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Watch Me: A Memoir
Following her “extraordinary” (Vanity Fair), “evocative” (The New York Times), “magically beautiful” (The Boston Globe), “gorgeously written” (O, The Oprah Magazine) coming-of-age memoir, Academy Award-winning actress Anjelica Huston writes about her relationship with Jack Nicholson, her rise to stardom, her work with the greatest directors in Hollywood, her love affair with her husband, and much more.
Anjelica Huston was twenty-nine years old and trying to create a place for herself as an actress in Hollywood when the director Tony Richardson said to her: “‘Poor little you. So much talent and so little to show for it. You’re never going to do anything with your life.’ Tony had a singsong voice, like one of his own parrots, but there was no mistaking the edge. ‘Perhaps you’re right,’ I answered. Inside I was thinking, Watch me.”
In A Story Lately Told, Anjelica Huston described her enchanted childhood in Ireland and her glamorous but troubled late teens in London. That memoir of her early years ended when Anjelica stepped into Hollywood. In Watch Me, Huston tells the story of falling in love with Jack Nicholson and her adventurous, turbulent, high-profile, spirited seventeen-year relationship with him and his intoxicating circle of friends. She writes about learning the art and craft of acting, about her Academy Award-winning portrayal of Maerose Prizzi in Prizzi’s Honor, about her roles as Morticia Addams in the Addams Family films, Etheline Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums and Lilly Dillon in The Grifters, and about her collaborations with many great directors, including Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Bob Rafelson, Francis Ford Coppola, and Stephen Frears. She movingly and beautifully writes about the death of her father, the legendary director John Huston, and her marriage to sculptor Robert Graham. She is candid, mischievous, warm, passionate, funny, and a superb storyteller.
Anjelica Huston was twenty-nine years old and trying to create a place for herself as an actress in Hollywood when the director Tony Richardson said to her: “‘Poor little you. So much talent and so little to show for it. You’re never going to do anything with your life.’ Tony had a singsong voice, like one of his own parrots, but there was no mistaking the edge. ‘Perhaps you’re right,’ I answered. Inside I was thinking, Watch me.”
In A Story Lately Told, Anjelica Huston described her enchanted childhood in Ireland and her glamorous but troubled late teens in London. That memoir of her early years ended when Anjelica stepped into Hollywood. In Watch Me, Huston tells the story of falling in love with Jack Nicholson and her adventurous, turbulent, high-profile, spirited seventeen-year relationship with him and his intoxicating circle of friends. She writes about learning the art and craft of acting, about her Academy Award-winning portrayal of Maerose Prizzi in Prizzi’s Honor, about her roles as Morticia Addams in the Addams Family films, Etheline Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums and Lilly Dillon in The Grifters, and about her collaborations with many great directors, including Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Bob Rafelson, Francis Ford Coppola, and Stephen Frears. She movingly and beautifully writes about the death of her father, the legendary director John Huston, and her marriage to sculptor Robert Graham. She is candid, mischievous, warm, passionate, funny, and a superb storyteller.
395 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 11, 2014
156 people are currently reading
3803 people want to read
About the author
Anjelica Huston
18 books46 followersAnjelica Huston is an American actress. Huston became the third generation of her family to win an Academy Award, when she won Best Supporting Actress for her performance in 1985's Prizzi's Honor, joining her father, director John Huston, and grandfather, actor Walter Huston. She also received Academy Award nominations for Enemies, a Love Story (1989) and The Grifters (1990).
Huston received British Academy Award nominations for her work in the Woody Allen films Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). Among her other roles, she starred as Morticia Addams in The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993), receiving Golden Globe nominations for both, and played the Grand High Witch in the children's movie The Witches (1990). She also played Mrs. Gwyneth Harrigan in Daddy Daycare (2003). She has frequently collaborated with director Wes Anderson, including The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004).
Huston received British Academy Award nominations for her work in the Woody Allen films Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). Among her other roles, she starred as Morticia Addams in The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993), receiving Golden Globe nominations for both, and played the Grand High Witch in the children's movie The Witches (1990). She also played Mrs. Gwyneth Harrigan in Daddy Daycare (2003). She has frequently collaborated with director Wes Anderson, including The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 349 reviews
December 10, 2020
I really, really tried to like this one.
After all, this is Morticia. This is the Grand High Witch .
Ultimately, this was a name-dropping, humble-bragging mess of a book. Literally, this book was just her narrating her career in the blandest way possible.
Huston spends the first half of the book obsessing over her obsession with Jack Nicholson - it was literally her describing Jack's career and including her own experiences as side-stories. Not particularly what I was interested in, but it was palatable.
And then, when we finally moved on to her career, the book became just: I worked with so-and-so and it was really great. Or: I met so-and-so and he was kind to me but rumored to have a mean streak. So-and-so gave my career a huge lift.
I was pulling out my hair. Too many people were introduced and not enough of them were followed up with or given enough distinct characteristics to remember them. I completely gave up on keeping track of who was who by the end of the 10th chapter and passively listened to this audiobook until it finished.
It was like reading a Wikipedia article in first person only not as interesting. I didn't feel any emotional connection to this book other than relief that it was over.
The 2018 ABC Challenge - W
Audiobook Comments
Huston DID read her own book, but she did not inflect much tone variation to the text. Her voice did take on a really tragic tone every time something sad happened to her but it felt rather forced and it seemed like something I'd hear on a soap opera.
YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads
After all, this is Morticia. This is the Grand High Witch .
Ultimately, this was a name-dropping, humble-bragging mess of a book. Literally, this book was just her narrating her career in the blandest way possible.
Huston spends the first half of the book obsessing over her obsession with Jack Nicholson - it was literally her describing Jack's career and including her own experiences as side-stories. Not particularly what I was interested in, but it was palatable.
And then, when we finally moved on to her career, the book became just: I worked with so-and-so and it was really great. Or: I met so-and-so and he was kind to me but rumored to have a mean streak. So-and-so gave my career a huge lift.
I was pulling out my hair. Too many people were introduced and not enough of them were followed up with or given enough distinct characteristics to remember them. I completely gave up on keeping track of who was who by the end of the 10th chapter and passively listened to this audiobook until it finished.
It was like reading a Wikipedia article in first person only not as interesting. I didn't feel any emotional connection to this book other than relief that it was over.
The 2018 ABC Challenge - W
Audiobook Comments
Huston DID read her own book, but she did not inflect much tone variation to the text. Her voice did take on a really tragic tone every time something sad happened to her but it felt rather forced and it seemed like something I'd hear on a soap opera.
YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads
December 5, 2021
Space here is limited, so if you'd like to see additional text and photos, go to my blog: https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....
Anjelica Huston
Anjelica Huston's autobiography is wonderfully comprehensive and evocative, including particulars about friends, relatives, activities, clothes, homes, furnishings, flora, fauna, food, her passions, her emotions, her movies, her television shows, etc.
Huston mentions myriad people she's met during her life, which includes many of the glitterati. For example, in 1979, when Huston attended a party that talent agent Sue Mengers threw for Princess Margaret, the attendees included Prince Rupert Loewenstein, Governor Jerry Brown, Linda Ronstadt, Michael Caine, Farrah Fawcett, Ryan O'Neal, Barbra Streisand, Jon Peters, Robin Williams, Gore Vidal, Sean Connery, Ken Tynan, Nick Nolte, Danny Kaye, David Geffen Joni Mitchell, Swiftly Lazar, Ali Macgraw, Barry Manilow, and more.
