The Guttenberg Bible: A Memoir [Hardcover]

Steve Guttenberg (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 8, 2012

“Forget being an actor. You don’t have the look, you don’t have the talent, and your name is ridiculous. You are the last guy I would ever pick to be a movie star.”

This was the first piece of advice Steve Guttenberg ever received from an agent. Like many other times in his life, he didn’t listen.

In this honest, charming memoir, Guttenberg tells the unique story of his first decade in Hollywood, as he went from being a complete unknown to starring in some of the most successful blockbusters of all time. He spent his early days sneaking onto the Paramount lot and meeting more actors and casting agents than most aspiring actors ever would. Even before the hit Police Academy---which his manager said would be a flop---he had already worked with such luminaries as Lord Laurence Olivier, Richard Widmark, and Gregory Peck. Later he shared the screen with actors such as Mickey Rourke and Sharon Stone long before they became household names.

Guttenberg has lived through the addictive pull of show business and worldwide celebrity (you’re no one until you have a stalker, he learns). With a clear-eyed appreciation for the one-of-a-kind experiences that the celebrity lifestyle has to offer, he knew that his family would keep him grounded throughout it all. And his self-awareness and sense of humor about the ups and downs of fame make The Guttenberg Bible one of the most candid Hollywood stories to date.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Steve Guttenberg has written a wonderfully funny memoir of his coming-of-age in Hollywood. The Guttenberg Bible is an on-the-money account of what an actor's life is really like."

—MARLO THOMAS, New York Times-bestselling author of Growing Up Laughing

“I first met Steve Guttenberg when he was an up-and-coming young actor on the set of Diner. Now, I’m glad to read his terrific memoir of his career’s early days, and the struggles and surprises that come with making your way in show business.”

—JERRY WEINTRAUB, New York Times-bestselling author of When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead

"The Guttenberg Bible is better than the original! More compelling reading anyway. Steve's story of his journey through Hollywood is for actors what Adventures in the Screen Trade is for writers. An honest, humorous and instructive account of how to navigate thru this crazy town we call Hollywood." 

—WOODY HARRELSON

"From his first scene on I knew Steve Guttenberg would be a winner. He's proven it on the screen and now he's doing it as an author."

—ROBERT EVANS, author of The Kid Stays in the Picture

"It’s impossible to stop reading."

—Publishers Weekly

“[Guttenberg] looks back on his first 10 years in Hollywood as a time of magical dreams and sobering realities. … Aspiring actors will surely gain keen insight into the challenges that may await them (if they’re lucky), while movie fans will be pleasantly assured that their faith in the dream factory’s ability to inspire is still warranted. An insider’s charming look at what it’s really like to be a Hollywood star.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“The Hollywood memoir genre is inherently dicey, but this one is a winner. Guttenberg has a fetching style and is a good storyteller … Anyone who can tell funny personal stories about having worked with both Colonel Sanders and Sir Laurence Olivier is aces.”

—Library Journal

“Guttenberg retains a wide-eyed outsider’s wonder at Hollywood, while offering an insider’s sharp analysis of the tough business of acting.  … An A memoir.”

—Hollywood Reporter

“In this highly readable and candid memoir, Guttenberg reveals the twists and turns of his career.”

 

—Tucson Citizen

About the Author

STEVE GUTTENBERG has starred in more than fifty films over the course of his career, including three successful series: Police Academy, Three Men and a Baby, and Cocoon. He has also appeared in such acclaimed work as Diner, The Boys from Brazil, and The Bedroom Window. On television, his work includes The Day After, To Race the Wind, and Miracle on Ice, as well as Gangs and Love Off Limits, which he directed. As a feature filmmaker, he adapted and directed P.S., Your Cat Is Dead. He produced and starred in the indie film A Novel Romance, which won best feature at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival.

His theater credits include his Broadway debut in 1984, Prelude to a Kiss, The Boys Next Door in London’s the West End, and Furthest from the Sun at the Juene Lune Theatre in Minneapolis. He recently appeared on Broadway in Relatively Speaking, a collection of three one-act comedies, starring in Woody Allen’s “Honeymoon Motel.”

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (May 8, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312383452
• ISBN-13: 978-0312383459
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #475,050 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Smart-Aleck Memoir That's Entertaining But Gets Old May 21, 2012

By Mediaman

Format:Hardcover

Guttenberg, a know-it-all and smart-aleck, has decided to write his life story as a satire with him as the bumbling star. The pages are filled with tales that go beyond credulity and are long-winded pieces of supposedly creative writing. After the 20th repetition of the word "pronto" or his name being mispronounced or his parents begging him to go to college, the book started to get old fast. What could have been an outstanding autobiography ends up being a bloated joke that the reader is unsure whether anything can be believed.

After a long opening devoted to his career start, the book focuses on a few of his big movies, like Diner, Police Academy, Cocoon, Short Circuit and Three Men & a Baby. He also spends time on a few others we have never heard of like The Bedroom Window and Surrender. He completely skips many films and he ignores the last 25 years (the book ends with Three Men & a Baby being shot, not even released!). Which leads to one of the book's problems. He has no idea what material to include and what to edit out.

He doesn't even mention some of the interesting projects he is known for or people he has worked with since the 1980s. He did the movie It Takes Two with Kirstie Alley and the Olsen Twins--yet he couldn't even find time to mention it in his life story? Meanwhile he spent 20 pages on his one-line part in a film no one has seen with Richard Widmark. Bad choices.

Who cares about The Bedroom Window? Who cares about how many times he switched agents? Who cares about the repetitive phone calls from his parents (which seem to take up a third of the book!). There are too many things in the book you won't care about and not enough about things that matter....

