Henry Fonda Book:

Editorial Review:
The television star and wife of Gordon MacRae reveals how she overcame her tragically destructive marriage to, among other things, win a spot on the Honeymooner's and launch her own talk show.

Hollywood Mother of the Year: Sheila MacRae's Own Story Reviews:
Sheila Who?
2009-09-04 - Sheila Who? You might well ask that question since I'd never heard of her and only read this book because I've always loved Gordon McCrae.

I knew McCrae was a very serious alcoholic and this disease destroyed his life and career--but he comes off in this vapid, ditzy memoir as wall-paper. His wife here describes the many times he just didn't show up for an all-important concert or event--because he was laying somewhere dead drunk. So what were the repercussions? How did he explain these terrible lapses. Alas, you'll never find it here.

McCrae tries to sex herself up for modern readers by depicting herself as a hot, foxy gal who guys were always hitting on. She enjoys crying a lot, too, and acting shocked at some of the shenangigans she witnessed in a wild, swinging Hollywood of the 50s.

So how about her husband, Gordon McCrae? Besides being a great sex machine, according to the author, he was much beloved by his fans and many of his contemporaries. Did he ever explain why he drank? Why did she stay married and suffer because of him all of those torturous years? McCrae deserves a good biography, like the one just written about Lena Horne, "Stormy Weather."

Walks Like Fiction, Talks Like Fiction...
2007-08-09 - This book is a fun ride. However, if you've read a lot of celebrity bios, you'll be turned off, as I was, at how MacRae appropriates various anonymous and ancient showbiz stories as her own personal experiences.

For example, she has a lover defending her to a foe by saying, "What she has, you used to have. And what she has, you can't spell." Nice line, but it's from a movie.

The whole book has a goofy, made-up quality - even more than the usual Hollywood autobiography. Rather than trying to paint herself as the innocent waif (as June Allyson tried to do in her autobiography), MacRae bends over backwards (a-hem) to sex up her image.

With a huge grain of salt, it's a fun, juicy read. And I wouldn't trust one word of it as far as I could throw the publishing house.

The Glory Days of Hollywood (reflected in photos.)
2006-07-17 - The pictures in two photo sections tell the whole story of Gordon, Sheila and family. I have selected some interesting items about Hollywood instead of the typical movie couple in the Fifties. He made four movies with DoDo Day: "Tea for Two", "The West Point Story," "On Moonlight Bay," and "By The Light of the Silvery Moon." She was a bit old for the perrenial boyish MacRae. They were asked to pose for an Easter Seals poster with some 'handicapped' children. She refused on religious grounds that she was a "Christian Scientist and they don't believe in cripples." (Hear that, Wink M.) Gordon was insulted and cursed this Girl-next-door character "She's giving my religion a bad name." Oh well, in her older years, she always had to be filmed through a special filter to obliterate her wrinkles and aging process, the big phony. I loved Gordon in "Carousel" and "Oklahoma." He was fabulous and such a good singer.

Movies are tricks of the eyes and the makeup artists. There's a quirk in how we see that allows a series of still pictures to spring into motion. In pursuit of that optical illusion, fortunes have been made; lives devoted to it, and some ruined. The trouble was if you couldn't tell what was 'legerdemain' and what was 'real,' (magician from the magic); Sheila appeared as the magician's assistant and eventually got to know all the tricks.

They were in Hollywood during the blacklisting and has some interesting things to reveal about the prophetic Ronald Reagan. Also, when she was named as "Mother of the Year" her marriage was a shambles and they were on the verge of a divorce. Sounds like Debbie and Eddie, a typical Hollywood couple. Of all her affairs, I was shocked that Frank Sinatra was one! She had moved here from England and kept a tinge of the British accent; I guess that's what intrigued him as I don't think it was her singing. She was pretty and talented during the Sixties, but after the divorce, things went downhill for them both. Such is life, but especially for the woman.

Golden voice/Blabber mouth
2006-04-05 - "Oh, by the way, I was once married to ...."; now can I tell ya all about my life?" There. Do you feel like reading this superficial analysis of a Hollywood marriage run amok? I didn't think so. Typical, feminist retro-look at the past when Sheila was a part of the dinner club circut power couple come unglued. Trivializes the highs(1950's),depicts the 1960's as the rise of a multi-talented what, dancer/singer, when groups were in vogue?Granted, survival was key here, but I wanted to know more about the golden-voiced Gordon MacRae and what became of his gifts that, among other things, launched her. Not to be. Ended up being about as interesting as a Matt Helm bedroom farce,with the reality glossed over and the reality of what once was unrevealed.

A Great Marriage/Love Affair Gone Wrong.
1997-08-23 - I have always enjoyed reading a celebrity's autobiography and Sheila MacRae's was no exception. Having been born long after the success of MacRae's famous husband, Gordon in 1960, I was unfamilar with his films as well as Miss MacRae's credits as an actress. Through this autobiography, I read with great interest as well as great sadness, over a man and woman who were deeply in love, but destroyed by Gordon's alcoholism and excessive gambling. The bright spots are MacRae's close friendship with Lucille Ball, some revealing insight into her friend Cary Grant's love life, and the Hollywood parties attended in their heydey. After reading the book, I emerged an admirer of both Sheila and Gordon MacRae.