Princess Margaret with the rich and famous
Huston also had a varied and successful career, engaged in several love affairs, and married a famous sculptor.....all of which she dishes about in her books.
This is the second installment of Huston's autobiography, following A Story Lately Told: Coming of Age in Ireland, London, and New York' - which culminates when 18-year-old Huston started a relationship with 42-year-old Bob Richardson - a mentally ill fashion photographer who almost drove Anjelica to suicide. Anjelica left Richardson in 1973, after 4 years, and moved from their home in New York to Los Angeles.....where her life changed dramatically.
Photographer Bob Richardson
In New York, Huston - a striking brunette almost 6 feet tall - was a fashion model.
Anjelica Huston was a fashion model
In California, however, blonde girls were in vogue, so Huston went elsewhere for modeling work.....and eventually established an acting career.
Huston started seeing Jack Nicholson soon after she arrived in Los Angeles. She talks about living with the actor; traveling with him; visiting Jack on movie sets; joining him at L.A. Laker games; attending the Oscars with him; and much more.
Anjelica Huston and Jack Nicholson
Huston notes, "Jack was prompt at sending flowers, and chocolates on Valentine's Day. He liked to give beautiful presents. He often thrilled me with generous gifts of jewels and furs." She goes on to say, "Jack was not fazed by much. He liked his creature comforts and had a real zest for life. He liked to travel, especially to Europe. He loved to collect people. Paternally, he would call us "my people." At the time the generality of it bugged me; I wanted to be special, and I felt a loss of identity."
Jack Nicholson had a zest for life
In fact no one woman was completely special to Jack and he indulged in serial infidelity. Huston writes, "Whenever I was suspicious and I'd start looking around for evidence - in his wallet, his bureau, his bedside drawer - there was never a time I did not find some telltale item some scrap of inflammatory confirmation, so to a certain point I stopped snooping, but I also stopped trusting him."
Huston wasn't always faithful herself. When Jack was away in the mid-1970s, Huston met Ryan O'Neal at a party, went home with him and "kissed him for six hours straight on his dining room table."
Huston broke it off with Nicholson and began an affair with the charismatic O'Neal. Huston recalls O'Neal as being "a golden specimen, always in motion, an Apollo. He was an athlete, a runner, a boxer, and a bully. He was a gorgeous California native."
Ryan O'Neal was an Apollo
Anjelica Huston and Ryan O'Neal
Unfortunately, O'Neal was also a violent man. Anjelica speaks of an incident when Ryan grabbed her by the hair and hit her on the forehead with the top of his skull. Huston recalls, "He was batting me about the head with open hands." Soon afterwards Huston ended her affair with Ryan and returned to Jack.
Huston's father was the famous actor and director John Huston, whom she adored.
Actor and director John Huston
Anjelica Huston and her father John Huston
Because of John's busy schedule, Anjelica rarely saw him when she was a child. Thus she cherished reminders of him, like his cigar smoke. She notes, "For my father, the scent I most fondly remember is what eventually killed him, his cigar smoke. I could always tell where he was in any hotel just by following the smell of Monte Cristo through the hallway like a bloodhound."
Eventually, John's smoking gave him emphysema, which made it hard for him to get oxygen. Over the years, Anjelica spent many days in the hospital with her father. She laments, "It was terrible to see him so sick. The attack on his system by the disease was relentless. He was wracked with coughing, struggling for breath, incapable of sleeping. For the last decade of his life, he was in and out of hospitals with respiratory failure. He was in hell with this disease. He became very fragile."
After every health crisis, John fought to resume his life and go back to making movies. In 1987 John succumbed to his lung disease and died at the age of 81.
By then Anjelica had become a successful actress. Huston's first movie, "A Walk With Love and Death" (1969), directed by her father, was a flop and made her wary of pursuing a Hollywood career. By the mid-1970s, however, Huston was acting again, and eventually took lessons from Peggy Feury.
Actress and acting teacher Peggy Feury
Huston writes a great deal about being in films, including acting classes, agents, movie roles, directors, fellow performers, prosthetics, lighting, wardrobe, etc. Anjelica worked with some of the best directors in the world, including Wes Anderson, Bob Rafelson, Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola and Stephen Frears. She observes, "I have worked on more than seventy movies and television shows, but I always feel that going back to work is like the first time. It's new and scary and I wonder if I can do it."
Arguably, some of Huston's best movies were Prizzi's Honor (1985), The Witches (1990), The Grifters (1990), The Addams Family (1991), and the Royal Tenenbaums (2001). Huston won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Prizzi's Honor, which was directed by John Huston and co-starred Jack Nicholson.
Anjelica Huston and Jack Nicholson in 'Prizzi's Honor'
Anjelica Huston in 'The Witches'
Anjelica Huston and John Cusack in 'The Grifters'
Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia in 'The Addams Family'
Anjelica Huston and the cast of 'The Royal Tenenbaums'
Huston had an on-off relationship with Nicholson for about a decade and a half, until he got another woman pregnant. When Huston was in rehearsals for The Grifters, Jack invited her to dinner and proudly announced, "I have something to tell you. Someone is gonna have a baby." The future mom was actress Rebecca Broussard.
Jack Nicholson and Rebecca Broussard
Jack affirmed he would stand by Rebecca because he was the father of the child, but wanted to carry on with Anjelica. Huston refused and recalls, "I wept, and I felt the floor dropping out from under me, and finally, the hopelessness of a relationship that's done, flopped, croaked, and over."
On a more uplifting note, around that time Bernardo Bertolucci, who was president of the Cannes jury in 1990, invited Huston to be a member. That same year, Huston met her future husband, the famous sculptor Robert Graham - who was Mexican but took his name from his Scottish grandfather.
Sculptor Robert Graham
She notes, "Tall and handsome, Bob had a steel-and-silver mane of thick shoulder length hair that he wore either in a Japanese sumo twist at the nape of his neck or in a ponytail, and a small goatee. He moved with ease and grace." Huston goes on, "He loved jazz. He was elegant and wise and devil-may-care. He smelled of mint soap and clay and fresh cigar ash. He liked to wear crisp cotton trousers, a starched white shirt, and black Nikes. He cooked me perfect breakfasts and took me salsa dancing. "
Anjelica Huston and Robert Graham
Huston and Graham got married in 1992. For the blowout wedding party on the evening of the nuptials, Huston wore a "Richard Tyler white silk taffeta dress with a ruffled Spanish dancing skirt tight to the knees, a blood-red sash, and a little bolero hand embroidered with seed pearls in the shape of a winged heart." After Huston and Graham wed, Bob built their dream house in Venice, California.
Anjelica Huston and Robert Graham wed in 1992
Huston knew she wanted to direct films some day and got the chance in 1995 when was offered the opportunity to direct 'Bastard Out of Carolina' about a young girl who's raped by her stepfather with her mother's consent.
Anjelica Huston directed 'A Bastard Out of Carolina'
The movie was very controversial for the time but Anjelica won an Emmy for Outstanding Directing and went on to direct and star in the movie Agnes Browne (1999).
Meanwhile, Graham was working on his 'Great Bronze Doors' for the Cathedral of Our Lady of Los Angeles, which took more than four years to complete.
Robert Graham made the 'Great Bronze Doors' of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Los Angeles
Every day Bob's chauffeur drove him to an engineering company in San Dimas that was working on the function of the doors. At this time Graham started to show symptoms of the disease that would ultimately kill him. Huston observes, "Making the trips back and forth to San Dimas, Bob spent almost half his waking time on the road. He confided that his joints were aching and his feet were getting numb from the physical inactivity."
