cover image My Life in Spite of Myself

My Life in Spite of Myself

Roy Clark. Simon & Schuster, $22 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-671-86434-7

Co-host of the TV show Hee-Haw and a guitar and banjo player, Clark has many fans, but they will be disappointed by his autobiography, written with freelancer Eliot, which provides a pedestrian, conventional, chronological career history. The emphasis is on Clark's 24 years with Hee-Haw , first on network TV and then in syndication. We're given glimpses of Clark's fellow country music stars, such as Minnie Pearl, Grandpa Jones, Jimmy Dean and Roger Miller, and other celebrities he has met, including presidents. We learn of Clark's interests in flying, motorcycling and racing horses. But his appearance in these pages lacks the pizzazz of a live Roy Clark performance. Photos not seen by PW. (Mar.)