Middle of the Rainbow by Bonnie Bartlett Daniels (paperback)
ISBN 9798887710433
"A long life. A long career. A long marriage. All told with Bonnie's unflinching truth and humor."
- Jamie Lee Curtis
"As evidence of my consistent good fortune landing a role on St. Elsewhere, I was gifted with another extremely bright and talented woman in my life, Bonnie Barlett. And she arrived with a message that I really needed to hear. Commit to doing all the important work, and do so with rigorous honesty. She's done just that with her transformative book. Read it today!"
- Ed Begley, Jr.
"I love it, and admire it. It's the honest and true story of the American dream as lived by Bonnie Barlett and her family. I would recommend it to anyone with a mind who wants to relate and identify with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It gives me hope."
- Elliott Gould
"Daniels debuts with a fearless chronicle of her decades-long acting career and marriage to fellow actor Bill Daniels. She characterizes the partnership as “hardly a fairy tale” while recounting their professional success (a highlight was their 1986 dual Emmy awards for work on St. Elsewhere) and open marriage, along with revisiting her childhood abuse. Daniels pulls no punches describing her past: her father’s inappropriate sexual boundaries put a cloud over her childhood, she was raped by a costar from Love of Life in 1957, and her only biological son died during childbirth. She touches on the positive moments as well, particularly the adoption of two boys and her satisfaction with being a mother. Daniels doesn’t skimp on behind-the-scenes talk, dishing about, among others, Marilyn Monroe (“an ordinary girl wanting to learn to be a better actress”) and director Elia Kazan, who she describes as powerful but destructive. Her insider’s view of old Hollywood is both glamorous and disenchanting, but she’s unyielding in her determination to “come to grips with all of it.” A robust collection of photographs rounds out this intimate portrayal of self-actualization. Daniels’s raw honesty will ring true with her many fans."
- Publisher's Weekly