Dropped Names
by Frank Langella
- Percentage of approved critics who have given this book a positive review.
Critic Rating
75%
Critic Reviews: 17
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- User rating from iDreamBooks & iTunes
Reader Rating
79%
Reader Ratings: 361
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Synopsis
This legendary actor offers a stunning and unique collection of unforgettable encounters with many of the twentieth century's most intriguing personalities, among them John F. Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Olivier, Jacqueline Onassis, William Styron, Tip O'Neill, Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe and Brooke Astor For more than four decades, Frank Langella has enjoyed a singular life and career. This extremely versatile actor is also a brilliant writer with... more
About Frank Langella
Published: March 27, 2012 by Harper Collins
Genre: Humor & Entertainment, Biographies & Memoirs. Non-fiction. 368 pages
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- All Critics: 17
- Positive: 13
- Negative: 4
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The Washington Post | 30 Mar 2012
But the book gains richness and depth by being taken as a whole, as a revelation that fame turns everyone... into actors, strutting and fretting their hour upon the stage.
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The New York Times | 20 Apr 2012
There is so much happy sexuality in this book that reading it is like being flirted with for a whole party by the hottest person in the room. It’s no wonder Langella was invited everywhere.
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USA Today | 25 Mar 2012
Some actors are only good with other people's language, or too discreet to publicly indulge in deep-dish gossip. Frank Langella, happily, is not one of them.
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Huffington Post | 29 Mar 2012
...Frank Langella who, at age 74, displays a shimmering gift for prose. He's the literary life of the party, and I hope he has enough material for a sequel...
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Kirkus Reviews | 15 Mar 2012
Through it all, the author’s respect for the craft of acting and those who attempt to practice it at the highest level is evident, and his focus on the importance of real connection between not just actor and audience but between human beings, elevates the book above mere name-dropping.
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TheaterMania | 28 Mar 2012
While Langella has a sharp knack for shoveling dirt over some corpses, there's no question that Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them, is much more than a bitchfest -- and a very hard book to put down.
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Newsday | 27 Mar 2012
Around this time, late in the book, one wishes Langella had stopped a few chapters earlier. By the end, his nasty charm turns cruel and his revelations about others feel too private.
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BuffaloNews.com | 27 Apr 2012
the world now adds one of the truly great, compulsively readable theatrical memoirs from a suitably exceptional theatrical and film figure of the second rank, Frank Langella.
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Blouin Artinfo | 20 Mar 2012
And in this bitchy, highly entertaining memoir, he throws open the doors of the zoo and reveals the galloping egos, peccadilloes, delusions, insecurities, and self-destructive tantrums of those who labor before and behind the cameras and footlights.
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Vince Keenan | 15 May 2012
There’s clichéd writing throughout, but it’s punctuated by sharp observations that read like a skilled actor sizing up a character... Langella brings big names onto the stage, giving them the limelight – then proceeds to steal the scene.
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The New York Times | 12 Apr 2012
His uncommonly eloquent book is enjoyable for the panoply of great names...But the memoir is more notable, and moving, for its keen awareness of the harsh emotional price many performers pay to earn their turn on the stage.
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My Three Percent is Swimming | 23 May 2012
When bitter, vindictive Frank emerges I found the book to be almost unreadable. His scalding critique of people that he met, but really did not know, bothers me on a fundamental level.
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Chicago Tribune | 5 Mar 2012
But there's so much more. It's like the best steak dinner you'll ever have -- meat a bit bloody! -- with a creamy, comforting side-dish.
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Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine | 26 May 2012
It's gossipy, insightful, funny, sad, and hugely entertaining if, like me, you're a sucker for reading the intimate details of the lives of glamorous people...
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National Post | 9 May 2012
As sentimental as this page-turner gets, it’s also insanely wicked. Not to mention a new classic as far as these kinds of celebrity compendiums go.
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Mail Online | 23 Mar 2012
...he has written only about people who are dead. It is just as well. Few of those with whom he has trodden the boards or worked on a film set will thank him for his revelations, affectionate as some of them are clearly intended to be.
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Talkin' Broadway
Nonetheless, Dropped Names is an undeniable pleasure, one you may be tempted to devour too quickly.
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