As Time Goes by: The Life of Ingrid Bergman [Hardcover]

Laurence Leamer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1986

Of all Ingrid Bergman's classic roles, none was as dramatic as her own life. As Time Goes By is the stunning and sometimes shocking story of this talented actress. Miniseries rights optioned by Warner Brothers. 32-page photo insert.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Leamer interviewed people who knew Bergman well, and he presents here a convincing portrait at odds with the idolized image of the screen. The author (The Paper Revolutionaries, etc.) covers the late actress's life and career from her birth in 1915, through her early successes in Sweden and Hollywood, up to her death of cancer at age 66. Revered in America as the devoted wife of Dr. Petter Lindstrom and mother of their young daughter Pia, as well as for the noble movie innocents she played, Bergman was quite the opposite, according to Leamer. She was away from home often, drank heavily and was sexually active with her fellow actors and directors. He describes Bergman's years following the scandal when she left her husband and child to live with Roberto Rossellini in Italy, the failure of their film Stromboli, the chaotic consequences of their eventual marriage and divorce, the effects on their children and the deserted Pia. Although a self-absorbed woman, as Leamer also notes, she earned three Oscars and fame as a professional, working almost to the end of her life. Photos not seen by PW. 50,000 first printing; $65,000 ad/promo; first serial to People magazine and the National Inquirer; BOMC alternate; author tour. (March
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

As Time Goes By is a superior star biography. Leamer interviewed everyone still living who played an important part in Bergman's life (but not Bergman, who died in 1982, or her second husband, Roberto Rossellini, who died in 1977), and he also did a good job of digging through the printed material on her. He takes issue with some self-serving statements made by Bergman in her autobiography ( Ingrid Bergman: my story ), and he seems to have the facts to back up his assertions. Most startling is Leamer's claim that before she ever met Rossellini, Bergman at one point was engaging in three extramarital affairs simultaneously. Throughout, Learmer remains fair but sympathetic toward his subject, and his book is well written. John Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Freehold, N.J.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 423 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (March 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060154853
• ISBN-13: 978-0060154851
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,104,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not for fan or foe, February 1, 2004

By 

Amita Ray (Bombay,India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: As Time Goes by: The Life of Ingrid Bergman (Hardcover)

In language and humour that belongs to an adolescent, the author has all but declared Ingrid Bergman a beautiful but manipulative whore,a consummate liar and psychologically unbalanced, while the heroes of the book are obviously Ingrid Bergman's loser-lovers who probably contributed to it.The author finds pleasure in culling out the "contradictions" in everyone's versions of facts in spite of never having interviewed Bergman himself.This is no book to be read by either fan or foe. It is the most undignified piece of writing I have ever read.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars nice book for those who like this extrordinary actress, September 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: As Time Goes By (Onyx) (Paperback)

"As time goes by..." is an interesting and well-writen book about Ingrid Bergman'life. In fact, it brings the reader some corrections in Bergman's autobiography. My reservation is that the book doesn't go further Bergman's life and most of the information are well-known by some reader that knows at least something of her life.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars boring and untrue, September 21, 2009

By 

arabella (Catalonia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: As Time Goes By : The Life of Ingrid Bergman (Paperback)

This so-called book is not about Ingrid Bergman. It's about her first husband who must have paid a lot of money to the writer. While I was reading it I had the feeling that Leamer wanted to show how great a person lindstrom was by trying to make us believe that Miss Bergman was a selfish and cold person who didn't care about anything but her career. The 'book' is based mostly on lindstrom's perception of the truth and on the 'writer's' speculation about Miss Bergman's behaviour during her life. It is pathetic. There were parts where I couldn't help laughing out loud because it was sooooooo obvious that what was written was a delusion of the writer. Sometimes Leamer used experts from Miss Bergman's autobiography just to make us believe what he was writing was true.
It doesn't deserve any star and I'm really sorry for the trees that were chopped out because of printing this. Complete waste of money and time.