Aside from a mortifying stint on Celebrity Fit Club, the majority of Maureen McCormick’s new memoir reads like a generic checklist of bad things that can happen to child stars, mixed with tedious musings about being "blessed and cursed by the same thing." Don’t feel like shelling out $20 to hear the story of Here’s the Story? Well, in short order:
—McCormick had a wild crush on set on Barry Williams (Greg Brady); he, in turn, had a crush on Florence Henderson.
—She got miffed when a much-younger Eve Plumb began to develop breasts first.
—She quickly lost interest in schoolwork and "ordinary" friends. Drinking, shoplifting, ice-skating with Michael Jackson: These were the norms of her celebrity-studded adolescence.
—After her high school graduation, The Brady Bunch came to an end, and McCormick’s life devolved into a predictable and toxic Hollywood cocktail of alcohol, drugs, abortions (at least two), serious depression, bulimia, and more.
I don’t want to demean what happened to McCormick, which is very sad, but if there ever was a book that didn’t need to be written, it’s this one. If you think you’ve read it before, well, you have—or something exactly like it. Which got me wondering: Which celebrity memoirs have you actually found worthwhile? Make your recommendations in the comments section below, and spare a Brady Bunch fan from hours of ennui.
More on Maureen McCormick, ‘The Brady Bunch,’ and celebrity memoirs:
A Q&A with Maureen McCormick about her country-music ambitions
Literary cred for Tori Spelling
A ‘Brady Bunch’ classic line makes our list of 24 Endlessly Quotable TV Quips
This memior hasn’t exactly been written yet, but I’m looking forward to LC’s once The Hills is over – find out what really happened…
Maureen is 52 years old and I still wouldn’t kick her out of my bed! DAMN!!!
Two abortions? Now trying to cash in with a book advertising her filthy past? I couldn’t sleep at night if I were her.
Maybe I’m biased because I’m absolutely in love with Sting, but I enjoyed his memoir “Broken Music”. It’s not your typical ‘this is what happened after my celeb status waned’, but instead focuses on his life before The Police. It tells about his childhood, when he feel in love with music, how he got the nickname Sting, his first love and the loss of that love…and when he met Trudy (his current wife). It’s a very easy and compelling read.
On that note, the memoir I really disliked (and couldn’t even get through) was Rupert Everett. I read somewhere that it was supposed to be a great book, how it read like a gossip novel spilling secrets about actors he’s worked with (Madonna, Julia Roberts, etc). Ugh, I couldn’t have been more disappointed. I thought the way he wrote was very obscure and difficult to understand at some times. Granted this is just my opinion, but I was very disappointed.
well i’m not sure if i found it worthwhile, but i loved every second of sTORI telling, tori spelling’s memoir. i’m just sayin’…
Mia Farrow – What Falls Away.
I had to read the book for a class in college and I was riveted.
Mia Farrow’s autobiography was excellent. Not just lots of dirt but also REALLY well written. She’s led a facsinating life.
Andy Taylor’s autobio of his life in Duran Duran. There was a lot of stuff I already knew about (even though I was just a kid in the 80s), but it was cool to hear his side of the story. All of the details and odd little sidebars were fascinating. I couldn’t put it down.
Two auto bios I highly recommend are Tanya Tucker and Loni Anderson. Very good reads!
I forgot, the mother of all autobios is “Elvis and Me” by Priscilla Presley.
Bruce Campbell’s “If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor” is a wonderful chronicle of getting into and trying to stay in the movie business. It’s funny and well-told, honest but not overly serious.
You might laugh or roll your eyes, but No Lifeguard on Duty by Janice Dickenson was excellent. She’s led a very fast paced life and had lots of stories to tell. After reading what happened to her in childhood I can’t blame her for her character flaws now. I never heard of Mia Farrow’s but I will pick it up after two recommendations.
read them ages and ages ago but was moved by Lauren Chapin’s (from Father Knows Best) and definitely loved Carol Burnett’s
Scar Tissue by Anthony Keidis. I don’t think I realized how recent his drug problem were. Plus, you gain a new understanding of their music.
Gloria Swanson’s “Swanson by Swanson;” Lorna Luft’s “Me and My Shadows” (about mom Judy Garland); Shelley Winters’ “Shelley Also Known as Shirley” were good, as were the previously mentioned books by Lauren Bacall and Lauren Chapin (“Father Does Know Best”).
The most fun to read is Liz Renay’s “My Face for the World to See.” Renay was a stripper and B-movie actress who went to prison for refusing to rat out her gangster boyfriend. SUPER-trashy and laugh-out-loud funny.