Speedbumps
Flooring It Through Hollywood
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4.4 • 14 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
In this laugh-out-loud funny and inspiring autobiography, one of Hollywood’s best-loved comediennes muses about movies, men, motherhood, and MS
In a book that is at once Hollywood hilarious and personally moving, Teri Garr, star of such classic films as Young Frankenstein, Oh God!, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Mr. Mom, and Tootsie, for which she received an Academy Award nomination, writes about her life with the same wit and warmth that have won the hearts of fans for over three decades.
From sipping Cokes with Elvis Presley to hangin’ with the Beatles; from her secrets to succeeding in Hollywood without losing her sanity, to dealing with the fear, anxiety, and denial of being plagued by mysterious physical problems that eluded diagnosis for over twenty years—the insights in Speedbumps, while always couched in Garr’s trademark humor, are honest, heartfelt, and often profound. BACKCOVER: “The driven comedian tells (almost) all…[and] she’s as dizzily funny as ever.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Garr sticks to the truth whether it’s hysterically funny, or, at times, heart wrenching. Read this book, it’s a lesson in courage.”
—Mel Brooks
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
As Garr describes growing up on the fringes of 1950s and '60s Hollywood in a "gypsy showbiz family," studying ballet, ignoring school and sneaking into auditions pretending to be older than she was, readers will realize hers is a pretty familiar Hollywood story. She didn't sleep with Elvis or one of the Beatles like Peggy Lipton did, but she was next door when her girlfriend went to bed with Elvis, and she sat in the recording studio during the making of Yellow Submarine. Garr worked her way from smaller parts (dancer in Viva Las Vegas and other Elvis movies) to bigger ones (Tootsie; Mr. Mom) until her career was finally on track. Alas, this is when she discovered she had no life no husband, no baby and started scrambling. She'd also developed a limp and some intermittent neurological tics. In 1983, a specialist diagnosed multiple sclerosis and prescribed the medication Garr has become a spokesperson for: Rebif, a form of interferon. When she's not crisscrossing the country talking about MS, Garr's taking life pretty slowly, enjoying time with her young daughter. As she says, one "of the only things we can control about any affliction and life in general is our attitude toward dealing with it." Readers who liked Lipton's or Hawn's memoirs should enjoy Garr's, too.
Customer Reviews
Thank You, Teri
I was a little apprehensive about reading this book thinking it might make me weepy or something, but it is actually pretty hilarious. Anybody could enjoy and benefit from reading it. A mixture of her personal life, career & MS is just right. Her "keep moving forward, & don't dwell on negatives" is what everybody needs.
Speedbumps
This book is an excellent read, especially if you love Teri Garr and her body of work as an actor. I have been a huge fan forever, and nurtured daydreams of her wherein we somehow wound up together. She was every man’s dream, I’m sure. She is so honest as she recounts her personal struggles, her professional struggles, and of course her struggles with MS, but balances all that with amazing positivity. How I wish I could give her a huge hug and tell her much she has enriched my life, and encourage her to stay in the spotlights where she certainly belongs. I’m praying for you, Teri, because God IS everywhere, so close you could reach out and touch Him. He is right there, helping you when you least suspect it, and He loves you more than you could possibly imagine!!