Grace notes: my recollections

A Golden Globe-winning actress tells the story of her life as a singer/songwriter who unexpectedly became a TV star.Sagal grew up with two parents who had artistic aspirations. Her mother had been a TV screenwriter, and her quick-tempered, workaholic father had dropped out of Harvard Law School to become a respected TV director. But their home life was turbulent. The author's stay-at-home mother suffered from depression and heart disease and died when she was young, and the father she feared died when she was in her mid-20s. Through all the personal difficulties, Sagal's saving grace was music. Acting was an afterthought, something her father thought she did well and that got her into the Cal Arts theater arts program. By the mid-1980s, Sagal was discovered by an agent who helped her land the role of sex-starved housewife Peg Bundy in Married...With Children, which ran for 10 years. Despite her acting success, Sagal admits that "it took me years to feel like I belonged" on TV, just as it took her time to get used to turning 60. While this book is sure to please the author's many fans, its thoughtful, no-regrets honesty will no doubt also appeal to readers of Hollywood memoirs seeking substance that goes beyond gossip and name-dropping. A candid, reflective memoir.--Worldcat.

First Gallery Books hardcover edition.

The singing sweetheart of Cherokee County -- The director -- My saving grace -- Head in a bag -- Pills -- Band life -- Needing to be needed -- The lump in my throat -- Everyone needs a Johnny Starbuck and other angels on the way to here -- Married...with children -- Ruby -- Sarah, strong and tall -- The boy -- Esm?, the teacher -- On mothering -- Beautiful man -- Jane Fonda famous -- No longer a fraud -- My number -- I've run away from home again -- Famous last words.