The Legs Are the Last to Go

Starred review from August 11, 2008
At age 70, singer-actress Carroll, a Golden Globe and Tony Award winner, was described in a 2006 rave review by Stephen Holden in the New York Times
as delivering a song “like an emotional volcano,” and the label works equally well for this radiant autobiography, bubbling over with sincere self-insights as well as a potent underlying theme of the “immense cruelties” and racial politics of showbiz. Revealing personal struggles with her mother and men (she details her marriage to singer Vic Damone), she pulls no punches in detailing conflicts with such major figures as Andrew Lloyd Webber, Pearl Bailey and Samuel Goldwyn. Beginning with her Harlem childhood, she traces her life from the High School of Music and Art, modeling and early club performances to theatrical triumphs (No Strings
; Sunset Boulevard
), TV (Julia
; Dynasty
), her grandchildren and plastic surgery, plus painful memories of racism. An outstanding chapter probes the “art-directed Negro squalor” and other “demeaning” aspects of the 1959 film Porgy and Bess
, a “cliché of noble poverty as reimagined by some very talented white men.” What emerges is an astute analysis of her career along with descriptions of the highs and lows of an often glamorous life, whether she performs at dazzling Vegas venues or in an intimate cabaret space.

January 26, 2009
Author and narrator Carroll relates her life as an acclaimed actress in film, television and on stage, along with deeply personal revelations about her private life and other heated topics. Carroll's stories are the stuff of legend: recounting her lengthy affair with a married Sidney Poitier, becoming the first African-American actress to star in a TV series and facing bigotry within the industry (Andrew Lloyd Weber won't be happy with Carroll's memory of auditioning for Sunset Boulevard
). Carroll has a crisp and crystal clear voice and speaks with intense passion as she reads her introspective memoir, producing a deeply affecting look at Hollywood stardom, its trappings and its effects on relationships. Carroll's tone is serious, but she never fails to poke fun at herself for her vanity and past mistakes, which make her all the more fascinating. An Amistad hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 11).

African-American singer and TV/film star Diahann Carroll recounts her childhood, career, and loves. Unfortunately, the "tell all" is told by Carroll herself, and she can't seem to help portraying herself as a saint and the rest of the world as sinners. Her ego-inflating confidences on her sense of fashion even extend to describing the chic outfit she wore to her mother's funeral. Most annoying is a glossing over of significant political and social issues of her lifetime as she concentrates on self-aggrandizement, all told in tones that range from "look at wonderful me" to "pity poor me." M.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine