Been There, Done That: An Autobiography [Hardcover]

Eddie Fisher (Author), David Fisher (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 031220972X | ISBN-13: 978-0312209728 | Publication Date: September 30, 1999 | Edition: 1st

When Eddie Fisher was four years old, he opened his mouth and a beautiful sound came out. That sound would change his life forever. By the time he was 21 he was one of the most popular entertainers in America, bigger even than Frank Sinatra, with an income in the millions. His life quickly evolved into a whirl of women, money, and fame. It was the quintessential American success story, the rise and rise of "The Coca-Cola Kid."

For the next two decades he ran with the best and brightest, seeing it all, doing it all, seeing it all done to everyone. He married America's sweetheart, Debbie Reynolds ("the sex was terrible"), and then left her for the world's most glamorous woman, Elizabeth Taylor. Hopelessly in love, Eddie watched his marriage to Elizabeth fall apart during the catastrophic filming of Cleopatra, when Elizabeth and Richard Burton began their torrid affair. There were wild parties with Sinatra and the Rat Pack. Meetings with Sam Giancana. There was JFK's Camelot. Las Vegas. And the women, always the most beautiful women in the world. Sex. Drugs. Rock 'n' roll. Eddie Fisher invented the idea, and it almost killed him.

With honesty and irrepressible wit, he recreates an era and takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride that is his life.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Who would've thought that Eddie Fisher, cheesy pop singer, pipsqueak Mouseketeer to the Rat Pack, speed freak and coke fool, AWOL daddy, discarded Liz Taylor boy toy, and husband from hell could pen a memoir as entertaining as his talented daughter Carrie's? Granted, he has the help of autobiographer to the stars David Fisher (no relation), but still, it's startling how sleekly readable Fisher's misadventures are, and shocking that he comes off with raffish charm and a sense of humor.

Don't worry, there's not too much about Eddie's dull, madly successful singing career--he wasn't that interested in it either. He preferred women. Warning: as is the case with Robert Evans's comparably entertaining sex-and-drugs tell-all, The Kid Stays in the Picture, we can't know whether it's all true. Some of Eddie's alleged women have denied dalliance. Did he really get naked with Joan Collins ("the British Open") in Dean Martin's pool, screaming along with Dino and Brando until the cops came? Did he share Sue Lyon with Richard Burton and Judy Campbell with Sinatra, JFK, and Sam Giancana? (Eddie doubts Campbell's story that she passed documents from JFK to mobster Sam.) Did Jackie turn JFK onto amphetamine fiend Max Jacobson, the famed "Dr. Feelgood" who destroyed his own life and 30 years of Eddie's? Were Bob Hope's military-base shows really "sex tours"? His bitterness makes one doubt he gives first wife Debbie Reynolds ("the Iron Butterfly") a fair shake. Did Liz Taylor drive away, naked and hysterical, in her Cadillac when Eddie suggested she see a psychiatrist? Did Burton beat her, and did she try to steal My Fair Lady from her friend Audrey Hepburn? In a Munich suite once used by Mussolini to entertain Hitler, did Liz bite Eddie as he dug pills out of her mouth to save her life? Did Liz bed Rock Hudson and Montgomery Clift? Read Fisher and see what you believe. --Tim Appelo

From Publishers Weekly

Teen idol Fisher tells the story of his rise from poverty to 1950s crooner stardom and beyond in this alternately self-delighted and repentant new memoir (his second, following Eddie: My Life, My Loves, Harper & Row, 1981). Born in Philadelphia in 1928, Fisher was a star by age 21, launching his own TV show, Coke Time, in 1953, with such hits as "Outside of Heaven" and "Oh, My Papa": "I had more consecutive hit records than the Beatles or Elvis Presley," Fisher writes. But, he says, with characteristic melodrama, "the music simply became a means to the drugs and the women." Despite warnings from friends (and from the Coca-Cola company, which informed Fisher that he was "married" to them), he wed movie star Debbie Reynolds, and here one reads of the various conflictsAsexual and otherwiseAof the couple who were widely hailed as "America's Sweethearts." The death of his friend Mike Todd and Fisher's passion for Elizabeth Taylor created a dilemma: "I had to figure out how to announce to the world that I was leaving sweet little Debbie for my best friend's widow without destroying Elizabeth's and my careers." The backlash brought 7000 pieces of hate mail weekly and fans organized an "Eddie-Liz boycott." Fisher was "madly in love" with Taylor, and the book offers an intimate glimpse into his anguish after her Cleopatra costar, Richard Burton intervened. In the final chapters, Fisher recalls his battle to get off drugs, his numerous affairs with a lengthy parade of beautiful women, his desperate efforts to keep his career afloat, his relationships with his famous children Carrie and Joely Fisher and his 1993 marriage to Betty Linn. The title of this memoir seems to suit the autobiography of a has-been. But Fisher offers his regrets, insights and anecdotes with so much verve, wit and candor that one can see that the crooner of yesteryear is still very much alive. 16 pages of b&w photos unseen by PW. Author tour, excerpt booklets. (Sept.) FYI: Dove's abridged audiobook features Eddie Fisher as the reader.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 341 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press, New York; 1st edition (September 30, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031220972X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312209728
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #911,988 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating, December 7, 2007