In time, it became obvious that Graham was not well and he was finally diagnosed with Wegener's granulomatosis, a rare illness that affects many of the body's organs and systems. Towards the end of his life, Bob's kidneys failed, and he was treated with Cytoxan and regular dialysis. Then he had a stroke, which greatly debilitated him.
Huston describes her husband's demise in detail. He was hospitalized, took masses of steroids, and had physical therapy. When Graham was finally allowed to go home, he was cared for by Anjelica and a private nurse. Sadly, the sculptor continued to decline and died. Huston recalls, "He turned his cheek on the pillow and seemed to relax a little. Then I watched his spirit go." It was clear that Bob was just a shell, and a few days later - when his loved ones had said goodbye - the sculptor was detached from his ventilator. Graham passed in 2008 at the age of 70.
Anjelica Huston at her husband's funeral
Huston also experienced additional tragedies and talks about many of her close friends dying of AIDS, which was a terrible scourge in that era.
At the end of the book Huston mentions selling her Venice house and preparing to move into a new home. At that time, Anjelica visited a medium, who told her that her Dad "is happy in the afterlife because he likes alcohol and you can have a drink in heaven." The medium also reported that Bob is coming with her to the new house. So that's good to know.
Anjelica Huston at home
The last part of the book feels a bit rushed - like Huston was anxious to finish - but overall this is a good story, recommended to fans of celebrity memoirs.
February 12, 2022
We have lift-off.
This second volume of Anjelica Huston's memoir finds her (finally) deigning to engage in the autobiographical process - which makes for a much better read. Here she actually inhabits the existence she began when her plane set down in Los Angeles in the early 1970s.
It is astonishing how quickly the fates aligned to introduce her to Nicholson, and ignited the spark of one of the more infamous Hollywood pairings of that era. A skittish spirit by nature, she is made more so by Jack's wandering ways, which, in an equally fateful turn, manages to drive her into taking her acting career seriously. Classes are found and study begun, resulting in a long series of interesting roles in projects as diverse as The Grifters, Lonesome Dove, The Addam's Family, and her tour-de-force portrayal of Maerose in Prizzi's Honor.
Along the way we hear (briefly) about Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, the Coppola tragedy, the AIDS epidemic, and the Academy Awards - much of this receiving a nod on the path to more architecture, more animals, more gardens, and the struggle of caring for her father as he battled through years of emphysema. I was surprised to learn she'd had a dalliance with Ryan O'Neal, less so when the relationship with Nicholson fizzled - another door-closing, window-opening affair that permitted the introduction to her husband. Throughout, Huston's voice is strong, unique, and fully in charge of these recollections.
Unless you have a soft spot for all things Irish, I might skip the first installment and move straight on to the second. This is where the life is evident.
This second volume of Anjelica Huston's memoir finds her (finally) deigning to engage in the autobiographical process - which makes for a much better read. Here she actually inhabits the existence she began when her plane set down in Los Angeles in the early 1970s.
It is astonishing how quickly the fates aligned to introduce her to Nicholson, and ignited the spark of one of the more infamous Hollywood pairings of that era. A skittish spirit by nature, she is made more so by Jack's wandering ways, which, in an equally fateful turn, manages to drive her into taking her acting career seriously. Classes are found and study begun, resulting in a long series of interesting roles in projects as diverse as The Grifters, Lonesome Dove, The Addam's Family, and her tour-de-force portrayal of Maerose in Prizzi's Honor.
Along the way we hear (briefly) about Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, the Coppola tragedy, the AIDS epidemic, and the Academy Awards - much of this receiving a nod on the path to more architecture, more animals, more gardens, and the struggle of caring for her father as he battled through years of emphysema. I was surprised to learn she'd had a dalliance with Ryan O'Neal, less so when the relationship with Nicholson fizzled - another door-closing, window-opening affair that permitted the introduction to her husband. Throughout, Huston's voice is strong, unique, and fully in charge of these recollections.
Unless you have a soft spot for all things Irish, I might skip the first installment and move straight on to the second. This is where the life is evident.
December 9, 2014
2.5 stars. I love most celebrity memoirs / autobiographies but this one was frustrating. Does Angelica Huston dish all about dating Jack Nicholson for many years? Yes, she does, but ultimately it is so frustrating because you have to wonder why she hung around that loser for so long. The answers comes - not from Angelica - but as a reader you can see she had philandering father, John Huston, and she picked a guy just like that. When she decided to break up with Jack temporarily she wound up with Ryan O'Neal - a notorious abuser of women.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Huston. I found her writing / narration to be somewhat superficial, she seems to have never wanted for anything (other than love) her entire life. It's basically "I flew to Paris and stayed with so-and-so" and meets a litany of famous people in the 70s and 80s. She accurately recollects the dresses and outfits she wore on memorable occasions. But she comes across as very very snooty, snobbish, and too high class for us mere mortals to relate to. There is a real lack of introspection and growth. She describes a few interesting tidbits of the making of various movies she was in.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Huston. I found her writing / narration to be somewhat superficial, she seems to have never wanted for anything (other than love) her entire life. It's basically "I flew to Paris and stayed with so-and-so" and meets a litany of famous people in the 70s and 80s. She accurately recollects the dresses and outfits she wore on memorable occasions. But she comes across as very very snooty, snobbish, and too high class for us mere mortals to relate to. There is a real lack of introspection and growth. She describes a few interesting tidbits of the making of various movies she was in.
November 24, 2014
Very disappointing read. I had hoped it would be an insightful look into Hollywood by a legendary actress of whom I love, but it read more like a dull laundry list that just rattled off names of dinner guests and travel destinations. There is no sense of who Anjelica is or the inner workings of her industry and craft.
January 4, 2015
I can't decide whether Angelica is a private and reserved person or a vapid and unself-aware person. I am leaning towards the latter. She has moments of reflection and awareness but on the whole both her memoirs read as if written by a ten year old.
The first half of her book is like reading a fleshed out version of her calendar. "I went to an exclusive, beautiful locale. The rich and/or famous x,y & z were there. I wore this designer outfit. Then I went to this cool place & x,y & z cool people were there too. Then I took a learjet with these famous people and we went to this exotic place." Blah blah blah. Now, I am all for reading memoirs set in amazing locations with interesting famous people. The catch is that the author has to give details - details about what happened, how they felt at the time, how they feel now about what happened etc. Jane Fonda's memoir did this well. At the very least, if all the writer is going to do is namedrop then the stories need to be funny and well-written and go into depth. See David Niven's memoirs for examples as to how to namedrop in an entertaining manner. Angelica's stories are about as entertaining as watching paint dry. Her one possible excuse is that she was too drunk and high for most of the 1960s-1980s to remember anything. Not that she has any fun stories about getting drunk or high - see most rock star memoirs for examples on how to write effective getting loaded anecdotes.
Her memories of Jack Nicholson are ridiculously vague. I got the impression she is still worried about crossing him and wants to stay on his good side. I bet you anything she let him read a rough draft of the book. Even with her incredible unenlightened descriptions of Jack, he comes across as a total tool. WOW. I found it amazing that she stuck with him. Why on earth did she? Who knows? We can all play armchair psychologist and say it's because of her messed up relationship with her cheating, horndog father. But she never puts two and two together in the book. The most stunningly display of shitty boyfriend behavior is her story of walking down the streets of Paris with Jack, on vacation with him. A beautiful girl pulls up besides them, riding a moped, and smiles & tells Jack he should hop on the back and go off with her. AND HE DOES. HE LEAVES HIS GIRLFRIEND STANDING ON THE SIDEWALK AND TAKES OFF WITH SOME RANDOM CHICK TO GO HAVE SEX WITH. That is brutal. And Angelica stays with him! By staying after that, she gave him carte blanche to continue treating her like dirt. Not that she ever wrote about her feelings surrounding any of these events, other than to mention she cried a bit. Uh....ok. Thanks for that detailed description.
