From Publishers Weekly
Born Diana Dill to a privileged family in Bermuda in 1923, Darrid, the mother of actor Michael Douglas and former wife of Kirk, writes that she acquired an "English schooling reticence" during her teens. Indeed, an admirable reserve and dignity characterize this memoir. Working as a Powers Agency model, she graced the cover of Life in the early 1940s. She met Kirk Douglas in New York City, and although their subsequent marriage resulted in two children, Michael and Joel, it ended quickly. They separated in the early '50s as he rose to fame on the strength of Champion (1949), while she played a supporting role in Joseph Mankewicz's House of Strangers (1949). She later married the actor-producer-novelist Bill Darrid; they remained together for 37 years until his death in 1992. Her own career was prolific if not stellar, including a dozen movies, live television, Broadway (Edward Albee's Everything in the Garden) and several stints as a regular on Days of Our Lives. Darrid tells anecdotes well, amusingly relating how her car broke down on a deserted California highway 20 minutes before curtain time, and how the actor Murvyn Vye, unable to handle screaming directions from Otto Preminger, became "trembling and incoherent" on stage. As one might expect, a host of celebrities make cameos, but Darrid does not linger on them. Even her friend, the "charming and funny" Brenda Vaccaro, and her son, Michael, appear on only a few pages. While readers may regret having their curiosity aroused and not sated, Darrid should be praised for keeping her priorities straight and her focus on her own story. 16 pages of photos not seen by PW. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Darrid's memoir opens with the breakup of her tempestuous marriage to Kirk Douglas. Opposites who were attracted--she was the daughter of well-off Bermudians, he the fiery son of poor Russian immigrants--they crashed on the shoals of "new-found celebrity," which resulted in "incompatible differences," a phrase Kirk's lawyer instructed Diana to use, mantra-like, to describe the divorce, especially to Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper, in order to preserve Kirk's burgeoning career. Ever the trouper, she agreed. Asked much later by son Michael Douglas to "recount [her] memories as honestly as [she] could for his son Cameron," she eventually produced this book full of choice inside-Hollywood stuff, though veneered with '90s-style caring, and so responsible that you suspect Darrid wears sensible shoes and her hair in a bun. Marriage to Douglas is but one aspect of the overall story. Diana's subsequent 37-year marriage to novelist Bill Darrid brought lasting happiness, as did her children, including Michael, once a 14-year-old lothario, according to teachers. Mike Tribby
