A poignant, intimate, funny, inspiring memoir—both a
coming-of-age story and a meditation on creativity,
devotion, and craft—from Bryan Cranston, beloved and
acclaimed star of one of history’s most successful TV shows,
Breaking Bad.
Bryan Cranston landed his first role at seven, when his
father, a struggling actor and director, cast him in a
United Way commercial. Soon, Bryan was haunting the local
movie theater, memorizing and reenacting favorite scenes
with his older brother. Acting was clearly the boy’s
destiny—until one day his father disappeared. Suddenly,
destiny took a back seat to survival.
Seeking
something more stable, perhaps subconsciously trying to
distance himself from his absent father, Cranston decided on
a career in law enforcement. But then, a young man on a
classic cross-country motorcycle trip, Cranston one day
found himself stranded at a rest area in the Blue Ridge
Mountains. To pass the time he read a tattered copy of
Hedda Gabler, and in a flash he found himself
face-to-face once again with his original calling. Suddenly
he thought: This was what he wanted to do, what he
would do, with the rest of his life. Act.
In his
riveting memoir, A Life in Parts, Cranston traces his
zigzag journey from his chaotic childhood to his dramatic
epiphany, and beyond, to mega-stardom and a cult-like
following, by vividly revisiting the many parts he’s played,
on camera (astronaut, dentist, detective, candy bar
spokesperson, President of the United States, etc.) and off
(paperboy, farmhand, security guard, dating consultant,
murder suspect, dock loader, son, brother, lover, husband,
father). With great humor, and much humility, Cranston
chronicles his unlikely rise from a soap opera regular,
trying to learn the ropes and the politics of show business
on the fly, to a recurring spot as Tim Whatley on
Seinfeld, finding himself an indelible part of
popular culture. He recalls his run as the well-meaning
goofball, Hal, on Malcolm in the Middle, proving to
writers and fans that he was willing to do anything,
anything, for a laugh, and he gives a bracing account
of his challenging run on Broadway as President Lyndon
Johnson, pushing himself to the limit as he prepared,
physically and mentally, for a tour de force that would win
him a Tony, to go along with his four Emmys.
Of
course, Cranston dives deep into the grittiest, most
fascinating details of his greatest role, explaining how he
searched inward for the personal darkness that would help
him create one of the most riveting performances ever
captured on screen: Walter White, chemistry teacher turned
drug kingpin.
Discussing his failures as few men do,
describing his work as few actors can, Cranston has much to
say about innate talent, its benefits, challenges, and
proper maintenance, but ultimately A Life in Parts is
about the necessity and transformative power of hard work.
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