Have you read a celebrity autobiography and it made you dislike the celebrity?

You had to read their books to know they were self absorbed assholes?

I know a woman who was friends with Debbie Harry back in the 70’s. She was married to a recording engineer. She said Debbie was a slut.

There was a biography about Carly Simon, "More Room in a Broken Heart", or something like that. If you like Carly, don't read it. It's not that she's not a nice person, it's that it seems her least little soi disant neurosis is blown up and made into headline news, further crippling her ability to understand there are others in the world suffering far less than her.

For any performing artist being self-absorbed pretty much comes with the territory, especially if being a sex object is part of your career strategy.

Noel Coward's diaries.

Stephen Fry. Over exposed and plays the crazy card for his bad treatment of people.

"Mein Kampf" made me really go off Hitler.

Gene Wilder

Faye Dunaway. Mainly because it was so fucking boring. Minute, useless details about what her apartments looked like and how she approached her characters. Dry AF, like overcooked pot roast. It made her seem tedious.

Eddie Fisher's memoir (no surprise). Attempted Shelley Winters' first and it seemed like fan fiction. Had Gloria Swanson's checked out for months and couldn't finish it. And I love celeb bios.

"Kermit the Frog: It's Not Easy Being Green"

After I read it, I thought, what the fuck was up his ass?!?!?

I didn't like her before, but Baba Wawa's memoir audition shows just want an asshole she is.

The best part: She tells endless stories about men she had brief sexual relationships with. It's very obvious that these men were only interested in something casual, but Babs goes on and on about each one was completely taken with her.

Patti LuPone

I wouldn't call myself a fan, but I watched LIFE GOES ON religiously as a kid. It was my Sunday night ritual. I so wanted to be part of that family and for Patti to be my mom. My own family was quite unstable. Little did I know that in real life the behind-the-scenes of LGO was as tumultuous. LOL

Anyway, I was excited when she announced she was going to write her memoirs. She even held a contest with fans to decide the title. I remember one suggestion I liked was PATTI WITH AN I, but in the end she went with PATTI LUPONE: A MEMOIR. How original and creative! That should've tipped me off, but I really didn't think much of it.

Then her book finally came out. All she did was bitch and moan about most everyone she worked with and always painted herself as the victim; it was always someone else's fault. I caught myself thinking, "Patti, YOU are the common denominator!" Also, the way she has held a grudge against Glenn Close for originating SUNSET BOULEVARD on Broadway is ridiculous! Not only that but that G didn't reach out to her in any way.

Also, I'm no fan of Madonna, but the way Patti came out of nowhere two or three years ago to disparage her and her performance in the movie EVITA came off as sour grapes. In general, she seems like a bitter person. Not someone I'd want to be around.

Lee Harvey Oswald was a piece of work.

Calvin Klein...totally cheated his first partner out of potentially hundreds of millions of dollars. Complete slime on every level.

I liked Grace Slick's autobiography, she's very funny.

I became a fan of Grace’s after reading her book.

It pains me to say this….but Joni Mitchell.

Mia Farrow's autobio, What Falls Away. IMO, Soon Yi was still her daughter, but Mia treated Soon Yi like the "other woman." SY was really young when she got together with Woody Allen.

The overall impression I got of MF was that she only started complaining when the gravy train stopped (Woody stopped putting her in his movies).

[R4], can you expound? I've read them around 10x and I have to say my opinion of him varies each time, depending in what's going on with me. He was very good at presenting that 'demeanour', but I've read enough about him to know he had a venal, socially murderous streak. John Lahr claims Noel was 'ashamed' of his roots. Rubbish over rice, I say to that. Noel wasn't at all ashamed of his roots; he was affronted when he had to do things like audition his work after WWII. Wh. of course was his own fault. He sabotaged his own career with around five or six whopping mistakes. But he never saw this, although his friends tried to point it out to him, albeit as gently as poss.

r1 I would dislike Grace Jones and Debbie Harry if they DIDN'T come across as self-absorbed assholes. They are pop culture icons and they know it. Their body of work speaks for itself.

Rob Lowe. It's not poorly written, but the memoir, which I own a copy of, seems disingenuous and fake. He's not telling a LOT and the "aw shucks" stuff is total BS.

Also, the biography of JFK Jr. written by his Puerto Rican secretary from the Bronx. He so fine, but truly not that sharp. I found it to be fascinating how idealistic he was, he made up for his lack of intellect with his passion.

Anyone who's ever read Cecil Beaton's diaries during the making of MY FAIR LADY will attest to what a whiny, bitchy, resentful, duplicitous, elitist person he was. Since I adored the costumes, I wanted to read about the making of that movie from the costumers point of view, but alas I could not finish the book.

Oh, yeah. Not sure if she ranks as a celebrity any more, but Claire Bloom's A Doll's House. The tell-all about her marriage to Philip Roth ( who sounds like he was no Bar Mitzvah boy). She comes off as both a door-mat and a narcissist. And someone who likely was insufferable to be around. Boring writer, too.

Not that it made me dislike him so much, but Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography seemed anodyne and superficial. He came across really boring. I couldn’t finish it.

Tony Curtis

Madonna’s brother’s book really made her seem like a sociopath.

Carly Simon’s book made her seem oversexed since childhood.

R27, I read Madonna's brother's book, too. I'm not a fan of Madonna, but I took the brother's book with a huge grain of salt. IIRC, he admitted he was using drugs a lot of the time. Also, I think rich people like Madonna must have a hard time trying to employ family members (or not). How can you fire them, discipline them?

The one thing I did believe about the book (by Madonna's brother) was his observations of Guy Richie and the way that Guy and Madonna interacted. Basically, Guy was a boor and Madonna tried to ignore it.

Elvis Costello's biography makes me think even less of him.

Wow, you'd think people would know how to manipulate their image in an AUTO-biography. Some people can't even make themselves likeable when writing their own side of the story.

The opposite happened to me when I read Andy Warhol's diaries. In recent years he's been popularly thought of as a manipulative and pretentious creep (while people at the same time glorify poor little rich girl Edie Segdwick as his tragic victim instead of the mentally ill junkie she was) which makes me very sad.

He comes off as human - sweet and very funny in the diaries. He didn't write them, just dictated them as a way to keep track of his expenses, initially. Often tedious and shallow, sure, but who wouldn't be if you hung around leeches like he did?

[quote] just dictated them as a way to keep track of his expenses

After my mom died, I had to close her bank accounts. I read through her check register and found myself laughing and probably crying as well.

R33 how come?

R34, with colored pencils she'd drawn the cast of the Marvel Universe around the border of each page fucking each other daisy-chain style.

They were good drawings, too!

Wooooow r35. I can’t tell you’ve led a colorful life haha.

r23 Cecil Beaton was a loathsome person. Just awful.

No, but I’ve read a DL post and it made me dislike the OP

That horrible Sallie Field autobiography.

Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton came out with autobiographies around the same time. (Before Hillary ran for POTUS.)

Hillary's was a better and easier read. However, I could tell she was holding back, in case she had further political aspirations. (She did.)

Bill's was fucking loooong and needed to be edited, badly. Made me think he was a windbag and a bore, to some degree.

Amy Poehler came off as a douchebag in her own book.

B. D. Hyman.

Andrew McCartney bio was so boring. I was hoping there would be a little bit of gossip or something about Less than Zero. I mean you worked with RDJ and you have nothing to say about it. Rob Lowe’s was the same way. Waste of paper.

Helen Lawson's.

I loved the first 100 pages of Grace Jones’ book - her childhood in Jamaica. I read the Donny Osmond book - I felt he couldn’t be honest about his childhood. It made me wonder just how strict his dad was. Also- the tatum o’neal book was a horror story of child abuse & it’s lasting effects but , as she got older & became a mother, i grew sick of her fucking up.

Tony Curtis, it was basically his IMBD and whether he seduced his co-star. Said he and Natalie Wood fucked in her dressing room while on a break filming the ice berg scene in "The Great Race", Virni Lisi wasn't interested when they made "Not with My Wife, You Don't!" and so on and so on. He mentions his kids in passing.

He went to Hollywood to make his first picture "Cris Cross", went home with the star, Yvonne De Carlo. Went back to NY, had his driver go to his acting school and out front was fellow student Walter Matthau in the rain and as they slowly approached, he rolled the window down and yelled "I fucked Yvonne De Carlo!" and sped away.

It's Deborah Harry, OP

R6 - damn you, I cough-laughed food all over my lap at this one. Bravo, though.

R1 - If you were in your 20s in the '70s and weren't a slut, you were the one with the problem. Especially in the music/nightclub scene. I mean, come ON.

My Way of Life made me dislike Joan Crawford MORE.

Sela Ward’s was extremely sanctimonious. She and her family, both the one she grew up in and the one she had with her husband, had figured out the right way to do everything. Everyone else was inferior.

I read Julie Andrews‘s second memoir and found her tedious in that she spent an inordinate amount of time flying from filming locations and LA to her home in Switzerland. There is some Swiss law that requires residents to spend so many months a year in their home (Or something. Who cares?).

She and Blake Edwards had been hell-bent on adopting their two daughters from Vietnam. Then she was constantly leaving them with nannies to go live in her house in Gstaad during their young childhood and school years. Don’t get me wrong: women are allowed to have lives outside of their families, but I believe if you seek out parenthood, you need to commit to being very present in your children’s lives.

Why did Julie live in Switzerland? Was it tax-related?

I felt sad for Diane Keaton after reading hers. She never figured out not to measure herself by how much men liked her.

I was extremely disappointed in Obama’s. The lack of candor and risk-taking from someone I know for a fact can write well and insightfully. He’s already been President, why hold back? He had the potential to write something truly radical and excellent and instead it was another Costco bargain bin special. A waste!

R12 She is actually very charming and funny in real life. She has a big mouth and wears her heart on her sleeve. It likely kept her from being a movie star. Why play nice in a sandbox when everyone else is acting like an animal? Haven’t read the auto-biography but perhaps I’ll pick it up.

[quote] I felt sad for Diane Keaton after reading hers. She never figured out not to measure herself by how much men liked her.

Kind of surprised about this. She doesn't dress "for the male gaze." I've never enjoyed her style, but obviously others think her style is iconic.

