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Female Brando: The Legend of Kim Stanley
Elizabeth Taylor and Joanne Woodward were inspired by her work. Arthur Penn called her the American equivalent of Eleanora Duse. She was the greatest stage actress of a generation that included Julie Harris, Geraldine Page, and Colleen Dewhurst. Between 1949 and 1964, Kim Stanley created starring roles in twelve Broadway productions, including Cheri, the nightclub singer in Bus Stop . Then, after fifteen years of stardom, Stanley walked away from the theater, never to return. What happened? Female Brando answers that question with a meticulously researched, empathetic biography that traces Stanley’s childhood, her early training, her stardom—and her tragic descent into alcoholism and loneliness. Much more than a mere cautionary tale, Female Brando is a clear-headed examination of Kim Stanley’s brilliance that places her in the pantheon of great American artists.
376 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2006
3 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
About the author
Jon Krampner
7 books1 followerJon Krampner was born in the early 1950's in New York City. He grew up in Brooklyn, where he attended Berkeley Institute, Ditmas Junior High School and Erasmus Hall High School.
He got an A.B. in English Lit. from Occidental College in Los Angeles and an M.A. in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He spent the Carter administration getting fired from small and undistinguished newspapers across the West: The Texarkana Gazette (the only one that he quit), the Las Vegas Sun, the Ely (Nev.) Daily Times, and the Sonora (Cal.) Daily Union Democrat (known by its acronym, the Dud).
In the '80's, he moved to Los Angeles to work for six years in the public information office of the University of Southern California, the longest he ever lasted at a 9 to 5 job.
After six years at USC, he quit. For two years he bounced around and did a little freelance writing, then took a part-time job teaching English as a Second Language in the adult division of the Los Angeles Unified School District. He held this position for more than 25 years, retiring in 2015.
Teaching ESL provided him with the economic basis to produce his critically esteemed but non-bestselling books, The Man in the Shadows: Fred Coe and the Golden Age of Television (Rutgers University Press, 1997), Female Brando: The Legend of Kim Stanley (Watson-Guptill/Backstage Books, 2006) Creamy and Crunchy: An Informal History of Peanut Butter, the All-American Food (Columbia University Press, 2013) and Joe Wilson: What He Didn't Find in Africa (a 9,000-word eBook, 2015).
His latest book, Ernest Lehman: The Sweet Smell of Success, is being published by the University Press of Kentucky on September 27, 2022.
He got an A.B. in English Lit. from Occidental College in Los Angeles and an M.A. in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He spent the Carter administration getting fired from small and undistinguished newspapers across the West: The Texarkana Gazette (the only one that he quit), the Las Vegas Sun, the Ely (Nev.) Daily Times, and the Sonora (Cal.) Daily Union Democrat (known by its acronym, the Dud).
In the '80's, he moved to Los Angeles to work for six years in the public information office of the University of Southern California, the longest he ever lasted at a 9 to 5 job.
After six years at USC, he quit. For two years he bounced around and did a little freelance writing, then took a part-time job teaching English as a Second Language in the adult division of the Los Angeles Unified School District. He held this position for more than 25 years, retiring in 2015.
Teaching ESL provided him with the economic basis to produce his critically esteemed but non-bestselling books, The Man in the Shadows: Fred Coe and the Golden Age of Television (Rutgers University Press, 1997), Female Brando: The Legend of Kim Stanley (Watson-Guptill/Backstage Books, 2006) Creamy and Crunchy: An Informal History of Peanut Butter, the All-American Food (Columbia University Press, 2013) and Joe Wilson: What He Didn't Find in Africa (a 9,000-word eBook, 2015).
His latest book, Ernest Lehman: The Sweet Smell of Success, is being published by the University Press of Kentucky on September 27, 2022.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 16, 2012
I am so happy someone has written about this genius, there are so few recordings of her work since she did not like film, so like many great theater artists before her, Stanley's legacy must be passed down orally and in writting and Krampner has done an excellent job with it.
November 7, 2008
An amazing example of a great biography. One of the greatest, and yet, widely (today) unknown stars of the American stage is here presented in a straightforward, yet kindly and understanding, fashion, as the author diligently records the life of one of the greatest actresses in stage history. I am not fond of the title, as I feel that Kim Stanley was not a "female" anybody, although I know what the author meant. A must read for readers of stage and/or film studies. Enjoy!
