Customer Reviews

In the Moment: My Life as an Actor

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When you're a septuagenarian looking back on a life marked by intoxicating highs and terrifying lows, you have a story to tell. Noted actor Ben Gazzara certainly has a story - and he tells it well. There aren't any ruffles and flourishes in this showbiz bio but rather a candid, straight forward account by a man who, as they say, has been there, done that.

The son of Sicilian parents, Gazzara grew up on New York's Lower East Side where he lived with his mother, Angela, and his father, Antonio, who never learned English and yearned to return to his native land. Older brother, Tony, is gay. Remember this was a time when being gay was unacceptable and, if you were gay, the Lower East Side wasn't any place to be.

Describing himself as a lonely child, Gazarra found company and inspiration in movie houses. He was an altar boy, and came upon acting quite by chance at the Madison Square Boys Club. From there he made a giant leap to the Actor's Studio in the 1950's where he trained with Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe. His big moment arrived when Elia Kazan tapped him to play the role of Brick in the original production of "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof."

Otto Preminger's "Anatomy of Murder" marked his Hollywood debut, and along with it came recognition that here was a major talent. For the next twenty years Gazzara worked with most of Hollywood's luminaries. He also married actress Janice Rule, which proved to be a disaster for both. During that time the actor is frank about his one-night stands and affairs with Audrey Hepburn, Eva Gabor, and Elaine Stritch.

The film "Bloodline" (1979) brought Hepburn and Gazzara together. Of their first meeting on the set he writes, "My jaw dropped. She seemed to have appeared in close-up. Her large glistening eyes, set in that exquisite one-of-a-kind face, set me back on my heels." The pair romanced their way across the world. But, it ended when he met and fell in love with his future wife, Elke. "She (Hepburn) was so kind and sweet," he writes. "Amazing. And I hurt her."

There was more hurt to come as Gazzara became clinically depressed following the death of his best friend, John Cassavetes, in 1989. Next, he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1999. Following radiation and a lengthy recovery period, it was back to what he loves to do - act.

The heart of Gazzara's story for this reader is his obvious love for his craft, a profession he honors. There are many reminiscences about working with the greats - Elia Kazan, Edward Albee, Peter Bogdanovich, his idol, Jimmy Stewart.

He didn't take home an Oscar or quite become a super star. Of this, he writes, "...I was never jealous of another actor, `cause I was really pleased with myself, with my talent. I knew I had the goods."

He does, indeed, have the goods.

- Gail Cooke

I saw Ben Gazzara in the new movie, "Broadway: The Golden Age" and really liked him. It inspired me to get this book and I certainly don't regret it. It is fascinating to hear his first hand stories of growing up in NYC and becoming part of the golden age of Broadway and then his first hand stories of making films with John Cassavettes and everyone else under the sun. I also really appreciated his honesty about his battle with depression. He does a great service by telling the truth - and helps many who suffer from the disease. An inspiring and moving book!

I read this book before going to shoot stills of a film/documentary based on the life of Ben Gazzara in New York city.
It is honestly written and gives a good insight into being an "almost made it actor". Though for me Ben Gazzara made it. Like many of us, enough is never enough!
It was a pleasure and a privilege to work with him for three amazing weeks in NYC, and to hear about his life growing up in East Manhattan.

Excellent reading. Ben Gazzara has a unique way of writing that captured my full attention from the very first word to the last. A must read for anyone who has seen his work and quite a few surprises are in store as you go through the pages.

This book is all about Actor Ben Gazzara who many fans recall starred in the 1960's show Run For your Life about a lawyer named Paul Byran.The book gives alot of biography info about his life and career.If you like actors and biography books you will like this book.

Enjoyed the book, and I bought it because of my interest in Audrey
Hepburn

This is the first negative review I have ever written for Amazon and it pains me to do so because Ben Gazzara was always one of my favorite actors. However, in the interest of honesty, I feel I have to. I always have depended on Amazon reviews for purchases and can usually draw my own conclusions about a product from reading the full spectrum of reviews from 1 to 5 stars. Hopefully my review will help others. Again, Ben Gazzara was a favorite. I was a big fan of his "Run For Your Life" TV series back in the 1960s and I enjoyed his work in almost everything I ever saw him in. I bought this book anticipating a great read about a favorite actor who I never knew much about as a person, but before I was through I was just turning pages. A person writing a biography has every right to make it as painfully honest as they wish, but maybe Ben just told me a little more than I wanted to know about his "negatives." His discussion about his gay older brother was very well presented with honest emotion, but the litany of infidelity and braggadocio about his romantic liasons grew tiresome. As a previous reviewer indicated, I was looking for something a bit more intellectually "deep" about his thoughts on acting as his career and passion. I wound up giving this book to a co-worker. I had absolutely no interest in keeping it after I was done. I think there is probably a pretty good reason why it is now a "bargain basement" special at $4.99 on Amazon.

Mr. Gazzara had an interesting life and did some good work.

I like Ben Gazzaa's acting very much and his writing style is amazing. The autobio of his has a a wonderfully old fashioned feeling to it. Although there are 21st century references in it it does look and feel more like a book written decades ago. Now for the downside. BG admits to having one night stands! He's also too frank in his discussing his sexual habits while a married man. He did such a charming and clean job of telling his story from a poor boy in NYC to tv and movie star it's a shame the book had to sleaze up in these parts.

This is not very good. That is to say, the writing and the fluidity of Gazzara's life become bland and uninteresting quite fast.
I initially picked it up because as an actor I find biographies or autobio's about somewhat lesser known people more curious than approaching someone like Paul Newman or Brando, who each have several books...And Gazzara's career has been an intruiging one. As a member of the Actors Studio, which produced the aforementioned actors along with countless others, his rise to Broadway and Hollywood was quick. He originated Brick in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and played his first film for Otto Preminger-opposite James Stewart and George C. Scott, among others-in Anatomy of a Murder.
But his approach to acting, which is of primary importance to me, was not chronicled. Instead he regales with stories of what and who the people he worked with were like. What the particular country he was shooting in was like, etc., etc.
One of his primary sources of regard is his work with John Cassavetes, and it is clear Cassavetes was a major influence and close friend, someone Gazzara owes much, and the process by which they created Husbands and other films is investigated more than any other. Cassavetes too comes out as a more interesting, Larger Than Life guy, while Gazzara's tales of living in Italy, or being in Spain, New York, Hollywood, the Philippines, etc., etc. just made me jealous...
I guess I wanted to know more about the life of an Actor who has worked as long as Gazzara has, is still relatively known-but never became a "star," and continues to work, without feeling he is a hack who doesn't take his work seriously...