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Speedbumps: Flooring it Through Hollywood
Speedbumps Flooring it Through Hollywood
Author: Teri Garr, Henriette Mantel
At once laugh-out-loud funny and remarkably down-to-earth, the popular Oscar- nominated actress muses about movies, men, motherhood, and MS in a book that is both Hollywood hilarious and personally moving — From Speedbumps: — I was originally up for the principal female role in Young Frankenstein. Mel Bro...  more »Blazing Saddles, and was at the top of the comedy world. Mel had picked me out of five hundred girls, but admitted that he was still trying to convince Madeline Kahn to take the lead role. After I auditioned three times, Madeline finally did decide to take the part of the fiancée. I was crushed. I’d never come so close to getting a major part in a major movie. But then Mel told me that if I came back the next day with a German accent I could read for the part of Inga, Gene Wilder’s buxom lab assistant. A German accent in twenty-four hours? Luckily, I was still on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, and, as fate would have it, Cher’s wig stylist was German. So, I sat in on Cher’s hairstyling session (that gave me hours of study!) and emerged with a perfect German accent when saying, "Mein Gott, zis vig veighs forty pounds." That would translate to the script! There was one last thing I needed for Inga. Or two, actually. I realized Inga’s part was really all about the boobs, so the next day I went in to the audition wearing a bra stuffed with socks. People pay over five thousand dollars for a boob job today. Mine cost under five dollars at Woolworth’s, and got me the part, my biggest to date. I was thrilled. I’d been chosen by one of the best. My career was finally in motion. I got to thinking that I should have stuffed my bra with socks for every audition.

In The New Yorker, the late, great film critic Pauline Kael called Garr, "the funniest neurotic dizzy dame
Info icon
ISBN-13: 9781594630071
ISBN-10: 1594630070
Publication Date: 11/3/2005
Pages: 244
Rating:
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 14
3.8 stars, based on 14 ratings
Publisher: Hudson Street Press
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

 Readnmachine avatar reviewed Speedbumps: Flooring it Through Hollywood on + 1440 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This bright and sassy celebrity bio includes enough name-dropping for the movie/TV fan, but stops short of being a "then I slept with" tell-all. Garr comes through as someone you'd like to pal around with.
bookcrazychick avatar reviewed Speedbumps: Flooring it Through Hollywood on + 76 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Very funny. I always liked Teri Garr and this made me like her even more. She recounts her whole career along with the 20 years of bizarre symptoms that finally resulted in a diagnosis of MS. She seems to be a very down to earth woman dealing with a potentially crippling disease. Very uplifiting.
reviewed Speedbumps: Flooring it Through Hollywood on + 72 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed this book. Very well written and I enjoy her sense of humor.
reviewed Speedbumps: Flooring it Through Hollywood on + 347 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Bear in mind that her story of battling MS doesn't begin until late in the book. Until then, it's an autobiography of a second-tier film actress, nothing more.
reviewed Speedbumps: Flooring it Through Hollywood on + 7 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I was DXed eith MS agout 3 years ago. This book made me look at MS a little dfferently.
Read All 6 Book Reviews of "Speedbumps Flooring it Through Hollywood"


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