[quote] I was extremely disappointed in Obama’s. The lack of candor and risk-taking from someone I know for a fact can write well and insightfully. He’s already been President, why hold back?

You guys can call me Hitler, but I've never enjoyed Obama's public speeches. Always sounded extremely scripted and stiff.

James Lapine.

I always loved the fact that when Patti's memoir came out everyone asked her why it was co complaining and she told them she wanted to complain even [italic]more,[/italic] but the editor made her curb the complaints.

R52, yes, tax and visa reasons

Sally Field

R6 wins the entire Internet 2021.

I read Dolly Parton's and I didn't dislike her , exactly, but I was surprised that she pursued celebrity so whole-heartedly. She came across as relentlessly ambitious and self-focused, but also generous. She had some fairly off-beat stories, one of the weirdest being how she fended off some creep with a gun.

I read [half of] the recent, acclaimed, Tom Stoppard biography. It made me dislike both him AND the biographer.

If the Elena Ferrante tetralogy (My Brilliant Friend) is autobiographical, sign me up for that too. The narrator's voice was so impressed by her own intellect she didn't need me.

R53, Obama didn't take any risks as President.

Mark Goddard of Lost In Space fame...

[quote][R6] wins the entire Internet 2021.

Oh sweetie, you should aim for higher standards.

Cybill Shepherd's. I had thought before I read it she was charming but a loose cannon, but the book made she realize she's an abusive egomaniac.

R34, check registers (or nowadays, debit / credit card statements) are surprisingly, very diary-like. The reason my mom's check register made me laugh and cry:

1. It was handwritten. Just looking at her handwriting made me cry.

2. Her language of love was giving cash (via check). So, I saw all the checks (Christmas gifts, etc.) to me and my siblings. Kind of made me laugh, something about giving cash was funny.

3. She made small donations to stuff like the Heart Foundation, etc. That made me miss her.

4. Some of her misspellings were hilarious. (No, she wasn't a dumbass and she would have Oh Deared herself.)

Queen Elizabeth's. Who knew she had such cunty things to say about Diana, Fergie, and Camilla? I guess she doesn't like anyone married to her sons except Sophie.

This thread made me laugh. We've been saying for decades that these celebs mentioned in this thread are horrible people. And you didn't believe us? You thought we were lying?

R66, Elvis ate my pussy!

The first Julie Andrews memoir was great, but indeed the second is tedious.

Complaint above to the contrary, Joni Mitchell hasn’t written an autobiography. She contracted many years ago to do so, but it never appeared.

Robert Downey Jr. also was contracted to write one and gave the money back.

I assume he gave up once his typewriter kept catching on fire.

"Robert Downey Jr. also was contracted to write one and gave the money back."

So did Angie Dickinson.

Also agree with whoever mentioned Tony Curtis upthread, also. He came off as such a smarmy creep and asshole. No wonder Jamie Lee was addicted to pills, imagine having THAT for a father.

Yes Ron Perlman, what a repulsive, hypocritical and self righteous jerk. He's as ugly inside as he is outside.

Raquel Welch’s was mostly about…diet and nutrition. Boo hiss.

I recently read the autobiography of Bananarama (written by 2 of the members - Sara and Keren) and it didn't make me dislike them, but the two came across as rather dull. I like them as a group (preferably the original three) but their memoir was quite a bore and, for two people who have been performing and in the music business since 1980, they seem to have very little actual interest in music. At least that is how it comes across in the book. They cared more about describing the outfits, shoes and hairstyles they wore in school, in the clubs, in photoshoots and things like that. They barely mention the other founding member of Bananarama, Siobhan Fahey, throughout the entire book.

There were also a couple of times where Sara says "there was/still is a lot of sexism, racism and homophobia in the music industry" and I know that is true in many respects but- what do those things, homophobia and racism in particular, have to do with Bananarama? She says it and then doesn't really elaborate on it. It is sort of just thrown in, as to say "the music industry is so hard!", yet how has it hindered her and/or Keren's careers in any way? I know they must have dealt with sexism, but it's not like they didn't benefit from being young and attractive women, especially when, as they admit themselves, neither one of them is all that musically talented (nor are they great dancers).

Reading Sara and Keren's memoir just made me want Siobhan to write a book even more.

Diahann Carroll spent an inordinate number of pages trashing Sidney Poitier.

Diana Ross's memoir called "Secrets Of A Sparrow." The title was ridiculous and the book jumped all over the place in a strange manner. She didn't fess up the truth about a lot of things. It took me weeks to slog through it which is a sign that I don't like or enjoy a book. She badly needed help in getting it together but probably insisted on doing it on her own.

[quote]Diana Ross's memoir called "Secrets Of A Sparrow."

Is she referring to herself to Edith Piaf (aka "the little sparrow")?

D'oh!

Is she comparing herself to Edith Piaf?

So many celebrity autobiographies are total horseshit.

R79 A Rolling Stone magazine writer described her as having "cartoon charisma." The rather absurd photo of her on the cover proved him right.

im curious if anyone knows the "tells" of a celeb autobiography that was ghostwritten. I guess in some cases, it really is the celebs voice because they can spend weeks being interviewed.

Whoever ghostwrote Andre Agassi’s and Keith Richard’s books did a fantastic job. I still think about the way “Agassi” described the toll on his body of being a pro athlete.

Frank Langella, Dropped Names -- what a bitch!

Eddie Fisher, Been There, Done That -- jerk!

Looked forward to reading Papa John's autobio and threw it down with great force after I was done. What a douchecanoe. So fucking childish about sex and the women (minus his daughter) who fucked him. I was wanting to hear all about Mama Cass and the music scene in LA at that time, but very little info was shared. All about his drugs and his women and his lack of parenting skills. (except for his daughter)

Tallulah Bankhead published her 'autobiography' in 1952. It reads like LITTLE ME.

I did not expect a scholarly treatise, but gah! It's the silliest book ever. Why???

I thought Anne Frank came across as rather guarded and secretive. I wanted more.

Diahann Carroll's autobiography describes a day when she was driving through Beverly Hills in her Rolls Royce when she spotted Diana Ross in her convertible.

Her first thought was "Well, there goes the neighborhood".

Anne Frank didn't even bother to FINISH her autobiography.

R1, are you trying to tell us that a free-thinking woman in the 1970's was promiscuous? Shocking!

What I don't like about Deb's book is that it contained God knows how many boring pages of "fan art" (artwork given to her by fans over the years), instead of real narrative and detail. She put together the most lazy, half-assed autobiography, just to fulfill the contractual obligations with her publisher. People exert more effort rolling over in their sleep.

Wait! Come to think of it, that sounds like typical Deb!

Anyone know how well it sold?

The Meaning Of Mariah Carey by the diva herself. What a mess and waste of money. She played every single Victim Card that she could and made herself look saintly while just about everyone else were the villains. To say that it was sanitized is a vast understatement. She should remake the iconic song "You're So Vain" if you know what I mean. I think that she is a nice enough person in her own way but this book was scrapping the bottom of the barrel. More like a work of fiction. It was a chore to finish it and when I finally did I gave it away almost immediately instead of adding it to my library collection of books. It was that bad.

[quote] Eddie Fisher, Been There, Done That -- jerk!

That's actually a hilarious title.

R93 Angela Davis was Mariah's ghostwriter?

Andrew Ridgley’s autobio was self-serving and revisionist history. You can tell Andrew still feels like he’s in George michael’s shadow as he talks about giving the singer room to become a star. AR also claims Wham! was all his idea, practically cajoling George to join him in forming a band. The book is subtly snide and bitchy; Andrew would have never wrote it while George was alive. Andrew comes off very poor and petty in the book.

R79, I had blocked out reading Diana's memoir. Definitely very glossed over; a good example of when you *can* judge a book by its cover. (The duck lips and sucking in her stomach.)

Whomever mentioned the Agassi memoir...I believe it was in Brooke Shields' memoir when she stated she realized he was on meth when she found backless underwear in his gym bag. She was clearly cautioned not to say anything further on the matter for legal reasons, but it was obvious in the context that she thought he'd been fucking around...and being fucked in the backless underwear.

Brooke also ended the book on her mum by sharing the anecdote of getting drunk on vodka with her (dying, alcoholic mum) in a hospital during one of the hurricanes that hit NYC. I thought it odd at the time that she put that in print, but I think by that point she'd accepted her mum for who she was. I'm sure Teri appreciated the last round of drinks before she kicked the bucket during a hurricane.

Shut up you fucking cunt!

Agassi has said unflattering things about Brooke Shields. Why? She was boring to him, not edgy enough. So what. She never really did anything wrong to him. I never heard about his “backless underwear.” I vaguely remember his being addicted to meth. He should have STFU about her.

[quote] He went to Hollywood to make his first picture "Cris Cross", went home with the star, Yvonne De Carlo. Went back to NY, had his driver go to his acting school and out front was fellow student Walter Matthau in the rain and as they slowly approached, he rolled the window down and yelled "I fucked Yvonne De Carlo!" and sped away.

That’s actually funny

R97, you glossed over the “backless underwear.” I feel like that’s something that would go down in DL lore.

Who has more into on Andre Agassi in his circuit party gear!? This sounds big if true.

Not an auto biography but I read a few biographies about River Phoenix written by people close to him. It didn’t make me hate him but it did make me realize that he was a naive and rude kid who was being taken advantage of by his family.

I didn't really have a strong opinion about the actor Simon Callow one way or another until I read his book, "Love is Where it Falls: An Account of a Passionate Friendship," which is about him and his friend Peggy Ramsay, the literary agent, whose life I was interested in `(she is played by Vanessa Redgrave in "Prick Up Your Ears", the movie about her client Joe Orton). Anyhow, Callow comes across as a self-obsessed, skeevy, grifter who seems to consider Ramsay's generosity (she bought him a flat in London) his just reward for putting up with her attentions and erratic behavior (she was likely in the early stages of the Alzheimer's disease that she eventually died of). I found a quote from an online review that sums it all up: "Callow is so far up his own backside that his Shakespearean declamations must have sounded quite muffled."

Liz Taylor's jewellery book wins this thread.

Liz Taylor's jewellery book wins this thread.

