Broadway Bookshelf — Autobiography — Page 4

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Autobiography Books

Present Past Past Present: A Personal Memoir

(1998)

Part diary, part autobiography, part self-analysis and commentary, this revealing memoir by the playwright of the Absurd is an expression of the writer's search for the wellsprings and justifications of his existence. Diary jottings mingle with searing memories of his authoritarian father, metaphysical musings with thoughts on anti-Semitism, his wartime experiences, Soviet death camps, and the sham of bourgeois "revolutionaries". There is also the occasional light-hearted fantasy, played out wit...

Present Past Past Present: A Personal Memoir

The Cabin: Reminiscence and Diversions

(1993)

This pleasurable amalgam of travelogue and reminiscence explores Mamet's early years in Chicago and New York and his current life as a successful playwright.

My Life in Art

(1987)

Written with the same warmth, liveliness and ability to re-create reality that made Stanislavski a great actor, his autobiography tells of his childhood in the world of Moscow's wealthy merchants, his successes and failures as an amateur actor, how he studied human beings, and developed what has come to be known as the "Stanislavski Method," how his group of dedicated amateurs became "perhaps the greatest acting group the world has ever known (Washington Post)," The Moscow Art Theatre.

Life Is Too Short

(1991)

At age two in 1922, Joe Yule Jr. joined his parents on the vaudeville circuit in an act that was disbanded when Joe Sr. decamped. On their own, mother and son went looking for work in Hollywood, where little Joe metamorphosed into Mickey Rooney. His racy, comic, poignant autobiography recalls the highs and lows during the years he made more than 200 films, including the hugely popular Andy Hardy series and musicals with Judy Garland. Rooney is candid on the subjects of his eight marriages (the f...

Tallulah: My Autobiography

(2004)

Her father and her uncle were U.S. congressmen. Her grandfather was a U. S. senator. Although born to privilege in Alabama and groomed in a convent school, Tallulah Bankhead resolved not to be just another Southern belle. Quickly she rose to the top and became an acclaimed actress of London's West End and on the Broadway stage. Her performances in many plays of the 1920s brought her to the notice of Hollywood. She starred in such Paramount films as My Sin, Faithless, The Devil and the Deep, an...

It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here: My Journey Through Show Business [

(1990)

"In this ebullient, often rancorous autobiography, the stage, film and TV actor describes vividly the hassles that cost him the plum role in The Graduate and numerous other setbacks before he starred in The Heartbreak Kid . Instructive and entertaining, his story includes tidbits on Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Roman Po lanski, Ellen Burstyn, Simon & Garfunkel, and many other luminaries, none more intriguing than the un sinkable Grodin," said PW. Photos.

It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here: My Journey Through Show Business [

Musical Stages: An Autobiography

(2002)

A new edition to commemorate the legendary composer's 100th birthday. From Oklahoma! to Carousel, The Sound of Music to The King and I, the sights and sounds of Broadway were dominated by Richard Rodgers for the better part of the twentieth century. And now, on the centenary of his birth, comes a new edition of his classic autobiography. "A memoir worthy of one of the great names in the American theater" (Washington Post), it's packed with backstage tales of everyone's favorite musicals.

AS I AM

(1988)

By age 21 the self-confident, determined, Southern-bred actress had starred in a Broadway hit, won a Tony, was "the toast of New York" and was featured on a Life coveronly the first of many triumphs in a celebrity life. In this account written "to reclaim the past that was stolen," Neal writes candidly about her numerous love affairs, both transient and profound, such as a liaison with Gary Cooper and her 25-year marriage to writer Roald Dahl. More arresting are the tragedies that beset her, in...

What's It All About

(1993)

He was born Maurice Joseph Micklewehite in London's impoverished East End. And yet Michael Caine emerged as one of the world's most versatile, enduring, and beloved actors of our time. With the easy charm of a natural raconteur, Caine takes us onto the sets and into the homes of Hollywood's most talented celebrities. Candid, vibrant, and warm, here is a captivating self-portrait of a man who is at once sublimely ordinary and freshingly unique, one of the greatest actors in film today.

I Was a Dancer

(2011)

From one of America’s finest, and most celebrated, classical dancers; former principal dancer for more than three decades with the New York City Ballet—the irresistible story of an exhilarating life in dance. He writes of the New York City Ballet and those at its center: Lincoln Kirstein; Jerome Robbins; George Balanchine (“With Robbins, you were amplified; with Balanchine, you were transformed”), as well as the ballerinas who were Balanchine’s muses—Maria Tallchief, Tanaquil LeCl...

And Furthermore

(2011)

I can hardly believe that it is more than half a century since I first stepped on to the stage of the Old Vic Theatre and into a way of life that has brought me the most rewarding professional relationships and friendships. I cannot imagine now ever doing anything else with my life except acting…” – Judi Dench From London’s glittering West End to Broadway’s bright lights, from her Academy Award-winning role as Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love to “M” in the James Bond films, J...