January 29, 2009
This book isn't written so artfully, but it is the only book on the greatest actress ever put on film. So it needs to be read if you care about acting.
December 16, 2023
This is the essential biography of one of the 20th century's most mercurial talents. Krampner provides a great deal of insight into Stanley's working methods and the personla demons that kept her from working as much as one might wish. At the same time, he's an unapologetic fan, so he rarely criticizes her work. However she may have registered on-stage in Lee Strasberg's disastrous production of "The Three Sisters," in the film version she hardly comes across as one of the work's greatest actresses. Still, we'll always have her remarkable work in "Seance on a Wet Afternoon," and the section on that film is fascinating.
December 30, 2020
Solid biography. Writing is straight forward and gets pretty repetitive at points, but this was clearly well researched.
April 22, 2020
Kim Stanley's story haunted me.. Hard to shake it off.. Fascinating details.
December 24, 2009
I have heard of Kim Stanley; anyone with any acting pretensions, has. I don’t, however, remember ever seeing a performance of hers. If Mr. Krampner has her contemporaries flap quotes correct, I’ve missed something wonderful. Some of the book content suggests this "wonderfulness" came at a price both for her and for some of her fellow performers.
I both liked, and disliked, this book. It was a fascinating read when it dealt with the way she approached her craft, less so when it spoke of her personal life (not that her personal life is really any of my business). It is because of the reporting on how she worked her craft that I have rounded up in my rating.
Ms. Stanley, along with Marlon Brando, was considered a prime example of the Lee Strasberg school of Method Acting. My experience with method actors has left me with the impression that most are self-indulgent poseurs rather than persons of craft. They don’t do “homework”; they, instead, steal valuable rehearsal time from the company, as a whole, by turning the focus of the rehearsal on them, rather than the finished product, i.e., the play. A point is made for this view by the author, who is discussing the Lee Strasberg production of Anton Chekov’s The Three Sisters. “Although The Three Sisters is an ensemble piece, Kim made the play her own.” A little further down the page, Gerald Hiken, appearing with her in the play, is quoted… ”She played the character without regard to the social period, which would have made her a little more circumspect.”
Still, Ms. Stanley is responsible for some of Broadway’s greatest moments and she must be respected for that.
Mr. Krampner is a competent biographer, but no more than that.
I both liked, and disliked, this book. It was a fascinating read when it dealt with the way she approached her craft, less so when it spoke of her personal life (not that her personal life is really any of my business). It is because of the reporting on how she worked her craft that I have rounded up in my rating.
Ms. Stanley, along with Marlon Brando, was considered a prime example of the Lee Strasberg school of Method Acting. My experience with method actors has left me with the impression that most are self-indulgent poseurs rather than persons of craft. They don’t do “homework”; they, instead, steal valuable rehearsal time from the company, as a whole, by turning the focus of the rehearsal on them, rather than the finished product, i.e., the play. A point is made for this view by the author, who is discussing the Lee Strasberg production of Anton Chekov’s The Three Sisters. “Although The Three Sisters is an ensemble piece, Kim made the play her own.” A little further down the page, Gerald Hiken, appearing with her in the play, is quoted… ”She played the character without regard to the social period, which would have made her a little more circumspect.”
Still, Ms. Stanley is responsible for some of Broadway’s greatest moments and she must be respected for that.
Mr. Krampner is a competent biographer, but no more than that.
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July 17, 2014I can't rate this book because I haven't finished it. As far as I have gone, it is fascinating. The writing, as always from this author, is outstanding, and the research is extensive. Anyone interested in the history of the entertainment industry will welcome this book on a topic that gets little attention. The author explained to me that Kim Stanley was a tortured soul, and I believe it.
July 16, 2014
There was so much about Ms Stanley's life that I didn't know and reading this only made me more interested in this incredible actress. I only wish I would have lived in the time when I could have seen her live.
May 5, 2007
A worthy subject of a biography, a magnificent actress but troubled and unlovable person-- borrow from the library, don't buy it.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews