive endlessly to secure, whose authority they are expected unquestioningly to obey, and whose mind they never can do more than imperfectly reach and comprehend.”

by Anonymousreply 133September 30, 2020 7:56 PM

"The Ordeal" by Beatrice Saubin. Saubin was a restless young French woman; abandoned by her mother and father, she was raised by her nagging, critical grandmother. She lived in stifling small town in France and couldn't wait to get away from it. She decided to make "travel" her life's focus and she went from country to country looking for love in all the wrong places. In Malaysia she has a chance meeting with a suave, commanding Chinese man who easily seduces her. After a brief period he told her he wanted to marry her and asked that she meet him in Zurich for the wedding; he gifted her with a big ugly green suitcase for the trip. Detained at the airport, her suitcase was cut open and found to contain several kilos of heroin. She was immediately arrested and eventually convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to death. She was 20 years old. Her sentence was eventually commuted to life imprisonment, but her cause gained worldwide attention and after ten years she was released. Her memoir is about her life before and during her prison sentence. It's a good story, but it ends when she leaves prison. One wonders what happened next. But as it turns out her life wasn't that great even after she gained her freedom. She began drinking, developed anorexia and lived on a disability pension. She was found dead from heart failure at the young age of 48. Her memoir is worth reading. I think her time in prison basically ruined her; when let out she commented that when she was let out she was only thirty but that prison had made "an old woman" out of her.

by Anonymousreply 134September 30, 2020 7:56 PM

[quote] Carly's Simon's memoir, Boys in the Trees, surprised me - it's beautifully and poetically written, none of that perfunctory typical ghostwritten crap. It also has plenty of dirt if that's what you're looking for. There's an incident with James Taylor after their divorce - they had just had sex - that I haven't been able to forget since. Every time I see him I think of it now. That man is seriously fucked up.

R127, can you paraphrase what she said?

by Anonymousreply 135October 1, 2020 12:13 AM

Speaking of musician and especially singer/song writer memoirs, I really enjoyed ones by Chrissy Hynde and Elvis Costello from a few years back. It’s an added treat when you listen to the audio books since they read them themselves. I would love to see someone do their audio book with music snippets as well.

by Anonymousreply 136October 1, 2020 12:16 AM

While for the most part I read memoirs of people I already know about, but there can be wonderful surprises when it’s someone unknown to me. H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald was a revelation and one of the most beautifully written and literary of memoirs and it won multiple prizes. It is about her year of grief following her father’s death, so a grief memoir, but also about obtaining and training a young hawk. Again, the audio book version is key and she has a mesmerizing voice. I can’t highly recommend this book more, even beyond this literary genre.

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by Anonymousreply 137October 1, 2020 12:25 AM

"A Season In Hell" by the author Marilyn French, who wrote "The Women's Room." It tells of her diagnosis of esophageal cancer, her treatment and recovery. A very fine memoir but reading about someone surviving cancer is always kind of difficult, because of the descriptions of suffering.

"It's Always Something" by Gilda Radner. She talks about her life but the main focus of her memoir is her battle with ovarian cancer. By the time she was diagnosed the cancer was advanced. She'd been having vague symptoms; low grade fever, bloating, fatigue. At first she was told she had some trendy disease called Epstein Barr virus and that it would eventually go away. The symptoms persisted; the doctors didn't take her very seriously and told her she was just a stressed out neurotic Jewish female comedienne who just needed to calm down and relax. The symptoms got worse; she was finally opened up and it was ovarian cancer. By that time the cancer had become advanced. She fought the good fight but died of the disease at age 42. The death brought to public attention how insidious ovarian cancer can be. After her death her husband Gene Wilder co-founded Gilda's Club, a community organization for people with cancer, their families and friends. Her memoir is very honest and from reading it it's easy to understand why she was so beloved by fans and friends.

by Anonymousreply 138October 1, 2020 1:56 AM

Mariah’s is surprisingly well-written..and, no, it’s not all because of her cowriter. I recommend it.

by Anonymousreply 139October 1, 2020 1:59 AM

"Knock Wood" ~ Candace Bergen

"Haywire" ~ Brooke Haywood

by Anonymousreply 140October 1, 2020 2:32 AM

‘Lady in Waiting’ by Anne Glenconner.

Glenconner was a Lady-in-Waiting to Princess Margaret, but her tales of her marriage to her late husband, Colin Tennant, are wildly entertaining.

by Anonymousreply 141October 1, 2020 3:05 AM

I had a lot of fun with Ava Gardner's recently. I liked Grant's memoir. "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" is great. Sophie Tucker's autobiography leaves your mind smelling of tuna balls.

But I wasn't aware that Henry VIII and his court wrote an autobiography or memoir.

by Anonymousreply 142October 1, 2020 3:19 AM

[quote]"It's Always Something" by Gilda Radner. She talks about her life but the main focus of her memoir is her battle with ovarian cancer.

I was very depressed when I read this book, and it worsened my mood, it is quite tragic. By the end I was practically shouting at Gilda to give up all of that ridiculous "I'm gonna beat cancer!" foolishness and accept that she will soon die, and stop making it worse than it needed to be. I cannot even think of this book without becoming extremely sad.

by Anonymousreply 143October 1, 2020 3:36 AM

[quote]Carly's Simon's memoir, Boys in the Trees, surprised me - it's beautifully and poetically written

Agreed, R127, Carly Simon's "Boys In the Trees" is a wonderful book on many levels. Carly may be famously neurotic and insecure, but she's also clearly bright, funny, introspective, and a gifted writer.

I also enjoyed Carly's follow-up book "Touched By the Sun" that focused on her relationship with Jackie Kennedy and Carly's later life, including her stint in rehab, her second marriage to Jim Hart, and more about her life on Martha's Vineyard.

