To the Temple of Tranquility... and Step on It!: A Memoir

The star of St. Elsewhere, Young Sheldon, and a raft of movies looks back on addiction, violence, and celebrity friendships in this rollicking memoir. Begley (Ed Begley, Jr.’s Guide to Sustainable Living) recaps his 54 years in film and television, starting with his salad days in the 1960s and ’70s scrabbling for small parts while abusing substances (one vodka-and-Quaaludes-fueled Christmas Eve climaxed with him crashing into several cars at a stoplight beside a police cruiser) and hanging out with a host of L.A. characters including Jack Nicholson and Charles Manson, with whom he once smoked a joint at the Spahn Ranch. After Begley sobers up and scores his breakthrough role in St. Elsewhere, the company gets classier and his narrative becomes more sedate—he works with Cesar Chavez, plays Trivial Pursuit with Bill and Hillary Clinton, and grapples with his 2016 Parkinson’s diagnosis. As with many of his characters, Begley’s tone is smart, self-deprecating, and mordantly witty (“Here’s the funny thing about a group of people beating you,” he remarks of a vicious attack he suffered from a street gang. “If they’re also stabbing you, you can’t feel that”). At times, the name-dropping and reverence for industry figures can feel like an Oscar acceptance speech, but more often, Begley’s inside perspective on Tinseltown is humorous and revealing. The result is a captivating Hollywood picaresque. Agent: David Vigliano, Vigliano Assoc. (Oct.)