Affective Memories: How Chance and the Theatre Saved My Life

Actor-playwright-producer Luckinbill recounts his life and career in this extensive and polished autobiography. He grew up in Arkansas in a dysfunctional household under the rule of a father addicted to alcohol. He discovered acting at an early age in school and local theater and eventually made his way to New York, where he acted in theater productions, television soap operas, and commercials. He costarred in the 1967 groundbreaking The Boys in the Band on stage and in the 1970 film version; he offers an insightful analysis of its cultural significance. Luckinbill later found great success in his one-person shows portraying Teddy Roosevelt, Clarence Darrow, Ernest Hemingway, and Lyndon Johnson. His book also includes details about his private life, marriages, and children. He eloquently recounts his courtship with Lucie Arnaz, whom he’s been married to since 1980. He offers entertaining and insightful anecdotes about his mother-in-law, Lucille Ball. The first time he met her and her husband Gary Morton, he accidentally set his apartment on fire.