Sandy Dennis, a Personal Memoir

Published on what would have been Dennis's sixtieth birthday, A Personal Memoir is not what one would expect in era of "kiss-and-tell" tomes from the Hollywod elite. There are no tired lists of professional accolades or conquered lovers famous and infamous, no gossipy prattle. In fact, the particulars of Dennis's chosen profession are rarely mentioned at all in this 77-page memoir, we are instead introduced to Sandy Dennis the person--a person whose life was filled with colors, unbridled compassion and many, many cats. In a scrapbook of prose--written, it appears, in fits and spurts when the muse allowed it--Dennis "recalls emotions...images" from her first trek at three years to the local store for jawbreakers to morning walks in the woods ("I like this kind of grey suspended morning. It will be, I think, a soft washed-out day"). Snippets of memory come alive in Dennis's vivid words--sticky baby fingers clutching a shaggy dog, fragrant New England foliage, fading images of a father seldom seen due to work and war. This Sandy Dennis, not necessarily the Sandy Dennis we see flickering in a grainy black-and-white film, is the one we are meant to remember.On screen, Sandy Dennis was powerful, and that power transfers beautifully to her own life. A Personal Memoir is uniquely poetic, and a very thoughtful read.

What a woman! Sandy Dennis has always been, in my mind, one of the most strikingly original and entertaining performers to ever grace the Hollywood screen. Watching her movies has given me a great deal of joy and happiness over the years, but until I read this book, I had no idea she had such an equally natural talent for writing. For those of you who buy this book expecting to read a conventional tell-all, you are in for a big surprise. Sandy's book, which she began to write not long after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, tells of this remarkable woman's courageous battle with the fatal disease. It also tells of her strong, warm relationship with her many cats , the furry friends that seldom left her side during that very difficult time. This is a book like no other. Every page is filled with love and compassion, laughter and heartache. It is a stunningly original and unforgettable work, much like the woman who wrote it.

Sandy Dennis was a true original as an actress, and as a writer, she was just as distinguished. I drank this book down in one gulp, and when I was done, I felt brokenhearted that this delicate, wry, sensitive voice had been silenced so prematurely. There are a great many unanswered questions about Sandy Dennis' life that arise from this read, and I suppose we will never know the answers -- but what we do have here is a collection of intimate, impressionistic, exquisitely felt moments of a profoundly private lady's life and death. How I wish I had known her, and how I wish she had had the time to write more.

I am thrilled to have had an opportunity to study with this wonderful woman, 6 years. Her Memoir is touching and elloquently said I could not put it down and had to read in private. I was very moved by her book and sad that the world lost her so suddenly. She was a giving and encouraging woman, all of her students LOVED HER. A gift so rare and so lovely. Ms. Dennis will live on in this Brilliant and touching book. I thank her for touching my life and encouraging me to be the artist I am. She is sadly missed.

I knew Sandy Dennis. Not well and very briefly. Yet her death hit me hard. I'd always been surprised that no one had written a biography on her, as her life was tragically under-reported while she was alive. And as quirky and whimsical as she often appeared onstage and screen, a beautiful and fascinating woman lay beneath the greasepaint.This slender book of memories (and "memoir" was never better used to describe a book) is just as engrossing and revealing as Joanne Woodward's Preface promises it to be. In no way a "show-biz" book, it offers instead insight and poignant confessions of an exceptional human being.In my own book, which has yet to be published, I discuss my fleeting association with Sandy Dennis. But all one needs to know the person is to read this moving and surprisingly well-written memoir by the lady herself!