Another problem is that he will tell stories but often not name the people in the stories. At one point he even writes, "Sorry, no names, folks." Ummm...why is he writing the book then? We want him to tell us who these famous people are that he is slamming! He has no problem throwing his parents or former high school classmates under the bus, but when it comes to Hollywood names you won't find enough stories about them here (unless they are people he barely knew but wants to kiss up to like Sharon Stone or Michael Caine).

There are also some errors in the book (Widmark and Debbie Reynolds didn't win Oscars as he claims and he's wrong that when he first walked into the Paramount studio lot he saw "the studio for...Mork & Mindy" because he was there two years before the show went on the air! He can't even get his own age right--if he truly went to Hollywood in June of 1976 as he says, that means he was 17 when he started, not 18 as he states in the book. And those mistakes were just in the first 50 pages. That, along with a sarcastic attitude on every page, made it hard to believe much of what he wrote after that.

At first he seemed cute but then he got annoying, trying too hard to convince us that he just stumbled into movies, sweat too much at every meeting and charmingly lied to everyone. After a few too many mentions of all this he actually made himself look much worse than he probably is. The book needs some serious editing and a co-author who could have pulled more significant stories out of him. And what happened to the last 25 years of his life? It's odd that he ended the book in the middle of making his most famous movie with no discussion of its release, sequel or anything he has done since. It seems incredibly incomplete.

That being said, the book is entertaining because he tries so hard to prove he lacks ego by telling the behind-the-scenes life of a star. I would recommend it with reservations. You just have to slog through all the repetitive stories of false modesty to get to the good parts. As one of the major directors told him about his acting after one of his films, if he were a baseball player this book would be a "solid double."

Guttenberg comes across as an under-educated kid who got a lot of help from his "godfather" actor friend and kind of stumbled his way through Hollywood. He delights in sex and drugs without conscience, and doesn't appear to think about hurting people's feelings with his lies. His star stopped shining a long time ago (which he doesn't really address) and while the book reflects a sense of self-deprecation that comes from long-lost career relevancy, it doesn't prove that we should care about some of the trivial stories this book is filled with. Read more ›

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun Fast Read! October 2, 2012

By J. Silva

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

What a fun book to read. Steve tells of his career in Hollywood from age 17 until the early 1990's. What a ride he takes the reader on of his Hollywood journey as a film star and his rise to fame. He is funny, honest, refreshing, and if you are an actor or enjoy "Hollywood story's" what a great book to read. I'm reading some the other reviews on this book and they are mad that he didn't write a autobiography rather then this memoir. Steve said in an interview that he wrote more, but his book editor chopped his original book in half. But his book is pure Hollywood fun to read (and a fast read) and worth buying.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but could have been much better May 29, 2012

By Mark A. Rothenberg

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I cannot speak for what Mr. Guttenberg was trying to achieve-it's his book. However, as the reader, I expected that this book would have opened the door on what it is like to succeed and fail in Hollywood. The first few chapters are interesting. Steve G. goes from Long Island to Los Angeles and does things that no one could dream would be possible. For example, he spends a number of chapters describing how he used to sneak on the studio lots and evade security. There are also a handful of fun stories about working with particular celebs. Unfortunately, the bulk of the stories are exceedingly complimentary-as if the writer was subtly trying to get Hollywood big shots to notice him again by simply referring to them in a positive way. I was hoping for more stories about egomaniacal stars, trists, etc. Ultimately, that is probably why anyone would buy a book like this. The book also contians no mention of the down-time. Keep in mind, this is an actor that headlined some of the most sucessful comedies and dramas in the 1980s and early 1990s (Diner, Boys from Brazil, Police Academy, Short Circuit, and Coccoon). Where is the mention of what happens when you go from being a true A-lister to a C lister? What happens when the phone stops ringing? Do you go through a period of self-examination? How about a frank discussion of the flops and why certain decisions were made as opposed to others?

My sense is that Steve G. is ultimately a good person and a fairly modest guy. However, if you are going to write a book like this, the reader expects the full picture (no pun intended). By way of example, Rober Evan's book, "The Kid Stays in the Picture" is something to behold. This is a nice try but could have benefitted from better editing and much more soul searching.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I have thoroughly enjoyed this book! January 16, 2013

By Dana L. Meier

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is easy to read, and for me, difficult to put down. I loved reading how he got his start and am marveled by the guts and gumption he had in the beginning to push for his dream. Proves right there, that if you do not truly believe in yourself 100%, that you will never achieve your dreams, or have the chance to be at the top of your game. He had and did what it took to get there and he still seems to be a nice, decent, polite man.I have enjoyed reading this, I just wish it had gone farther too.

Hopefully, Mr. Guttenberg, (if you ever read your reviews :), you will continue where you left off and share the rest with us? I will buy your next book too, and I am sure I will enjoy it just as much as this one! Thank you for sharing so much of your life with the world, I found it an honor to read it.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Steve Guttenburg Book review May 11, 2012

By MellyMel164

Format:Hardcover

I went to his Book signing and had the pleasure of meeting him for the first time in person! all i can say is Hollywood should have him in more movies out today! he is a great person and very engaging and honest person I have ever met as a Actor....Some of them are always full of them selves but Steve is a good person and read the first chapter the book is real informative about the Acting industry and his story inspires others to make it in Hollywood....even thou he may seem as if he faded away, I just think that good movies in hollywood today have faded and good or great actors from the 80's are left out.....I recommend this book for any one that is in Hollywood business he is real positive and lets you know not to give up your dreams! I heart Steve Guttenberg :)