From her idyllic childhood in the American Midwest to her Oscar–nominated performance in Sunset Boulevard (1950) and the social circles of New York and Los Angeles, actress Nancy Olson Livingston has lived abundantly. In her memoir, A Front Row Seat, Livingston treats readers to an intimate, charming chronicle of her life as an actress, wife, and mother, and her memories of many of the most notable figures and moments of her time.
Livingston shares reminiscences of her marriages to lyricist and librettist Alan Jay Lerner, creator of award-winning musicals Paint Your Wagon, Gigi, and My Fair Lady (which was dedicated to her), and to Alan Wendell Livingston, former president of Capitol Records, who created Bozo the Clown and worked with legendary musical artists, including Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, the Beach Boys, the Beatles, the Band, and Don McLean. One of the last living actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Livingston shares memorable encounters with countless celebrities—William Holden, Billy Wilder, Bing Crosby, Marilyn Monroe, and John Wayne, to name a few—and less pleasant experiences with Howard Hughes and John F. Kennedy that act as reminders of women's long struggle for equality.
Entertaining and engrossing, A Front Row Seat deftly interweaves Livingston's life with her observations of the artists, celebrities, and luminaries with whom she came in contact—a paean to the twentieth century and a treasure for readers enamored with a bygone era.
Nancy Olson Livingston, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Sunset Boulevard (1950), has appeared in several films, including Union Station (1950), Battle Cry (1955), Pollyanna (1960), The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), and Airport 1975 (1974). She has also starred in three plays on Broadway: Tunnel of Love, Send Me No Flowers, and Mary, Mary, and guest-starred in a number of television shows. She lives in Beverly Hills, California.
Table of Contents
Book I Introduction Letter to Liza and Jenny Lerner: Letter to Liza and Jenny Lerner 1. Rockland County, September 1950 2. The Beginning 3. My Ancestors 4. Growing Up in Milwaukee 5. The Lake 6. World War II 7. Theatrical Dreams 8. My First New York Adventure 9. Paramount Pictures: The Beginning of a Career 10. Sunset Boulevard 11. Hollywood 12. Marilyn Monroe 13. Courtship 14. The Dance 15. Lee and Ira Gershwin 16. The Dance Continues 17. Marriage 18. Frederick Lowe 19. Rockland County 20. Plane Crash 21. Liza and Me 22. John Wayne 23. Starting Over 24. Alan Lerner's Family and Growing Up 25. Joe Lerner 26. My Fair Lady 27. Battle Cry 28. Journey to Broadway 29. Gigi 30. The Music Stops 31. Divorce 32. Sidney Chaplin 33. Emmet Hughes 34. Nelson Rockefeller 35. Life as a Single Parent 36. Disney 37. The Inauguration of JFK 38. Mrs. Kemeny 39. A Special Memory 40. A Shocking Story 41. A New Beginning 42. A Christmas Gift 43. Mary Mary 44. A Rainbow Emerging 45. My Second Wedding 45b. Book II Introduction: Letter to Chris Livingston 46. Mr. and Mrs. Alan W. Livingston 47. Moving 48. A Sad Story 49. My Second Husband 50. Laurie and Peter and Alan Jay 51. Life in a Whirlwind on Camden Drive 52. Dad 53. Capitol Records 54. Nat Cole 55. Up the Ladder 56. Frank Sinatra 57. NBC and Bonanza 58. An Ex-Girlfriend and an Ex-Wife 59. Judy Garland, Oscar Levant, and the 2000 Year Old Man 60. Enlarging the Family and JFK 61. The Beatles 62. The Beatles in My Mother's Garden 63. Christopher 64. Another Beatle Party 65. Russia 66. Share 67. Jennifer Jones 68. The Band 69. A Miracle 70. The End of an Era 71. MediaArts and Don McLean 72. EST 73. On Board at the Music Center 74. A New Challenge 75. Grace Kelly and the Heimlich Maneuver 76. Natalie Wood 77. My Mother 78. A New Path for Alan Livingston 79. An Escape 80. New York Life Again 81. An Unexpected Offer from Blue Ribbon 82. Changing Traditions 83. Four Weddings and Two Funerals 84. LA Politics 85. Nancy and Ronnie 86. 25th Anniversary Chairman 87. Another 25th Anniversary with Jack Lemmon, Gregory Peck, and Michael Feinstein 88. Billy Wilder Tribute 89. Andrew Lloyd Webber 90. An Unforgettable Moment 91. China 92. Another Challenge for Alan 93. Completion 94. Expanding Our Family Again 95. Goodbye 96. La Dolce Vita 97. Laura 98. Family Updates 99. Ending this Book 100. Stories I Hesitate to Tell 101. Ending this Book Again
