The Guttenberg Bible: A Memoir

“Forget being an actor. You don’t have the look, you don’t have the talent, and your name is ridiculous. You are the last guy I would ever pick to be a movie star.” This was the first piece of advice Steve Guttenberg ever received from an agent. Like many other times in his life, he didn’t listen. In this honest, charming memoir, Guttenberg tells a Horatio Alger story of how he became the star of some of the ’80s most successful blockbusters. He spent his early days sneaking onto the Paramount lot (he pretended to be Michael Eisner’s son) and meeting more celebrities and casting agents than most aspiring actors ever would. Even before the hit “Police Academy” (which his agent said would be a flop), he had already worked with everyone from Sir Laurence Olivier to Mickey Rourke. Perhaps it was his charisma or perhaps it was his dogged persistence, but his life was filled with unexpected run-ins and connections with dozens of Hollywood hit makers. Guttenberg has lived through the addictive pull of show business and worldwide celebrity (You’re no one until you have a stalker, he learns).
With a wide-eyed appreciation for the one-of-a-kind experiences that the high altitude celebrity lifestyle has to offer, he knew that his family would keep him grounded and never let him forget where he came from. His self-awareness and sense of humour about the ups and downs of fame make this one of the most sympathetic and unguarded Hollywood stories to date.

Author Biography

STEVE GUTTENBERG has starred in more than fifty films over the course of his career, including three successful series: Police Academy, Three Men and a Baby, and Cocoon. He has also appeared in such acclaimed work as Diner, The Boys from Brazil, and The Bedroom Window. On television, his work includes The Day After, To Race the Wind, and Miracle on Ice, as well as Gangs and Love Off Limits, which he directed. As a feature filmmaker, he adapted and directed P.S., Your Cat Is Dead. He produced and starred in the indie film A Novel Romance, which won best feature at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival.

His theater credits include his Broadway debut in 1984, Prelude to a Kiss, The Boys Next Door in London’s the West End, and Furthest from the Sun at the Juene Lune Theatre in Minneapolis. He recently appeared on Broadway in Relatively Speaking, a collection of three one-act comedies, starring in Woody Allen’s “Honeymoon Motel.”