R101, I didn't gloss over Andre's backless underwear...Brooke did. There were lots of anecdotes in her books (I think I read both) that went nowhere. I assumed Agassi's backless underwear went nowhere because she was cautioned not to say more. In that case, why even mention it? Unless she just wanted to get a jab in, and to have people put two and two together.

I thought Frank Langella's book was interesting, R86. Although, I was aware there was a lot he left out.

R9 - I finished listening to Carrie Fisher's "Wishful Drinking" finding her obnoxious.

R103 - I've never liked Callow, but thought it was me being unable to "appreciate" his talent.

Eric Clapton. Read years ago. Made me dislike Eric Clapton years before it was cool to dislike Eric Clapton. Whiney, complaining narcissist,

"I thought Frank Langella's book was interesting, [R86]. Although, I was aware there was a lot he left out."

There was no need to shit on Anne Bancroft in his book, but his Yvonne DeCarlo dish was hilarious.

Esther William's revelation of Jeff Chandler's cross dressing won her no friends.

Shirley Jones for talking about David Cassidy's dick.

Joan Collins made her delete an anecdote that Tony Newley tried to arrange an orgy with her and Jack.

R102 not by Joaquin.

I am a big fan of Tori Amos, but Piece by Piece left a bad taste in my mouth. Part of it was incomprehensible, another part she was clearly trying to big up the "lioness" aspect of herself, and that's where she seemed kinda unlikeable. The sections on her problems with the record company and her pregnancies were the best bits of that book (especially the scary doctor that wanted to steal her uterus).

I honestly think the more distasteful parts of the book came about because of where she was in her life at the time and wanting to prove something, rather than her being necessarily like that. I wish she had written that book a little earlier.

[quote]I recently read the autobiography of Bananarama (written by 2 of the members - Sara and Keren) and it didn't make me dislike them, but the two came across as rather dull. I like them as a group (preferably the original three) but their memoir was quite a bore

What's so interesting about this is that French and Saunders have gone on the record as saying Bananarama were the hardest partying people they had ever met. They used to go out with them on the town and observe them. Saunders got the idea of Eddy in Ab Fab falling arse first out of a cab from the exact thing happening to one of the Bananarama girls. They used to get completely wrecked on vodka, apparently.

[quote]and, for two people who have been performing and in the music business since 1980, they seem to have very little actual interest in music.

Wasn't this part of the reason Siobhan left? There's an interview with her on YouTube somewhere that I saw once, taken just after she left the band. She was ecstatic about the fact she was finally making music where, when she wanted a particular sound, rather than a producer using a disc of some synthesised noise, she was getting to work with real musicians. It seemed much more about the music to her.

"Here We Go Again!"- Betty White

Still waiting for a male star autobiography being truthful stating from 13 to 17 he never left the bathroom.

Met Mackenzie Phillips a little after her harrowing book came out. I was talking to her and said, it's weird, I want to tell you how good a job you did but saying I really enjoyed reading about your heartache sounds ridiculous. She laughed and said it's OK she got it.

The most likeable celebrities are the ones who don’t take the business and themselves too seriously. That’s why Grace Slick is likeable and Barbra isn’t.

Is it weird that r35 isn't r33?

R103 reminds me of my attempt to read Callow's biography of Orson Welles. It was full of ridiculous proclamations where he would say someone's true character showed in, say, their choice of shirts or the color of their shoes.

Finally he says Orson's grandmother Mary was evil and you could tell just by looking at her.

The book didn't even have a photo of her.

Rob Lowe is pretty prissy / sanitized in both his books. The idea that he “needs” to be image-conscious is pretty hilarious. He’s already a known pain in the ass in the business— who’s he trying to fool? Might as well embrace his messiness. That would at least make him a little endearing.

I would have loved to read RDJ’s book. Spader is quirky and eloquent— why doesn’t he write?

Andrew McCarthy’s book had some interesting tidbits, but was overall pretty dull. I felt sorry for his seeming lifelong struggle with depression.

I will say Rob Lowe seems to let his hair down a tiny, tiny bit in his “Literally” podcast.

Do we think the mysterious Roddy McDowell memoir will actually be released x100 years after his death, or whatever the stipulation was?

Speaking of homos, I began reading George Chakiris' memoir and got a bit bored. I believe all the name-dropping he does, but it would seem more genuine if he wouldn't still put up the pretense of not liking the cock. I might try reading it again; it was a free download from the library.

Donovan. He sounded so full of himself it was comical. He invented folk rock, according to him.

Sheila Weller`s book about Carrie Fisher.

[quote] Sallie Field

Oh dear.

Klaus Kinski

R121, I'm of two minds about RDJ deciding against his memoir. Like Angie, who also did the same thing, I think it shows good judgment. It also suggests that your side of things will piss off a lot of people. Why put yourself through it?

RDJ has been pretty frank in past interviews so I don't think he'd try to paint himself as a saint.

[quote] I watched LIFE GOES ON

I never understood how people watched that. Who wants to watch a show about a little mongoloid child? It made me very uncomfortable.

[quote] reminds me of my attempt to read Callow's biography of Orson Welles.

Does the book mention Welles’s affair with Billie Holiday during the making of Citizen Kane?

[quote] There was no need to shit on Anne Bancroft in his book,

Oh no?

Ultra Violet had a ridiculous autobiography where she hugely overestimates her importance in the universe. it does have the hilarious anecdote where she tries to seduce an unhappy, squirming Andy Warhol, and in the process discovers he had a metal snap implanted in his skull with which to affix his wigs, though.

R130, Billie Holiday was in "Citizen Kane"?

Grace Jones as a self-absorbed asshole?

Her entire fucking career and success has been based on her being a self-absorbed asshole who betrays no depth but a superfine of facets of jet.

So we're supposed to be unpleasantly shocked when someone we like enough to read her autobiography comes across in a way consistent with her image and her frequently remarked-on divahood?

Because we only like cartoon characters who turn out to be secret saints in their autobiographies?

Lord.

I used to like David Sedaris, but with each new book he reveals what an asshole he is.

Patti Smith and Morrissey, respectively. To the point I deleted all their music.

Read John Waters' book about his idols. You'll like him even more. Seriously.

I loved the Anne Bancroft bit by Langella. She always came across as the sacrosanct mother of all fucking decency and she was, like all celebs, a self-absorbed narcissist.

^I'm sure Mel and Max Brooks did not appreciate it.

Greg Louganis. I really empathized with his difficult childhood, but he came across as shallow and superficial when he threw shade at his former partners.

After r103’s post, apparently Simon was playing himself in Outlander.

We don't call him Shallow Callow the Fat Marshmallow for nothing, luv.

Klaus Kinski’s autobiography is the craziest book I have ever read. It’s not so much that it makes you dislike him; rather, it forces you to wonder how Kinski managed to remain at liberty. I remember when Spy magazine posted excerpts from it and I thought they were making shit up, it was that insane.

Lauren Bacall came across as a big phony in both of her memoirs.

But, a big phony with flavahhh!

I take PRIDE in causing you enough distress to post a paragraph about your displeasure, R134.

Lord, indeed.

Can you recall the high point of Bacall's phoniness?

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

R148, According to Sinatra's valet, George Jacobs, Frank complained that Betty gave lousy head.

I'm not completely averse to a bit of celebrity gossip now and then (thinking of the cheap ass Cary Grant thread), but there just are not any living celebrities I can think of (entertainment industry, writers, artists, politicians, etc.) that would hold my attention. I might like their work (or not), but I don't find them interesting, certainly not in 620 pages of bio. The only time I might read bios is to get a better sense of a point in time and the world they lived in, London between the wars, for instance, or Picasso because his life was packed with interesting people and places and a changing art world.

I think Natalie Merchant has a glorious voice, but knowing who she fucked and where she lived and key moments in her life...couldn't possibly care less. You would have to pay me a tidy sum to read her bio, and the same for most people whose work I like much more or has been more meaningful for me. Only if they have been dead half a century might they have some historical interest

r114 Yes and they both mentioned in the book that they liked partying and getting drunk, but it didn't really make for good reading material, especially when they would not go into much detail. The entire memoir was very sanitized. There was name-dropping of celebrities and mentions of parties, vacations and other outings, but it would always just be like "we went with *insert celebrity* to *insert event* and we had a laugh!" or something to that effect and not much else. It seemed like they wanted to stay as neutral as possible so they kept everything pretty vague. Even when talking about Siobhan leaving, or Jacquie joining and then leaving, they gave as little information as possible. In both instances it was like "after some years, they decided it was best to leave the group and we were okay with it". Yawn.

I think you are right about Siobhan. I do think Sara and Keren care about the music to a degree, since they still release music as Bananarama after 40 years or so. It seems like they approach it more as a business, whereas Siobhan cares more about being an artist. Sara and Keren were happy to continue working with Stock Aitken Waterman, but Siobhan didn't like the experience of working with SAW and she wanted to make more serious music, so she left.

Diane Keaton.

What a dingbat.

I started Grace Jones’s book a few years ago, it was so boring I had to stop! I know she’s lived this fascinating life, she’s just very bad at making it sound exciting. I left off as she started modeling in Paris. I’m going to restart it & hope that maybe these Covid years will have lowered my expectations for an engrossing read.

R152 I wonder how many times dingbat and Diane Keaton have been used in the same sentence (not that I really think it’s true but you just know people have used it so many times by default).

That said, I have no interest in reading about her mother or any other family member either, and I don’t know why she thinks anyone else is, either.

Carly Simon for exploiting her friendship with Jackie Onassis.

I respect the fact that Lauren Bacall was a noted size queen. Bogart and Sinatra were known to have very big cocks. I have no evidence for Jason Robards.

Brooke Shield’s for kind of being a whiny brat in her book.

I read the Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale, the autobiography that was turned into a film starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo De Caprio. The guy came across as a true con artist, nothing like the lovable scamp he was depicted as in the movie. Ripping people off all over the place, trying to lie his way into any woman's pants, all while being confident, smug and totally self-congratulatory. Just a really slimey human being.

I always thought that Natalie Merchant bore a strong resemblance to the young Gloria Vanderbilt.

Elizabeth Taylor. Yes, I know we all are supposed to love her for her championing of the AIDS cause. Fair play to her.

But reading what a horrible, horrible neglectful mother she was, her endless greed, the total indifference to the impact she had on others in arriving hours late for shooting . . . she was a compleat narcissist. By the end of the biography, I hated her guts and felt sorry for her children.

