All in All

December 2, 2013
Keach, star of TV show Mike Hammer and classically trained Shakespearean stage actor, delivers a spirited memoir of his career on stage and in film and television, sparing none of his life's dramatic and personal details. Opening powerfully with the story of his arrest for transporting cocaine in Heathrow Airport and flashing back to childhood trauma as a result of a cleft palate, Keach spends the bulk of the book navigating the ups and downs of his film career and love life, notably his unexpected cult fame as Sergeant Stadanko in the Cheech and Chong movie Up In Smoke and what it was like working with Edward Norton on American History X. Keach's perspective on his prolific acting career from his days at the venerated Yale School of Drama are clear headed and informative. Unsentimental and willing to be self-deprecating, Keach's straightforward, conversational prose and short, punchy chapters reveal the warm and likeable personality behind the hundreds of character-actor roles. His story reveals an arc to match any film, from highs of playing Mike Hammer and King Lear to lows when "My career was cratering. No A-List Hollywood directors were looking at me as the next star; it was just a jumble of small parts and lackluster scripts."