The sort of book you'd imagine Ernest Borgnine to write - it has an "aw gee I can't believe I did it" quality. He was lucky he came along when he did. But you also make your own luck - he worked hard, took all sorts of roles, could act, could play leads and support parts. He was lucky to get Marty which put him in a new league but he never really became a star. On TV it was different. Spent something like ten years in the navy but never saw active service.
This book is hazy is some stuff, notably his love life. He had a number of divorces (including with Katy Juarando and Ethel Merman) before getting lucky with number five... a woman who became a make up tycoon.
Sam Peckinpah told him to fuck off several times, Gene Wilder was meant to play Red Buttons' role in Poseidon Adventure, he was briefly sacked on The Adventurers for giving direction to an actor, he doesn't mention Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, he said Lee Marvin referred to Jim Brown as a n*gger and had to be pulled into line by Bob Aldrich, he wanted to play the warden in Escape from New York, he calls Chuka undistinguished.
Not a great memoir, too chipper, but not bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment