The Good, The Bad, And Me: In My Anecdotage – An Actors Studio Icon's Memoir of Hollywood and Broadway

The Good, The Bad, And Me: In My Anecdotage – An Actors Studio Icon's Memoir of Hollywood and Broadway

The sparkling memoir of a movie icon's life in the footlights and on camera, The Good, the Bad, and Me tells the extraordinary story of Eli Wallach's many years dedicated to his craft. Beginning with his early days in Brooklyn and his college years in Texas, where he dreamed of becoming an actor, this book follows his career as one of the earliest members of the famed Actors Studio and as a Tony Award winner for his work on Broadway. Wallach has worked with such stars as Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Peck, and Henry Fonda, and his many movies include The Magnificent Seven , How the West Was Won , the iconic T he Good, the Bad and the Ugly , and, most recently, Mystic River . For more than fifty years Eli Wallach has held a special place in film and theater, and in a tale rich with anecdotes, wit, and remarkable insight he recounts his magical life in a world unlike any other. PRAISE FOR THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND ME "[Wallach is] an excellent tour guide through his life, from Red Hook to the Army to Broadway and the big and small screens. [He] is a born observer, and he has a simple, direct writing style that makes him seem like just one of the guys . . . He comes across as a man who's had a helluva lot of fun entertaining us."-VARIETY "The directness and unpretentiousness of [Wallach's] work is in the same spirit that animates his straightforward and charming memoir . . . [He] has you right where he wants you-in the palm of his hand, taking the same pleasure in this performance that you've taken in his others."-THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW "A simply written, effective tale of an ambitious and hard-working American actor trying to make his dream come true."-- Los Angeles Times   “Working with Eli Wallach was one of the great pleasures of my life--he is an extremely versatile actor, and now a fine storyteller."--Clint Eastwood   The sparkling memoir of a movie icon's life in the footlights and on camera, The Good, the Bad, and Me tells the extraordinary story of Eli Wallach's many years dedicated to his craft. Beginning with his early days in Brooklyn and his college years in Texas, where he dreamed of becoming an actor, this book follows his career as one of the earliest members of the famed Actors Studio and as a Tony Award winner for his work on Broadway. Wallach has worked with such stars as Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Peck, and Henry Fonda, and his many movies include Baby Doll, The Misfits, The Magnificent Seven, How the West Was Won, the iconic The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and, most recently, Mystic River. For more than fifty years Eli Wallach has held a special place in film and theater, and in a tale rich with anecdotes, wit, and remarkable insight he recounts his magical life in a world unlike any other.   Eli Wallach was born in Brooklyn, and he and his wife of fifty seven years, Anne Jackson, were recently named the King and Queen of Brooklyn. Eli Wallach remains active in film and on stage and lives in New York City. Born in Brooklyn in 1915, ELI WALLACH remains active in film and is still married to his wife of fifty-six years. He lives in New York City. An Actor Grows in Brooklyn UNION STREET was a wide main artery running from Prospect Park past Park Slope down to the docks of the East River. Number 166 housed Bertha's, a small toy, candy, and stationery store named for my mother. A long glass counter ran the length of the store. There was an icebox for soda pop and a pay telephone. On the back wall of the store were shelves, which held toys, big jars of Indian nuts, and cigarettes. The store was always busy in the late afternoons, when longshoremen would drop in after a day of unloading ships' cargo. Over their shoulders, many of them would carry big crooked iron hooks, which seemed to be part of their uniform. They'd drink sodas, make phone calls, buy cigarettes, eat the tiny Indian nuts, then spit the shells all over the floor. I lived in the rear of the store with my parents, Abe and Bertha, my older brother and sister, Sam and Sylvia, and my younger sister, Shirley. Mom and Pop had a bedroom with a big window that looked out onto the alley. Sam had his own bed, and there was a cot for me next to it. Sylvia and Shirley shared the last bedroom. There was one toilet for the six of us. Sam called it the throne room. We all soon learned how to take care of our needs there-no reading, no wasting time, just do your duty, flush, and get out. My baby sister, Shirley, and I used to argue a lot. Sometimes I'd steal her milk bottle. And at dinner we would fight over the wishbone. We'd each hold one end and pull it apart, and the winner would get to make a wish. Even in my earliest memories, my wish was always the same: I wanted to be an actor. JJJ I was born in Brooklyn on December 7, 1915, back when the streets were still lit by gas lamps. As soon as it began to get dark, the lamplighter would appear. A little man with a t