Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #724453 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-10
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Barbeau hits 60 fabulously in this straightforward, muscularly written memoir of the acting life. The Maude star proves herself a writer with flair, as well as a passionate singer, though she gained fame as a stage actress in New York City once she left her San Jose, Calif., home at age 19 in 1964. The daughter of Armenian parents, Barbeau was often typecast in ethnic parts thanks to her dark, bosomy good looks; working as a go-go girl, she got her first break in Fiddler on the Roof. After the nude musical Stag Movie and the hit Grease, Barbeau flew to L.A. to audition for Norman Lear's '70s spinoff to All in the Family, Maude, starring Bea Arthur. To Barbeau's astonishment, she was hired after an extensive search to play Maude's feminist daughter, Carole, and she stayed for all six years the show ran. Suddenly a recognizable star, she dated a string of sexy men including Burt Reynolds; she married director John Carpenter, who cast her in his forgettable suspense films. Barbeau found happiness in a second marriage with Billy Van Zandt, and motherhood, with twins, at 51. Endearingly, Barbeau never considered herself a sex symbol and only wanted to be loved for her singing. (May)
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About the Author
Film, Television and Broadway Star, Concert Stage and Recording Artist, Adrienne Barbeau's career spans 40 years and is still evolving.


She began performing in 1963 with the San Jose Civic Light Opera and by the time she was 18, she had already entertained our servicemen on army bases throughout South East Asia and was on her way to New York where she made her Broadway debut as Tevye's second daughter, Hodel, in Fiddler on the Roof. A Tony nomination for her creation of Rizzo in the original Broadway production of "Grease" led her back to California and the role of Bea Arthur's daughter, Carol, in the hit series "Maude" (currently in reruns on Nick at Nite's TV Land.)


Adrienne's numerous films for television include the Ace Award winning "Double Crossed: The Barry Seal Story" opposite Dennis Hopper, Scott Turow's "Burden of Proof" with Hector Elizondo, and most recently "The Santa Trap" with Stacy Keach and Robert Hays. Weekly audiences can see her in a recurring role on "Drew Carey" as Oswald's mom. She is currently starring as Ruthie in HBO's fascinating series "Carnivàle".


Film audiences know her best from "The Fog", "Escape from New York", "Swamp Thing", "Cannonball Run", "Creepshow", "Back to School", "Two Evil Eyes", and "The Convent". Soon to be released is the feature comedy "A Wake in Providence".


Los Angeles audiences have known her as a television talk show host and a weekly book reviewer for KABC talk radio. Her nightclub performances include Harrah's, Reno; The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel; the Gardenia and the Moonlight Tango Cafe in Los Angeles.


Adrienne has starred in over 25 musicals and plays, among them "Pump Boys & Dinettes"; "Women Behind Bars"; Kander and Ebb's "And the World Goes Round"; "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"; "Love Letters"; the West coast premieres of "A Walk on the Wild Side" and "Drop Dead"; the Canadian premiere of Neil Simon's "Lost in Yonkers"; and the world premiere of "What the Rabbi Saw" by Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore. Most recently she returned to "Fiddler on the Roof" as Tevye's wife, Golde. "I figure if I live long enough, I'll be playing Golde's grandmother, Tzeitle."


Off camera, Adrienne is the voice of Catwoman in "Batman, The Animated Series"; the spokesperson for various television and radio commercials and the narrator of many books on tape, television documentaries, and the Imax film "The Living Sea". She has released a cd - not the expected musical showtunes but a great collection of the country, blues, jazz and pop tunes she does in her concert appearances across the country.


Adrienne is currently writing a collection of stories about her life called There Are Worse Things I Could Do, to be published in Spring of 2006, and is also in rehearsals for a new, two character play entitled The Property Known as Garland, written by Billy Van Zandt and directed by Glenn Casale.


In March of 1997, Adrienne gave birth to identical twin boys making her "the only woman on the maternity ward who was a member of AARP". She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Billy Van Zandt, the twins, William and Walker, and her older son, Cody.

Customer Reviews

A great read
I wouldn't consider myself a huge fan of Adrienne Barbeau, but this book was a great read. In fact, I had a hard time putting it down! The book was very engaging, genuine, and fun to read. Ms. Barbeau is a definitely a class act; and she seems like a good, down to earth person. That's hard to say about many actresses these days.

A stunner! Adrienne Barbeau is a terrific writer!
I have always enjoyed Adrienne Barbeau's acting, but this book has transformed me into a bona-fide fan. Ms. Barbeau shares stories of her Hollywood travels and her journeys toward personal identity and healthy relationships. It's an amazing read -- I hated putting it down!

This book is definitely of a higher caliber than most Hollywood tell-alls, and Ms. Barbeau exudes class, authenticity and humor throughout. After reading it, one will want to sit down and get to know this remarkable lady.

Also, Ms. Barbeau has signed a book deal to write mystery novels! So we will have more books from this amazing writer. Yay!

Better than the standard actor autobiography!!
+++++

"I went from being a musical comedy performer to a sitcom actress to a scream queen to a mother and a TV talk-show host and a book reviewer and a voice-over performer, and then back to the stage and back to musical comedy and back to television and concert halls and more films, and even into the recording studio for a CD and into my office to write this book."

This is an excerpt from this page-turning autobiography by Adrienne Barbeau, a candid, funny, and self-deprecating autobiography that covers sixty years of her life. It is based on the journals she kept which she "began in 1955." She "wrote every day for the next forty years."

The above excerpt tells you generally what the book is about. Along the way, Barbeau tells us about "relationships and love affairs, emotional highs and lows, friendships and loss."

Highlights of this book include talking about her two hit TV shows ("Maude" and "Carnivale"), her major movies ("The Fog," "Escape from New York," "Swamp Thing," and "Creepshow"), her relationship with 1970's superstar Burt Reynolds, and her two marriages (the first to horror and science fiction director John Carpenter).

The title of this book is the title of a major song Barbeau sung in the original Broadway production of "Grease" which was "a major turning point in [her] life."

This autobiography is well written. What I especially liked was Barbeau's directness and the fact that you could easily follow the timeline of her life story.

Included in the book's approximate center are over forty black and white photographs. My favorite is the one that has her character in the movie "The Convent" gunning down nuns (or as she says "blowing away nuns").

Barbeau throughout her book doesn't come off as self-absorbed or an airhead. Instead she comes off as a smart, witty, loving, and giving person who, as this book chronicles, is a survivor.

Finally, I did find a few problems:

(1) I felt that Barbeau was holding back on certain details of her life story. For example, we are not told anything about the book's provocative cover photograph (shown above by Amazon). I learned that this is Barbeau's 1978 pin-up poster that actually rivaled Farrah Fawcett's poster of the same decade. Why are we not told anything about this?
(2) Many of the stories in her book are not followed up and this might be frustrating for some readers.
(3) She tends to sometimes flip-flop back and forth between present and past tense.

In conclusion, this is a good, solid, witty, and revealing autobiography about an actor who has been in the "biz" for more than four decades. It is definitely better than the standard actor autobiography!!

(first published 2006; introduction {entitled "The Journals"}; 40 chapters; main narrative 335 pages; acknowledgements {entitled "Thank You"})

+++++