A Hell of a Life: An Autobiography

The award-winning theater and film star relates details of her personal life, her career, and her relationships with show business greats

Stapleton (b. 1925) has enjoyed a long career as a character actress and has won every award in sight: Oscar, Tony, Emmy. Her memoir, written with Scovell, covers her starstruck girlhood, her Broadway debut in 1946 and her charter membership in the Actor's Studio and offers insights into her art in such roles as Serafina (The Rose Tattoo). Along the way she talks candidly about her friendship with Marilyn Monroe, her struggle to save Montgomery Clift from self-destruction, the emotional dues she paid to appear in Tennessee Williams's plays and the essential difference between stage and screen acting. Much of the book deals with her multiple health problems, which have included alcoholism, pill addiction and several phobias. One of the most intriguing sections concerns her May-December romance with legendary Broadway director George Abbott ("the object of my greatest passion") when she was in her 40s and he in his 80s. Stapleton is a woman with a large talent, a short fuse and a bawdy sense of humor, and her helluva life will interest many readers.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"It was I who found Maureen Stapleton," Tennessee Williams would later say, referring to his casting of the young unknown in his new play, The Rose Tattoo. Soon after, Williams's discovery became an award-winning star of theater, film, and television. Now, in this charming, gritty, and informative autobiography, Stapleton tells her life story, from her difficult childhood in Troy, New York, to her latest work as a 70-year-old actress. The reader gets full accounts of life within the famed Actor's Studio as well as a social history of 50 years of show biz. The style is direct, and the anecdotes lend the feel of a monolog by a fascinating cocktail party guest who happens to be one of America's finest actresses. Recommended for public libraries and libraries with theater collections.?Lisa Johnston, Sweet Briar Coll., Va.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.