Angelica has managed over the years to become friends with some famous people who have very shady, very public behaviors. I was curious as to get her take on her friends' behaviors and maybe get some inside information about what happened. Hahahaha - what was I thinking? She is forced to write a bit about the whole Polanski debacle, but only because she was arrested and was a witness. She acts like Switzerland in WW2. Who knows if she finds him innocent or guilty? She was friends with Michael Jackson and does mention he told her point blank that he "loved children and would never hurt them." after it came out he was screwing the little boys he slept with. Uh, yeah, isn't that how pedophiles rationalize their behavior? They were loving the child, not hurting the child! But she seems to buy it. Huh. And she was friends with the doctor that killed Michael Jackson with all those drugs. Not that she says anything about that. She dated Ryan O'Neal, douchebag extraordinaire, and, while going into graphic detail in comparison with the rest of her book, still does not even touch on how horrible he was. I know from Tatum's book that Angelica broke up with Ryan after discovering he was boinking 17 yr old Melanie Griffith. Angelica just calls her a young starlet and does not mention how Melanie had a foursome with 13 yr old Tatum and two other adults. Just that Tatum seemed distant. Uh yeah, being raped by your dad's coke dealer and then having an opium fueled orgy at 13 tends to make a person distant.
Seriously, I could go on for paragraphs about all the weird, disjointed parts in this book. I wish Angelica had had a better, tougher book editor and was seeing a therapist to help her become more self aware.
The first half of her book is like reading a fleshed out version of her calendar. "I went to an exclusive, beautiful locale. The rich and/or famous x,y & z were there. I wore this designer outfit. Then I went to this cool place & x,y & z cool people were there too. Then I took a learjet with these famous people and we went to this exotic place." Blah blah blah. Now, I am all for reading memoirs set in amazing locations with interesting famous people. The catch is that the author has to give details - details about what happened, how they felt at the time, how they feel now about what happened etc. Jane Fonda's memoir did this well. At the very least, if all the writer is going to do is namedrop then the stories need to be funny and well-written and go into depth. See David Niven's memoirs for examples as to how to namedrop in an entertaining manner. Angelica's stories are about as entertaining as watching paint dry. Her one possible excuse is that she was too drunk and high for most of the 1960s-1980s to remember anything. Not that she has any fun stories about getting drunk or high - see most rock star memoirs for examples on how to write effective getting loaded anecdotes.
Her memories of Jack Nicholson are ridiculously vague. I got the impression she is still worried about crossing him and wants to stay on his good side. I bet you anything she let him read a rough draft of the book. Even with her incredible unenlightened descriptions of Jack, he comes across as a total tool. WOW. I found it amazing that she stuck with him. Why on earth did she? Who knows? We can all play armchair psychologist and say it's because of her messed up relationship with her cheating, horndog father. But she never puts two and two together in the book. The most stunningly display of shitty boyfriend behavior is her story of walking down the streets of Paris with Jack, on vacation with him. A beautiful girl pulls up besides them, riding a moped, and smiles & tells Jack he should hop on the back and go off with her. AND HE DOES. HE LEAVES HIS GIRLFRIEND STANDING ON THE SIDEWALK AND TAKES OFF WITH SOME RANDOM CHICK TO GO HAVE SEX WITH. That is brutal. And Angelica stays with him! By staying after that, she gave him carte blanche to continue treating her like dirt. Not that she ever wrote about her feelings surrounding any of these events, other than to mention she cried a bit. Uh....ok. Thanks for that detailed description.
Angelica has managed over the years to become friends with some famous people who have very shady, very public behaviors. I was curious as to get her take on her friends' behaviors and maybe get some inside information about what happened. Hahahaha - what was I thinking? She is forced to write a bit about the whole Polanski debacle, but only because she was arrested and was a witness. She acts like Switzerland in WW2. Who knows if she finds him innocent or guilty? She was friends with Michael Jackson and does mention he told her point blank that he "loved children and would never hurt them." after it came out he was screwing the little boys he slept with. Uh, yeah, isn't that how pedophiles rationalize their behavior? They were loving the child, not hurting the child! But she seems to buy it. Huh. And she was friends with the doctor that killed Michael Jackson with all those drugs. Not that she says anything about that. She dated Ryan O'Neal, douchebag extraordinaire, and, while going into graphic detail in comparison with the rest of her book, still does not even touch on how horrible he was. I know from Tatum's book that Angelica broke up with Ryan after discovering he was boinking 17 yr old Melanie Griffith. Angelica just calls her a young starlet and does not mention how Melanie had a foursome with 13 yr old Tatum and two other adults. Just that Tatum seemed distant. Uh yeah, being raped by your dad's coke dealer and then having an opium fueled orgy at 13 tends to make a person distant.
Seriously, I could go on for paragraphs about all the weird, disjointed parts in this book. I wish Angelica had had a better, tougher book editor and was seeing a therapist to help her become more self aware.
August 9, 2019
Simply, occasionally beautifully observed.
I suspect Ms. Huston reserves her most searing insights for somewhere other than a two-volume memoir. Still, a thoughtful reader can draw plenty of their own conclusions.
Probably the greatest attraction to read this for most, like it was for me, is her relationship with Jack Nicholson. Between Jack's philandering and all the hobnobbing, I was left with an impression of movie people as stagnated children: extremely generous, unbelievably coddled, precocious and exceptional while sheltered and oblivious.
I suspect Ms. Huston reserves her most searing insights for somewhere other than a two-volume memoir. Still, a thoughtful reader can draw plenty of their own conclusions.
Probably the greatest attraction to read this for most, like it was for me, is her relationship with Jack Nicholson. Between Jack's philandering and all the hobnobbing, I was left with an impression of movie people as stagnated children: extremely generous, unbelievably coddled, precocious and exceptional while sheltered and oblivious.
March 29, 2016
My 5 Question Review
Share a one sentence synopsis, please?
Third generation rich/famous person exhaustively and unintentionally tells the story of her own privilege.
What did you like?
I didn’t.
Dislike?
My biggest problem with this book was the ever present elitism. The point of view is from a person who has likely never had to worry about money in her entire life. It seems that early on she had a handful of modeling gigs and that was, apparently, a career. What I will give her credit for is fighting (as much as someone has to when she is from a Hollywood dynasty) to become a leading lady despite not having classic movie-star good looks.
The chronicle of AH's husband’s illness and death was moving, but the ordeal was just another reminder that these people exist in some special circle. Normal, everyday people just call an ambulance when a family member is ill. They don’t have the number of the head of surgery or the president of the hospital board on speed dial.
The secondary issue was just the constant barrage of mundane facts and people. The lists of names went on and on and on. And I just don’t need to know that AH took a shower, then answered the phone. Or was it the other way around?
Ugh. I’m tired of writing about this.
Why this book?
I’m not sure why, but I read AH’s first memoir (yes her life story comes in two parts) A Story Lately Told. I just wanted to close that circle. I was also curious about the Jack Nicholson relationship. And yes, he cheated on her a lot. And it made her very sad. But that didn’t stop her from cheating on partners that she cared about. So much childishness in this book.
Did anything stick?
