ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512290098
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY LYNN ECKMAN
A HELL OF A LIFE: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. By Maureen Stapleton and Jane Scovell. Simon & Schuster. $24.
During her 50 years in show business, Maureen Stapleton has earned every award Broadway and Hollywood can offer, yet she has never achieved the star status that brings adulation and instant recognition by head waiters or fans. She is, however, the kind of person I would enjoy knowing, spending a lot of time listening to. Freely confessing addictions to cigarettes, alcohol, profanity and men, she leaves no room for anyone else's criticism. And she writes with generosity about the scores of luminaries with whom she has worked, drunk or slept.
While the style of "A Hell of a Life" sags at times, the content remains fresh and spicy. Who can resist anecdotes about Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Lawrence Oliver, Tennessee Williams, Lillian Heilman, plus many other celebrities, especially when written without rancor? Although her name may not be familiar to everyone, the two photographs on the jacket of her autobiography, Stapleton at 20 and again at 70, should jar memories. She played the part of everyone's mother before she was old enough to be one; she now looks venerable and dissipated but still somewhat pixieish. As an actress, she is capable of combining all three traits into a performance worthy of kudos.
As a writer, Stapleton is refreshingly candid, and as a person, she is grateful for having led "a hell of a life." Like "The Gingerbread Lady," a play some believe to be about Maureen Stapleton, her life has been and still is, "a sort of tragedy with wisecracks."
Lynn Eckman recently retired from teaching at Roanoke College.
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Maureen Stapleton|by CNB