Customer Reviews

Balancing Act: The Authorized Biography of Angela Lansbury

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I enjoyed reading this book. I learned many things that I didn't know about Angela Lansbury before. She is quoted extensively, and provides many fascinating anecdotes about her career in movies, theater, and television. But since it is authorized, you have to wonder what's left out. The fact that it's authorized may also account for its big flaw. The title and introduction suggest that Lansbury has had to balance professional triumphs with personal tragedies throughout her life. The book itself doesn't give you that impression. It devotes many chapters to the triumphs, but mostly skims over the tragedies, espicially Lansbury's children's drug problems, so that they are merely afterthoughts and don't seem to have affected her much. This may be because Lansbury and the others interviewed did not really want to talk about these tough times, or it may be because Martin Gottfried did not do enough research. Worth reading for the chapters on Lansbury's career, but don't expect much depth where her personal life is concerned.

This is not a mere biography of a great Hollywood and Broadway Star. Here you can "listen" to her voice too, you can share her best and worst moments while acting in Broadway and Hollywood. You should read it even if you think you already know Angela Lansbury; and if you're a big fan of this wonderful actress, you HAVE to read it.

With angela Lansbury's cooperation, the author was able to construct the life of the star and her dreams without being intrusive into episodes of her life. He truly respected the subject and the star rewarded him with candor. it is too often that authors choose biographies to sensationalize a life. In this case, the author told it straight but with humanity and dignity and affection for a woman of icnredible talent and character.

This is one of the finest celebrity biographies that I have ever read. Actress Angela Lansbury is profiled with candor and wit in Martin Gottfried's "Balancing Act". Gottfried conducted countless interviews with the star herself of whom he says, "No biographical subject could have been more cooperative.", and many, many of those who knew her and worked with her. The book details her early life in London, her arrival in America during WWII, and her first film, at MGM, where they promptly decided to change her name to "Angela Marlow". The book writes with candor about her first failed marriage and her Hollywood years into the late forties, when she married Peter Shaw (and the marriage is still going strong). In the early fifties, she gave birth to her son Anthony and daughter Deidre Shaw, and in the late sixties, with her Hollywood career in a slump, she bounced back on Broadway in her Tony-Award winning title role in the musical "Mame". The book is at its most exciting when detailing her Broadway career, and not just with "Mame", but with her three other Tony-Award winning roles in "Dear World", "Gypsy", and "Sweeney Todd". And after Broadway, Lansbury conquered television with her ever-popular "Murder, She Wrote" series. Since then, Lansbury has enjoyed steady acting and puttering in her rose garden. Many humorous anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories told by Lansbury concern stars like Ingrid Bergman, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Bea Arthur among them. She is a rueful raconteur and thrilled with her extraordinary professional and personal life. With the color and gusto of "Balancing Act", Angela Lansbury is profiled up close and personal and, as always, absolutely great!

For those who've admired Angela Lansbury's screen and stage performances, this authorized bio should be a real treat. I found the chapters on MGM and her musical stage career particularly entertaining. I did feel that I might have been missing part of the story because of the authorization, but I found myself zipping through the pages, which is always a good sign. I didn't agree with negative evaluation of the musical film The Harvey Girls but that's a minor quibble. I also liked Gottfried's book on Sondheim, and I appreciate he chooses such worthy subjects.

This authorized biography of Angela Lansbury is interesting and well-written...but she was a part of the project, had final say over what was and wasn't included, and left SO MUCH out! Her personal life is covered much better in the other two unauthorized biographies of Angela Lansbury. But what really floored me in this one was her descriptions of "fan psychology" and the way she talks about teenagers who looked up to the character she portrayed in shows like "Mame." She describes the kids' adulation of her in terms of being "a tragedy." While one fan clearly became out of control in terms of following her around and pestering her, the rest of us - legions of us - didn't. Hello! What's so tragic about children looking up to, and being inspired by, a responsible celebrity?

If you're interested in finding out more about this great woman, there's an interview on youtube that's over an hour long, done by the Archive of American television. Search Archive Interview Angela Lansbury, you'll get to see the lady herself talk extensively about her life in general, including growing up in England during the Great Depression, moving to America in the middle of World War II, her parents, her career.
Quite fascinating for any Lansbury fan, posted up by the channel TVLEGENDS.

If you are an Angela Lansbury fan like I am, you will love this book. It tells of her family, her marriage, children, her days at MGM, her talks and encounters with movie stars, her movie career, Murder She Wrote and after. It is a well-written book not trashy like the Kitty Kelly biographies or sugar coated. I enjoyed reading this book. A GREAT READ.

Martin Gottfried's "authorized" biography has everything the first book about Angela Lansbury lacked: depth, insight, and a clear understanding of the commitment, teamwork and partnering between Lansbury and her husband, Peter Shaw. Rather than merely collecting quotes from previous press clippings, Gottfried explores in exquisite detail the work of an incredibly sensitive, intelligent and complex soul -- someone who is not just an actor/performer/singer but an artist who draws on a wealth of experience and talent that few in the industry can ever hope to match.

Lansbury's high standards for whatever she applied herself to comes through clearly with a dedication that can inspire anyone pursuing a dream, a craft, or an artistic career. Her ability to balance true family crises with a unique and often frustrating career gives testimony to her strength as a woman, mother, wife, and performer as Gottfried weaves a stunning biography that is difficult for the reader to interrupt.

The style of Gottfried's book handsomely captures the delicate tapestry of his subject's life work. While Angela Lansbury is one of this century's greatest character actresses, her carefully-layered portrayals are more easily understood thanks to Gottfried's intelligent, compassionate and multidimensional approach to his subject.

Take note: This is not your standard, vapid Hollywood biography. Nor is it a star turn. Instead, it is a remarkably honest and well-rounded portrait of a woman whose work in all forms of media transformed her into a cultural icon without ever depriving her of her humanity.

There are two mainstream biographies of Angela Lansbury floating about on the marketplace, and of the two this is clearly the best one. Standing in stark contrast to "Angela Lansbury: A Life On Stage and Screen," this account of the legendary actress's life and career features extensive quoting, administered specificially for the author and this book, and glosses over more shameful episodes (which we all have some form of) such as her childrens' drug problems in the late 60s. Few insights into Lansbury's personal life and intrinsic motivations are revealed, but since the author is clearly a frend of hers that is one thing to be expected, and, unfortunately, the whole idea of writing a proper biography with genuine insight into the person biographized cannot hinge on such liberal quoting and a prior friendship between author and subject.