So Far, So Good: A Memoir - Hardcover

Feisty memoirs of a blazing youth in the theater and a slow evolution into an outstanding character actor. At age 24 Meredith (b. 1909) was hailed as the greatest young actor in the American theater for his performance in Maxwell Anderson's poetic drama Winterset (Anderson later wrote High Tor and The Star Wagon for him). But he has been around so long--more recent roles include the Penguin in the Batman TV series and Sylvester Stallone's aged trainer in the Rocky movies--that few readers or moviegoers under 40 have any idea that he was once the brightest light on Broadway, notorious for his inspired nuttiness. Meredith prefers to pass lightly over his awful childhood with an alcoholic father, but he still relishes the memory of his triumphant opening night in Winterset--as well as his equally overwhelming reception that night by Tallulah Bankhead, who met him stark naked at the door of her apartment in the Gotham Hotel, fed him cocaine, took him to bed, and at the critical moment pushed him aside. Meredith peaked early as Prince Hal in Orson Welles's Shakespearean history marathon Five Kings, though he stayed on top as a leading actor with the parts of George in Of Mice and Men and Ernie Pyle in The Story of G.I. Joe. He served in the Army Air Corps during WW II, was blacklisted in the '50s, and directed Zero Mostel in Ulysses in Nighttown during the '60s. Many of his tales involve his flirtatious wife, Paulette Goddard, as well as Charles Laughton, John Huston, Kurt Weill, Lotte Lenya, Charlie Chaplin, Marlene Dietrich, Jimmy Stewart, and his decades-long friendship with John Steinbeck. Charm by the buckets, with a bright eye and wicked brilliance. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Probably best known for his role as the Penguin in the Batman television series, the 85-year-old Meredith is an actor-director of broad experience and distinction. Discovered by Eva Le Gallienne in the early 1930s, he received his most valuable training in summer stock and was "amazingly successful" by the time he was 24, playing the lead in Maxwell Anderson's Broadway hit Winterset . In this delightfully entertaining memoir, Meredith conveys the excitement of early triumphs but glides modestly over the rest of his career, both in film and on stage, preferring to recall his warm friendships with actors Franchot Tone, Charles Laughton and Zero Mostel; writer John Steinbeck; composer Kurt Weil; and director John Huston. Married four times (actress Paulette Goddard was his second wife), he is breathtakingly frank about his rabid pursuit of women in his younger days. Witty, gracefully written, chock-full of memorable anecdotes, Meredith's memoir conjures up lively ghosts from a theater world that no longer exists. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.