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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
From the horse's mouth..., January 6, 2009
This review is from: A Fortunate Life (Hardcover)
Actors of a certain age seem to have rushed into print in the last year. Moore, Borgnine, Plummer, Wagner, Curtis...on and on the list goes. A Fortunate Life, by Robert Vaughn (with no "co-writer") is by far and away one of the most interesting and best-written of the bunch. Although the focus is on Vaughn's life as an actor (of course) there is much on his commitment to politics, and a brief sidetrack into philosophy, which, because of the way it's done, isn't tiresome in the least. Stories of the stars abound, of course -that's what sells, but there's much more besides. I'd always assumed that the author came from affluent, or at least comfortable stock. This isn't the case at all, he came from a more-or-less itinerant theatrical background. He rose through the ranks in Hollywood until becoming the hottest property in the world sometime around the mid-sixties. That his star has inevitably waned somewhat since then hasn't affected his love of work and dedication to his craft. A charming journey with a charming man. And there's an index - take note, Christopher Plummer!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Comme ci, comme ca with Robert Vaughn's Fortunate Life, August 9, 2009
This review is from: A Fortunate Life (Hardcover)
Robert Vaughn made television history with David McCallum in THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E, created by James Bond novelist Ian Fleming during a brief New York visit in the early 60s. Vaughn's million dollar success is something he treats naturally. gracefully, in this new memoir, explaining it as a fluke that could have happened to anyone. I like hearing about Leo G Carroll, a former neighbor of mine; Vaughn provides several new anecdotes I had never heard about LGC, the man whom Hitchcock prized above all other actors. He was such a gentleman and played the part of Mr. Waverly to a T.
The show turned into a camp spectacle once William Dozier's "BATMAN" series became a hit, and U.N.C.L.E producers thought they could freshen up flagging ratings with silly stunts for Solo and Kuriyakin to perform. Vaughn was a serious actor trained at Los Angeles City College and he could see the writing on the wall. When the show was cancelled he jumped right into political activism and minor parts in hit movies like BULLITT and THE TOWERING INFERNO. Along the way he tried to be a good son to an actress mother who sounds like a very dear charmer, but it does seem weird that he had to live in the same one bedroom with his mother from the ages of 17 through 23. What was that like?
Couldn't have been stranger than making a film in France with Maria Schneider and halfway through, she committed herself into an insane asylum and demanded that Vaughn direct her from there, like Marat/Sade! The best parts of Vaughn's book are his relationship with his mom, his observations on the now forgotten Joyce Jameson and Joan O'Brien, his sex romp with Steve McQueen and a flotilla of seven hired Mexican hookers to celebrate the completion of The Magnificent Seven, and meeting Lady Bird Johnson. In addition, he has a cute story about befriending William Frawley, seeing him weekly for months and then years later, finding out that Frawley (famous for his role as Fred Mertz in I LOVE LUCY) had been drunk every time they met and had no recollection of ever meeting him.
Vaughn's romance with the young beautiful Natalie Wood is the most tender part of the book, and the worst part is the endless series of shaggy dog anecdotes that come late in the book because, Vaughn confesses, he couldn't find any other place for them. His story about Gary Merrill gives new meaning to the word pointless. And yet I'm glad to have made the acquaintance of Robert Vaughn in this book.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Solo Spotlight, March 28, 2009
This review is from: A Fortunate Life (Hardcover)
Perhaps because he seems so intense and humorless onscreen, it's surprising how enormously appealing Robert Vaughn's memoir is. It's a very entertaining read, which offers studied ruminations on acting, Hamlet, politics and philosophy but is still unpretentious fun.
What other 60's TV star was getting a PhD at the height of their fame while still delighting in the randy exploits TV stardom allowed? He doesn't have any illusions about his own talents and we don't get any griping about TV fame short-changing other opportunities, probably because he cares about things other than show business. His unheralded early opposition to the Vietnam War at the height of his fame was pretty remarkable. He was so well versed on the topic that he would debate William F. Buckley on TV for hours. All told, he comes off as a thoroughly admirable person.
There are some problems with the editing here, though. Both Nancy Reagan and Zev Buffman are introduced twice. Also, John Sturges didn't direct Somebody Up There Likes Me (Robert Wise did) and the actor Simon Russell Beale is referred to as George Russell Meade (?!?)
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