R160, I have never read that Elizabeth was a neglectful mother.

[quote]But reading what a horrible, horrible neglectful mother she was, her endless greed, the total indifference to the impact she had on others in arriving hours late for shooting . . . she was a compleat narcissist. By the end of the biography, I hated her guts and felt sorry for her children.

You always have to take a biography with a grain of salt. Unless Elizabeth wrote she was a terrible Mother herself, beware. None of her children became a burden to society.

Another vote for Gene Wilder, as repellent and blissfully un-self aware person as I've ever (literarily) met. I wish I could scrub his autobiography Kiss Me Like a Stranger from my neurons.

R163 he admitted to that in his book?

I agree with Morrissey. Davis Sedaris lost me when I started ‘Naked’ and one of the first chapters had extensive references to how good looking he and his family were growing up. It just seemed smug and not as interesting as he might have intended? I found Anthony Kiedis a bit up himself and pretentious after reading Scar Tissue. Ellen Burstyn seemed a bit cerebral and emotionless in her book, though it was interesting.

Patti Smith’s book ‘Just Kids’ is one of my all time favourites, but I will say it kind of changed my opinion of her. Previously I didn’t know as much about her and looked to her as some lyrical punk goddess, with genius prose and a creative mind. In the book she humbly presents herself as more of a dork who was just faking it until she made it. I guess it just dissolved some of the ‘true artiste’ mystique, though I still love her and the book.

Books I came away from surprisingly liking the celebrity more? Another vote for Andre Agassi’s ‘Open’ (whoever ghostwrote it or helped him did a great job). And it’s not really a ‘memoir’ but Courtney Love’s coffee table book ‘Dirty Blonde’ was quite a beautiful compilation.

"He cheated on Gilda while she was dying."

It happens.

Joan Fontaine's No Bed Of Roses. I was about 12 when I read it and even then startled at her self-absorption and self-regard. Love her as an actress, but otherwise, sheesh.

Wow imagine that. You read an autobiography and found out that celebs are horribly flawed human beings, just like you.

R159 As long as she doesn't try to sing, fine.

Agree about Liz Taylor. She must’ve done something right. Same with Diana Ross. A real cunt for sure, but her children seem to be decent enough.

Definitely Shirley Jones, she came off as stupid.

And I loved Mia Farrow's autobiography, a fascinating life and brutally honest about herself as well as others. And I enjoyed Patti LuPone's book too, because she had a sense of humor about all of it.

I can't wait for Linda Lavin to release a memoir.

"Used to Be Sad, Never Was Shy: So Much More than 'Alice'," by Linda Lavin.

R172, I gave the bitch anal.

Shirley Jones is a disgusting woman.

R154 I think calling Diane Keaton a dingbat is kind, it implies there might, at least, be something amusing about her.

Read her book and try to find a person in there. The woman is pointless.

What makes Shirley Jones disgusting?

I think it was Lee Marvin's ex wife Betty Eberling who told the story of when she was dumped by Marvin and immobilized with depression Lauren Bacall was her savior. Bacall came bursting in to the house and barked, "you've got ONE week to lie on that couch and feel sorry for yourself. And whatever you do, DON'T FUCK FRANK SINATRA.

I liked Jessica Simpson and Sharon Stone more after reading their autobiographies.

And Springsteen less.

r176, for one thing, she talks about how well hung her step-son is.

I don't recall Sedaris ever bragging about how good looking his entire family was. He said his late sister Tiffany was attractive enough to manipulate men, Amy is the best looking person in his family (I believe it) and he was "cute" for approximately one year though he didn't realize it at the time. I stopped liking Sedaris when all his stories started revolving around his life as a rich, globe-trotting author. "Hugh and I purchased the beach house next to our current beach house" blah blah blah.

R166 — I mean, who are we to judge?

[quote]Wow imagine that. You read an autobiography and found out that celebs are horribly flawed human beings, just like you.

WELL! At least I didn't fuck Yvonne De Carlo!

It didn't make me dislike her, but I was so disappointed with Donna Summer's autobiography.

She downplayed her life and career in the '70s (the parts I really wanted to hear about), and made the rest pretty squeaky clean.

Would love to know the full story. Her life seems much more interesting than what she shares in the book.

I’ve stopped reading biographies of people I admire. Too many times my favorable image of someone has been shattered, or I’ve learned negative things about them I can’t forget.

R166 Lauren Bacall cheated on Bogie as he was dying?

I loved Morrissey's autobiography.

Orson Bean - total MAGA homophobe.

Cary Grant - his being in the closet left a trail of victims.

Rock Hudson - he exposed people to illness after he knew about it, for his own sexual addiction

Lucille Ball - where do I begin. Miserably unhappy bitch.

Has anyone ever seen "Celebrity Autobiography: In Their Own Words"? I saw one of their shows in L.A. several years ago, and it was absolutely hilarious!

[quote] [R166] Lauren Bacall cheated on Bogie as he was dying?

Yes, infamously so.

Sally Field

in her memoir June Allyson writes a lot about what a great sex life she had with Dick Powell perhaps to counteract her goody two shoes film persona.

R191 - was it Charles Higham who claimed that Dick Powell had no sphincter and would always ruin people's couches? June didn't mention that?

In high school I had to write a review of an autobiography, so I chose "Memoir of a Star" by Pola Negri (as a gay boy would do). I remember laughing at how full of herself she was, but it didn't make me dislike her. Even her beginning line was a lie - "I was born at the turn of the new century, December 31, 1899", when she was actually five years older.

This thread sent me back to Carly Simon’s Boys in the Trees. Completely clotted with purple prose. HORRIBLE.

Another vote for Sally Field. Candice Bergen’s second book was a disappointment too.

[quote][R191] - was it Charles Higham who claimed that Dick Powell had no sphincter and would always ruin people's couches? June didn't mention that?

What does that mean?

Has anyone read Mel Brooks new autobiography yet? I'm a pretty big fan of him (and it's crazy he's still alive somehow!). I read an excerpt about his courtship with Anne Bancroft that was posted on Vulture and it was so sweet (Mary!), you could really get Mel's voice from it.

I really enjoyed Jennifer Saunder's autobiography "Bonkers". She didn't take herself seriously at all, and it really read in her voice, plus she's had an interesting life. The only part I was less keen on was something that Kathy Griffin did too - create one chapter solely of faxes/emails between her and another person, which I think are funnier when you ARE the people involved, rather than reading them. But all in all, a really recommended read!

Arthur Laurents seems to have no clue he is announcing on every page of his autobiography, "I don't have ONE friend in the world because I'm a TOTAL ASSHOLE!"

He writes shady-as-fuck shit about everyone. You don't get halfway through the book without despising him.

[quote]Orson Bean - total MAGA homophobe.

Well, the universe and karma sure caught up with him. He lived to be 91 before being hit by two cars while jaywalking apparently. You really gotta look both ways Gramps! He was Andrew Breitbart's father-in-law which turned him from a near Communist with Quaker ideas and a staunch ACLU guy into, well...a Breitbart fan.

Men in Kilts by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish was pretty awful.

R200 ahhh I remember that - that reminded me of a great Sophia Petrillo line that I’m now forgetting. But it was a football analogy - someone help me here.

As for Mia Farrow, I had the opposite reaction - I dislike her most of the time as a person, but I thought her autobiography was very well written and definitely one of the better ones I’ve read - more honest than I would have expected, too.

Not an autobiography as such, but the Kenneth Williams diaries were incredibly depressing. How awful that a man who entertained millions was so horrible and full of self-loathing. But the lesson there is, if you don't want to know what someone really thinks, don't read their diary.

I was an avid reader of Jane Magazine, which was basically a celebrity-worship bible where celebrities did some the writing. Most of them came off as not just full of themselves, but stupid as well. I don't mean to pick on her, but I particularly remember kd lang writing about something she called 'High-Contrast Living'- which was basically being a butch but also wearing lacy underwear. You could tell she thought it was really deep.

When I read Kim Zimmer's book, I recall thinking that she was her own biggest fan. She really likes herself, even when she's at her most drunk, fat, and slovenly.

Demi Moore's memoir was a brisk read -- almost too brisk. She touched upon her druggie past and her marriages, but I could tell she left out a lot. She didn't mention her obvious plastic surgeries AT ALL. I closed the book thinking I'd learned as much about her during the 90s when I still read the tabloids.

No, but I read half of Kitty Kelley's tell-all takedown of Oprah and began to resent Oprah, and then as I kept reading, I realized that Oprah had a hell of a lot going against her, most of what was revealed was about her a as a young person and almost everyone did 'bad' things as a kid and teen and young adult that would reflect poorly on them, and Kitty Kelley is a parasite. I ended up trashing the book and resenting its author.

I read Lucille Ball's autobiography/memoirs, which I bought as a small trade paperback with a cheesy looking cover, and I was expecting a terrible book based on the formatting and cover, and I was unexpectedly moved by it.

But since this thread is about being disappointed, I'll say have interviewed quite a few celebrities and I was a bit disappointed by Sarah McLachlan, who came across more as a calculating businessperson than an artist. Not a bad person, just someone who seems to make emotional music based on what people want from her sort of as 'a brand,' rather than as authentic personal expression.

Agree with you on Demi Moore's memoir, r205. It was very brisk and didn't have a lot of info about her marriage to one of the biggest A-list movie stars of the time. She explained why she was initially attracted to Bruce Willis but VERY little information about their actual marriage. You would think she would have some entertaining stories about him because it's well-known what a massive cunt he is. I think she still has a friendly relationship with him and didn't want to make things awkward. She went into more detail about her marriage to Ashton. I think it was pretty fucking low-rent of him to bring a 21 year old back to their house and fuck her. That guy has zero decency.

Has Debbie Reynolds been talked about yet? Huge financial up and downs and the book concluded on a bitter note.

Shirley Jones bragged that all the Cassidy men were well hung.

Tony Curtis would randomly throw in a line about people accusing him of being gay and sleeping his way to the top. He denied it so often I think it must been true.

There was something off-putting to me about Melissa Etheridge’s memoir. It was so long ago, though, I can’t describe it. Somehow she was dense, unknowable, dull.

R209 Omg Shirley’s memoir was downright vulgar.

