Beloved character actor Paul Dooley started his career by entertaining his family in the house his father built. Already in love with comedy and movies as a little boy, he knew he wanted to be on the big screen. Today, he is an instantly recognizable "household face" best known for his roles as the father in films such as Sixteen Candles, Breaking Away, and Runaway Bride. With over sixty-five years as an actor and countless movies, TV shows, advertisements, and stage performances to his name, Dooley describes the hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking life behind the man on screen.
In Movie Dad, Dooley reveals that before he played father to Hollywood stars like Julia Roberts, Molly Ringwald, Toni Collete, and Mia Farrow, his personal life included a painful episode involving his wife and children. Overcoming the shock of the traumatic event, he found fresh success as a movie actor, especially playing fathers.
Brimming with show-business anecdotes, Movie Dad is a warmly remembered account of a life well-lived, told with wry irony but suffused with an uncommon sincerity and tenderness.
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
Table of contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- 1. The Founding Father … and Mother
- 2. Gold Nuggets
- 3. Forty Feet Up
- 4. Living on the River Bank
- 5. The Great Stone Face
- 6. Funny Faces
- 7. Chipping Rust
- 8. Don’t Call It Theater
- 9. Tastes Like Chicken
- 10. Loretta
- 11. The Lost Private
- 12. Second Acting
- 13. Off-Broadway
- 14. He Put Words in My Mouth
- 15. Second Banana
- 16. Timberland
- 17. The Vanguard
- 18. Stand Up and Be Counted
- 19. Fabulous
- 20. Brooklyn
- 21. Having Fun with Commercials
- 22. Listen and Agree
- 23. Sixty-Second Stories
- 24. A Dream Come True
- 25. Oscar and Felix and Mike
- 26. Breaking the Fourth Wall
- 27. A New Voice
- 28. Elaine
- 29. Marriage at a Crossroad
- 30. See Spot. See Spot Run. Run Spot Run.
- 31. The Letter
- 32. Robert Altman
- 33. The Big Bike Race
- 34. I Would Gladly Pay You Tuesday
- 35. Molly and Me
- 36. Blue-Green Eyes
- 37. The Phone Call
- 38. A New Life
- 39. TV and Me … and Winnie, as Well
- 40. Ed and Marshall
- 41. Claire
- 42. Wicked
- 43. Keeping Up with Broadway
- 44. Comedians … Old and New
- 45. Getting Back to Buster
- 46. COVID-19! Coronavirus! Quarantined!
- 47. Reflections
- Acknowledgments
- Filmography (Abridged)
- TV Shows (Abridged)
- Bibliography
- About the Author