Tuesday, January 08, 2019

Your Turn

Favorite celebrity biography

73 comments:

Former CNN Anchor Candy Crowley said...

I went to Hooters to apply for a job opening. They handed me a bra and said “fill this out”.

Brayson87 said...

Malcolm X

Jon said...

Mein Kampf. Pretty brilliant.

LooksLikeCRicci said...

I'm horrible, but I really enjoyed Stori Telling by "Tori Spelling." I thought it was entertaining and well written.

I also liked the biography of Chris Farley written by his family. I can't remember the name, but it was very moving.

Super Comic Fun Time! said...

The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Amy Wallace.

Former CNN Anchor Candy Crowley said...

"Vanna Speaks". It's a p_ge tu_ne_

sandybrook said...

Natalie by Lana Wood

Do Tell said...

"Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild" by David Stenn. Outstanding.

Joseph P Blow, Kokomo PD said...

John, Mein Kampf is an autobiography. Are you thinking of the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, maybe?

Moose said...

Anyone else familiar with "Celebrity Autobiography" - it's where comedy stars read portions of celebrity autonbiographies. They are usually very well done.

Here's Kristen Wiig reading Suzanne Somers' "Keeping Secrets": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unD2bzhDkLk

Tuesdi said...

Dean and Me - by Jerry Lewis.
Jerry was a whiny, jealous bitch, but it was still a fun read.

Brayson87 said...

“I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I'm a human being, first and foremost, and as such I'm for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”
- Malcolm X

HeffalumpsAndWoozles said...

@Joseph P Blow, Kokomo PD

Autobiographies are a subset of biographies so it still works.

B626 said...

Bruce Campbell
If Chins Could Kill

Hanniam said...

To The Stars. George Takei. I’d love to see it revised with more of his life with Brad, but it was both a good read and particularly memorable for his recollections of life in California before and after the war.

bleacherbunny said...

WIRED by Bob Woodward re John Belushi
or NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE by Jerry Hopkins re Jim Morrison

Humor Me said...

Joan Rivers - she was an amazing lady.

hiyosilvergirl said...

Coal Miner's Daughter - Loretta Lynn

Super Comic Fun Time! said...

Oh, The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero is pretty good too. Maybe I like that one better? I still cringe when I think of those hacks who bought the rights to the book and made that horrible, uninspired movie.

L said...

Unknown Kimi Räikkönen by Kari Hotakainen. Damn the chapter about his two week booze-binge-adventure is worth a movie alone.

Farmgirl said...

Me - Katharine Hepburn

MSAB09 said...

Teddy Roosevelt. Just mind blowing everything he did, talk about balls to the wall!.

gfbcpa said...

Life by Keith Richards

Not the Girl Next Door - Joan Crawford

It's So Easy by Duff McKagan (Guns N Roses bassist)

KayeC said...

Edie, American Girl, by Jean Stein. Great book about Edie Sedgwick and the entire Warhol group.

Also loved Faithful, by Marianne Faithful (autobiography)

Now! said...

Slash’s book is excellent too.

My favorite celeb bio: Garbo: Her Story by Anton Gronowicz. She claimed it was fiction.

Sook said...

Life by Keith Richards (good call Gail Banks)

hothotheat said...

Is That It? Bob Geldof. He had a rough early life.

Do Tell said...

I disliked The Girl Next Door because I thought it was too much of an apple-polishing fangirl attempt at a biography. I know it was recommended by Karina Longworth, but I also have a problem with her podcast at times because I feel she injects her personal preferences and opinions, Joan vs Bette being one of those topics.

Do Tell said...

*Not The Girl Next Door

T. W. said...

Enty, I can't choose just one!

BIOGRAPHY

1. Michael Jackson: The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story, 1958-2009 by J. Randy Taraborrelli

2. Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace by Scott Thorson with Alex Thorleifson



AUTOBIOGRAPHY

1. Ice Breaker: The Autobiography of Rudy Galindo

2. Breaking the Surface (Greg Louganis)

3. Take it Like a Man: The Autobiography of Boy George (very funny!)

4. My Sergie: A Love Story (Ekaterina Gordeeva)

5. I Was Wrong (Jim Bakker - If you read it, get the unabridged version)

6. Tammy: Telling It My Way (Tammy Faye Messner - Before you judge, that book had me in stitches! I wrote her a letter before she died and she did reply.)

Do Tell said...

I like when celebs write (or at least have a very heavy hand in) their own memoirs and as you read them, it's totally in their voice. Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne's books are just that way and all of them are very entertaining reads. So are Joan Rivers' books.

Do Tell said...

TW, I became a huge Tammy Faye fan after watching her on the Surreal Life and how she bonded with Ron Jeremy. They had a very sweet relationship. She did seem very lovable.

Now! said...

Do Tell, I agree with you about Karina Longworth. I find her politics suffocating sometimes.

gfbcpa said...

Very Much A Lady - the biography of Jean Harris written by Shana Alexander. I wrote a letter to Jean Harris while she was in prison...and she did reply.

T. W. said...

@Do Tell - Tammy Faye really did write back and she was very sweet!

If you haven't read Tammy Faye's book, please do so! The phrase "happy wife, happy life" applies here. Even Jim Bakker acknowledged he should have listened to Tammy Faye when he wrote his book. I do recommend Jim Bakker's book. I know people despise him but the book is really good and an eye opener.

I recall Tammy Faye saying revivals are money making schemes for unscrupulous churches. I don't remember if she said that in an interview or if that is in the book.

Both their books give more reasons not to like the late Jerry Falwell. I can't stand the guy's son. If you know anyone wanting to go to Liberty University please do all you can to convince them otherwise. They will not be educated, they will be indoctrinated and be penniless. I am telling you this based on a relative who attended and switched schools.

