Dropped Names by Frank Langella

Dropped Names - Famous Men And Women As I Knew Them is an unbelievably rich memoir of film and theatre. This memoir succeeds as he tells his personal history through a treasure of fleeting and lifetime encounters throughout his career, inspired by those who casually bandy about famous names... "I'll never forget when the Queen Mother said..." Oops, you dropped something.

Some are fleeting, like the glimpse of Marilyn as she exits a car on a dark night, or Montgomery Clift, with whom he never shared a word. Acting classes with Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler; being directed by Elia Kazan. His first western starring tough Robert Mitchum and Rita Hayworth, with whom he spent time between takes, gradually drifting towards each other despite the age difference. He knew Bette Davis, Loretta Young, and acted with Ida Lupino. Roddy McDowall, the unofficial head of the 'gay mafia' in Hollywood, knew everyone and hosted them all at his lavish dinners, and Elsa Lanchester showing him the pool area where Charles Laughton would have seduced him. Visiting Roger Vadim and Jane Fonda in Italy while they filmed Barbarella. Filming hit movies like Dracula with Laurence Olivier, and stinkers like Sphinx with John Gielgud and Cutthroat Island with Geena Davis and Oliver Reed. He starred in Amadeus on Broadway, listening to Colleen Dewhurst play next door through the wall during his climactic scene. He worked with close friend Arthur Miller to revive After The Fall, a play about Miller and Marilyn, with Dianne Wiest. Drinking with Richard Burton, starring with George C. Scott in Design For Living, and with Jill Clayburgh on Broadway before she was to be cast in Out Of Africa (which went to Meryl). His close friendships with Raul Julia, Paul Newman, Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, Maureen Stapleton and Lauren Bacall. He was Elizabeth Taylor's date when she was a Kennedy Center honoree, and during their long relationship, he enjoyed their sparring. His lifelong friendship with Anne Bancroft began on the stage and continued after her marriage to Mel Brooks; and his close friendship with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis began with lunches at Cape Cod with John F. Kennedy and Noel Coward, and continued after Onassis.

Talk about dropping names. Each portrait is a few pages long, and there are far more names I have not mentioned. Anyone who is a fan of stage and film will find this a page-turning insider's look at the art of acting. Langella dated Diane Baker, Elizabeth Taylor, and Whoopi Goldberg, and made a rich impact, winning four Tonys and an Actor award, and was nominated for the Oscar, BAFTA, Emmy, and Golden Globes. He received a dozen Al Hirschfeld portraits and continues to perform.

2012 / Hardcover / 356 pages