Book Review: Bill Duke: My 40-Year Career on Screen and Behind the Camera

About:

Bill Duke: My 40-Year Career on Screen and Behind the Camera is a memoir of the prolific actor and director. Mr. Duke has been in many movies which are now considered pop-culture classics (American Gigolo, Commando, Predator, X-Men), he is also a director, producer and entrepreneur.

 

My rating for Bill Duke: My 40-Year Career on Screen and Behind the Camera5
Buy Bill Duke: My 40-Year Career on Screen and Behind the Camera from Amazon.com*
More Books by Bill Duke*

Thoughts:

The first movie I remember watching Bill Duke is in the movie Commando, fighting Arnold Schwarzenegger in a hotel room. Mr. Duke left a very positive impression on me during the movie and I was always excited to recognize him in more movies.

The memoir Bill Duke: My 40-Year Career on Screen and Behind the Camera is not disappointing. I have always enjoyed watching Mr. Duke but never realized what an accomplished person he is, besides an acting career.

Mr. Duke talks about his upbringing, insecurities, and challenges which he had to deal with both personally and professionally. As a character actor he carved himself a place in an industry which is known to be brutal on many people.

Interposed within the book are poems the author wrote, I know nothing about poetry so I will not comment on them, but it shows that this is a work of love, not “just” a book. As a movie lover I enjoyed the anecdotes and behind the screen experiences, but even though this is what drew me to the book, Mr. Duke’s incredible story kept me reading.

The memoir is very well written, it’s easy to read and incredibly honest. The introspection and insight provided by Mr. Duke is something which many memoirs and biographies are lacking.

Buy Bill Duke: My 40-Year Career on Screen and Behind the Camera from Amazon.com*
More Books by Bill Duke*

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book for free.
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account

Summary
Review Date
Reviewed Item
Bill Duke: My 40-Year Career on Screen and Behind the Camera
Author Rating
5
Product Name
Bill Duke: My 40-Year Career on Screen and Behind the Camera
Man of la Book

A father, husband, avid reader, blogger, software engineer & wood worker who is known the world over as a man of many interests and to his wife as “an idiot”.

Recent Posts

Spotlight: From Megabat with Love by Anna Humphrey

It's Valentine's Day, and Megabat wants to show Bird Girl that he loves her. But…

7 hours ago

Book Review: Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey

The writing, however, is beautiful and the story is haunting. Black Woods, Blue Sky is…

1 day ago

Fun Facts Friday: J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur

Hector St. John de Crèvecœur was a French-American author, diplomat, and farmer. He is remembered…

5 days ago

Book Review: I Escaped from Auschwitz by Rudolf Vrba

I Escaped from Auschwitz by Rudolf Vrba, originally published in the 1960s, is an important…

6 days ago

Book Review: The Girls of the Glimmer Factory by Jennifer Coburn

While the book started slowly, I thought the insights into life at Theresienstadt were well…

1 week ago

Fun Facts Friday: Pierre Beaumarchais

Pierre Beaumarchais (24 January, 1732 – 18 May, 1799) was a French playwright, inventor, diplomat…

2 weeks ago

This website uses cookies.