Cloris Leachman's Lapse Of Memory

While listening to the BBC News on New York's public radio station WNYC-AM 820, I heard that the TV actress June Lockhart (Lassie and Lost in Space) had died at the age of 100. The mention of her death brought to mind the time I had proofread Cloris Leachman's memoir, Cloris, for Kensington Books in 2008 or 2009 and pointed out a factual error.

In the manuscript, Leachman said that she replaced June Lockhart as the mother on Lassie. For verification, I went to The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, 1946-Present by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh (Ballantine Books, 1979). I found out it was the other way around--Lockhart had replaced her on the show.  I then corrected the error with my red pencil, citing the source of the correct information. 

Leachman, in her 80s when the memoir was about to come out, obviously had a lapse of memory. (The book, it should be noted, was actually ghostwritten by her ex-husband, the film director George Englund, who later died in 2017.)

**I previously wrote about this subject for the blog on February 17, 2021. To see this blog post, click on "Cloris Leachman" in the Labels section below.

Proofreading Cloris Leachman's Autobiography

Among the last books I proofread at Kensington Books was actress Cloris Leachman's autobiography called Cloris, which was actually ghostwritten by her husband, George Englund, who predeceased her. (Ms. Leachman recently died at age 94.) It was the first and only celebrity autobiography I ever proofread.

She was in her 80s at the time (this would be around late 2008 or early 2009) and I guess because of her age, she misremembered certain things. Whenever there was a factual error, I pointed it out on the galley proof. The one error I remember correcting was the one where she said she replaced June Lockhart as the mother on the television series Lassie. Actually, it was the other way around, it was Lockhart who replaced her.

While visiting the Countee Cullen branch of the New York Public Library in Harlem, about two or three years later, I found a copy of Cloris on the shelf in the Biography section. Skimming through the book, I couldn't find that particular error. Maybe they deleted it from the finished book. Or maybe the correction was there and I couldn't find it among the thousands of words because I couldn't remember the page it appeared on. Unfortunately, I neglected to photocopy those pages for future reference. Anyway, I might try to track the book down and do a careful page by page search for that correction.

Some Wise Words

In a 1950s Person to Person interview on television, the actress Gertrude Berg (of The Goldbergs TV and radio series), recounted to Edward R. Murrow, the host, a conversation between her character Molly Goldberg and Jake, Molly's husband: "One day, Molly," promised Jake, "we will eat from golden plates." To which Molly replied, "Jake, dear, would the food taste any better?"


Note: I hope everyone had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend.

Penelope Cruz Is Not A Non-White Actress

Wendy McClellan Anderson, of Altadena, California, is a self-described "Angeleno, white woman and film fan.

In her letter that was published online by the Los Angeles Times (December 29, 2017), Ms. Anderson complained that she "was deeply upset to see only white women grace the cover of your latest issue and be interviewed as leading actresses of Hollywood."

She goes on to name non-white women who were snubbed by the paper such as Mary J. Blige, Tessa Thompson, and "[t]he entire cast of 'Girls Trip,' the biggest comedy of the year."

Included in the list was Penelope Cruz. Obviously Ms. Anderson thinks anyone with a Spanish surname is automatically non-white and probably from Latin America.

In fact, Penelope Cruz is a white woman, from Madrid, Spain, a European city and country.

Zsa Zsa Gabor Slapped A Cop

Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, who recently died at the age of 99, several years ago slapped a police officer during a traffic stop in Beverly Hills, California. If she had been a black woman, the outcome would have been fatal.