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As I Am: An Autobiography
Throughout her triumphant career as a Tony and Academy Award-winning actress, Patricia Neal has faced a series of devastating challenges and losses, sometimes privately, sometimes before an audience of millions. Her long-awaited autobiography casts Neal in her greatest role--as the indomitable heroine of her own incredible real-life story.
Paperback
,
459 pages
Published
July 20th 1989
by Arrow Books Ltd
(first published 1988)
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Community Reviews
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Patricia Neal had more sadness to bear and mountains to climb than most. She desperately loved a man who could not be a full partner to her; her son was in a horrific accident; her oldest daughter died; and then there was that catastrophic stroke.
What to say about her? She's brutally honest about her foolish choices and hurtful behavior (she hurt herself and others). I can't help but admire that. She married a man who was beneath contempt, a legend in his own mind and the personification of the ...more
What to say about her? She's brutally honest about her foolish choices and hurtful behavior (she hurt herself and others). I can't help but admire that. She married a man who was beneath contempt, a legend in his own mind and the personification of the ...more
Honest and gritty first-hand account of Academy Award Winning Actress.
Deeply impacted by Patricia Neal's story. For example, reading her autobiography, 'As I Am', she tells of the abortion she obtained during an affair with a married colleague, actor Gary Cooper.
“I called in sick to the set for only two days,” she writes, “and then continued my work without anyone realizing what had happened. Life went on as usual.
But for over thirty years, alone, in the night, I cried. For years and years I cri ...more
Deeply impacted by Patricia Neal's story. For example, reading her autobiography, 'As I Am', she tells of the abortion she obtained during an affair with a married colleague, actor Gary Cooper.
“I called in sick to the set for only two days,” she writes, “and then continued my work without anyone realizing what had happened. Life went on as usual.
But for over thirty years, alone, in the night, I cried. For years and years I cri ...more
I loved Patricia Neal's honesty and forthrightness. She told her life story - both the good and the bad - with candor, grace, and humor and she didn't spare herself. I couldn't stand Roald Dahl and couldn't figure out why in the world she married him. I admired her faithfulness once she did marry.
This is a super celebrity autobiography. It's flush with sentences like, "I told the young man he should quit show business. His name was Michael Nichols;" or "The young man I had earlier seen talking on the phone performed the dance scene very well. Someone whispered in my ear that his name was James Dean."
At the same time, it is an interesting portrait of a marriage - Neal's husband, Roald Dahl, comes off as a bully and a dickhead. At the same time, he does encourage his wife to work (she won ...more
At the same time, it is an interesting portrait of a marriage - Neal's husband, Roald Dahl, comes off as a bully and a dickhead. At the same time, he does encourage his wife to work (she won ...more
Apr 27, 2012
Sull
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Sull by:
Secondhand book
Very readable autobiography with lots of big names. Neal is surprisingly honest about her life, which always makes for good reading. She made loads of mistakes, all the way from sleeping around when she shouldn't have up to marrying Roald Dahl--probably her biggest mistake, according to her, in spite of the fact that he saved her life after her stroke.
She stays human through it all, not a bad or usual thing for a Hollywood actor. She values her family & friends though fully aware of their f ...more
She stays human through it all, not a bad or usual thing for a Hollywood actor. She values her family & friends though fully aware of their f ...more
I absolutely love this book! I will be recommending it to everyone. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me love Patricia, it made me want to beat some people up on her behalf. She was so honest. She told every bad thing she did. She admitted her mistakes. She made reparations for her sins. She was truly a good woman. I wish I could have been her friend. I totally hate Roald Dahl and I will never encourage my family to read his books nor will I own them. The man was so horrid and I wish her
...more
This was a wonderful read for anyone that is a fan of Patricia Neal! I found this autobiography to be an emotional roller coaster full of delightful highs and debilitating lows. I don't recall if I was having a rough week when I read it, but a few times I had started to cry so hard that I needed to put the book down and get some fresh air! My interest in her and Gary Cooper's relationship was one of the initial reasons I chose to read this. I found her lifelong love for him to be heartbreaking,
...more
what an incredibly candid story from one of my favorite actresses. Here life had some serious trauma but in the end she could look back with a lot of satisfaction and not a little sadness.
What I've learned spending this summer with Pat Neal is that she is honest. This book was probably one of the best celebrity autobiographies I've read-- she is candid and informal, and very honest in describing her own faults. MUCH better than the Stephen Shearer biography (yaaaawn)
3.75 stars. Once you get past her disjointed writing style, the story itself - of her amazing highs, devastating tragedies, and incredible self-discovery - are true Hollywood legend. Really, really enjoyed this.
Ooh some good Hollywood gossip here, and a bit on how miserable it was to live with Roald Dahl (love the books, hate the man). It feels weird reading about all the tragedies she lived through, though.
Very good book on Patricia Neal's life & her trials, tribulations & her endurance. I really enjoyed reading about her life and what she had to endure at such a young age. Her strength was remarkable
I've always loved Patricia Neal, but only recently learned a little about her life, so I just had to read this. Very interesting.
I found Patricia Neal to be an unlikeable character.
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