(Borrowed from the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts) "What a story! It's got everything but the bloodhounds nipping at her rear end." That's how Thelma Ritter's character Birdie described Eve Harrington's history when she first enters Margo Channing's dressing room in All About Eve. She could also be encapsulating Maureen O'Hara's action-packed autobiography. O'Hara went from acting on the Irish stage to Hollywood stardom while still in her teens, survived two horrific marriages and the mysterious, possibly CIA-related death of her third beloved husband, sexual harassment from the top movie execs, bizarre advances and physical abuse from John Ford, and a legal battle with Walt Disney. The prose is vital and full-blooded, though how much can be credited to her co-author John Nicoletti?
I love O'Hara's honesty and settling of old scores. She loves the words "rubbish" and "stinkeroo" when describing some of the papblum she was forced to act in. She doesn't hold back in her assessment of her leading men. Co-starring with Jeff Chandler was like acting opposite a "broomstick." Jimmy Stewart was a nice guy, but not generous with sharing scenes. He insisted on one of their scene being reshot when it was clear O'Hara got the better of it. A great, fast read full of Hollywood backstage stories.
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