Starstruck My unlikely road to Hollywood

Leonard Maltin, the doyen of contemporary film fanatics, would have you believe that his remarkable 60-year career as a movie critic, author, television personality, and university academic is the result of fortuitous timing and chance. Not so. While serendipitous luck and being in the proverbial right place at the right time were certainly helpful, it was Maltin's unfettered energy, enthusiasm, and passion for film, as well as a lot of chutzpah, that compelled him as a teenager in New York City in the 1960s to seek out and interview Buster Keaton, Rube Goldberg, Hans Conried, and Celeste Holm; begin writing for film fanzines at 13; and take over the publication of Film Fan Monthly at 15. His memoir is a delightful collection of relatively short and breezy chapters indulging some of his favorite stars (Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Jerry Lewis, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gloria Stuart, Harlan Ellison) and subjects (such as jazz). Woven throughout are anecdotal recollections from Maltin's 30-year stint on Entertainment Tonight; his publishing the best-selling Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide; and his more than 20-year tenure teaching film history at the University of Southern California. VERDICT Looking for TMZ trash talk on the stars? Look elsewhere. This is strictly G-rated and great fun.--Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L., TX

The self-described "lucky film buff" recounts his career. Film critic and historian Maltin offers a warmhearted, rambling memoir of his long romance with movies, which began when he was a child. He delivered TV Guide instead of a newspaper, "devoured [my] weekly edition of Variety," watched TV constantly, went to as many Saturday matinées as he could, and collected 8mm silent films. When he was 15, he began to submit pieces to Film Fan Monthly, soon buying, writing for, and editing the magazine himself. In high school, he started the Motion Picture Club, joined the AV squad, and worked on the stage crew. "Even my doodling was movie related," he adds. "I would draw classic movie studio logos or try to list all 75 of Bogart's films." When he was 17, a teacher put him in touch with a book editor, who assigned him to write a movie reference guide--a task that established his reputation for a career that, even then, seemed inevitable. In 1982, he was hired by Entertainment Tonight, where, for the next 30 years, he interviewed pretty much everyone--except, he regrets, Walt Disney. Not comfortable with asking prying questions, Maltin put celebrities at ease. Katharine Hepburn offered him "soup, sharp memories, and strong opinions, sparing no one, least of all herself." Anthony Hopkins disclosed why he became an actor: "I just wanted to be rich and famous, that's all I ever wanted. I had no grounding and I had no cultural background at all." Replete with anecdotes, the good-natured, rarely critical narrative features appreciative recollections of James Stewart, Buster Keaton, Robert Mitchum, Elizabeth Taylor, Jerry Lewis, Roy Rogers, Jackie Cooper, and Shirley Temple, among many more. Maltin and his wife were on the "permanent guest list" at the Playboy Mansion in the 1990s: "Hef," the author recalls, "was the most gracious and generous host I ever met." It seems likely that Maltin was among the most gracious and generous of guests. A genial, entertaining memoir. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.