Aug 13, 2008 Playbill News

Diahann Carroll Memoir Due in September

Amistad/HarperCollins will release a new autobiographical tome from Tony Award winner Diahann Carroll Sept. 30.

Entitled "The Legs Are the Last to Go: Aging, Acting, Marrying, and Other Things I Learned the Hard Way," the new book was co-written by Carroll and Bob Morris.

"This entertainment icon comes clean," press notes state, "on what it is like to be an award-winning trail blazer on-screen and on-stage…TV's first black bitch, and an aging star in Tinseltown; one who is still working on hot network shows such as 'Grey's Anatomy.' This is a sensitive tale of a senior citizen coming of age that will entertain across multiple generations. Fans and critics alike will glean insight into Ms. Carroll's brightest showbiz moments, romantic liaisons and the toll career devotion has taken on her family life, her brush with breast cancer, the loss of her father, and much more."

In the new book Carroll openly discusses her four marriages, her courtship with Sidney Poitier, racial politics in Hollywood and on Broadway, her audition for Sunset Boulevard, her engagement to David Frost and her brush with breast cancer.

Diahann Carroll, who made her Broadway debut in House of Flowers, won a Tony Award for her work in No Strings. Carroll has a long string of "firsts" associated with her career: She was the first African-American actress to have her own TV series ("Julia"), the first black cast member of "Dynasty" and the first black actress to play Norma Desmond (she starred in the Canadian production of Sunset Boulevard). The actress-singer has also starred in several feature films, including "Claudine," for which she received an Academy Award nomination.
"The Legs Are the Last to Go" has a retail price of $24.95.

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