I Am What I Am

(2010)

"Anything Goes" gave you the story so far, "I Am What I Am" reveals more about the man behind the television sensation, focusing on John's unique approach to life and love. Written with John's trademark style, the book will be filled with juicy titbits from behind the scenes of "Doctor Who" and "Torchwood", alongside heart-warming family anecdotes and personal revelations, including John's perspective on fame and how it has affected him. Also containing exclusive details about John's forthcoming...

Elia Kazan: A Life

(1997)

According to PW , "flashes of sudden insight or eloquence keep the reader turning the pages of Kazan's garrulous autobiography." His expansive memoir makes no apologies for his decision to name names during the McCarthy era, and includes cutting portraits of Lillian Hellman and Arthur Miller, as well as glimpses of Odets, Cagney, Bankhead, Monroe, Brando, Goldwyn and dozens more. Photos. (Source: Publishers Weekly)

Ginger: My Story

(1992)

Winning a dance contest in Texas launched the 14-year-old Virginia Katherine McMath on her acting career and eventful personal life, episodes, emotions and dialogue from which she recreates here in exhaustive detail. Now 79, this devout Christian Scientist recalls her early vaudeville days in a determinedly upbeat tone, as well as her stage and film hits, including the 10 musicals-- Top Hat , Swing Time , etc.--in which she and Fred Astaire co-starred. Also discussed is Rogers's Oscar-winning Ki...

Me: Stories of My Life

(1992)

Admired and beloved by movie audiences for over sixty years, four-time Academy Award-winner Katharine Hepburn is an American classic. Now Miss Hepburn breaks her long-kept silence about her private life in this absorbing and provocative memoir.

Slings And Arrows: Theater In My Life

(2000)

"He's a marvelous storyteller: gossipy, candid without being cruel, and very funny. This vivid, entertaining book is also one of the most penetrating works to be written about the theater." - Publishers Weekly

Here We Go Again: My Life in Television

(1997)

Her late husband, Allen Ludden, once remarked that White had been one of the pioneers in silent television. That is just barely an exaggeration, because she got her start in Hollywood on Television in 1949 and has not been off the tube for any length of time for the past 46 years. Best known for her roles as Sue Ann on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and as the terminally naive Rose on The Golden Girls, she has had four Betty White Shows, starting in 1950, as well as a show close to her animal-lover's...

Put on a Happy Face: A Broadway Memoir

(2008)

Strouse is best-known for having written the music for the Broadway hits Bye Bye Birdie and Annie, both somewhat lightweight shows—the first, a lighthearted look at teen life, circa 1960; the other, a singing-dancing version of the classic comic strip Little Orphan Annie. Yet both have grace and power that haven’t diminished over the years. The same may come to be said of this lively, highly readable memoir. Strouse touches on the darker themes in his life—his mother’s mental illness, hi...

Elaine Paige: Memories

(2009)

Elaine Paige, the undisputed “First Lady of Musical Theatre” Celebrates 40 years on the stage this year. Memories is the remarkable story of her own life, on and off the stage, in words and pictures. She takes us through her extraordinary career from her earliest stage appearances, to her many starring roles in some of the biggest musicals of the modern era, including Hair, Grease, Evita, Cats, Chess, Piaf, Sunset Boulevard and The Drowsy Chaperone. She tells it how it was, sharing moments ...

Thank Heaven: A Memoir

(2009)

Leslie Caron is one of the most cherished and admired international film stars of our time. She made her film debut with Gene Kelly in the classic MGM musical An American in Paris, created one of the most enduring roles in American musicals as Gigi, danced with Fred Astaire in Daddy Long Legs, and starred with Cary Grant in Father Goose. In Thank Heaven (an homage to "Thank Heaven for Little Girls," the song Maurice Chevalier sings about her in Gigi) Caron shares her remarkable life story. F...

I've Slept With Everybody: A Memoir

(2009)

Sondra Lee - an actress, dancer, director, teacher . . . and the original Tiger Lily to millions - takes us through nearly 50 years of a glorious career on stage (High Button Shoes, Peter Pan, Hello, Dolly!, among others) and films (Fellini's La Dolce Vita) -- in front and behind the camera. Describing her extraordinary adventures, always with a touch of humor and loving memories, recollections of trials and tribulations, countless series of short-lived and lifelong friendships and romantic flin...

A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages

(2009)

You might know her as a Tony Award-winning Broadway star, who originated the role of Galinda the Good Witch in the smash musical Wicked and won a Tony for 1999's You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Or you may recognize her from her starring roles on TV -- The West Wing, Pushing Daisies, Sesame Street...oh, and her Huge Hit Sitcom Kristin on NBC. (Huge hit. L.A. breast-implant huge. Ask either of the people who watched it.) Or maybe you saw her sexy spread in FHM magazine? Or her appearance on Pat ...

A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages

Parcel Arrived Safely: Tied with String

(1999)

This is the long-awaited autobiography of one of Britain's best-loved and most internationally successful actors. By turns funny, charming, and poignant, here is Michael Crawford's vivid account of his war-torn childhood of a loving mother, violent stepfather, and the painfully revealed truth about his absent father. His early memories include being taught to sing by the great composer Benjamin Britten, and later, when he entered show business, his friendships with David Hemmings, John Lennon, ...

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