Customer Reviews

Breaking the Silence

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This was a wonderful book. It detailed so eloquently the struggle of growing up in an abusive home and overcoming the obstacles placed before a person. Ms. Hartley presented herself in a very human manner and also a person who is not above these struggles herself. It gives a person hope that they too might be able to overcome such difficulties in life. I would recommend this book to professionals as well as survivors.

I ran across this book not too long after reading Jane Pauley's memoir. I haven't heard of Mariette Hartley in some time, so don't really know what she's up to these days, but this is one very interesting book. I had no idea Hartley had had such a lousy disfunctional childhood, with alcoholic and distant parents (her father shot himself, a suicide), a famous pop psychologist/behaviorist grandfather who believed children shouldn't be touched overly much. What a lot of crap on this poor kid's plate, ya know? Then she had to survive an ill-advised abusive marriage, before she finally found someone who deserved her. My first memory of Mariette Hartley was her role in the classic Peckinpah western film, Ride the High Country, with Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott in their last big major roles. And she was great in the film - her first movie role, about 45 yrs ago, I think. She talks about this auspicious debut and the awful stuff whe was dealing with at the same time, and also talks about some of the awful clinkers she made too, and all the TV shows, revealing - who'da guessed this? - what a card James Arness was when she did some Gunsmoke episodes. I notice that Hartley has a co-writer for this book, but I have to assume that the sense of humor exhibited throughout the narrative belongs to Hartley alone. And she is a funny woman, in addition to being a survivor. This book should not be out-of-print. This story of personal tragedy, recovery and survival is simply too well told to be lost. If you can find this book, read it! - Tim Bazzett, author of Pinhead: A Love Story (RatholeBooks.com)

I've admired MH for many years and it was a pleasure to relive some of the shows I've seen her in, but from her point of view. She comes across as a very humble, friendly, and intelligent person you can't help but admire. The writing is crisp and humorous. I especially loved the sections dealing with the really bad movies she made, like Count Yorga and Drums of Africa (which I'm now dying to see) as well as cult shows she was on like Peyton Place, Star Trek, and Hulk. If anything, I would have liked to hear more about what it was like behind the scenes at those shows and how she fleshed out those characters, what it was like to win an Emmy, etc. She has been in so many shows she could probably do another book just on that aspect of her life. The sections about her family were very interesting, too, showing how much she managed to overcome to be where she is now. Hope she writes volume two--apparently her life has changed a lot since 1991 with divorce and several humanitarian awards, etc.

I recently began watching the 1960's soap opera "Peyton Place" and noticed an actress I had seen for years in various television commercials and other TV series in it. I watched the closing credits and I realized the actress playing the stiff, rigid Dr. Claire Morton was none other than Mariette Hartley. I remembered purchasing a book at a flea market years ago with her name on it, but had never read it. That book was called "Breaking the Silence", Hartley's memoirs. I have to admit I read it for the sheer inquiry of her stint on "Peyton Place' which was fun to read, but the book is so much more than an actress discussing her professional accomplishments.

I was astonished to learn that Mariette's father had committed suicide when she was only 23. He had blown his head off with Mariette and her mother only a few rooms down from his bedroom. She discusses her mother's own various suicide attempts, her own battle with the bottle when acting jobs became few, and her abusive first husband who put her through hell.

"Breaking the Silence" is a book I would recommend to anyone who has ever dealt with suicide, whether it was a close friend or a family member as ofter the survivor feels a sense of shame and guilt over the fact that someone dear to them has taken their own life.

I also read Joan River's second autobiography, "Still Talking", and Joan discusses the first person to call her after her husband Edgar took his own life was Mariette Hartley. Mariette was able to offer Joan and her daughter Melissa hope and reasurrance that they would survive this terrible trauma.

Breaking the Silence is one of the best books I have ever read! It is incredibly honest, and has fantastic humor intertwined throughout the most serious of challenges that Mariette Hartley has endured during her lifetime. I could not put the book down, and did not want it to end. I highly recommend reading this book!

This a very interesting look at the life of a person that one would not even think lived as Hartley did privately.
I would never have thought that she had the alcohol and other addictions she reveals. I am marveled by her brave struggle to overcome and speak out about her personal ordeals and her affiliation with MADD is a generous stand for a good cause.
I applaud Hartley's success.

Mariette Hartley isn't just a courageous risk-taker for detailing her family's alcohol and mental problems. She's a risk-taking pathfinder by calling it "Breaking the Silence."