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American Prince - A Memoir
by Tony Curtis
Harmony Books
ISBN 978-0-307-40849-5
Published October 2008 - Hardcover - 365 pages - $25.95

Tony Curtis is very famous.  Famous as a movie star, as Jamie Lee Curtis' dad, and as an artist.  His memoir tells the story of how a young Hungarian Jew from New York had big dreams of getting into movies, and how he realized his dream.  Not a very diligent scholar, the young Bernie Schwartz joined the Navy at sixteen, and as part of a submarine crew, took off to see the world and fight in WWII.  The war was over before he knew it and he was back in America when he started his pursuit of a career in the movies.  He started on the stage and joined an acting school on the GI Bill (where his peers were Bea Arthur, Harry Belafonte, and Walter Matthau among others).  Curtis also relates his unstable and poor childhood, the anti-Semitism he endured, the haunting loss of his younger brother, his self-awareness, his move to Hollywood, and his signing with Universal.  From then on he got the recognition he so desired (he loved the attention, and still does), met many stars and even more women.  Naturally, he also lovingly (mostly) talks about the many, many films he made.  More memorable ones include The Defiant Ones, Some Like It Hot, Spartacus, television's The Persuaders (with Roger Moore), and many others.  Of course he talks about his marriage to Janet Leigh, his children, his depression, his marriages and divorces, his cocaine use, and a lot more.
I'll never understand why Americans put so much emphasis on sex, or why they insist on telling everyone who've they've slept with.  Too much of the sleeze factor for my taste, as he also lists the misses.  Oh, it's Mirisch, not Mearish.
Curtis and his latest wife run a refuge for rescued horses outside Las Vegas.  Visit their website at www.ShilohHorseRescue.com.
Conclusion - Fairly entertaining and a HUGE amount of name dropping.