Yeah, I keep thinking about how when AH moved in with her husband and they found that their dogs didn't get along, the husband rented an apartment across the street. Just for the dogs. Apparently that's a real thing to do.
Share a one sentence synopsis, please?
Third generation rich/famous person exhaustively and unintentionally tells the story of her own privilege.
What did you like?
I didn’t.
Dislike?
My biggest problem with this book was the ever present elitism. The point of view is from a person who has likely never had to worry about money in her entire life. It seems that early on she had a handful of modeling gigs and that was, apparently, a career. What I will give her credit for is fighting (as much as someone has to when she is from a Hollywood dynasty) to become a leading lady despite not having classic movie-star good looks.
The chronicle of AH's husband’s illness and death was moving, but the ordeal was just another reminder that these people exist in some special circle. Normal, everyday people just call an ambulance when a family member is ill. They don’t have the number of the head of surgery or the president of the hospital board on speed dial.
The secondary issue was just the constant barrage of mundane facts and people. The lists of names went on and on and on. And I just don’t need to know that AH took a shower, then answered the phone. Or was it the other way around?
Ugh. I’m tired of writing about this.
Why this book?
I’m not sure why, but I read AH’s first memoir (yes her life story comes in two parts) A Story Lately Told. I just wanted to close that circle. I was also curious about the Jack Nicholson relationship. And yes, he cheated on her a lot. And it made her very sad. But that didn’t stop her from cheating on partners that she cared about. So much childishness in this book.
Did anything stick?
Yeah, I keep thinking about how when AH moved in with her husband and they found that their dogs didn't get along, the husband rented an apartment across the street. Just for the dogs. Apparently that's a real thing to do.
August 15, 2015
A celebrity memoir cliché, if there ever was one! Houston stuffed her book with poolside parties, Hollywood affairs and crash and burn artists of every ilk. There are huge sections of this book that feel exactly like a hurried acceptance speech. Everyone gets a name mention including her 50 odd pets, horses and the many chefs who catered the endless string of parties. Really Anjelica, did you have to name each chef? … every time…! Anjelica runs off to her room a lot, sulking or weeping over betrayals and tragedies. It's just tough to be entirely empathetic to a starlet who has the family funds to flit back and forth from Hollywood, to Aspen, to London and New York. Jack Nicholson summed it all up when he offered Anjelica advice about pairing movie genres with the season, "...One should DO a Western every summer!" Everything you need to know about this memoir can be found on the cover jacket. Anjelica is poised chin up with a assured half-baked smile. She is glancing sideways and manages to look proud and guarded at the same time. Her bare shoulder is prominently featured, sans chip, but everyone knows it’s still there... including Anjelica. Hence the title. I think she is either smart and brash… OR she is gullible and bitchy. Jack knows the truth… don’t you Jack ;-).
December 1, 2014
Anjelica's style of narration was fairly straight forward and it got a little tedious at times. Most interesting was her relationship with Jack Nicholson, but boy, does she drop a lot of names! And I always wonder just how anyone can remember every single detail about everyday life and conversations; just doesn't seem possible, even if one keeps a very detailed journal.
March 8, 2015
I really enjoyed this book by Anjelica Huston. Her life is interesting and reading about it has helped me appreciate her as a person. She writes from the heart, and shares her triumphs and tragedies. There is just one detraction for me. The book is written in three parts and the final part labeled "Fortune" seemed rushed, and I would have enjoyed it much more if she would have given more details and slowed the pace down. I still liked it enough to give it a 4 star rating.
January 12, 2015
More like Watch Meh. Picked up at the library, skimmed through a lot of it, as it was so dull and always thought nepotism and association were the only things about her of interest. And yes this is the case, the Dad and Jack anecdotes are interesting.
December 30, 2014
“Watch Me” is Huston’s second memoir, delving into her life as an actress and consort to Jack Nicholson. Why one needs to two-part their life is something I don’t necessarily understand, as reading this book with the expectation that it’s the first and only of its type leaves you feeling that you have interrupted a story part way through.
However if you have read her first memoir, or at least understand that this is part two – you can settle in for an interesting name dropping of the a-list stars of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
A significant focus of the memoir is her love affair with Nicholson. As you would expect, it doesn’t paint a particularly likable description of the love rat. When reading Huston’s accounts of her time with Jack, all I could picture was Nicholson at the 2014 Oscars, leering all over Jennifer Lawrence!
Huston, however, shows a remarkable amount of grace (or perhaps ambivalence) towards her years with Jack, and there seems to be an unspoken complicity in following along with such indomitable behaviour for a relatively extended period of time.
Nicholson is not the only person who comes off as being a bit of a brute, as Huston also provides an insight into her time with Ryan O’Neal. The allegations of abuse will not surprise many, as these types of incidents have been well documented in the past with allegations of a tumultuous relationship with Farrah Fawcett. Huston recalls these periods of her life with a sensitivity and rawness that makes you feel sorry for the pain she had to manage.
Throughout the memoir, Huston comes off as being slightly removed from the telling of her life, and sometimes there can be a lack of emotion behind the words written. Many pages can run long with recollections of events that read more like a guest list rather than a significant retelling of an important event in her life.
I personally would have preferred more of an insight into her acting career, as these chapters where she detailed her work on film and tv were her best. Depending on your familiarity with Huston’s work, some chapters will stand out to you more than others, but being a child of the 90’s, The Witches and The Addams Family (of which I used to watch every night in order to fall asleep for many years) were the ones that held the most significance to me.
The memoir deals with love and loss elegantly, and Huston shares her innermost yearnings for family and children with her readers. It is through these passages that her sensitivity and personality comes across strongly. Huston comes off as an endearing person with significant strength and intelligence. It might not be the juiciest of memoirs but I have no doubt that the story is told earnestly.
However if you have read her first memoir, or at least understand that this is part two – you can settle in for an interesting name dropping of the a-list stars of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
A significant focus of the memoir is her love affair with Nicholson. As you would expect, it doesn’t paint a particularly likable description of the love rat. When reading Huston’s accounts of her time with Jack, all I could picture was Nicholson at the 2014 Oscars, leering all over Jennifer Lawrence!
Huston, however, shows a remarkable amount of grace (or perhaps ambivalence) towards her years with Jack, and there seems to be an unspoken complicity in following along with such indomitable behaviour for a relatively extended period of time.
Nicholson is not the only person who comes off as being a bit of a brute, as Huston also provides an insight into her time with Ryan O’Neal. The allegations of abuse will not surprise many, as these types of incidents have been well documented in the past with allegations of a tumultuous relationship with Farrah Fawcett. Huston recalls these periods of her life with a sensitivity and rawness that makes you feel sorry for the pain she had to manage.
Throughout the memoir, Huston comes off as being slightly removed from the telling of her life, and sometimes there can be a lack of emotion behind the words written. Many pages can run long with recollections of events that read more like a guest list rather than a significant retelling of an important event in her life.
I personally would have preferred more of an insight into her acting career, as these chapters where she detailed her work on film and tv were her best. Depending on your familiarity with Huston’s work, some chapters will stand out to you more than others, but being a child of the 90’s, The Witches and The Addams Family (of which I used to watch every night in order to fall asleep for many years) were the ones that held the most significance to me.
The memoir deals with love and loss elegantly, and Huston shares her innermost yearnings for family and children with her readers. It is through these passages that her sensitivity and personality comes across strongly. Huston comes off as an endearing person with significant strength and intelligence. It might not be the juiciest of memoirs but I have no doubt that the story is told earnestly.
