With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together

The two esteemed actors narrate a look back at their lives--their beginnings apart and their lives together, including their careers, family, and involvement in social issues. Each narrates separate sections with expression, interest, passion, and humor. They speak with candor about even painful life experiences, such as racial discrimination and their experiment--which will surprise many--with "open marriage." They both keep the material fresh, which could be hard to do when talking about one's own life. This is an immensely captivating dual memoir and a real audio treasure, especially poignant since Davis has since passed away. The listener comes away with a true sense of the essence of these lives, the things that were and are important to them, and their accomplishments. M.A.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Starred Review. In 1998, renowned actors Davis and Dee celebrated 50 years of marriage by penning an engaging memoir of their life together, musing on the theater, the struggle for civil rights and what they considered their most important roles: being parents. Between the book's publication and Davis's death in 2005, the couple recorded this stellar audio version. It's a marvelous blend of readers' theater and classy, old-married style, with Davis and Dee trading off portions of their narrative and sometimes gently correcting each other's version of events. ("It takes two of us to get this story told," Davis chuckles after his wife amends his account of a particularly funny 1950s incident when the two were being pursued backstage by Joseph McCarthy's men, intent on serving the alleged Communist sympathizers with subpoenas.) The book has humor and pathos, pain and nostalgia, all told with Davis's deep, resonant baritone and Dee's fast-as-lightning wit. Most of all, it's a personal walk through the 20th-century African-American experience, with both reflecting on the many luminaries they have known, including Father Divine, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Paul Robeson and Sidney Poitier. Available as a Harper paperback (Feb.)
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