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Sign up todayDancing on the Edge
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Learn moreActor. Artist. Cultural icon.
Dancing on the Edge
A bold memoir of an extraordinary, singular life lived by one of the world’s most beloved and acclaimed figures: Russ Tamblyn.
With more than eighty years as a celebrated artist and actor under his belt, Russ Tamblyn is a cherished figure to cinephiles and pop culture fans alike, working with such legendary directors as Robert Wise, David Lynch, and Quentin Tarantino. He tumbled through his acclaimed starring role in the original West Side Story as an actor and acrobatic dancer, taught Elvis Presley some signature dance moves, and became an unlikely visionary in the counterculture movement of the sixties alongside peers and friends Henry Miller and Dennis Hopper.
Russ deftly guides readers through his star-studded life and his search for a deeper, more connected existence: attending school with Elizabeth Taylor, earning an Academy Award nomination for Peyton Place, dropping out of Hollywood at the height of his career to become a fine artist in Topanga Canyon, and forging a lifelong friendship with Neil Young. He shares the painful breakup of a twenty-year marriage and the joy of finding true love and inspiration as a husband, father, and mentor in his own right.
Perfect for old and new fans alike, Dancing on the Edge is an intimate and powerful story about the singular life of one of our most gifted storytellers, artists, and stars of the silver screen.
Russ Tamblyn is an Academy Award–nominated actor, dancer, choreographer, director, and artist best known as Riff in the iconic 1961 film West Side Story and Dr. Jacoby in David Lynch’s cult-classic television show, Twin Peaks, as well as for his contribution to the art, music, and counterculture movements of the 1960s. His eight-millimeter films and collage-and-assemblage art have appeared in numerous exhibitions, including at the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Getty. He lives in Los Angeles.
Russ Tamblyn is an Academy Award–nominated actor, dancer, choreographer, director, and artist best known as Riff in the iconic 1961 film West Side Story and Dr. Jacoby in David Lynch’s cult-classic television show, Twin Peaks, as well as for his contribution to the art, music, and counterculture movements of the 1960s. His eight-millimeter films and collage-and-assemblage art have appeared in numerous exhibitions, including at the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Getty. He lives in Los Angeles.
Reviews
“A rollickin’ good memoir complete with inspiring life changes, personal spice, and the making of art. It’s a Rolodex of loves and a dance card of cartwheels.”
“Everyone wanted to know—who is this fabulous Dr. Jacoby, really? Read this book and put the coffee on!”
“A personable, offbeat Tinseltown memoir.”
“With his role in the Twin Peaks reboot and his numerous dance numbers finding new life online, Tamblyn, his engaging memoir, and his stories will be of high interest.”
“There are some lives you have to read to believe they were really lived. Russ Tamblyn lived one of those lives. A killer story about one of our last remaining living legends of the screen. His time as child actor in the forties (in Gun Crazy), his time working and acrobatically dancing his way through MGM’s glorious heyday of the fifties, to being one of the coolest iconoclasts of the sixties, to his days toiling in the world of sleazy seventies exploitation cinema (my favorite part), all written by the man himself.”
“Russ Tamblyn’s memoir, Dancing on the Edge, is a thrilling high-wire read about the life of one of the most daring, riveting, and gifted actors and acrobatic dancers of not just our time, but any time.”
“Endearing…A valuable account of both Old Hollywood and the West Coast beat scene.”
“Singular, bold, and intimate are among the many qualities that describe dancer, actor, and fine artist Russ Tamblyn’s narration of his immersive memoir…An offbeat, unvarnished reflection on a life well lived.”
“Russ Tamblyn’s story is an insightful and entertaining self-examination by a gifted actor whose on- and off-screen experiences offer us an honest look at what it meant to grow up at the end of the Hollywood studio system.”
“This is one of those rare Hollywood memoirs whose appeal stretches far beyond its subject’s star power.”
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