STAR MOTHERS: The Pride and the Pain of the Women behind the Celebrities

by Georgia & Phyllis Quinn with Sue Russell Holt ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 8, 1988

A big bundle of ritual anecdotes by or about the mothers of George Hamilton, Bill Cosby, the Gabor sisters, Mick Jagger, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbra Streisand, Tina Turner, Goldie Hawn, and Robin Williams, among others. Author Holt is herself Chef's mother. These ladies, or their elders, long ago formed the sister clubs Motion Picture Mothers and Screen Smart Set for great luncheon chat and also to do benevolent work for sick, aged, or unemployed actors. Not all enjoy the glory reflected from their glamour kids, but most jump right in, sign autographs, and are their kids' best press agents. Jolie Gabor, now about 90 and still unable to boil an egg, seems to exist for her daughters alone; each morning she phones them, never saying hello to Zsa Zsa but simply, relentlessly, ""How fat are you?"" George Hamilton's mother has had a famous breast-lift and says, ""I want to be buried topless, because God knows I want somebody to see them before I go."" Jack Nicholson was vastly surprised in middle age at his ""sister"" June's deathbed to discover that she was really his mother--he felt only gratitude, despite this family deception. Candice Bergen's mother tells of her daughter's deep sibling rivalry with father Edgar's bon vivant dummy Charlie McCarthy (Edgar himself was emotionally tonguetied, rarely expressed love to Candice or wife Frances, herself a former beauty queen). Remember the bare-bottomed baby in the Coppertone TV ad?--that was Jodie Foster at three years old, a job she got through her mother, Brandy, who also tells about Jodie's later problems with assassin John Hinckley. Fizzy fun, but much of it is bottled in recycled plastic from formerly published star bios.

Pub Date: May 8, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1988

Categories: NONFICTION