First published 2018
Patricia Bosworth grew up privileged in San Francisco until her attorney father Bartley Crum defended the Hollywood Ten and destroyed his career. The family relocated to New York, where tragedy struck when her brother Bart Jr. took his own life. Patricia channeled her grief into pursuing acting and writing. She escaped an abusive marriage before age twenty and enrolled at the legendary Actors Studio. There she studied under Lee Strasberg with classmates like Marilyn Monroe and Paul Newman. She performed on Broadway with stars including Paul Muni and Helen Hayes. Gore Vidal and Elia Kazan became her guides through the theater world. Just as she reached her peak, set to appear in The Nun's Story alongside Audrey Hepburn, Patricia confronted a choice that transformed her path completely. Her brother's memory sustained her through each challenge as she fought against 1950s social restrictions to build her career and discover love.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, autobiography, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, overcoming-adversity
Setting: New York, San Francisco
Period: 1950s
416 pages · Paperback · Harper Paperbacks
Content warnings: abuse, depression, mental-illness, suicide