R200, According to eyewitness accounts, the second car beheaded him.

Lorenzo Lamas devoted pages to describing his father Fernando's penis.

Many thought less of Shelley Winters when her first book was published and she named the men in Hollywood she'd slept with.

[quote]Has anyone read Mel Brooks new autobiography yet? I'm a pretty big fan of him (and it's crazy he's still alive somehow!). I read an excerpt about his courtship with Anne Bancroft that was posted on Vulture and it was so sweet (Mary!), you could really get Mel's voice from it.

Is it new or just updated? I read one years ago by him and I just got the audio book of the new one from the library and it's the same book. I remember the stories and they are word for word.

Kitty Kelley's books are all entertaining, but can't be relied upon for the truth.

R179, as well as her sons she had with Jack Cassidy. “They’re all hung like donkeys “, she was purported to have said. Mothers should not talk about their children like that. I had an aunt who would lift my cousin’s skirts around her drinking buddies and boast about her legs. Whaaat?

Rick Springfield = selfish asshole. Couldn't finish the book. Got bored with his suckage.

Not an autobiography but everything I've read about Vivien Leigh has convinced me that she was a vile human being. She was mean, jealous, manipulative and catty and no, it cannot be contributed to her mental illness alone. She was just awful.

R196 - I think it might have been in Higham's biography of Errol Flynn. He said that Dick Powell was born without an anus and that he frequently shat on hostess's couches, ruining them.

If he didn't have an anus, how could he shit? There would be no opening.

Sorry, he had an anus, just no sphincter muscle, so he couldn't control things. But this is Charles Higham, I don't think he's thought of as being very reliable, although this is a funny thing just to make up.

Yvonne DeCarlo's autobio doesn't exactly say what she did on her many one-time dates with with bigger stars, but you get the picture. Tony Curtis' bravado (he became a star dancing with her in a horrible Universal B-picture) didn't mean much in a Hollywood where everyone had been with Yvonne.

I wondered if Laurents had any friends left after reading his autobio, but found it entertaining nonetheless.

Pete Buttigieg who his fans here, wrote not one but two books that seemed shallow even for campaign bios.

I've never liked Tori Amos, so I'm not surprised that she comes off badly in print.

Joan Rivers got a lot of flak for all the score settling in her first memoir, but I thought she gave herself a lot of lumps and some of her targets were deserving (like smug Jack Paar). She was generous to Carson and credited Second City with enabling her to find her comic voice even though she had a very difficult time there. She does shade Linda Lavin who would brag about any new part she had just as Joan had been rejected for something. Rivers is also nice to people like Treva Silverman who had their own successes.

Bette Davis's "This 'N That" is a rambling collection of anecdotes by La Davis. Parts of it are unintentionally funny, such as how she brags that after her cancer surgery and three strokes she gave up drinking and smoking for ONE MONTH as a way to help in her recovery. When she resumed drinking and smoking after that long, grueling month was over, she switched from straight scotch to white wind, and unfiltered cigarettes to filtered cigarettes. That was Bette's way of "getting healthy."

Of course I meant to write "white wine." Sorry.

R225, Bette always claimed she never inhaled.

She definitely inhaled.

I didn't, either

But did she swallow?

R224, I must disagree with you on one point: “Criss Cross”, Tony Curtis’s first film, is a great film noir, one of the very best.

[quote] I have never read that Elizabeth was a neglectful mother.

Shelley Winters mentions it in one of her books. Gives an example of how the kids were left to fend for themselves in a hotel.

Re: Tony Curtis. This is part 1 of an interview with a woman psychiatrist of psychologist on "Shrink Rap."

He admits that he was pretty much sexually assaulted by older men when he was a boy.

I wouldn't trust Shelley Winters to give me the correct time.

Criss Cross has been reappraised, but it's basically a Universal B-picture starring Yvonne DeCarlo which is to say a routine programmer, filled with cliches. It was near the end of DeCarlo's time as a contract player at Universal.

R230, I did…

I stopped liking, in no particular order:

Megan Markle after reading "Mirror Mirror on the Wall: My Royal Nightmare of Not Being Queen" . ( But such a drama queen!)

Richard Burton after his diaries calling Liz a fat bore. ( I'm sure it's true but NOT a gentlemanly thing to write.)

Katherine Hepburn's "I Was A Lesbian Beard For Spencer Tracy: We Never Fucked". (I loved her Yankee dignity and then..this!)

Tom Cruise confessing to murder in "Getting Clear: Eliminating Suppressive People Figuratively and Literally" (I'm a former scientologist and this puts me in the crosshairs buddy. Shut up already.)

R233 - Why does Tony Curtis look like Divine in that screencap?

Not one mention of Burt Bachrach?

Do you think Tony Curtis ever dreamed he'd get as old as he did? He was 85 when he died; would have been 96 this year. When I see photos/films from his youth, he seems like the type of pretty boy who thinks life as they know it will always be.

Funny, I had the exact opposite reaction to Andre Agassiz’s autobiography. I was a fan and really disliked him after I read it. On the other hand, I was not a fan of Jimmy Connors and liked him more after I read his.

I also liked Bacall’s autobiography. A lot of it was ridiculous, but I respected that she was honest enough to say Jason Robards never wanted to marry her.

R241 so why did he?

She had the keys to the liquor cabinet, R242.

She got pregnant.

[quote]Do you think Tony Curtis ever dreamed he'd get as old as he did? He was 85 when he died; would have been 96 this year. When I see photos/films from his youth, he seems like the type of pretty boy who thinks life as they know it will always be.

At least he finally ditched the wigs.

R12.

You were surprised Patti Lupone came across as bitter?

And that gave me the biggest laugh I've had since the plague started!

[QUOTE]Do you think Tony Curtis ever dreamed he'd get as old as he did? He was 85 when he died; would have been 96 this year.

Got to meet him at the CHILLER show in Jersey. He was in a wheel chair but he was sharp. I have the "Some Like it Hot" DVD signed.

"Prairie Tale" by Melissa Gilbert. She comes across as the world's pettiest bitch, still obsesse with slights done to her in childhood.

Mario Cantone did a hilarious impersonation of Gilbert reading it out loud for "Celebrity Autobiography."

Haha, I hadn't seen that one before R248, thanks!

"One of the cities main north-south arterties", hahaha.

I remember seeing a couple of others like this though: Bea Arthur reading Pamela Anderson's discussion on anal sex, and Sherri Shepherd reading Madonna talking about having sex with an underage boy that gave her crabs.

Posted this before, I read Melissa's and Rob's back to back and no exaggeration, she spent chapters on Rob and he mentioned her once as my girlfriend Melissa. It was hilarious.

Aw I think that’s really kinda sad that he meant so much more to her than she did to him. Rob was such a player tho. Stringing girls along was part of the game I guess.

Donald Fagan of Steely Dan. I was a huge fan of his music but he came across as a total asshole.

R250, Did Melissa mention Rob's cock?

Let's face it, Melissa was no Nastassja Kinski.

And a few weeks after the and Rob broke-up she was married to her 1st husband.

R254 how do you mean?

Who the hell are Melissa and Rob?

Part of the 80’s brat-pack r257.

Read both Michael Nesmith’s (Infinite Tuesday) and Keith Richards’ (Life) and I thought both were excellent. Nesmith’s were more meditations on different events in life (some Monkees stuff but not too much, I think he thought enough had been said over the years). No one was harder on Michael Nesmith then Michael Nesmith. He’s pretty open at how badly he handled fame and his first two marriages.

Keith Richards’ book made me appreciate him more and not see him as a joke.

I’m not a huge autobiographical reader, I prefer biographies. So out of the few I read, I did not come away thinking less of the celebrity.

Has anyone read Dave Grohl's autobiography?

I love the Celebrity Autobiography mash-ups

[quote] Posted this before, I read Melissa's and Rob's back to back and no exaggeration, she spent chapters on Rob and he mentioned her once as my girlfriend Melissa. It was hilarious.

That is hilarious.

I read, back-to-back, the autobiographies of Tammy Wynette and George Jones (country singers, married to each other, then divorced).

Tammy Wynette said that George would often get drunk, angry, and tear up the house. She'd clean it up before he got sober. However, on one occasion, she had had enough and left the house a mess, just to show George what he had done.

George Jones admitted he got drunk a lot but claimed he once woke up from a bender to find ... that Tammy had torn up the house.

Tammy would hide the car keys when George got drunk. However, one time, George got hold of the keys to their riding mower and drove it to the liquor store. I forgot whose autobiography that was from.

[quote] was it Charles Higham who claimed that Dick Powell had no sphincter and would always ruin people's couches? June didn't mention that?

Of course not. June ruined several couches on her own. Her bladder control issues (pre-Depends) were legendary.

Any Joy Divison/New Order fans?

Well, Peter Hook's own book about the bands, while filled with great gossip and information, is at least 50% about how great Peter Hook is.

I haven’t read Grohls book, but gave it to my brother as part of his Xmas package.

The Arthur Laurents one was just awful. A more insecure man never existed. Almost everything nice he had to say about his partner had only to do with how great his WASP genes were... it was like he was congratulating himself for choosing a particularly fine show dog at a breeder's. He had nothing but bad things to say about everyone famous.

R266, He said Harold Lang had a body created for sex.

Was Laurents' partner the male version of a shiksa? (I think that's the correct terminology.)

Incidentally, I can't believe it's been over a decade since Laurents' death. In the 2000s. it seemed as if he would live forever. I really thought he would make it to his centennial.

I enjoyed Laurent's first book, even though he was a horrible person. But his second, about him as a director, sucked, mostly because he was an awful director but thought he was the world's best.

R268, I don’t miss the SOB.

R256 - I don';t think the world wanted to see Melisa Gilbert wrapped in a snake.

Kinski was the next big thing that never happened and she wouldn't have gotten that far if she hadn't been somebody's gf. The movie that supposed to make her career was "Tess", a very confusing critic's darling and real mess as a film. One gushing critic called it a "multi-level mosaic motif" which is what I call any overblown mess of a film.

[quote]Kinski was the next big thing that never happened and she wouldn't have gotten that far if she hadn't been somebody's gf.

Or daughter. Her father was renowned German actor Klaus Kinski.

