We Will Always Live in Beverly Hills: Growing Up Crazy in Hollywood

This memoir by film scripter Wynn tops most Hollywood confessionals, particularly in describing his weaknesses and the influences that led him into years of acute alcoholism, drug addiction and lechery. Son of actor Keenan Wynn and grandson of comedian Ed Wynn, the author was four when his parents divorced and his mother married Van Johnson, then a reigning star. Growing up, Wynn was alienated from his father, felt deprived in the midst of the opulence provided by his stepfather and unworthy in the company of family friends like Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor et al. Tales of glittering folk abound in the book, but none compare with the author's own and his recollections of his father, the ``leading man's best friend,'' i.e., Johnson. Not only was his father betrayed by Johnson, his best friend, but all were ultimately done in when, in turn, the leading man abandoned Ned and his mother, leaving them broke, and took off with his male lover. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)