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Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood

Name: Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood
Author: Teri Garr
ISBN: 9781440627309

by Teri Garr, Henriette Mantel

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Overview

In this laugh-out-loud funny and inspiring autobiography, one of Hollywood’s best-loved comediennes muses about movies, men, motherhood, and MS In a book that is at once Hollywood hilarious and personally moving, Teri Garr, star of such classic films as Young Frankenstein, Oh God!, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Mr. Mom, and Tootsie, for which she received an Academy Award nomination, writes about her life with the same wit and warmth that have won the hearts of fans for over three decades. From sipping Cokes with Elvis Presley to hangin’ with the Beatles; from her secrets to succeeding in Hollywood without losing her sanity, to dealing with the fear, anxiety, and denial of being plagued by mysterious physical problems that eluded diagnosis for over twenty years—the insights in Speedbumps, while always couched in Garr’s trademark humor, are honest, heartfelt, and often profound. BACKCOVER: “The driven comedian tells (almost) all…[and] she’s as dizzily funny as ever.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“Garr sticks to the truth whether it’s hysterically funny, or, at times, heart wrenching. Read this book, it’s a lesson in courage.”
—Mel Brooks

About the Author, Teri Garr

Teri Garr is a leading advocate in raising awareness for multiple sclerosis and one of Hollywood's most beloved comic actresses, starring in such classic films as Young Frankenstein, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Mr. Mom, and Tootsie, for which she received an Academy Award nomination.

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Editorials

From Barnes & Noble

Teri Garr's acting career boasts enough high points to satisfy any reader of Hollywood memoirs: Her 40-year run includes roles in Tootsie, Young Frankenstein, Mr. Mom, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and no fewer than nine Elvis Presley films; and TV credits spanning eras from The Sonny and Cher Show to Friends. But the professional career of this Oscar-nominated actress is only half the story. In October 2002, Garr announced on national television that she had multiple sclerosis. This heartfelt memoir of her life before and since MS will appeal to readers of Michael J. Fox, Christopher Reeve, and Peggy Lipton.

Publishers Weekly

This dishy memoir may be about "speedbumps"-obstacles that slow a person's journey in life-but Garr's delivery is smooth as glass, with no jarring notes. Garr's performance highlights her wonderfully edgy sarcasm and self-deprecating humor. This audio version is often better than the print book, particularly when Garr launches into funny digressions or catty parenthetical comments about people in Hollywood. She seems to have a marvelous time poking fun at herself, from her drama-queen tendencies to the ways she used to pad her resume. Her behind-the-scenes commentaries about some of her more famous roles, such as the buxom German nurse in Young Frankenstein, are delicious. The last third of Garr's book is devoted to multiple sclerosis, which she was definitively diagnosed as having in 1999, after 20 years of strange, on-again, off-again symptoms. But even here, her humor is in full sway, as she describes her new role as a celebrity spokesperson for the disease. Listeners will cheer her on as she invites us along for an exciting ride, speed bumps and all. Simultaneous release with the Hudson Street hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 22). (Dec.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.