Any biography on Streisand. Before I read any of them, I always thought that the dislike of Barbra Streisand because of sexism and anti Semitic attitudes. But, no. She’s a cunt.

I was shocked and impressed when I read in Agassi’s that he shacked up with Barbra. The girl has game.

I liked Pauline Kael's comment about Kinski's mouth: if looks as if a frog just jumped out if it.

R275 you must be very young. I was a teen in the '90s and remember they were a hot item earlier in the decade. She was still pretty popular in the '90s and he was one of the best tennis players in the world. Needless to say, they were all over the rags/tabloids.

Barbra and Andre Agassi were a hot item at the time. It was right before she met James Brolin.

Don’t forget she also had Andy Gibb!

Babs also had Don Johnson. That was quid pro quo, I think, though.

I was in car with my mom when the song by Don and Babs came on the radio (Till I Love You). I commented on Don Johnson's horrible voice. My mom said: "Barbra is very good to her boyfriends."

Kiss and don't tell: Ann-Margret, Janet Leigh, Mary Martin. Why write the book if you're not going to tell anything that a researcher could look up? Cindy Williams, no one wants to pay $25 for your double spaced short book about the bargains you hunted for on location for American Graffiti.

Look what they did to me!: Meredith Baxter-Lesbian, others who blame everything on everyone else and not only seem to be passive and not culpable for anything bad that happened in their life, but also seem to not want to be held accountable in the present day for their own past bad behavior.

I May Have Played a Famous Character But I'm Not Very Smart and I Make Bad Decisions: Maureen McCormick

Regarding Tony Curtis: he admitted to "close adult relationships with men his entire life" in his first book, which is recommended. His second memoir, which covered the same territory, was not as good.

Debbie Reynolds too: Debbie: My Life is recommended reading. It's much more detailed than Unsinkable, though the later book has more candor. the Make 'Em Laugh book is just anecdotes.

Anything with a sloppy ghost writer where the star themselves didn't even bother to read the book and check details.

Other good ones worth checking out: Ali McGraw, Rosemary Clooney, Esther Williams

How close r281?

Slash's (with a co-writer). He came across as a cunning, manipulative, narcissistic POS who is nice to anyone who is useful to him rn and awful to anyone whom he has discarded/is envious of. Apparently, nothing was ever his fault, even his drug addiction and his heroin relapses. He talks about Axl like he owns him and the super homoerotic photo of the two of them he chose to publish cannot've been an accident. Made me rethink what really happened in GNR.

Wow, R283. I read “The Dirt” which was a four-person autobio of Motley Crue. I’m not a fan of Tommy Lee, but he came out sounding not so bad.

Do you think Axl and Slash were actually a couple and broke up - hence, the band broke up?

Chrissie Hynde. One of the worst autobiographies I have ever read. It came off like a contractual obligation. Toward the end you could tell she got tired of it all and just quickly wrapped it up. Seems selfish to not put some effort into it.

R284, I think there was something. In the beginning, when they were poor, they used to sleep in the same bed. If you watch early footage, they're very physical with each other. I do think Axl is gay/bi and was in love with Slash, maybe even had sex with him. I think, especially after reading the book, that Slash used this to manipulate him and, ultimately, bully him.

Some of this compilation is crap quality, but I never realized how affectionate Axl & Slash were.

Oh yes, they were all over each other all the time, not just on stage. I believe Slash got rid of Izzy to get Axl all for himself. It's no secret he hated him.

R279, That was Victoria Principal.

I had Barry!

I'm not sure if it's a true autobiography, but Tina Fey's "Bossypants." It didn't make me hate her, but it gave me some unpleasant feelings about her. I didn't enjoy the look behind the curtain.

I haven't read an auto- bio. in ages but I bought Belinda Carlisle's "Lips Unsealed" this year at a discount place & read it over the summer.

I didn't know what to expect with it but I felt she wrote about her "warts & all" up to that point (I think around 2011).

I always wonder what was left on the cutting room floor with a lot of these books.

Any publisher tell-alls out there?

[quote]I'm not sure if it's a true autobiography, but Tina Fey's "Bossypants." It didn't make me hate her, but it gave me some unpleasant feelings about her. I didn't enjoy the look behind the curtain.

Not read it, but it's interesting you say this. I admire some of what she has done, but I kinda feel like this about her too.

I like Tina Fey, but she can be just a touch too “smart girls mocking the dumb, pretty girls.” She needs to grow up a bit.

This book names names!

Very sleazy tell-all with several women talking about hooking up with major celebrities.

Makes some of the male celebs seem pretty trashy.

R295, I flipped through that book in a bookstore in 1995. There were some hot revelations, like Matt Dillon insisting on always fucking bareback.

"You'll Never Make Love in This Town Again" at R295 should be required reading for DL. The scat story about Stallone is true, I think. A long-time friend worked in a resort hotel (room service). I had not discussed this book or its contents with my friend. He told me that Stallone had stayed at the hotel. Afterwards, the hotel housekeepers complained that there was shit in Stallone's shower. At first I thought WTF, who is so lazy that they can't use the toilet. Then I put that story together with what I read in "You'll Never Make Love in This Town Again." Stallone has a scat fetish. Ugh.

[quote] I don';t think the world wanted to see Melisa Gilbert wrapped in a snake.

Michael Landon would have tried it if he wasn’t drunk off his ass all the time.

R297, And your point is?

I loved Frank Langella’s book. I’m rereading it right now.

I read one many years ago by Eddie Fisher or Tony Curtis-I can't remember which. His mother was in hospital, circling the drain, and the author's siblings were dealing with end of life decisions, without their famous brother. He recalls how he called some of his siblings, and instead of actually going to his mother's bedside, leaves distraught phone messages begging them to not let her die. They must have just loved hearing that from the guy who hadn't laid eyes on their mother in who knows how long.

I read Carly’s book. She really loves cock!

You guys made me buy Arthur Laurents' book just now and I'm salivating for Shirley Jones' who was never my favorite (far from it), but I just can't resist pathetic self-aggrandizement and vulgarity.

[quote] Well, Peter Hook's own book about the bands, while filled with great gossip and information, is at least 50% about how great Peter Hook is.

"Ian Curtis is dead but you know who isn't? Me. Me. MEEEEEE MWAHAHAHAHAHA!".

[quote]disingenuous and fake. He's not telling a LOT and the "aw shucks" stuff is total BS.

This could also describe Bob Dylan's autobiography. I couldn't tell if he was laying it on thick or genuinely is a ding a ling. I was so annoyed that I only read a few pages before giving up.

Eldergay here. I started to read Eve Arden’s autobiography, “Three Phases of Eve.” Erroneously, I expected wisecracking, sarcastic humor. Yet, it was so dull and boring ; I couldn’t finish it. I still like Eve Arden, however, as an actress.

I want to read (Waterboys) Michael Scott's autobiography, but what I've read on websites about how he continually gaslighted Karl Wallinger has deterred me from buying it. He has a reputation for shading others while painting himself as a victim. His story about meeting Patti Smith was somewhat interesting, though.

Not a big fan of Will Smith but I'm listening to his audio book. Never heard one like this but uses music a lot and it works, well except for the part where he says he knows every word to the songs of the Broadway musical "Purlie" because his Mom played the cast album all the time and he proceeds to sing a song from it. Was enjoying it but now in the book he's a movie star and spends a chapter going over his IMBD and crowing how much each movie grossed, domestic and foreign. Funny how some just read their book aloud while others like Will will act out the whole thing including impressions of his famous friend's voice.

Morrissey's book. The (predictable) woe is me shit, the intense obsession with the lawsuit, the downgrading and sidelining of his homosexuality and his attempt to upgrade his alleged heterosexual relationship, which I'm sure was nothing of the kind.

I have an obscure one. I read the autobiography of Gypsy Rose Lee’s sister, June Havoc called “Early Havoc.” The paperback edition came out in 1959.

It’s about the gritty aspects of her life in show business with a good deal of bitterness for how it all worked out for her. June really resented the musical “Gypsy” and how it portrayed Gypsy as gentle and sensitive when she was in fact tough as hell like their mother.

She was broke most of the time and did marathon dancing to support herself which she goes into some detail about. That’s what I remember the most as it has been awhile since I last read it.

It didn’t make me dislike her, it just wasn’t a happy book in any way.

Scar Tissue, Anthony Keidis. Douche bro born and raised.

Anita Loos. The problem was that I knew her. In the early 70s, she wrote several memoirs and was on every talk show. I knew the real Anita Loos and the disconnect between her public persona and her real personality annoyed me.

[quote]With each book came a new spate of interviews and as one of the last survivors of the silent era, Anita's stories became more exaggerated and she was soon reported to have sold her first scenario at the age of 12. She continued to thrive on interesting people and interesting activities – and held an opinion on everything – but worked hard on keeping the vivacious and flippant image and hiding her loneliness

I my have already posted this, but for me Melissa Etheridge's memoir was inscrutable and I thought badly written.

Dick Cavett. He came across as incredibly deficiency-motivated, with every other page highlighting his cleverness, wit, and importance. A narrative consisting of lots of compliments and accolades received by (now conveniently dead) luminaries of yore. Some fun stories, but his smugness overrules everything; at the beginning of every anecdote you start dreading the inevitable hilarious quip or caper he (claims to have) made to wrap up the experience. Ugh.

AGREED about Demi Moore's memoir. There seems to be huge swaths of this book that was redacted, it is missing a lot. What Falls Away by Mia Farrow is one of the best reads,IMO.

Come back, autobiography troll. We need you in times like these!

Not dislike as such, but I found Richard Coles' Fathomless Riches rather odd in how it seems to be more about Jimmy Somerville than Richard himself. Even the photo plates have picture of Jimmy without Richard in them. They only worked together for 4-5 years. It made me feel a bit sorry for him in that he seems to think his own life wasn't that interesting.

Similarly the second Boy George memoire (Straight) seemed to go on and on and on and on and on about how he's not obsessed with Madonna. For chapter after chapter.

Marsha Mason wrote a very odd book - she seemed to talk about her "sub-personalities" or something like that. I put it down after just a few chapters.

Twiggy is a terrible name dropper - the last part of her book is all about the endless famous people she's friendly with - you could tell the editor just decided to let her go on with it - he was laughing at her, I just got that vibe. I hate listen to her podcasts "Today we're talking to my dear, dear friend..." - was just listening to one this morning. I never understood how she was a success as an actress and singer. I'm not in any way saying she'd a BAD person, because she's not.

I was amazed to see gay people being county about Debbie Harry at the beginning of this thread - she's the goddess to the gays for some reason. I find her totally charmless and her singing.

county = cunty - must alter my spell checker - just got a new machine.

R310, I too read Early Havoc long ago and never forgot it. It's out of print now but worth tracking a copy down, especially for the horrific marathon dance description. No wonder people outlawed them!

Jessye Norman’s memoir was empty and platitudinous. But God rest her soul, she was a great singer.

EARLY HAVOC is five bucks as a Kindle ebook.

Mary Tyler Moore. She seemed as warm as Beth Jarrett. Everything was compartmentalized. One chapter for each part of her life, including her son. She made a big story about when she slid out of the closet on a pile of walnuts (Dick Van Dyke show) she farted. And she admitted she said “Thank God” when first hearing about President Kennedy’s assassination, then tried to explain it away because they had a lot of sarcastic remarks on the set. Like Lucillle Ball, not a bit like her onscreen persona.

Belinda Carlisle comes across as a self-serious woman heavily addicted to cocaine well into her forties in her book

Mary Tyler Moore. About as warm as Beth Jarrett. In her autobiography everything was compartmentalized. One chapter for diabetes, one for her son, etc…. She made a huge story about sliding down the pile of walnuts and farting. She also admitted she said “Thank God” when hearing about the JFK assassination, then tried to explain it away because they were always making sarcastic remarks on DVD show. Like Lucille Ball, not a bit like her onscreen persona.

[quote]Chrissie Hynde. One of the worst autobiographies I have ever read. It came off like a contractual obligation. Toward the end you could tell she got tired of it all and just quickly wrapped it up. Seems selfish to not put some effort into it.

I read an excerpt where she talks about Nancy Spungen and have no desire to read the rest. I get she didn't like Nancy and it's common knowledge that she wasn't wrapped too tight, but geez, some forty years later and Hynde clearly has zero remorse or sympathy for the fact that she was murdered. She felt for bad for Sid, however.

I read The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia). I didn't realize the entire book was going to be about Harrison Ford. Boring, frankly. (She was 18 or so and he was in his 30s, married; they filmed Star Wars in England and Ford took the opportunity to indulge in some teen pussy.)

Someone upthread mentioned that Melissa Gilbert (in her autobio) went on and on about Rob Lowe. Rob, in his diary, mentioned MG one time.

Anyway, if Harrison Ford ever writes an autobio, I have a feeling he might not even mention Carrie Fisher at all.

Cary Grant. Closet case creep. Lousy actor, treated crew like slaves. Egotistical.

"Have you read a celebrity autobiography and it made you dislike the celebrity?"

Although one could hardly call her a celebrity, I found Christina's Crawford's "Mommie Dearest" self-aggrandizing and rife with inaccuracies.

[quote]Chrissie Hynde. One of the worst autobiographies I have ever read. It came off like a contractual obligation. Toward the end you could tell she got tired of it all and just quickly wrapped it up. Seems selfish to not put some effort into it.

That's funny because I'm not a fan of hers at all but her kindle book was selling for something like a pound so I got it and I loved the book and warmed to her.

[quote] She felt for bad for Sid, however.

Didn't Chrissie also blame herself for getting raped? I'm thinking victiming blaming is something she does often.

She is from an era when that was common r332.

R333, I know, it seems to be a pattern with her which explains why she can rant about Nancy decades later but feel sorry for Sid.

Christopher Plummer liked pretty girls in short dresses. He was was a tippler and was unable to 'No' to any job offer.

Well, from people who knew her, Nancy was very hard to like and have compassion for.

Princess Diana. She was a mean, spoiled 12 year-old even when she was an adult.

Oooh, I would read Princess Diana's autobiography, if she had ever written one!

"I have an obscure one. I read the autobiography of Gypsy Rose Lee’s sister, June Havoc called “Early Havoc.” "

I have that book on my shelves! And Gypsy Rose Lee's "Gypsy", the book on which the musical was based! Both are great reads, but Gypsy's book is funny and weird and triumphant, and June's book is just about her grim teen years, where she had to scrape out a living, when she was a young teenager living on her own during the Great Depression. Her descriptions of the horrific Marathon Dance were, IMHO, the inspiration for the harrowing 1970s film "They Shoot Horses, Don't They". Both books are great reads, and left you admiring these women for surviving their batshit mother and bizarre childhood as children who performed on stage instead of going to school.

No, the related celebrity autobiography that made me dislike the writer was the memoir by Gypsy's son, Erik Preminger. His mother and aunt sure as hell knew how to tell a story, but all Gypsy's son had to offer was whining, and not even with a sense of humor.

I just wanted to add that the Nancy Spungeon stuff from Chrissy is also reflective of her era and was the attitude of pretty much everyone including Nancy’s mother to a large degree. I don’t know if the poster above has read And I Don’t Want to Live This Life by Nancy’s mother, but in it, she speculated that Nancy could have goaded Sid into stabbing her. That sounds absolutely nuts [italic]today[/italic], but back then? No.

My point is, Nancy was just not seen as a victim in any way. And honestly, she was a complex person and not easy to understand. Sid was just seen as kind of stupid and self-destructive. His violence was overlooked or at least forgiven.

While I was looking forward to reading Olivia Newton John's bio, I suspected that it may be a lot like Olivia herself in interviews - all positive and charming, but not giving too much away and forever plugging the cancer centre she created. Turns out her bio is just like that.

She is "honoured" and "thrilled" to meet and work with some of entertainment's best and glosses over major events in her life (except for cancer). But it could have been so much more. What was it like to be the successful wife to a much younger man whose career went nowhere? How did it feel to be at the top of the game in the early 80s only to be at the bottom by the end of that same decade? What does she regret? What does she think of music now?

I read a few articles long ago about how her first husband Matt slept around a lot on her and how their affair began while she was in a relationship with Lee Kramer. He accused her of having an affair with Matt and she denied it. Also when Matt and Olivia divorced, he went on to marry their former babysitter. Clearly, there is a more interesting story behind their relationship than just “two people who started out as friends, married and then grew apart”.

While her cancer journey is commendable, it takes up too much of the book and has already been well-documented in articles and interviews. Unless you have a personal experience with the disease, this section of the book is not all that interesting. Most people want to know about her heyday and it's shame that the focus is not there. I can’t help but feel that there is a more interesting story about Olivia's life that we will never get to hear.

Yours Cruelly, Elvira by Cassandra Peterson. I lost respect when I read Cassandra's incredibly brief, shallow accounting of the Vampira (Maila Nurmi) feud. Anyone who knows the story understands that Cassandra owed Maila for the Elvira character. Cassandra very clearly did not create her and never acknowledged this. I found it dishonest to omit this truth from the book and thought it kind of sad that at 70 years old she couldn't be more self-reflective or even a little contrite.

[quote]Also, the biography of JFK Jr. written by his Puerto Rican secretary from the Bronx. He so fine, but truly not that sharp. I found it to be fascinating how idealistic he was, he made up for his lack of intellect with his passion.

I read a bio of JFK Jr. written by some friend/business associate & it was kind of the same; clearly beloved by those who knew him (and certainly didn't want to say anything bad about him), but not very bright or savvy for a grown man, never mind a man that grew up around power. It's been said before on previous threads, but George was going to fold & the explosion of the internet/social media was years away, his marriage was dissolving so I don't really know what he what he would've done with himself. It kind of makes you wonder if he didn't exactly commit suicide, but wasn't too keen on living either.

I thought Keith Richard's bio was kind of tedious; maybe it was Johnny Depp's narration, but I had to shut it off because it was making me fall asleep while driving.

About Gene Wilder; I didn't read his bio, but I heard an extended interview with Terri Gross on NPR & it sounded like Gilda was exhausting, she's the one that wanted to get pregnant no matter what & she clung to him like a barnacle. He didn't seem exactly self-aware about how this came across, but other bios about Gilda describe how insecure she was & even had an eating disorder. I could see where she'd be exhausting & he didn't necessarily handle it well

Carole King's autobiography was a very big bore - so was Sally Field's.

I think this happens when people write their books and at the same time want to hide.

Diane Keaton seemed to think that people wanted to read a whole book about her, frankly boring, mother - I guess she was offered the money and felt this was a way of taking the money and not exposing herself. That gurl loves her pay checks.

Women autobiogs - they tend to go on about their love lives and their mothers. Men go on about their work and their fathers.

R342, the problem is that both women based their look on Morticia Addams from the original Addams Family cartoons. This is why Maila Nurmi lost the lawsuit. It isn't stealing if one is simply using the same source material as a starting point.

Tina turner's My Love Story was a little disappointing. The first half is an inferior rehash of I Tina. The second half is much better but tends to gloss over her solo career. I would have rather the book started off where I Tina left off and took it from there.

I love Tina, but I felt the Ike situation should have been put to rest ages ago. Her solo career aside from Private Dancer has gotten such short shrift.

I liked Carole King’s book, but she did seem oblivious to the fact that she kept hooking up with manchild losers.

Melissa Etheridge. Loved her music when I was younger. Read her autobiography and suddenly realized she is a dumb woman and the fact that she let her ex sleep with K.D. Lang but then made her tell her all about it really made me dislike her.

Carrie Fisher. I loved Carrie and still do but when I read her last book, "Wishful Drinking" and she went on and on about how much she hated her Star Wars fans it made me start to dislike her.

Started reading Brandi Carlile's recently and had to stop. I didn't realize she was a major religious freak.

It didn't make me dislike him but I was a bit disappointed with Mel Brooks who in his recent autobiography claims all of the credit for many projects as if he had no collaborators. And oddly he glosses over his wife's death. That said, the guy is pushing 100 and I always liked him so I'll cut him some slack!

I still respect her well enough but Vanessa Redgrave's autobiography bored me to tears. It might as well have been titled: "And So I Yawned."

Anjelica Huston wrote a doozy. Please check it out. Her's might as well have been titled: "And So I Fucked." I dug it and I think there is a second one as well.

Mia Farrow wrote a lyrical one but she never wrote anything else again. She just tweets. That's odd to me.

I lost respect for Carrie Fisher (may she R.I.P) after reading her last two books, The Princess Diarist and the one about her shock treatments. The former in particular just appeared to be a cash grab with little to no effort put into writing it. It very much read like she was contractually obligated to a number of pages (as opposed to a word count, which is what my experience with book publishing has been) and was reaaaaly just trying to fill up the blank spaces. Of course, I had mistakenly presumed that she had been clean and sober for most of the previous two decades and after her death had a better understanding of why the quality of the last two books or so--Wishful Drinking was not ambitious but it appeared as though some effort was put into it at least--was so poor. It's a shame, she seemed like she could have been a good writer if she had put some effort into it, but she never improved.

Years ago (obviously) I met Debbie Harry at a party without knowing I was meeting Debbie Harry. It was a small apartment near Union Square where one of my friends was celebrating her 30th birthday. My friend's husband was an "erstwhile" musician (i.e., trust fund baby). The party was well attended in an apartment of about 700 square feet. When it was well-underway I found myself in a small group that included a petite woman with dirty blonde or light brown hair in a mom cut who was chatting generally with the rest of us. At one point she said, "Turning thirty is not a big deal - believe me! You are still young!" to my friend. A short time afterwards she exited and I was told that was Debbie Harry (which, in hindsight, she obviously was based on the face) who was at the time 44.

Slap the platinum bob on the woman who was talking with us and that's her. My impression was of a nice, smart person who could handle herself in social situations.

I later found out my friend's husband came from mega real estate wealth but at the time I only knew vaguely that his family had real estate money and owned the (meh) apartment where they lived.

I always mention Carrie Fisher when I'm talking to someone about good autobiographies. I didn't like The Princess Diarist because I'm not a Star Wars fan but Wishing Drinking and Shockoholic were both interesting. She was one of those people who could be funny in a way that seemed effortless. I highly recommend listening the Shockoholic audiobook, it's like listening to a witty friend tell a story.

Agree with the person who called Sally Field's book boring. I wanted to hear about her movie career, not the strong women in her life growing up.

Anjelica Huston’s dreary childhood in Ireland with her mostly-absent father seemed very depressing, no wonder she let Jack Nicholson treat her like shit for so many years. Same with Jane Fonda’s upbringing and her subsequent relationships with controlling assholes like Roger Vadim and Tom Hayden. Neither presented themselves as victims or begged for sympathy, which is refreshing compared to the way celebrities talk about themselves nowadays.

Mia’s was well-written, though it glossed over her sluttery and her pedophile brother, but her voice on the audiobook is very soothing. She got someone else to read the section about the bogus molestation charge, which I found odd because she went to court over it, gave interviews about it and of course recounted it in the book. Why not just read it yourself?

I just can't finish Diane Keaton's memoir, it doesn't hold my interest

R354 she would probably have hard time keeping her voice steady while she talked about Woody touching Dylan's labia in the attic.

99.9% of celebrities are self-centered cunts. I don’t need to read a mostly bullshit autobiography to figure this out. I can enjoy watching them pretend to be other people on screen without ever feeling the need to know more.

R345, Cassandra did indeed steal Maila's Vampira character. Maila was hired as a TV horror host for KABC-TV in LA in the '50s. She created the character of a sarcastic, campy host who made fun of terrible B horror movies; we take this for granted now but it was quite novel at the time. The show was a hit but a few months in the station demanded she turn over the rights for the Vampira character. Maila rightfully declined and the show came to an end.

In the 1980s Maila was approached by KHJ-TV in LA about bringing Vampira back on the air. She began working on production but after a series of disagreements Maila found herself unemployed... and then Cassandra showed up and magically stepped into a character that already had a clearly defined look, personality, and name (originally Elvira was to be called Vampira but rather than pay Maila a fee for the name they went with the very similar name of Elvira instead).

Cassandra discusses none of this in her book as she repeatedly marvels at her astonishing good luck. She does mention she's glad she owns the rights to her character. Otherwise, she would have been financially adrift the way Maila was when she died penniless. Regardless of the court ruling, Vampira was loosely inspired by Morticia but Elvira was blatantly ripped off from Vampira. You could argue that Cassandra was young and naive at the time and wasn't aware of the behind the scenes schemes of the tv station, but by now she should understand how this really played out. She could be honest about it.

There was probably room for two in the world of bizarre goth horror hosts and Cassandra really should have shown some gratitude to Maila. If she couldn't do it while Maila was alive it would have been appropriate to do so now in her new book (the inane chapter about the bird could have been deleted!).

But, R357, what about the .1% of celebrities?

Would you like to see their bio?

[quote]Carrie Fisher. I loved Carrie and still do but when I read her last book, "Wishful Drinking" and she went on and on about how much she hated her Star Wars fans it made me start to dislike her.

Which is so ironic since she spent the latter years of her life milking the Star Wars cow for all it was worth & her associations with people in the movie (Harrison Ford) and got her daughter on the SW gravy train. I can see where rabid SW fans would be tedious, but don't shit where you eat

June Havoc wrote a second autobiography*More Havoc* which isn't quite as grim as the first one as it's about her post-marathon years, when she started getting acting jobs again and breaking through in *Pal Joey*. She's a bit warmer about Gypsy in it. She seems to have blown hot and cold on her throughout her life. At one point they were living together in Gypsy's mansion. Mama Rose was a true nightmare in both memories.

Cassandra owed Malia nothing. She was mostly forgotten before the Elvira character was created and Cassandra improved on the whole gimmick and made Elvira a lasting pop culture icon. Malia should've tried getting in on the act, having Vampira be Elvira's mother or aunt. She clearly didn't have much entrepreneurship like Cassandra. It could've been beneficial to the both of them.

Yes, most definitely Cecil Beaton.

Dirk Bogarde as well. Obnoxious queen who in retrospect reads mentally ill with self-loathing homophobia. Liar.

Well tbh I hated Nikki Sixx anyway but his fake ‘diaries’ made me despise him with more force than I knew I could hate a celebrity

The prick even did an Audible re-release a few years back he just won’t dIE

Joel Grey’s auto bio. Very self serving and revealed himself to be a selfish totally narcissist from childhood. His life has been all about himself, his needs and everyone else just his supporting players. He actually expected us to believe no one knew he was gay? I’m from his home town. I went to school with his cousins. If I’ve known her was gay these many decades, then basically everyone who knows him knew.

R365 365 here. Before the do grammar trolls get started, I’m typing this on my cell while on treadmill. Excuse me, I must go now. Time to put down the phone and crank up the intensity

[quote]Cassandra owed Malia nothing. She was mostly forgotten before the Elvira character was created and Cassandra improved on the whole gimmick and made Elvira a lasting pop culture icon. Malia should've tried getting in on the act, having Vampira be Elvira's mother or aunt. She clearly didn't have much entrepreneurship like Cassandra. It could've been beneficial to the both of them.

Don't know how beneficial it was to Cassandra because even after all her success and movies and merch she spent her whole book moaning about being broke.

The molestation charge against Woody is most definitely not bogus.

Katie Couric. I didn;t know much about her and couldn’t get through her autobio, even when skipping chapters.

She’s a windbag and full of herself.

As I'm sure many have already posted, reading Arthur Laurents' autobiography will make you despise him.

I certainly did after reading it, R370.

Actors' memoirs are boring because they are almost invariably so self-serving. They rarely are very honest about themselves.

The best memoirs are almost always by writers, who tend to be more self-critical and reveal interesting things about their inner lives and (especially) their ideas.

Yes. Sean Astin.

It's harder to think of the celebrity autobiographies where I came away still liking the celebrity.

I still like David Niven's, even though they are mostly anecdotes he apparently stole from other friends's lives and he passed off as his own. And Patty Duke's was one of the few where she really seemed honest even as she explained her illness. about her bad decisions

Sally Field’s autobiography was disappointing.

Frank Langella. He came off as an asshole and he used people. Attention whore too. The most boring book was a U2 biography and it was a little sanctimonious too.I couldn't even finish it.

Anyone read Kim Gordon autobiography? If so, how was it?

KISS's original drummer Peter Criss's autobiography makes him come across as a raging asshole and unhinged gun nut.

Has anyone read Brando's autobiography? I just finished reading William J. Mann's biography of Brando. I found it a bit of a slog, which is curious given what an eccentric character Marlon was.

[quote]I still like David Niven's, even though they are mostly anecdotes he apparently stole from other friends's lives and he passed off as his own.

I love his books. I've never heard that before, r374. Can you offer examples?

R380, I never bought Niven’s story of Joan Crawford urinating on him.

Nabokov’s Speak Memory was hard to get through.

I could not STAND Claire Bloom after reading her autobiography, A Doll House (or something like that . . .) In fact, I cannot stand most actors/artists after reading their autobiographies: total name-dropping about other actors, venues, directors, etc. BORING!!! I, of course, do not know the truth behind Claire Bloom's marriage to Philip Roth, but she was particularly ugly toward him in the book and went into some cringe-worthy detail. She was of a different generation, but came off as part diva/part name dropper/part doormat. I threw the book in the trash. And her writing sucked, too.

Same, r370. I'd wondered why so many reportedly disliked him, and after reading his memoir, it was abundantly clear why. And they were all 100% right.

[quote]Cassandra owed Malia nothing. She was mostly forgotten before the Elvira character was created

Apparently not, since she was involved in creating the show Cassandra later took over. Maila created the entire show and even the sets, and was involved in hiring the host but the station thought she was taking too long, so they hired Cassandra behind Maila's back, directly telling her they wanted her to do a Vampira impression.

Cassandra was even using the name "Vampira" during filming on the first day, until Maila found out and got an attorney to quickly issue a cease and desist.

Anyone -- including you -- who says the show had nothing to do with Maila Nurmi or Vampira is 100% fucking lying about it.

If this was mentioned before apologies, but Eric Clapton's biography changed my favorable opinion of hime He's a talented musician but an unpleasant person.

I hate to say it, but I didn't have a high opinion of George Benson after finishing his autobiography.

I loved Alan Cumming’s first memoir focused on surviving his monster father. I still like him after finishing his second memoir, which I found a very good read, but my feeling was (perfectly naturally) yeah, well, he’s an actor, what did you expect.