Forever Dobie: The Many Lives of Dwayne Hickman (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Joan Roberts Hickman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Remembered for his title role in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Hickman began his acting career as the reluctant protege of a stage mother and dreamed of one day holding a regular job. The pivotal decision of his life was a choice between a junior executive position with an L.A. utility company and a meaty role on The Bob Cummings Show. Heeding his father's advice to take "the least amount of work for the most amount of money," Hickman chose acting. But he would work very hard-and become a teen celebrity. Hickman's career has been rich and varied. Never abandoning his fascination with the corporate world, he tried being a "suit," working as a CBS executive assigned to such hits as Maude, M*A*S*H and Designing Women, but found himself always returning to acting. Now married and a director as well as an actor, Hickman retains the self-effacing charm that made Dobie Gillis so appealing. His amusing autobiography offers an insider's view of the entertainment business as well as his working relationships with such stars as Tuesday Weld, Jack Benny and George Burns. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

To a nation raised on Nick at Nite reruns, TV history begins in the mid-1950s, and Dwayne Hickman and Dobie Gillis are interchangeable. To the knowledgeable vidhead, however, Dobie's genesis lies in Hickman's character on The Bob Cummings Show (aka, in reruns, Love That Bob). For that and many other reasons, Hickman's story of teen stardom in the 1950s and 1960s is a must-have for TV and pop culture buffs. Politely recounting his differences with erstwhile Dobie sidekicks Tuesday Weld and Warren Beatty, Hickman doesn't dish much dirt in his breezy showbiz bio, and still, the historical tidbits (the derivation of the name Dobie, for instance) and brief sketches of such pop culture icons as Jack Benny, Bob Cummings, and Max Schulman (Dobie's literary creator, a very successful 1950s comic novelist) are priceless. Mostly, this is a fast-paced look at a fascinating, in some ways groundbreaking sitcom that answers at least one of the period's most important questions, What became of Dobie's brother, Davey Gillis? Mike Tribby

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 301 pages
• Publisher: Birch Lane Publishing; 1st edition (October 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559722525
• ISBN-13: 978-1559722520
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #982,191 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written and hilarious, February 7, 1999

By	Jennifer E. Williams (Fort Worth, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Dwayne Hickman is best known for his time on "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" as the title character. However, as this book demonstrates, his career did not begin and end with Dobie. He was an extremely reluctant child actor, a determined college student, a supporting player on "The Bob Cummings Show", Dobie, a Las Vegas entertainment coordinator for a hotel, a successful dinner theatre actor, a CBS executive, and a writer/director. No matter what other roles he played on screen or off he can not escape being Dobie. Having been around the industry virtually his entire life, Hickman tells stories about some of Hollywood's stars as well as personal antecdotes that make the book hilarious. Now happily married for the third time with a young son ( he has a grown son from marriage #1), Hickman has finally made peace with the fact that he will be "Forever Dobie". The book is fun to read, intersting, and will make you laugh out loud! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Forever Dobie" Tracks a Wandering Star, June 13, 2000

By	[e-mail] (Brockton, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

Beneath its breezy narrative and the resilience of autobiographer Dwayne Hickman, "Forever Dobie" is a bittersweet post-mortem on an acting career and rising star that America jettisons too soon into cultural exile. Hickman achieves a modest measure of success as a juvenile actor who, despite his early reluctance to perform, develops a passion for his craft and a skill for winning coveted parts. His fame reaches its pinnacle with the title role in the zany series "Dobie Gillis," the character for which audiences remember him most. Soon after the show's demise, however, Hickman finds himself a clean-cut casualty of the social upheaval and anarchy that Dobie ironically heralded. Unsuited to hairy and angry roles, he settles for work wherever he can wangle it, starring in television guest spots, forgettable beach party movies, and dinner theater productions. The high point of his post-Dobie acting gigs is the part of outlaw Jed in the hit movie "Cat Ballou." The excruciating nadir comes when he consents to fill in at short notice for Don Murray in a Chicago production of "Call Me by My Rightful Name." Unable to memorize his unwieldy dialogue or demanding marks on time, he is forced to carry his script on stage and fumble through his motions before appalled audiences. Yet it is not his wayward, sporadic acting ventures but full immersion in employment as an entertainment director in a Las Vegas nightclub and as a CBS-TV executive that puts a strain on his first two marriages, leading sadly to divorce. Always an actor at heart, with a soft spot for the creative rather than the managerial facets of show business, Hickman later stars in two televised Dobie Gillis reunions and tries his hand at directing. He again finds love with third spouse Joan Roberts, who mothers the second of his two sons and adjusts compatibly to the vicissitudes of her husband's career. Despite the zest and humor of Hickman's show business yarn, the loneliness of his struggle often permeates its mood. It helps little that his memoir is chocked with allusions to former Hollywood luminaries of whom readers under fifty lack any memory. The ending seems to beg the producers of today, "Please call Dwayne Hickman with the offer of paternal roles." By all indications, this undaunted professional and lover of acting will leap at the chance to stand once again under the hot lights, no matter how fickle Hollywood can be.