Colleen Dewhurst

How could Colleen Dewhurst do this to us? Die, that is, and leave such a fascinating autobiography unfinished after more than 10 years of work? Oh well. As Dewhurst herself makes clear, consideration for others was never one of her strong points--though she had plenty of other strong points to compensate. A monumental actress who outgrew her times, Dewhurst made a few memorable film appearances (Annie Hall, among others) but mainly devoted her life and talent to the stage in landmark performances of Eugene O'Neill's and Edward Albee's most challenging works. She was so busy living her life she didn't have time to finish this memoir, so editor Tom Viola has fleshed it out with memories of Dewhurst by her friends, associates, and collaborators. None of this added material is as compelling, colorful, bitter, or hilarious as Dewhurst's own observations--leaving us with the realization that we not only lost a great actress, we may have lost a real writer as well.