Don't let that tanned, handsome, charming surface fool you. Beneath the bronzed façade is a mischievous mind with a wicked wit. George Hamilton doesn't miss a thing. With a front row seat for classic Hollywood's biggest secrets and scandals, George has the intelligence, heart, and unflappable spirit to tell his story, and the story of Tinseltown's heyday, with great good humor and delicious candor -- as only he can. From Where the Boys Are to Dancing with the Stars; from Mary Pickford to Elizabeth Taylor; from smalltown Arkansas to the capitals of Europe -- it's all here, and George has lived to tell and to laugh about it.
As the child of a Dartmouth-educated bandleader father and a glamorous Southern debutante mother whose marriage crumbled early on, George had a childhood filled with misadventures and challenges that his mother always seemed able to turn from tragedy to comedy. Her idea of changing the family's fortunes involved a trip cross-country with three sons and a poodle in a Lincoln Continental, making stops along the way to search for husband/father number three. And she was quick to recognize that George's potential success lay in Hollywood.
George starved nobly for his art in the late 1950s, but was soon starring in major motion pictures directed by the likes of Vincente Minnelli and Louis Malle. He has forgotten more about Hollywood than most movie experts will ever know and shares intimate and hugely entertaining stories of his friendships with Cary Grant; Brigitte Bardot; Robert Mitchum; Merle Oberon; Mae West; Sammy Davis, Jr.; and Judy Garland -- not to mention Lyndon B. Johnson and Elvis's Colonel Tom Parker as well as the King himself -- among others. The world is Hamilton's oyster, and this ultimate insider is ready to share it with us. So fasten your seat belt. We'll tell you when it's safe to move about the cabin again.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
So-So read:
It was on "okay" book but dragged in quite a few places. Not enough depth or detail on the interesting stuff. Kind of boring after a while, took me a long time to get through it. Just couldn't get into it.
Tedious.:
The paperback version is 304 pages; I finally gave up after forcing myself to read up to page 185. Tedious, dull, endless name-dropping; if this is fame, you can have it. The poor writing quality makes reading a chore. Skip this, or if you must, get it at a library. You'll regret having bought a copy, as I certainly do...
Enjoyable book except for the typos:
I liked this book. It is an engaging story about someone who has had an amazing journey. Mr. Hamilton was concerned about appearances and style, so I found the numerous typographical errors in the book unbecoming to him. Mixing up "an" and "on," "then" and "than," "megahit" and "megabit," etc. This isn't Mr. Hamilton's fault; the editors should have done a better job. Aside from those distractions, I recommend this book.
Gossipy Tell-All That Is Half Biography of Hamilton's Odd Mother:
This gossipy memoir is filled with unusual stories of people Hamilton knew, slept with, worked with and even accidentally encountered (catching Senator John F. Kennedy skinny dipping with a lover?). Unfortunately, most of the first half of the book is really the story of Hamilton's weird mother and dysfuncational family. He claims to have had a "Dobie Gillis" upbringing, but that is far from the truth. The mom was married four times by George's teen years, they moved over a dozen times from Arkansas to... more info
