{"product_id":"guillaume-a-life-volume-1-9780826214263","title":"Guillaume: A Life (Volume 1)","description":"\u003cp\u003eGuillaume: A Life is the autobiography of esteemed Broadway  Hollywood  and television star Robert Guillaume. Ten months after suffering a stroke  Guillaumeperhaps best known as televisions Bensonbegan this autobiography with award-winning author and collaborator David Ritz.  The book goes beyond the recounting of a long and successful career to examine the forces that shaped the man: family  religion  race  and class. Startlingly candid and disarmingly self-aware  Guillaume seeks to know and understand himself  his treatment of the women in his life  and the choices he made along the way. He pursues the truth  however painful it may be  says Ritz  guided by two questions  Who the hell am I? and What made me do what I did?  Born in St. Louis in 1927 to a young  abused  unstable mother  and reared by a strong  hardworking grandmother  Robert Guillaume managed to move from the poverty and adversity of his youth to a rich  full career as an actor and a singer. Fierce determination and sharp focus enabled this man born to hardship and racial discrimination to study  learn  cultivate his natural talents  and succeed at the performance career he pursued with a vengeance. Guillaume first performed in the strict Catholic schools and churches to which his grandmother  who understood that education would be the key to any success he might achieve  sent him. There his love of classical music was nurtured  and he was encouraged to perform.  From a child longing for his mothers love to a man unsure of the meaning of love for many of the women in his life  from a young performer struggling to succeed on Broadway and in Hollywood to a grief-stricken father watching his son die of AIDS  Robert Guillaume tells what it was like to realize celebrity and what he sacrificed in the process. Readers will savor the success story of this artist who achieved great recognition and fame  but who never lost sight of his beginnings. Appealing to all audiences  Guillaume is a revealing and poignant autobiography of an extraordinary and distinguished American thespian.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45953206681653,"sku":"ByrdShop_0826214266","price":32.46,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780826214263.jpg?v=1788181554","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/guillaume-a-life-volume-1-9780826214263","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}