But Enough About Me is a terrific memoir from Burt Reynolds. Best known for films like Smokey and The Bandit, I was only semi-curious about reading this, thinking it was another standard autobiography. Instead, this is a reminder he was a top box-office star for several decades, and his memoir easily weaves his own story with Hollywood tales and friendships through the years with stars from Bette Davis to Raquel Welch to Goldie Hawn.
Although he details his rise through films to stardom, with all the ups and downs, it really is about the people he knew working in Hollywood. There are great stories of parties with classic stars like Cary Grant, working in the Actor's Studio with Spencer Tracy and Marilyn Monroe and, although I've read many of her biographies some Bette Davis stories I had never heard before. He runs through his hits like Deliverance, Smokey, and even his bomb musicals. His nude Cosmopolitain photoshoot, a nasty rumour during the 80's AIDS scare, a love of doing his own stunts, his hit TV show Evening Shade, his comeback in Boogie Nights - it's all here. I was interested to hear about his long time relationship with Sally Field, who he says is the one that got away, and his long time romance with Dinah Shore. He has worked with so many stars since the 1950's, and has entertaining anecdotes about so many, it's a real treat for movie fans.
This was not the memoir I was expecting. He generously turns the spotlight onto so many interesting people, while being humorous and realistic about his own career. He made over 100 movies, hits and bombs, and even details the ones he passed on - the Batman TV show (!), Rosemary's Baby, The Godfather, James Bond (!), Die Hard, Pretty Woman, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Han Solo (!), and many others. Alternate possibilities in filmmaking are always fascinating to me, and why people choose certain roles, and which of those are hits.
A quick read, but if you are interested in movies, this is a book to seek out.
Burt Reynolds died September 6, 2018 at the age of 82.
1931 / Hardcover / 319 pages
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