Raymond Strait - Alan Alda: The 1983 Biography

By Raymond Strait

A Crossroad Press Biography

Digital Edition published by Crossroad Press

Smashwords Edition published at Smashwords by Crossroad Press

Digital Edition Copyright 2016 Raymond Strait

Copy-edited by Kurt M. Criscione

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R aymond Strait has built an international reputation via his numerous celebrity biographies and syndicated columns relating to Hollywood and the world of celebrity.

Considered an expert in his field he is a very popular speaker whose books and anecdotes provide a wealth of material from which he effortlessly draws upon to inform his audiences about the excessive lives of the stars.

He was, for ten years, press secretary to the late film sex-symbol, Jayne Mansfield prior to embarking upon a career in writing.

In addition to his numerous books he has written hundreds of feature articles and columns for major magazines and newspapers covering motion pictures, television, music, sports and politics.

November 1997 to December 1999 -- co-host on KHPY Talk Radios Spirit of the Law.

Currently co-host with Fred Primleys In The Mix on KCAA (am/fm) radio, San Bernardino NBC Affiliate.

A literate and articulate speaker, he has guested on dozens of radio and television shows, including Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, Hilly Rose, Geraldo Rivera, E-Entertainments Secrets and Scandals, Hollywood and the Kennedys & the Joan Rivers Show. He also appeared in a CBS Sports Olympics Special on Sonja Henie with 60 Minutes reporter Morley Safer during the 1994 Winter Olympics. Featured guest on A&Es Biography of Jayne Mansfield; Tribute to Rosemary Clooney(aired 4-21-99 on the Family Channels Famous Families, and a BBC profile of Jayne Mansfield, filmed in Palm Springs, California on June 19, 1999. released in the fall of 1999. He is also a veteran of the book tour circuit.

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Dedicated to my sister Blanch Vickers, an Alan Alda fan who understood me before I knew who I was, and my son Dane, in whom I place much faith, and who has brought his family closer through love.

This was a most difficult undertaking and without the kindness and cooperation of many contributors of information it might never have happened. Therefore, Id like to thank everyone who was a part of this book in that respect: Joan Brown Alda; Flora Alda; Jane Barba; Antoinette (Toni) Lopopolo; Paul Blane; Nancy Bacon; Dr. Terry Robinson; Peter and Lynda Ford; Diana Markes; Jet Fore; Leo Guild; Larry Smith of Parade magazine; Viveca Lindfors; Robert Zarem; Barbara Perrin; Hank Grant of the Hollywood Reporter; Dick Lochte (Los Angeles Times and TV Guide), Mel PogueCasting Call; the editors of Readers Digest; Cynthia Crossen, managing editor of The Village Voice; the managing editor of the New York Sunday News; Robert C. SmithTV Guide; Howard KissellWomens Wear Daily; the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Research Library; the Research LibraryUniversity of California at Riverside; David AlexanderSeason Ticket magazine; the editors of People magazine; the editors of The New York Times Magazine; Carey Winfrey, Ms. magazine; Redbook magazine; the various editors of the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Daily News; Joseph N. Bell of Good Housekeeping; Playgirl magazine; Susan Edmiston, Ladies Home Journal; Cynthia Heimel; Gerald Nachman; Gloria Steinem; Morton Moss; Paul Ehrmann {Horizon magazine); Peter Borsari, Motion Picture Herald; Cecil Smith; James Bacon, Emmy magazine; John Podhoretz; Thomas Thompson {Life magazine); Sheilah Graham; Roderick Mann; Brock Yates, U.S. News & World Report; William A. Henry III, Vogue magazine; Gary Deeb; Elizabeth Kaye; Kathleen Hendrix; Pat Colander; Joyce Haber; Film Facts; Stephen Farber; Kay Gardella; James Nathan; Norma Lee Browning; Joanne Stang; Ebony magazine; Seventeen; Facts on File; Robert Parish (Hollywood PlayersThe Forties); Dan Seymour; Esther Carreditorial rights and permissions manager of Readers Digest; H. Richard Hornberger, M.D.-P.A. (author of M*A*S*H).

Excerpts have been taken from Alan Alda: Madcap Doctor from M*A*S*H, George Vecsey, Readers Digest (August 1979); It Pays Me an Extra Gall Bladder a Week, Neil Hickey, TV Guide (March 24, 1973); He Falls Down a Lot, Dick Lochte, TV Guide (February 24, 1973); C*L*A*S*H, Bill Davidson, TV Guide (January 24, 1976); Being a Star Is a Nuisance, Dwight Whitney, TV Guide (June 4, 1977); Rule No. 1: Never Be Afraid to Say Something Stupid, Steve Gelman, TV Guide (April 24, 1981); The Interplays the Thing, David Johnston, 7V Guide (January 5, 1980); ItsUh, a Real Drag, Dwight Whitney, TV Guide (September 27, 1975); Sometimes Mike Farrell Is So Noble , John M. Wilson, TV Guide (March 17, 1979); The Wonderful Wizard of Bucks, A1 Stump, 7V Guide (July 10, 1976); Burghoff Is for the Birds, A1 Stump, TV Guide (August 10, 1974); Shes What a Woman Should Be, Edwin Kiester, Jr., TV Guide (February 9, 1974); Auggghhh! Kathleen McCoy, 7V Guide (January 30, 1971).

I would like to give a special thanks to Jackie Cooper for his generosity in permitting me to quote so extensively from his autobiography, Please Dont Shoot My Dog (coauthored with Dick Kleiner), published by William Morrow Co., Inc., 1981.