March 16, 2015
Anjelica Huston is one of my favorite actors, and I picked this book because it seemed like it might be fun, light reading, considering she’s the daughter of Hollywood Royalty, dated Jack Nicholson on and off for years, as well as Ryan O'Neill and others, knows lots of other famous people, won an Oscar, and so on. This book picks up where her first memoir ends, beginning at the age of 18, and goes until she's in her 60s (as of this review she's approaching age 64). It almost immediately begins with her meeting Jack Nicholson when she's 18. After reading the first 30 percent of the book, I began to think the title should be amended to be “Watch Me (Live a Shallow Life).” Okay, it’s a Hollywood memoir. But until her mid-30s when she gets her first real acting role of any substance - what ends up being the Oscar-winning supporting role of Maerose Prizzi in "Prizzi's Honor" - it appears she does basically nothing other than live off the money of others (her father’s and Jack’s primarily), and spend her time partying and jetting from here to there. If there was more to her life then this endless partying, she never talked about it. No trying to make a life that isn't sucking off other people (even when she moves out of Jack's at one point, he buys the house she moves to for her), nothing of substance whatsoever. Boy, what a boring life. At one point she mentions how she basically has no self-esteem. Well of course she doesn’t. There seems to be no point to her life other than to hang with famous people and have fun. Later in life, when she begins to make a career as an actor, her life became far more interesting to me. She has purpose and goals. Yes, there's an element of enjoying the voyeuristic look at the lives of famous people, and she certainly has a very readable, elegant writing style and knows how to tell a story. She also appears to be quite honest about some of her shortcomings (although seeing her earlier life as being rather devoid of meaning isn't one of them), but it didn't overcome what grew to be my increased impatience with her early party life, and lifelong obsession with Jack Nicholson, especially given how shallow the rest of her life was for the first 35 years. Even when she is older and he's supposedly out of her life, Jack seems to always be in the background of her mind, mentioning things like "even Jack was there" when talking about a funeral long after they have permanently moved apart. Again, perhaps she relates this because she knows the reader will find it interesting and thus increase sales of the book, but I just found it pitiful. He may have charisma, but he cheated on her repeatedly and was sometimes quite verbally cruel. After a while I got tired of it and wished she would too.
May 29, 2015
Not a great choice at the library by me. Apparently her second autobiography, the first being about her childhood. This must really get on the nerves of good writers who struggle to find a publisher.
She seems to me to be a fine actress, but definitely not a writer. It's as though she kept a non-introspective journal for some reason for several decades and then published it without much polishing. It's one jarring transition after another -- a friend dies of AIDS so AIDS epidemic gets a paragraph before we return to who wore what and was seated next to whom on what occasion, followed by the cast list from the next movie she was in, followed by one more award her father received, and ......
Can't say I learned a lot about why she stayed with Jack Nicholson forever despite knowing he was seeing other women [until one of them got pregnant], or what her acting methods are, but if you're instead curious about exactly where she's traveled, which buildings her late husband designed, how many trailers Eddie Murphy took up when they co-starred in a movie and so much more (IMO) trivia, this is the book for you.
She seems to me to be a fine actress, but definitely not a writer. It's as though she kept a non-introspective journal for some reason for several decades and then published it without much polishing. It's one jarring transition after another -- a friend dies of AIDS so AIDS epidemic gets a paragraph before we return to who wore what and was seated next to whom on what occasion, followed by the cast list from the next movie she was in, followed by one more award her father received, and ......
Can't say I learned a lot about why she stayed with Jack Nicholson forever despite knowing he was seeing other women [until one of them got pregnant], or what her acting methods are, but if you're instead curious about exactly where she's traveled, which buildings her late husband designed, how many trailers Eddie Murphy took up when they co-starred in a movie and so much more (IMO) trivia, this is the book for you.
November 24, 2014
I liked the first book of this memoir series but I could not get into this one. I was excited to read about Hollywood in the late 70's and hear some good stories about making some of her movies (like Life Aquatic). There were some fun tidbits but honestly reading this book was like this for me: name dropping, name dropping, name dropping, Jack says something sarcastic and she cries, name dropping, dates other people, and then tells us scant basic details about working on movies.
There were also these surreal moments where I would start to feel her as a person and then she would casually say something like, oh I was at this party, Joni MItchell wrote a song about it called People's Parties. Who Are You?!
I think my rating is based on the fact that I just read Lena Dunham's memoir which was very entertaining and well written essays. This was more straightforward and the writing was dry. Sorry, I really really wanted to like this.
There were also these surreal moments where I would start to feel her as a person and then she would casually say something like, oh I was at this party, Joni MItchell wrote a song about it called People's Parties. Who Are You?!
I think my rating is based on the fact that I just read Lena Dunham's memoir which was very entertaining and well written essays. This was more straightforward and the writing was dry. Sorry, I really really wanted to like this.
January 1, 2016
Wake up, go to party, sleep with Jack Nicholson.
Wake up, fly to Aspen, sleep with friend.
Wake up, angry at Jack Nicholson, sleep with Ryan O'Neal.
Repeat for 8 years.
I haven't had a chance to read Ms. Huston's first memoir about her childhood (which might be wonderful), but this second one about her twenties and beyond, is just a bit too vapid for my taste.
Plus she plays it fast and loose with the chronology leaving me completely lost at what year it actually was at any given point in the narrative.
I'm sorry to say that I couldn't actually finish it and gave up about halfway through. :(
Wake up, fly to Aspen, sleep with friend.
Wake up, angry at Jack Nicholson, sleep with Ryan O'Neal.
Repeat for 8 years.
I haven't had a chance to read Ms. Huston's first memoir about her childhood (which might be wonderful), but this second one about her twenties and beyond, is just a bit too vapid for my taste.
Plus she plays it fast and loose with the chronology leaving me completely lost at what year it actually was at any given point in the narrative.
I'm sorry to say that I couldn't actually finish it and gave up about halfway through. :(
January 15, 2016
I loved hearing Anjelica Huston read her memoir. The details in the stories were fascinating and her descriptive words made it come alive. I enjoyed this memoir and recommend it.
April 22, 2015
The first half of Angelica Huston's second memoir begins with Huston meeting Jack Nicholson, and promptly beginning a relationship that on paper sounds so unpleasant that it's tough to imagine why she put up with it for so long. For a good decade, Huston will wear an expensive Halton gown, attend a gala opening on Nicholson's arm, fight with him over one of his many infidelities, and then allow him to creep back into her bed accompanied by a gift of a BMW or an antique oil painting. Then she'll start the cycle all over again.
There's quite a profusion of Halstons and sports cars and tears to wade through before a wiser and more confident Huston launches her own starred movie career,at which point the book picks up rapidly. Equal parts gossip and self-deprecatory modesty, Huston's survey of her film and television career is a fun ride. She's a master of the withering dismissal, too—as when she calls the poor kid playing Pugsley in her Addams Family movies, "a contented, plump little soul...but not what I call a deep searcher in life." Ouch.
Huston's second volume might not be as exotic or far-flung as the first, but ultimately it's much more fun.
There's quite a profusion of Halstons and sports cars and tears to wade through before a wiser and more confident Huston launches her own starred movie career,at which point the book picks up rapidly. Equal parts gossip and self-deprecatory modesty, Huston's survey of her film and television career is a fun ride. She's a master of the withering dismissal, too—as when she calls the poor kid playing Pugsley in her Addams Family movies, "a contented, plump little soul...but not what I call a deep searcher in life." Ouch.
Huston's second volume might not be as exotic or far-flung as the first, but ultimately it's much more fun.
