If Chins Could Kill

Confessions of a B Movie Actor

by Bruce Campbell

Softcover, 344 pages

English language

Published Sept. 6, 2002 by LA Weekly Books for Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Griffin.

ISBN:: 978-0-312-29145-7

(20 reviews)

Okay, so at least you're interested enough to pick up this book and look inside. I think you and I are going to get along just fine.

Life is full of choices. Right now, yours is whether or not to buy the autobiography of a mid-grade, kind of hammy actor.

Am I supposed to know this guy? you think to yourself.

No, and that's exactly the point. Bookstores are chock full of household name actors and their high stakes shenanigans. I don't want to be a spoilsport, but we've all been down that road before.

Case in point: look to your left—see that Judy Garland book? You don't need that, you know plenty about her already—great voice, crappy life. Now look to your right at the Charlton Heston book. You don't need to cough up hard-earned dough for that either. You know his story too—great voice, crappy toupee.

The truth …

Okay, so at least you're interested enough to pick up this book and look inside. I think you and I are going to get along just fine.

Life is full of choices. Right now, yours is whether or not to buy the autobiography of a mid-grade, kind of hammy actor.

Am I supposed to know this guy? you think to yourself.

No, and that's exactly the point. Bookstores are chock full of household name actors and their high stakes shenanigans. I don't want to be a spoilsport, but we've all been down that road before.

The truth is that though you might not have a clue who I am, there are countless working stiffs like me out there, grinding away every day at the wheel of fortune.

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor is my first book, and I invite you to ride with me through the choppy waters of blue collar Hollywood.

Okay, so buy the damned book already and read like the wind!

Best, Bruce Campbell

P.S. If the book sucks, at least there are gobs of pictures, and they're not crammed in the middle like all those other actor books.

2 editions

technicat reviewed If Chins Could Kill by Bruce Campbell

Groovy!

4 stars

Bruce Campbell’s self-deprecating wit pervades his memoir, self-deprecatingly and wittily titled If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor.

Nonetheless, his unself-pitying account of the toll his career took on his marriage and finances, not to mention days caked in syrup (fake blood) and freezing nights in decrepit cabins, shows how tough it is to make a go of it in Hollywood.

But with a career that includes the Evil Dead movies, the TV series Brisco County, Jr., appearances on Homicide: Life on the Street and Xena: Warrior Princess and friends like the Raimis and the Cohen brothers, he’s got plenty to be proud of. And it was good to see him on Burn Notice. Groovy!