From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. At age 70, singer-actress Carroll, a Golden Globe and Tony Award winner, was described in a 2006 rave review by Stephen Holden in the
New York Times as delivering a song like an emotional volcano, and the label works equally well for this radiant autobiography, bubbling over with sincere self-insights as well as a potent underlying theme of the immense cruelties and racial politics of showbiz. Revealing personal struggles with her mother and men (she details her marriage to singer Vic Damone), she pulls no punches in detailing conflicts with such major figures as Andrew Lloyd Webber, Pearl Bailey and Samuel Goldwyn. Beginning with her Harlem childhood, she traces her life from the High School of Music and Art, modeling and early club performances to theatrical triumphs (
No Strings;
Sunset Boulevard), TV (
Julia;
Dynasty), her grandchildren and plastic surgery, plus painful memories of racism. An outstanding chapter probes the art-directed Negro squalor and other demeaning aspects of the 1959 film
Porgy and Bess, a cliché of noble poverty as reimagined by some very talented white men. What emerges is an astute analysis of her career along with descriptions of the highs and lows of an often glamorous life, whether she performs at dazzling Vegas venues or in an intimate cabaret space.
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With the kind of verve and energy for which she’s well known, Carroll recounts life in the later stages of a long career. Admittedly vain and proud of the fact that in her 70s she still looks good—even in high heels no less—Carroll looks back on a groundbreaking career: the first black actress to star in her own television show and, more recently, the first black actress to play the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. In between, Carroll has racked up a breathtaking list of achievements on stage, in film, and on television. She’s also racked up four failed marriages and a life full of the kind of mistakes a driven woman will make climbing to the top of a show-business career during a period when women and African Americans had few opportunities. Carroll is candid about the trials and tribulations—as well as the joys and triumphs—in her public and private life. This follow-up to her earlier memoir (Diahann: An Autobiography, 1986) is a heartfelt appreciation of life, friends, and family. --Vanessa Bush
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