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Hail to the chin : further confessions of a B movie actor / Bruce Campbell with Craig Sanborn ; introduction by John Hodgman.

By: Campbell, Bruce, 1958- [author.].
Contributor(s): Sanborn, Craig [author.] | Hodgman, John [writer of introduction.].
Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Thomas Dunne Books, 2017Edition: First edition.Description: xxi, 308 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9781250125606; 125012560X.Subject(s): Campbell, Bruce, 1958- | Motion picture actors and actresses -- United States -- BiographyGenre/Form: Autobiographies.
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Item type Current library Collection Shelving location Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Book Book Bellmawr Biography Adult B Cam (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Checked out 05/07/2024 05000009239968
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

New York Times bestseller

Introduction by New York Times bestselling author and famous minor television personality John Hodgman

One of my dad's favorite jokes about getting older was: "I went out for coffee when I was twenty-one and when I got back I was fifty-eight!"

I get what he meant now. Time flies. My first book, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a "B" Movie Actor , was published back in 2001 and it chronicles the adventures of a "mid-grade, kind of hammy actor" (my words), cutting his teeth on exploitation movies far removed from mainstream Hollywood.

This next book, an "Act II" if you will, could be considered my "maturing years" in show business, when I began to say "no" more often and gravitated toward self-generated material. Taking stock in the overall quality of my life, I fled Los Angeles and moved to a remote part of Oregon to renew, regroup and reload.

If that sounds tame, the journey from Evil Dead to Spider-Man to Burn Notice was long, with plenty of adventures/mishaps along the way. I never pictured myself hovering above Baghdad in a Blackhawk helicopter, facing a pack of wild dogs in Bulgaria, or playing an aging Elvis Presley with cancer on his penis - how can you predict this stuff? The sheer lunacy of show business is part of the fun for me and I hope you'll come along for the ride.

- Bruce "Don't Call Me Ash" Campbell

Sequel to: If chins could kill.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Campbell (the "Evil Dead" trilogy; Xena: Warrior Princess; Burn Notice), one of Hollywood's most recognizable B-list actors, continues his life story first told 15 years ago in the New York Times best seller If Chins Could Kill. With his typical deadpan humor, here the actor regales his readers with further accounts of his career, such as the time he played a still-alive albeit elderly Elvis who battles monsters in the desert (2002's Bubba Ho-Tep) as well as his lesser-known personal journeys, such as when he and his wife totalled four cars within a year of moving to a home in backwoods Oregon. Campbell sheds further light on the (decidedly unglamorous) existence of a B-list actor, and fans of his work will undoubtedly be excited to read more from the enigmatic movie star. VERDICT Chock-full of amusing anecdotes about the underappreciated B-list movie industry. Hand to admirers of Campbell's previous book and fans of the talkies.-Tyler Hixson, Brooklyn P.L. © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Best known as Ash from the Evil Dead films, Campbell (Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way) returns with another self-effacing memoir about his life on the big and small screen. Campbell provides a minirecap of his career, leading up to his second failure as a TV leading man, in the quickly cancelled series Jack of All Trades. That occurrence prompts him to move from Los Angeles to Oregon, where he distills lavender and joins the local Elks Club. But soon he is off to Bulgaria to make Sci-Fi Channel movies, wreck a Vespa, and get a nasty infection. Campbell is an amusing raconteur, sharing stories about shooting the indie film My Name Is Bruce in his backyard, working on his old friend Sam Raimi's Spiderman movies, and spending seven seasons on Burn Notice. Whether he is describing dealing with torn hamstrings during the Burn Notice shoot or crossing playing Santa Claus and Ronald Reagan off his bucket list, Campbell is always entertaining, and his smart-ass style makes for a groovy ride. He ends his book with his thoughts on both the Evil Dead movie remake and his current Ash vs. Evil Dead TV series. Fans will eagerly await a sequel. Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writer's House. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Actor, producer, and author Campbell quickly recaps act one, If Chins Could Kill (2001), and promptly picks up where it left off, following his successes as Ash in the Evil Dead trilogy and as Autolycus in the Xena and Hercules television series. With his matinee-idol good looks capped off by the squarest jaw this side of Dick Tracy (a role he would have loved to play), Campbell established a career of many memorable and humorous roles, such as the aging Elvis (alongside Ossie Davis as JFK) in the cult classic Bubba Ho-Tep; the former Navy SEAL Sam Axe in seven seasons of Burn Notice, and once again as Ash in the Starz series Ash vs. Evil Dead. I never set out to become a B movie actor, he writes, but fake blood doesn't wash off so easily. Whether recounting his life in the boondocks of south Oregon or the making of the dud The Man with the Screaming Brain in Bulgaria, Campbell, backed by coauthor Sanborn, and his B-movie anecdotes, are thoroughly engaging and and witty.--Segedin, Ben Copyright 2017 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

The anecdotal sequel to the cult actor's bestselling memoir.Campbell (Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way, 2005, etc.) describes this book as "part two of a three-act story," and it often feels like a place holder, following the surprise success of If Chins Could Kill (2001) and anticipating whatever is to come. A perennially working actor in B-movies and cable series, the author explains the extended interval between his first book and this one: "like a slow-growing oak, it could take fifteen years for me to amass enough anecdotes for another autobiography." During this time, Campbell avoided typecasting by playing both Santa Claus and a 68-year-old Elvis Presley suffering from penis cancer. He had adventures shooting movies in Bulgaria, New Zealand, and the Navajo country of New Mexico. He and his wife moved to Oregon, where he joined the Elks Lodge, whose members thought he was making fun of them when he took the pledge. "I'm an actual actor, so I'm prone to be a bit more theatrical,' " he reassured them. Then he explains to readers, "aside from being old-fashioned and a little kitschy, the organization donates a lot of money to charity and the drinks are really cheap!" Among other discoveries, Campbell learned that Oregon culture is possibly even crazier than that in LA and that driving there is definitely more dangerous. And the secret to Hollywood? "It's really just a big, tangled web of schmoes who keep running into each other over and over." Fortunately, one of Campbell's schmoes is Sam Raimi, a lifelong friend since they were kids playing with Super-8 film and later one of the highest-paid directors in the business. Through Raimi, Campbell landed bit roles in the first three Spider-Man movies. The author's work on the Burn Notice TV series and his cult movies, including Evil Dead, have brought him a variety of fruitful opportunities, including an invitation to entertain the troops in Iraq. A breezy read through a breezy life. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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