By 

K. P. "KPB" (Penns. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Been There, Done That: An Autobiography (Mass Market Paperback)

I have never been interested in Eddie Fisher for any reason. All i know of him is that Elizabeth Taylor says he is the only husband she ever hated, that he was Married to connie stevens ( who i had even LESS interest in) that he was Carrie Fishers father and Debbie Reynolds husband and He sang, and he was Jewish. That was about it. This book was a breath of fresh air. It was candid, funny, witty, had enough insight to be interesting and enough regret to make this man highly likable.
So what if he exaggerated? at one time he WAS a big star, and say what you will, he obviously DID get many of these women to fall in love with him, and he probably did it with that tremendous ego and charm. How else did this Little Jewish boy from Philly end up as one of the biggest players of Hollywood for Decades? The only bitter note of the whole book is His feelings about Debbie Reynolds, and even that i believe is honest and from his perspective understandable. I do believe most of what he has written. It has the ring of truth throughout the entire book. If you find it outrageous its because most autobiographies are completely edited and even bio's are edited for salacious content. These people really did live that way and the more i read about old hollywood, the more astounded i am.
So eddie fisher bragged about himself, so what? Why would anyone read about Eddie Fisher's life and then complain that he lacked morals? Did you NOT know this going into it? Did you think you were reading Eleanor Roosevelt's Bio? Frankly he has quite the life story even if HALF of what he says was true. Wish he'd write another.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars One interesting and troubled man, January 15, 2003

By 

S. Smith "S. Marcus (formerly S. Smith)" (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Been There, Done That: An Autobiography (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of the hardest reviews I've written because I honestly wasn't sure when I finished this book if half of what I had just read was true or said merely for revenge. While the story of Eddie Fisher's career is interesting there is so much malicious gossip that it detracts from the basic story.
Starting as a talented child and then through a very up and down career Mr. Fisher never had any doubts about his abilities professionally. Through his version of his marriages to Debbie Reynolds, Elizabeth Taylor, Connie Stevens and so forth we get all the dirt that we ever wanted to hear and then some. While I like a good "Hollywood" biography as much as the next person I've never read one that gave me so many details on people that I really didn't WANT to hear. Sometimes petty, sometimes shocking and frequently doubtful there's a lot of stuff in this book that really could and should have been left unsaid. A strong proponent of freedom of speech I also believe that much of what Mr. Fisher had to say was simply unkind and people who have since died like Montgomery Clift and Roddy McDowell are no longer able to defend themselves and to deny what is printed about themselves.

Although he never had any doubts about his singing ability Mr. Fisher is also quite self-effacing about his shortcomings as a husband, father and speaks openly about his addictions. What is probably the best aspect of the book is when the reader realizes how much Eddie Fisher has learned along his journey.

I wish him peace but I wish he didn't have to be so just plain mean in this version of his life.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eddie's Life a Fun Read, April 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Been There, Done That: An Autobiography (Mass Market Paperback)

Yes the book is tell-all sleaze, but I literally couldn't put it down!!! He spares noone, not Debbie, not Liz, not Burton, not Connie and especially not himself. The book had me laughing outloud at times. His descriptions of "La Scandale" the Burton and Liz affair is a hoot, and I appreciated his honesty. He portrays himself as a no good father and drug addict. He does reveal perhaps too much of his sexual conquests, but it makes for an interesting read nonetheless. Eddie, you may be a bum for telling everything, but keep writing and I will keep reading.