cover image Madeline Kahn: Being the Music, a Life

Madeline Kahn: Being the Music, a Life

William V. Madison. Univ. Press of Mississippi, $35 (336p) ISBN 978-1-61703-761-0

Madison, a former CBS News producer, gives comedian Madeline Kahn (1942%E2%80%931999) the star treatment and provides fans with an in-depth, heartfelt look into her too brief life. Kahn died far too young at age 57, having enjoyed an early meteoric rise and earned back-to-back Oscar nominations for her work in the films Paper Moon and Blazing Saddles. For years, Kahn's professional and personal decisions were defined by her tumultuous childhood, specifically the fallout from having an undiagnosed mentally ill mother whom she looked after financially, and a father and stepfather who both left her mother. Kahn attended Hofstra on a drama scholarship but gave it up over the roles she was assigned and transferred to the music department. She worked in cabarets and made her opera debut in La Boh%C3%A8me. Realizing she couldn't keep up with singing's physical demands, she found herself in the enviable position of being directed by Peter Bogdanovich and Mel Brooks in career-defining roles. However, Kahn, who was a serious, earnest actor, worried about how audiences perceived her and struggled with the comedic, spacey parts she was often given. Madison offers a warm portrait of Kahn, and ends on an upbeat note, observing that Kahn experienced overdue romantic and professional fulfillment in her last years, including winning a Tony award and acting in the award-winning Judy Berlin for her final film. B&w photos. (May)