Eighty Is Not Enough One Actor Journey Through American Entertainment (Audible Audio Edition) Dick Van Patten Robert Baer Phoenix Books Books
Download As PDF : Eighty Is Not Enough One Actor Journey Through American Entertainment (Audible Audio Edition) Dick Van Patten Robert Baer Phoenix Books Books
Narrating his riveting memoir, beloved actor Dick Van Patten reflects on his prolific career, vibrant life, and the people who shaped both. From growing up during the Great Depression when poverty and racially biased ideologies dominated America, to witnessing the advent of television and its subsequent influence on culture, Dick Van Patten's life is a rich record of change and progress in America and Hollywood.
Perhaps best known for his role playing the mild mannered "every-dad" in 70s sitcom Eight Is Enough, Dick Van Patten has appeared in thousands of television, film, and radio roles viewed by millions of people; he commenced his career by lighting up the Great White Way as a child star alongside Broadway staples such as Tallulah Bankhead, Melvyn Douglas, Alfred Lunt, and Lynn Fontanne, early influences who fueled his relentless thirst for acting and stardom.
Van Patten divulges anecdotes both amusing and emotional; among them, he chronicles throwing back drinks with notorious Hollywood producer Robert Evans, forming his family's close friendship with pop icon Farrah Fawcett, rooming with the legendary Burt Lancaster, and living next door to the eccentric Michael Jackson. Eighty Is Not Enough provides a look back on the evolution of entertainment in a manner rarely glimpsed - straight from the man who experienced it all.
Eighty Is Not Enough One Actor Journey Through American Entertainment (Audible Audio Edition) Dick Van Patten Robert Baer Phoenix Books Books
I enjoyed getting to the 60s forward because that was when I became a fan. I enjoyed his story. So much I wasn't aware of.Product details
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Eighty Is Not Enough One Actor Journey Through American Entertainment (Audible Audio Edition) Dick Van Patten Robert Baer Phoenix Books Books Reviews
My perception of actor Dick Van Patten can be summarized as 'regular guy/everyman actor guy'. This book, for the most part, pretty much summarizes the man in the same way. Van Patten is EVERYMAN. Quite possibly that is probably the most interesting aspect of this book because Van Patten's life has been somewhat ordinary in spite of a lot of peaks and valleys and a backsetting which at times might be perceived as minimalist glamorous.
Dick starts out life with a warm loving family which grounds him early on. His dad is a reticent sort of man and his mom is a powerhouse stage mama. Dick and his sister Joyce hit the boards early on, his parents split. Dick moves forward with his career interfacing with some really interesting people (i.e., the Lunts), meets his dishy wife, moves on to tv and movies,has career highs and lows, deals with a gambling problem, and enjoys some fairly amazing success as well as some lows that might wipe out a less resilient person. However, this is one guy who knows how to roll with the punches.
The reason I liked this book is because Van Patten is a natural story teller. While there are some interesting revelations and perceptions, nothing seems to be punctuated as one of those 'aha' moments because the story just flows. I walked away with the feeling that the reason Van Patten has enjoyed a long and productive career is because he is essentially a hard-working actor with an in-control ego and minimal 'complications'.
I remember watching Dick Van Patton as a suited Yes Man in a Kurt Russell Disney movie. Then I remember him as Friar Tuck in the Short lived Mel Brooks show "When Things Were Rotten" (hoping that on DVD soon!) ...Then there was Eight is Enough (which also needs to be on DVD)...so in a way I grew up watching Dick Van Patton.
When I read this biography, I found a man with more depth than the media I knew him from. He showcased that he was a workingman's actor in more than what I knew him from. He recanted stories of those whose he knows. One of my favoraite passages which i liked the most was about Henry Fonda after he replaced David Wayne as Ensign Pulver in the play Mister Roberts, which doing I Remember Mama radio show.
His book moves back and forth through the timelines of his life, it works well for him. This is a Hollywood memoir of a working actor who loved his craft. Whereever he performed, from the Broadway stage to film to TV to radio, he was an actor of talent---a real actor with minor scandels as well (His minor problems were not as big as what TMZ would report), which he does not white wash.
He is also a man proud of his Wife and his family. He admits to diabetes and heart problems. He can do that and still discuss Mel Brooks in the same chapter and you will remain interested
If you have a film or TV fan on a holiday or birthday list, this book should be a great gift
Bennet Pomerantz
AUDIOWORLD
In this 3 and 1/2-star book, Van Patten unveils an interesting career that most of us didn't know much about and does it in a gentle, soft-spoken way. If you like a laid-back, mellow autobiography with 49 super short chapters and lots of name dropping, then this is the book for you.
The star had major success on Broadway at an early age and he spends about half the book talking about his stage work, though most people will know few of the plays he mentions or even some of the stars he worked with. It is interesting that he beats Marlon Brando for a role but it's hard to picture this guy who is now known as a loveable goofball as being a serious stage performer at age 17.
He spends very little time on Mama, his longtime early TV show that certainly had a lot of behind the scenes drama that he doesn't discuss here, while devoting a bit more to Eight is Enough. A lot of his "stories" about TV shows and plays he was in are simply rehashes of plots and almost nothing about working on them. It's disappointing that he guest starred in many great 70s series but has no stories to tell here. For example, at one point he writes, "I worked for a few seasons on the New Dick Van Dyke Show." That's it!
He does the same with his family and friends. Few remembrances, mostly just some basic facts that could be found on Wikipedia. His one memory of Mel Brooks is going to the race track! He devotes a "chapter" to Farrah Fawcett that is a page and a half and says nothing other than that they were longtime family friends. Merv Griffin is alluded to a couple times along with other big stars Dick would play tennis with but there are no stories about any of them! It's very frustrating to read this type of book where names are constantly dropped and everyone is said to be wonderful or marvelous but no real stories are told.
He also has some of his facts wrong, dates mixed up and sometimes sounds like he doesn't know what he is talking about (That Girl was not a "dramedy"). The book was co-authored by a former judge and probably should have had someone who was more knowledgeable about Hollywood.
One of the nice things about the book is that it breezes along so he never stays on one subject too long. Unfortunately that means he leaves out details and skips large chunks of life that we'd like to hear more about. Instead he is repetitious in spots, tells side stories about people or shows none of us remember, and fails to go into any depth on almost any subject. It just scratches the surface of his life though it's filled with constant bragging about people he met, his kids success and even his own celebrity stature (which he overestimates).
The biggest problem with the book is that he alludes to a number of times he got into trouble, including with the law, while finding ways to not take consequences and his taste for gambling and strippers. But he brushes them all aside like they are no big deal. It's disappointing to read of how he thinks it's okay to break the law or waste his family's money on horse racing or steal another man's finacee or take a young date to a strip show with no thought given to the feelings of others. He certainly has a gambling addiction but won't admit it, instead saying that at one point he had to learn "moderation." Meanwhile his family starved due to his racing habits. It certainly doesn't match his image and makes one wonder what else he is hiding (which he admits up front that he "tends to see the positive" in everything and won't use the book to tell everything that happened to him).
So it's an easy read and especially good for people over the age of 70 who will remember some of the shows he is talking about. But there's not enough substance and in the end I like him a bit less than before reading the book.
Very Enjoyable and history book. Spans his whole personal life and entertainment life
everything was fine
I enjoyed this book. Supposed he did not talk about being in the Love Boat. Sick Van Patten had a great life .
Have always been a fan of Dick Van Patten and his family. Enjoyed the book very much and it's a very quick read.
I enjoyed getting to the 60s forward because that was when I became a fan. I enjoyed his story. So much I wasn't aware of.
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