Never Have Your Dog Stuffed

by Alan Alda

One of America's most recognizable and acclaimed actors, the only person to ever win Emmys for acting, writing, and directing, Alda has written a memoir as elegant, funny, and affecting as his greatest performances. The son of a popular actor and a loving but mentally ill mother, he spent his early childhood backstage in the erotic and comic world of burlesque and went on, after early struggles, to achieve extraordinary success in his profession. Yet this is not a memoir of show-business ups and downs. It is a story of a boy growing into a man who then realizes he has only just begun to grow. Alda learns the hard way that change, uncertainty, and transformation are what life is made of, and true happiness is found in embracing them.--From publisher description.

• ISBN10: 1400064090
• ISBN13: 9781400064090
• Publish Date: 13 September 2005 (first published 1 January 2005)
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Out of Print: 28 August 2012
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Random House USA Inc
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 224
• Language: English

Reviews

[wcs53]

This was a fairly decent autobiography of one of my favourite TV stars from the 70s/80s. I have to admit that I didn't know that much about the author, outside of his eleven year run in M*A*S*H. He certainly has led a varied and interesting life and I was glad I took the time to read this one. It seems that from an early age he was destined to be an actor, but it didn't always come easy for him. He also had to deal with his parents separating, partly due to his mother suffering from a form of mental illness. He also had a near death experience in Chile, which gave him a new outlook on life.

The book is quite humorous throughout, showing that, even in the midst of serious events, Alda is able to to always take things too seriously. I thought there would be more about his time in M*A*S*H, but wasn't too disappointed to find that it didn't take up too much of the book. Without spoiling anything, the title comes from an experience Alda had as a young boy. It's not a long read, so if you are looking for a different king of autobiography then this one is worth picking up.

[g2pro]

I liked him on MASH and I enjoyed the two books of his that I've read.