Bedside Hollywood: Great Scenes from Movie Memoirs

by Robert Atwan

ATWAN, Robert n Bruce Forer (editors)

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1985

About the author

Robert Atwan has been the series editor of The Best American Essays since its inception in 1986. He has edited numerous literary anthologies and written essays and reviews for periodicals nationwide.

Reviews

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a must-read for old Hollywood buffs. Not all these show-business insiders’ autobiographies are articulate but each has its own entertaining style. And some are impressively literate: Richard Burton and James Cagney especially. My least favorite was Omar Sharif, who was sickening in his arrogance (“I'm going to be blunt: I get any woman I want”) and my most favorite was Lana Turner’s. Turner says she felt “a stab of relief” just before her 14-year-old daughter fatally sticks a kitchen knife in her lover’s aorta. The writing is always vibrant and colorful, and the stories are never less than entertaining.