DANCING ON THE EDGE

A handsome star of Hollywood’s classic era recalls celebrity days and wilderness years.

“The breadth of my career practically spans the history of cinema itself,” writes Tamblyn (b. 1934) in this genial if sometimes defensive memoir. The son of vaudeville performers, as a child actor in the 1940s he sometimes absorbed abuse—e.g., he recalls getting an earful from Cecil B. DeMille on set when he was 14. As a contract actor with MGM, Tamblyn had steady work, culminating in his starring role as Riff in West Side Story and an Oscar nomination for his role in Peyton Place. By the early 1960s, though, he began to tire of the limelight. With friend and fellow actor Dean Stockwell, he began to dabble in the world of abstract art, Beat poetry, and looser norms around sex and drugs. Tamblyn passed on roles in TV shows like Gilligan’s Island for being too square; instead, he sought out “the kind of thoughtful, cultural conversations I craved.” A shortcoming of the book is that Tamblyn doesn’t go very deep into his cultural interests. He celebrates his bacchanals with artists and musicians as freedom seeking while leveling judgment on an ex-wife’s drinking; he eventually compromised his artistic values, taking roles in B movies in the ’70s to make ends meet. However, his quirks worked in his favor: He caught the eye of camp-friendly directors like David Lynch (who cast Tamblyn in Twin Peaks) and Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained). Like all good Hollywood memoirists, the author has entertaining stories: helping Elvis Presley with his dance moves, describing a brief, curious affair between John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich, shooting pool with Janis Joplin, making a shaggy-dog film with Neil Young. Ultimately, Tamblyn emerges as a fun but enigmatic figure.

A personable, off-beat Tinseltown memoir.