November 25, 2014
I confess that I wanted to read this memoir for gossip. I wanted the dirt on her 17 year relationship with Jack Nicholson. Well who didn’t know that he cheated on her throughout their time together? And most already knew that Nicholson’s grandmother was really his mother and his sister was his actual mother. A rather common occurrence back in the days when having a child out of wedlock was something that could ruin lives. So I was disappointed. She does write often about Hollywood’s A-list which was always a part of her life due to her famous Dad. And, she never writes anything truly negative about anyone making the reader like her decency. My low rating is simply because I wanted dirt.
November 26, 2014
So incredibly boring that I had to skim 2/3 of the book. How could a woman share a decade of her life with Jack Nicholson and have nothing interesting to say about it? Waste of time. Double waste of time when you consider that I read her first memoir which was also dull.
December 25, 2014
Technically, this book was so boring & hard to get into that I only read 240 pages of it & couldn't finish it. It seemed like the book was just an excuse to name-drop. Meh.
April 30, 2022
You know...
I completely see why this has an average review of 3.44, I do.
But like her first memoir, I think I like it for many of the reasons others don't.
One of the big complaints I've read is that Anjelica Huston throws names of people out there and never comes back to them. This does happen. (She also does this with locations.) But for me it seasoned the story with a special essence of her and her lifestyle I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. If Huston had gone into detail about every notable person in her life, it would have taken away from the Anjelica Huston part of the memoir. And if she had only mentioned certain people, it would have flattened the scope of her epic life. For me, it worked.
Some passages in this second memoir were particularly beautiful. There were passages close to the end about life, love, and loss that choked me up. I know I'm an outlier here, but I gotta give it a five.
I completely see why this has an average review of 3.44, I do.
But like her first memoir, I think I like it for many of the reasons others don't.
One of the big complaints I've read is that Anjelica Huston throws names of people out there and never comes back to them. This does happen. (She also does this with locations.) But for me it seasoned the story with a special essence of her and her lifestyle I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. If Huston had gone into detail about every notable person in her life, it would have taken away from the Anjelica Huston part of the memoir. And if she had only mentioned certain people, it would have flattened the scope of her epic life. For me, it worked.
Some passages in this second memoir were particularly beautiful. There were passages close to the end about life, love, and loss that choked me up. I know I'm an outlier here, but I gotta give it a five.
November 17, 2014
"Watch Me" is the second volume of Anjelica Huston's captivating revelatory memoir, following her "A Story Lately Told". Huston fans will not be disappointed as she generously details her tumultuous 17 year relationship with Jack Nicholson, her brief affair with Ryan O'Neal, and finding happiness in her marriage to sculptor Robert Graham (m.1992-2008).
The memoir continues with the (1973) demise of her volatile relationship with fashion photographer Bob Richardson, he was 24 years older. Introduced to Jack Nicholson at his birthday party by her stepmother (CiCi Shane), she was smitten. AH never realized at first, she was joining a legion of female admirers for the affections of this utterly charming, sexy, easy going, brilliant actor. AH hoped to be the love of his life, as he was for her. Included are numerous names and stories of their famous friends and acquaintances, including the Roman Polanski scandal that occurred at Nicholson's house on Mulholland Drive.
AH heartbreak unhappiness dealing with Nicholson's infidelities, seemed to be on occasion, a haunting replay of her own parents troubled unconventional marriage. The sadness and longing she had to talk to her mother Enrica "Ricki" Soma (1929-1969) for insight and advice, leaving no clues behind regarding her marital distress and affairs. There was little understanding or sympathy from her father, director John Huston (1906-1987) who admonished her to stop crying and said: "This is nonsense. Meaningless, honey. Men do this- it means nothing. Why do you care?"
In coming of age in the 1960's, many of this generation didn't have a high regard for marriage, AH regarded it as a form of "bondage". As she matured, viewpoints changed, when she brought the subject up with Nicholson, he mocked her, she cried for days afterwards.
AH read Prizzi's Honor in 1983, the film presentation was directed by her father, leading with actors Nicholson and Bill Hickey. AH was perfect for the part of Maerose Prizzi with her sultry Italian beauty, her rival was played by Kathleen Turner. AH would be the first film actress to receive an Academy Award for her role, representing a third win (1985) within three generations of her family. At last, she felt a recognition and acceptance from her father, who had extremely high standards. AH wrote of his decline and periodic hospitalizations from chronic emphysema, he was cared for his partner of 12 years who traveled with and cared for him non-stop, until his death in 1987.
By the time AH married Graham, she had a mature understanding of the artistic temperament, and the need for her husband's artistic pursuits to come first above all else. Graham designed and built a 5 story dream home for her, they remained together until his death in 2008. AH was unable to have children of her own.
I was fortunate to check this out from our public library, and really liked this memoir a great deal more then her first book "A Story Lately Told". Prior to publication, AH sent the book to Nicholson to look over, he approved. They have remained on friendly terms, the pages of photos are excellent.
The memoir continues with the (1973) demise of her volatile relationship with fashion photographer Bob Richardson, he was 24 years older. Introduced to Jack Nicholson at his birthday party by her stepmother (CiCi Shane), she was smitten. AH never realized at first, she was joining a legion of female admirers for the affections of this utterly charming, sexy, easy going, brilliant actor. AH hoped to be the love of his life, as he was for her. Included are numerous names and stories of their famous friends and acquaintances, including the Roman Polanski scandal that occurred at Nicholson's house on Mulholland Drive.
AH heartbreak unhappiness dealing with Nicholson's infidelities, seemed to be on occasion, a haunting replay of her own parents troubled unconventional marriage. The sadness and longing she had to talk to her mother Enrica "Ricki" Soma (1929-1969) for insight and advice, leaving no clues behind regarding her marital distress and affairs. There was little understanding or sympathy from her father, director John Huston (1906-1987) who admonished her to stop crying and said: "This is nonsense. Meaningless, honey. Men do this- it means nothing. Why do you care?"
In coming of age in the 1960's, many of this generation didn't have a high regard for marriage, AH regarded it as a form of "bondage". As she matured, viewpoints changed, when she brought the subject up with Nicholson, he mocked her, she cried for days afterwards.
AH read Prizzi's Honor in 1983, the film presentation was directed by her father, leading with actors Nicholson and Bill Hickey. AH was perfect for the part of Maerose Prizzi with her sultry Italian beauty, her rival was played by Kathleen Turner. AH would be the first film actress to receive an Academy Award for her role, representing a third win (1985) within three generations of her family. At last, she felt a recognition and acceptance from her father, who had extremely high standards. AH wrote of his decline and periodic hospitalizations from chronic emphysema, he was cared for his partner of 12 years who traveled with and cared for him non-stop, until his death in 1987.
By the time AH married Graham, she had a mature understanding of the artistic temperament, and the need for her husband's artistic pursuits to come first above all else. Graham designed and built a 5 story dream home for her, they remained together until his death in 2008. AH was unable to have children of her own.
I was fortunate to check this out from our public library, and really liked this memoir a great deal more then her first book "A Story Lately Told". Prior to publication, AH sent the book to Nicholson to look over, he approved. They have remained on friendly terms, the pages of photos are excellent.
May 5, 2015
I received this book through Goodreads from the publisher in order to give an honest review.
This book started off kind of slow for me. I was unaware, upon first receiving it, that Ms. Huston had written a previous memoir about the early years of her life and it took me a few chapters to really get a feel for what was going on. You do not need to read the first memoir to be able to enjoy this one, though it might be helpful for background in the very beginning of the book. Although the book took off slowly, I have to say that from the very beginning it was written quite beautifully, at times almost lyrically. Ms. Huston has a gift for description that makes the reader feel like they are present with her in all her surroundings and in each stage of her life.
