Synopses & Reviews
He's one of America's most recognizable and acclaimed actors a star on Broadway, an Oscar nominee for
The Aviator, and the only person to ever win Emmys for acting, writing, and directing, during his eleven years on
M*A*S*H. Now Alan Alda has written a memoir as elegant, funny, and affecting as his greatest performances.
"My mother didn't try to stab my father until I was six," begins Alda's irresistible story. The son of a popular actor and a loving but mentally ill mother, he spent his early childhood backstage in the erotic and comic world of burlesque and went on, after early struggles, to achieve extraordinary success in his profession.
Yet Never Have Your Dog Stuffed is not a memoir of show-business ups and downs. It is a moving and funny story of a boy growing into a man who then realizes he has only just begun to grow.
It is the story of turning points in Alda's life, events that would make him what he is if only he could survive them.
From the moment as a boy when his dead dog is returned from the taxidermist's shop with a hideous expression on his face, and he learns that death can't be undone, to the decades-long effort to find compassion for the mother he lived with but never knew, to his acceptance of his father, both personally and professionally, Alda learns the hard way that change, uncertainty, and transformation are what life is made of, and true happiness is found in embracing them.
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, filled with curiosity about nature, good humor, and honesty, is the crowning achievement of an actor, author, and director, but surprisingly, it is the story of a life more filled with turbulence and laughter than any Alda has ever played on the stage or screen.
Review
"What's striking about this book is not merely the scope of his accomplishments...but the sense that the author thinks there's still so much yet to be learned." Los Angeles Times
Review
"It's as if he's written the book for the audience, not for himself. It's 224 pages long and he does what M*A*S*H did: He leaves you wanting more. A nice trick, that. It makes you like the guy even more." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Review
"True, Alda can be annoying from time to self-important time, but it's hard to argue with his advice and easy to admire this revealing memoir." Houston Chronicle
Review
"Alda shows how he not only coped with these hurdles but also learned from them....Refreshingly, this collection of biographical sketches is written in a good-natured and compassionate way." Booklist
Synopsis
With a schizophrenic mother and a renowned actor father, the author finds meaning in a life that comes in unexpected bursts of joy and sorrow. This is a wise, dangerous, and irresistibly entertaining retelling of events that made Alda who he is.
About the Author
Alan Alda played Hawkeye Pierce for eleven years in the television series M*A*S*H and has acted in, written, and directed many feature films. He has starred often on Broadway, and his avid interest in science has led to his hosting PBS's Scientific American Frontiers for eleven years. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005 and has been nominated for thirty Emmy awards. He is married to the children's book author/photographer Arlene Alda. They have three grown children and seven grandchildren.