011 ACTORS TALK PODCAST – NORTH OF HOLLYWOOD by RICK LENZ – A REVIEW OF THE BOOK AND AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR

Summary: REVIEW: NORTH OF HOLLYWOOD by Rick Lenz In NORTH OF HOLLYWOOD, author Rick Lenz says: I love acting, but I don't much care for show business... Show business as a career, for those of us whom it chooses - we never choose it; no one lacks that much common sense - is the most enticing siren the gods ever conjured, at least to those with the weakness... Any wayfarer with even miniscule common sense would take whatever evasive action was necessary to avoid that route. And that was from a successful Hollywood actor. NORTH OF HOLLYWOOD, winner - Best Biography at the 2011-2012 Los Angeles Book Festival is an often funny, sometimes gut wrenching and immensely engaging true tale of one actor's journey to grab the brass ring of show business success and by extension, celebrity. Actor-playwright-artist and now author Rick Lenz moves in for an ECU (extreme close up) on a very successful career and an often dysfunctional personal life. How does the professional actor manage the demands of 'the business' and the responsibilities of a husband and father? Is it possible to maintain equilibrium in both? Of course it IS...but it's not going to be easy. And this isn't an 'easy' book. NORTH OF HOLLYWOOD gives the reader a raw to the bone, bravely personal view of what it can mean to succeed in show business. And what happens when, almost inevitably, that success slips away. From Lauren Bacall giving 'thumbs up' to Lenz taking over the role of Igor in the Broadway production of CACTUS FLOWER, to his rise to stardom following release of the film version with Goldie Hawn, Walter Matthau and Ingrid Bergman, the reader is along for what will become a bumpy show biz ride. The work, the fame, the celebrity are all enticing and seductive but ultimately a mirage: When I arrive on the set the director seems surprised. "I'm really sorry," he says. "You're not quite what I had in mind." When I ask him what he had in mind, he shrugs and simply says, "Someone younger." And this: ...I begin to freeze up at auditions. Years ago I was offered a role on COLUMBO...I said no to the job...Years later I have an audition with Peter Falk for one of his latter-years episodes of the show. I want it desperately, and that's how I read for it...I map out every moment. That's the number one film auditioning no-no. I'm programmed like a robot and that's how it comes out at the audition: mechanical, unnatural and dead...I've blown it by a combination of wanting it too much and my Trojan Horse acting. Ouch!! Lenz pulls few punches in illuminating the price success may extract from the actor and from the ones he loves. Though not in any way a religious book, NORTH OF HOLLYWOOD strikes me as the chronicle of a spiritual journey - though such might come as news to the author. Perhaps I'm reading that part in because it's the way I tend to see things. So be it: this book recounts a journey to hell and back with lots of detours along the way. If you think that's too strong, over the top as we actors would say, give some thought to what it would be like to battle your own addictions to booze and pills. Or worse, watch your daughter battling an addiction to drugs including crack cocaine. Acting along side of or rubbing shoulders with Goldie Hawn, Al Pacino, Jill Clayburgh, Angela Lansbury, Alan Alda, Jackie Gleason, Ingrid Bergman, Walter Matthau, Claude Rains, John Wayne, Richard Boone, Maureen O'Hara, Lauren Bacall, Jason Robards, Jimmy Stewart, Ron Howard, to name literally just a few of Lenz' co-workers and friends doesn't really make that more palatable, does it? Rick Lenz is a charming man, if my too-brief encounter with him is an accurate indicator. He's someone you want to know better. It's easy to understand how, beyond his talent, he became a successful actor: he has that likability factor in spades. But NORTH OF HOLLYWOOD lays bare the imperfections that so clearly establish him as,