Andrew McCarthy
Andrew McCarthy, born in 1962, is an American actor, travel writer, and television director. McCarthy grew to prominence in the 1980s, when his boy-next-door good looks, acting chops, and a bit of luck got him cast in movies like Class, St. Elmo's Fire, Pretty in Pink, Mannequin, Weekend at Bernie's, Less Than Zero, and more.
Starring in '80s teen/young adult movies, McCarthy was dubbed one of the 'Brat Pack', along with Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy. When a journalist first coined the term Brat Pack, he meant arrogant young actors who drank and partied too much. Over time, however, the phrase morphed into an affectionate label for the popular celebrities.
The Brat Pack
In this memoir, McCarthy writes about his young years, his road to success, and the difficulties he experienced along the way.
McCarthy grew up in New Jersey, with a fast-talking bad-tempered father, affectionate understanding mother, and three brothers. When McCarthy was in elementary school, his mother would occasionally take him out of class to see a Broadway show or go to an amusement arcade, usually after mornings when timid Andrew wept about going to school.
In high school, McCarthy had the usual adolescent crushes, but no luck with girls. He was equally unsuccessful academically, and did poorly in his classes.
Things got worse when Andrew discovered marijuana in the 9th grade, and his subsequent and substantial use did nothing to improve his studies. McCarthy was also late to mature physically, and - with his small delicate stature and lack of body hair - was concerned he'd never become a man.
Young Andrew McCarthy
Though McCarthy was too embarrassed to sing well in an audition for the high school Glee Club, he sneakily joined the Drama Club by just showing up and singing along with the chorus. Andrew got a tiny part in the school production of Hello Dolly, followed by the role of the artful dodger in Oliver. McCarthy had found his vocation.....acting.
McCarthy attended college at NYU, which had a drama program, but - other than acting classes - Andrew generally skived off school.
Living in offbeat Greenwich Village, near NYU, was a kind of education in itself though, and lower Manhattan became McCarthy's lifelong home base.
Greenwich Village
Many of McCarthy's acting teachers dismissed his 'talent', but it only takes one. McCarthy writes, "That one for me was a teacher named Terry Hayden. While just in her early sixties at the time, to a 17-year-old kid, Terry seemed ancient....She was wildly insightful....She saved me." Terry sensed Andrew's passion for acting, told him to stick around, and taught him 'The Method' - which trains actors to use their personal experiences to elicit authentic emotion in their performances.
Acting teacher Terry Hayden
McCarthy writes about the friends he made during his early years in college, especially an older roommate named Eddie, whose eclectic wardrobe from thrift stores - baggy olive drab army fatigues, a vintage suit jacket, a long camel hair overcoat, and bowling shoes - informed Andrew's dress code in both real life and movies. McCarthy's drinking in a dive bar with Eddie also laid the foundation for the actor's later alcoholism.
McCarthy admits to being subsumed by his own self-interest during this time, during which he brushed off the outside world and immersed himself in movies and Broadway shows. Being unable to afford tickets to Broadway productions, McCarthy would sneak in after intermission and watch second acts.
Intermission crowd at Broadway show
On Broadway, Andrew was thrilled to see actors like Elizabeth Taylor, Al Pacino, David Bowie, Lauren Bacall, Katherine Hepburn, Lena Horne, Amanda Plummer, and more. Andrew tended to crush on young actresses, but - once again - no luck.
McCarthy started to get small roles, joined SAG, and - as a college sophomore - was cast in the movie Class, where he played a prep school boy who has an affair with his classmate's mother.
Andrew McCarthy and Jacqueline Bisset in Class
This was the real beginning of McCarthy's career, and he was soon out of school and pursuing acting full time.
McCarthy's reminiscences about wanting to act despite being shy and insecure; attending drama school; going to stressful auditions; making his first film; getting help from acting teachers; and rising in the profession feels honest, and can probably inform young people who want to enter show business.
With McCarthy's first (very modest) financial success, his father started asking for money. As McCarthy's career blossomed, his dad asked for funds again and again and again, always promising to pay Andrew back and never doing so. This became a sore point between father and son, and it weakened their already strained relationship. This part of the story makes uncomfortable reading, but McCarthy and his dad had something of a rapprochement when Andrew's dad was dying.
Andrew is honest about his drug and alcohol use, and admits he sometimes showed up on movie sets hung over, unprepared, and ashamed. McCarthy recalls a simple reshoot for the movie Class, which required 50 takes because of his hangover, and still wasn't right.
McCarthy constantly feared unemployment, and was always chasing the next job....even if it was a Pepsi commercial or an afterschool TV special.
Andrew McCarthy and Elizabeth Shue in a Pepsi/Burger King commercial
In time McCarthy did many movies and plays, and philosophizes about the perils of fame.
In the midst of his movie career, McCarthy was drinking to excess on an almost daily basis, and his work started to go downhill. McCarthy managed to stop drinking for a while, but fell off the wagon, and Andrew's final three years of drinking - in his late twenties - were lost painful years to his career and to himself personally.
Eventually McCarthy hospitalized himself for a medical detox, then went to rehab and straightened himself out. McCarthy's career took a different path after that, which is the subject of his first memoir, The Longest Way Home: One Man's Quest for the Courage to Settle Down.
For folks interested in the mechanics of show business, McCarthy writes about technical aspects of film-making; hitting your mark; meshing with fellow actors; doing love scenes; promoting movies; and more.
Being a Hollywood actor meant McCarthy met bigwigs in show business, such as Robert Redford, Sammy Davis Jr., Jimmy Stewart, and Warren Beatty - and McCarthy even lived with Jacqueline Bisset and her boyfriend Alexander Godunov for a time.
Actress Jacqueline Bisset with ballet dancer Alexander Godunov
Readers looking for juicy gossip won't find it in this book, though, as McCarthy is respectful about almost everyone.
Though I've seen many of McCarthy's films, my most enduring memory of the actor is his appearance in a 2003 episode of the TV series Monk (Monk Goes Back To School), where McCarthy plays a devious science teacher who kills a colleague.
Andrew McCarthy in TV episode 'Mr. Monk Goes Back To School'
Since then, McCarthy has gone on to a very successful career as a travel writer, TV actor, and TV director.
McCarthy may have been an indifferent student in high school and college, but he's matured since then, and this memoir is insightful, well-written and enjoyable.
Rating: 4 stars
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