My only quibble with "Touched By the Sun" was that Elizabeth McGovern read the audiobook and her affected, sort of faux-Lady Grantham accent was really annoying.

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by Anonymousreply 144October 1, 2020 4:37 AM

R19, recommendation: I think you would love Max Hastings's account of when he worked for the Daily Telegraph. He was the editor there during Thatcher's time. It made me consider becoming a journalist. He has an engaging writing style.

I, myself, have just finished "Sam Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe". If anyone is interested in the workings of the art world and the US artistic ecosystem of the 60s, 70s and 80s, it is a good book. It's a biography of Sam Wagstaff, an art collector and curator, and it emphasises his role of how he shaped the history of photography by supporting and promoting the work of many artists throughout his lifetime. It also goes into great detail about the gay scene at the time, especially Sam's peculiar relationship with photographer Mapplethorpe and his other lovers and flings. The only thing I'm not too keen on are the writer's style and his lengthy descriptions or different artistic movements, but I'm sure any DL art historians will definitely enjoy it.

by Anonymousreply 145October 2, 2020 3:18 PM

[R10], it seemed like it was more Pat Hackett's mentioning than Andy's.

by Anonymousreply 146October 2, 2020 3:45 PM

R41, that Gordon memoir is terrific. I found her stories about her start in the theater fascinating and especially all if the stars she looked up to that are forgotten now. There is that terrific section about her appearance at the Old Vic and what a professional triumph that was and how Helen Hayes pushed her to do it. Her book Myself Among Others is a memoir of her friendships.

by Anonymousreply 147October 2, 2020 9:16 PM

Evelyn Keyes' "Scarlet O'Hara's Younger Sister: My Lively Life in and Out of Hollywood" Harvey Weinstein wasn't the first one; just the first one to go to jail.

Betsy Blair's "The Memory of All That: Love and Politics in New York, Hollywood, and Paris" How to stop Judy Garland from raiding your medicine cabinet at 7 am, among other stories

Orry-Kelly's "Women I've Undressed" Three Oscars for Best Costume Design and a mad camp who came to Hollywood as Cary Grant's lover

Flea's "Acid for the Children: A Memoir" A portrait of a Chili Pepper as a young man

Rose Corliss' "This Effing Lady," yes, it's a biography of Coral Brown, Wasp Queen of the West End and beard of Vincent Price, of whom it was said (at her memorial service by Barry Humphries):

[italic]"She left behind an emptiness/ A gap, a void, a trough/ The world is quite a good deal less/ Since Coral Browne fucked off."[/italic]

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by Anonymousreply 148October 3, 2020 3:28 AM

There is a quirky little memoir with simple drawings by the author called Love, Loss and What I Wore by Ilene Beekerman in which she tells her life story through the outfits she wore. It is unlike any other memoir and was even turned into a play.

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by Anonymousreply 149October 3, 2020 4:07 AM

[quote][R127], can you paraphrase what she said?

After James and Carly had split, he brought the kids back to her apartment after one of their visitations. His and Carly's post-divorce relationship was unpredictable and she never knew how her encounters with him would go - would they be amicable, would he blow up, or what. He was fucked up on whatever he was taking. The kids went to their rooms. James then told Carly, 'Strip, bitch,' and proceeded to fuck her doggy-style while the kids were within earshot. She went along with it, but their dynamic was just so toxic.

What I found so jarring about the incident is that it's so at odds with the sanitized image James has cultivated in more recent years, the guy singing Here Comes the Sun with a children's choir for Yo-Yo Ma at the Kennedy Center Honors, the benign elder statesman. He has been a one-man wrecking ball for women all his life.

by Anonymousreply 150October 3, 2020 10:36 AM

[quote]Errol Flynn : My Wicked Wicked Ways

R108 It's a frank and thoroughly entertaining read. Even more entertaining is to compare the hardcover to the paperback which had key passages removed by his bitter ex-wife, Lili Damita.

[quote]When Flynn sat down to dictate his memoirs in Jamaica in the late 1950s, he talked about he and Damita going to a lesbian bar in Paris, and he described her becoming intimate with another woman. But that was only in the first edition, because Damita’s lawyer made the publisher take that section out. Matzen says that, “around Hollywood, she was thought to be bisexual.”

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by Anonymousreply 151October 3, 2020 6:36 PM

"Girl, Interrupted" by Susanna Kaysen. in 1967, Kaysen, a directionless teenage Jewish girl from a well off family, is in a session with a psychiatrist she's never seen before. She's seeing a psychiatrist because she made a half hearted suicide attempt, downing a handful of aspirin with some booze. He tells her she needs "a rest...just for a couple of weeks, okay?" She says she can't, she has a lunch date, but he tells her "Forget it. You aren't going to lunch. You're going to the hospital." Right then and there he gets her into a taxi and claps her into McLean Hospital, where she stays for nearly two years.

It's a good memoir. Kaysen recounts her experience with intelligence and insight. I would say read it and skip the dopey movie that was made out of it, which starred Winona Ryder, Whoopi Goldberg and Angelina Jolie. Kaysen disliked the movie version and it's easy to understand why; it's wretchedly melodramatic and features a lot of fictional scenes. It also features an over the top performance by Angelina Jolie, for which she won an undeserved Oscar. She played Lisa, one of the more memorable fellow inmates in the mental hospital. The real Lisa was quite a character but she never behaved the way Jolie portrayed. She was much more likeable and amusing and interesting than the crazy, deliberately hateful and destructive Lisa in the movie.

by Anonymousreply 152October 4, 2020 4:13 AM
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