The book is divided into three parts: love, fame, and fortune. I don't exactly understand the division as the book kind of focuses on all of these things in each section. It was very interesting to read about how Ms. Huston's relationship with Jack Nicholson began and all of its nuances as it progressed. There was also a great bit of detail about her father and his projects and his role in her life. She talks a lot about the projects she has worked on and how each one served to grow her a bit more as an actress. This insider look into how movies are/have been made was fascinating. The last section of the book details how Ms. Huston met her husband and what their lives were like together. The last chapter, in particular, was quite beautiful and satisfying to read.
There was one thing that interrupted the flow for me. Quite a lot of names are dropped in this book. This would seem natural for a person who has grown up in the film industry, but I feel like there were times when names were thrown out there for no reason. There were a dozen or so friends that lasted through the whole narrative, but there were names that would pop up in a single paragraph never to be repeated again and sometimes I felt so thoroughly inundated with names that it was hard to pick up on the general thread of the narrative.
When I look at the book as a whole, I find a fascinating story in which the reader is engaged and a brave and honest recounting of a very full and exciting life, with wonderful people and beautiful settings. Ms. Huston writes humbly and openly in a way that makes the reader feel like an old friend. I feel like she should continue writing, as she does it so beautifully.
This book started off kind of slow for me. I was unaware, upon first receiving it, that Ms. Huston had written a previous memoir about the early years of her life and it took me a few chapters to really get a feel for what was going on. You do not need to read the first memoir to be able to enjoy this one, though it might be helpful for background in the very beginning of the book. Although the book took off slowly, I have to say that from the very beginning it was written quite beautifully, at times almost lyrically. Ms. Huston has a gift for description that makes the reader feel like they are present with her in all her surroundings and in each stage of her life.
The book is divided into three parts: love, fame, and fortune. I don't exactly understand the division as the book kind of focuses on all of these things in each section. It was very interesting to read about how Ms. Huston's relationship with Jack Nicholson began and all of its nuances as it progressed. There was also a great bit of detail about her father and his projects and his role in her life. She talks a lot about the projects she has worked on and how each one served to grow her a bit more as an actress. This insider look into how movies are/have been made was fascinating. The last section of the book details how Ms. Huston met her husband and what their lives were like together. The last chapter, in particular, was quite beautiful and satisfying to read.
There was one thing that interrupted the flow for me. Quite a lot of names are dropped in this book. This would seem natural for a person who has grown up in the film industry, but I feel like there were times when names were thrown out there for no reason. There were a dozen or so friends that lasted through the whole narrative, but there were names that would pop up in a single paragraph never to be repeated again and sometimes I felt so thoroughly inundated with names that it was hard to pick up on the general thread of the narrative.
When I look at the book as a whole, I find a fascinating story in which the reader is engaged and a brave and honest recounting of a very full and exciting life, with wonderful people and beautiful settings. Ms. Huston writes humbly and openly in a way that makes the reader feel like an old friend. I feel like she should continue writing, as she does it so beautifully.
Want to read
September 20, 2015Lo empecé por chusma más que nada (y también porque me encanta leer biografías) pero el modo en qué está escrito me decepcionó bastante. Entiendo que Huston no es una escritora, pero creo que alguien podría haberla ayudado a "embellecer" su 'prosa'. Tal como está, deja mucho que desear. A veces se lee como si alguien te estuviera haciendo un resumen rápido de un chisme que escuchó del vecino de enfrente que, a su vez, lo escuchó de un tercero: sin detalles, sin desarrollo, directo al grano. Desordenado.
En fin, quería leerlo, también, para meter las narices en la intimidad de Jack Nicholson! Nunca me hubiera imaginado que era un mujeriego sin coraz---jajjajaja no puedo ni terminar de escribirlo! jaja Ya creo que todos conocemos las aventuras del actor. Si les interesa conocer detalles sobre esta relación contados por quien fuera su pareja (on and off, on and off y así hasta el hartazgo) durante trece años (!), les recomiendo leer esta autobiografía. Obviamente, es una historia triste; casi se puede sentir la desesperación de la pobre Huston...nunca pudo estar tranquila con él (y sin embargo, siempre volvía a su lado... como decía la canción: "Me lo dijeron mil veces más yo nunca quise poner atención..."a).
No lo terminé, pero algún día lo haré. Por ello, lo dejo sin puntuación.
En fin, quería leerlo, también, para meter las narices en la intimidad de Jack Nicholson! Nunca me hubiera imaginado que era un mujeriego sin coraz---jajjajaja no puedo ni terminar de escribirlo! jaja Ya creo que todos conocemos las aventuras del actor. Si les interesa conocer detalles sobre esta relación contados por quien fuera su pareja (on and off, on and off y así hasta el hartazgo) durante trece años (!), les recomiendo leer esta autobiografía. Obviamente, es una historia triste; casi se puede sentir la desesperación de la pobre Huston...nunca pudo estar tranquila con él (y sin embargo, siempre volvía a su lado... como decía la canción: "Me lo dijeron mil veces más yo nunca quise poner atención..."a).
No lo terminé, pero algún día lo haré. Por ello, lo dejo sin puntuación.
February 12, 2017
Good evening, America. I'm Anjelica Huston. It has recently come to my attention that I love memoirs.
"Herky's cats, Kitty and Pussy, wandered to and fro, and we drank mint tea and ate cake, and ran indoors when it started to rain."
I have always loved Anjelica's exotic look, and classy self-possessiveness. I don't want to call her pretentious, because I like to believe in the magic of women like her. But while reading this book that is so filled with flowery descriptions meant to add to the mystique, I wished that she would just slouch her shoulders, tell me the ugly truths, and stop trying to sound like royalty. Maybe she's more of a romantic.
P.S. I don't like her dad or Ryan O'Neal. And Jack is unknowable.
"Herky's cats, Kitty and Pussy, wandered to and fro, and we drank mint tea and ate cake, and ran indoors when it started to rain."
I have always loved Anjelica's exotic look, and classy self-possessiveness. I don't want to call her pretentious, because I like to believe in the magic of women like her. But while reading this book that is so filled with flowery descriptions meant to add to the mystique, I wished that she would just slouch her shoulders, tell me the ugly truths, and stop trying to sound like royalty. Maybe she's more of a romantic.
P.S. I don't like her dad or Ryan O'Neal. And Jack is unknowable.
August 31, 2015
I can only assume that there is so much more to Anjelica Huston than she lets on in this book. There are fleeting moments of depth and self-reflection, but ultimately it reads like a laundry list of all the famous people she has encountered in her life and the fabulous parties she has attended. I feel that hidden beneath her confidence lies insecurity and pain. Ms. Huston has unfortunately lost a lot of loved ones and these moments of reflection are some of the most touching in the book. Otherwise, I felt like most of paragraphs in the book could have been followed by "#humblebrag". I wish she had been pushed to dig deeper. Unless you are a huge fan, I say skip it.
March 29, 2015
There's no moral to this story...just endless description of outfits worn, movies made, homes decorated, vacations taken, etc. the first volume of her autobiography was decent but this one is tiresome. I like to feel inspired by a memoir--a life lived with conviction, big lessons learned, etc. This is not that kind of memoir.
December 23, 2015
Parts of this were fascinating but in general it read like a grocery list. There were moments where the story held my interest but most of the time it felt like 'I went here and these people were there.'
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