This Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me: An Autobiography - Hardcover

Jewison, Norman

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312328680 ISBN 13: 9780312328689

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books, 2005

Synopsis

For over forty years, Norman Jewison has been one of Hollywood's preeminent storytellers. His films have spanned every genre, from drama to comedy to musical to action, and have been embraced by audiences and critics alike. Throughout his career, Jewison has shown an honesty, humor, and unflappable spirit that have made him one of Hollywood's best-loved and most successful directors, culminating in an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1999.

In this candid and witty autobiography, Jewison reveals how he went from a quiet childhood in Canada to the heady world of entertainment, working with the biggest stars and winning some of the most sought-after awards. He began his career in television, earning three Emmy Awards for his work with luminaries such as Harry Belafonte, Judy Garland, and Frank Sinatra, but soon made the move to the big screen. In Hollywood, he started out directing romantic comedies with Doris Day and Rock Hudson, but soon proved himself adept as an independent filmmaker with The Cincinnati Kid, starring a young Steve McQueen.

Jewison - or the "Canadian Pinko" as John Wayne called him -- has been a tireless promoter of civil rights around the world in both his films and life. His pre-glasnost comedy The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! made him one of the first Western directors to go behind the Iron Curtain. Robert Kennedy became a friend after supplying details of his own experiences in the South for the making of In The Heat of the Night, starring Sidney Poitier. The landmark film went on to win five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but not before Jewison, Poitier, and the rest of the crew spent a tense, sleepless night in a Southern motel. In the '80s and '90s, his films A Soldier's Story and The Hurricane with Denzel Washington each received worldwide acclaim for their portrayal of some of the most fundamental issues of race in America.

No matter what genre, Jewison's films were career highlights for countless actors, and he offers never before told details of his own working relationships with the stars and studios. How did he, a Canadian - Christian - get to direct the hit musical Fiddler on the Roof? How did the rugged, motorcycle-riding Steve McQueen convince Jewison he could play the sophisticated Thomas Crown? How did Jewison help invent the futuristic sport of Rollerball? How did Moonstruck reverse a box office curse and go on to become a smash success and multiple Oscar-winner?

This Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me reveals the little-known details in these funny, charming stories of life on the other side of the camera.

About this title

About the Author

Norman Jewison has been a vibrant force in the motion picture industry for more than forty years. His films have been celebrated at the Academy Awards, having received a total of 46 nominations. He has been personally nominated for three Best Director awards and in 1999 receiving the Irving Thalberg Award for lifetime achievement. He has won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, the Donatello Award from Italy, and numerous international prizes.

Norman Jewison currently has two films in development. He lives on a working farm in Ontario, Canada.

Reviews

Jewison's movies have received 12 Academy Awards and 46 nominations, a remarkable record for a filmography that numbers only 25 films. His autobiography's unassuming style offers a clear, accessible portrait of the man and overflows with revealing anecdotes about such luminaries as Steve McQueen, Doris Day, Al Pacino, Sidney Poitier and Denzel Washington. After finding success in live television working with Judy Garland, Jackie Gleason and Danny Kaye, Jewison began his motion picture career with 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962); survived a bomb, The Art of Love (1965); and eventually turned out a series of classics: The Cincinnati Kid (1965), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Fiddler on the Roof (1971) and Moonstruck (1987). He defines Doris Day (The Thrill of It All, 1963) as a consummate comedian who lacked confidence in her appearance; and Sylvester Stallone (F.I.S.T., 1978) as someone who "behaved like he believed his own publicity." Jewison also describes his approach to filmmaking, explaining his actions at the all-important pitch meeting, and demonstrates how focused a director must be. Honest without becoming a tell-all or an airing of personal problems, the book is a successful study of what it takes to triumph in Hollywood and achieve artistic satisfaction. Photos. (Sept.)
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Jewison, a seasoned filmmaker known for hits as diverse as In the Heat of the Night, Moonstruck, and Fiddler on the Roof, focuses on his work rather than his life outside of it, trying to be "truthful and entertaining . . . serious and sometimes funny," and jumping about in time and place as association leads him in an irresistibly elliptical manner. He grew up working in the family dry-goods store in Toronto during the Depression, when Doc Edmunds performed door-to-door bargain tonsillectomies on kitchen tables for $24.95, and where Jewison perfected the art of the sales pitch that has aided him throughout his career. Via agent Larry Auerbach, he developed his resume directing American variety shows, including a Judy Garland comeback special, in the 1950s. The Thrill of It All! an immensely profitable Doris Day romance, followed, along with The Cincinnati Kid, a project taken over from hard-drinking Sam Peckinpah. The behind-the-scenes drama and comedy of his long career, presented with straightforward candor, should delight film mavens and general readers alike. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312328680
• ISBN 13: 9780312328689
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304