Unfortunately certain religious faiths love those who receive MDiv.'s from Liberty. I hope they know their MDiv. program is no longer accredited.

T. W. said...

I want to add First They Killed My Father to the list of best (auto)biographies

/////////////


@Han Niam - To The Stars was good.

@Brayson87 and @Jon

Both Mein Kampf and The Autobiography of Malcolm X should be required reading for high schoolers. Maybe history will stop repeating itself.

There is an autobiography by a former female slave, I cannot remember the name of it for the life of me, I don't thing it is the Autobiography of Jane Pittman. Well, the point is, slave narratives should be required reading as well.

Unknown said...

R Kelly

Anonymous said...

小野田 寛郎

T. W. said...

Turns out R. Kelly really did write a book:

Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me

Moose said...

T.W. - I'd like to like Tammy, and I think she might have reformed in her later years, but she was just as much a blood sucking leech as Jim was in the early years of PTL.

If you want a great read of how shady all these folks were, "Forgiven" is fantastic. It's by the Charlotte Observer reporter who won the Pulitzer for exposing the house of cards that was PTL.

T. W. said...

@Mostly Harmless - Are you talking about this book:

No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War by Hiroo Onoda

T. W. said...

@Moose - I know they are shady, Jim and Tammy admit to it.

If Tammy really did change in her latter years, why are you holding her previous wrong doings against her? She is dead any way. We have no say as to where she is spending the afterlife. We have a say where we spend ours.

As for Jim, he is still alive. I know he has a show, I have not seen it in years. The man is a good preacher provided he does not get side tracked.

However, I will say that he sells fear on his show and keeps promoting those food buckets and such. The problem I have with him is that you have to spend too much time separating the wheat from the chaff. If I have to spend a lot of time doing that when I listen to someone than I need to stop listening.

If he sticks to the written word found in the Bible he wouldn't still be a laughingstock. Obviously I do not agree with him 100 percent. I will say I would rather listen to him than Joel Osteen. At least Jim Bakker admits he was wrong about the Prosperity Gospel.

FififromMtl said...

Shelley: Also Known as Shirley - Shelley Winters
The Andy Warhol Diaries - Andy Warhol
Swanson on Swanson - Gloria Swanson
Little Gloria . . . Happy at Last - Barbara Goldsmith
All amazing for old timey H'wood gossip, and the all time best for gossipy gossip:

You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again - Julia Phillips

T. W. said...

@Moose

I forgot to say your feelings are yours and you have a right to feel them.

Lurky McLurkster said...

Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks

PapayaSF said...

My Autobiography by Charlie Chaplin is quite interesting.

Mhdz said...

No One Here Gets Out Alive

OB said...

Agree w/Fifi: Shelley Winters bio is amazing!

I also liked Bob Evans' The Kid Stays in the Picture, and the Brando bio by Peter Manso

LydiaJosepg said...

Paul McCartney- The Life, by Philip Norman
Life is Just What You Make It --Donny Osmond

Unknown said...

Whitney Houston Good Girl, Bad Girl

Riverss said...

Robert F. "Bobby" Kennedy.

memyselfandi said...

Michelle Obama's Becoming was pretty good

memyselfandi said...

Or "The Other Einstein"

Zsa Zsa said...

The Dirt by Motley Crüe. Felt like I needed rehab just READING the book. Haven’t read it in 10 years and found it again recently. It’s currently sitting on my nightstand ready for another look.

gauloise said...

Jackie O and Edie Segwick

gauloise said...

Zelda by Nancy Mitford about Zelda Fitzgerald

gfbcpa said...

+1 Motley Crue's "The Dirt"....I had to take a shower every fifty pages....

Danny said...

His Way - The Unauthorised Biography of Frank Sinatra by Kitty Kelley...a real muck raker - so good

Mingbot LaRue said...

Courtney Love's bio by the former Poppy Z Brite.

Still could read it over and over.

NYC A Girl Has No Name said...

Isabella Blow

Jax129 said...

Andy Warhol Diaries is one of the best books ever!!!

Pizza said...

Edie an American Biography from Jean Stein

missann said...

Life by Keith Richards

Tom Jobes said...

Martha Inc.

She’s an ornery cuss off-camera, but I truly admire her business acumen and resilience. B!tch voluntarily did prison time instead waiting til the outcome of the Apoeal just so she could get bsck to work sooner!

However, I’m surprised nobody has yet taken up the option to do a scathing comedy based on the series of her wild off-camera outbursts and various episodes that have been well documented over the years. There is some truly hilarious material from which to work!

Anonymous said...


The Only Way I Know- Cal Ripken Jr.

Robynsing said...

Roman Polanski believe it or not

Unknown said...

Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef

Life by Keith Richards


Turitella said...

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Armgrim, who played Nellie on Little House.

kelli grrrl said...

When my daughter was little & started sounding out words, I gave my copy of Motley Crue’s “The Dirt” to The Goodwill. I just knew if that book was anywhere in the house, that kid would find it. Fun, disgusting, brain-candy book....not my fave rock bio tho....that would be “Just Kids” by Patti Smith. Or “Life” by Keef. Both super interesting & well written.

seventy two said...

It's an autobiography/memoir but Portia De Rossi's 'Unbearable Lightness'. I think back to it often.

Cat said...

I second both Keith Richards and Duff. I really enjoyed both of them.

Fifi LaRue said...

Tab Hunter Confidential.

Paul Saint John said...

Antonio Carlos Jobim. (the main whow wrote The Girl from Ipanema).Disclaimer: I'm not Brazilian but I wish I was.

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