Beverly Garland - Her Life and Career

by Deborah Del Vecchio, Joseph Campanella (Foreword) & Peggy Webber (Afterword)

Beverly Garland, in her bio book, is full of praise for the bulk of co-stars she had throughout her long career. Only an incident involving Robert Culp and a questionable editing choice of a TV episode on his part managed to have Ms. Garland harbor an uncharacteristic feeling of ill will toward the man. From what I've read of Culp in the past, he did seem to be an aloof character with a tremendous ego. Parts of Ms. Garland's book, however, reveal her to have an ego that is just as disturbing. She is constantly making judgments of other women based on their physical appearance, plainly stating at times that she was prettier than her competition for certain roles, as well as taking an unnecessary backhanded swipe at the physical attributes of actress Kay Lenz, for example. Back in the day, Beverly Garland was extraordinarily beautiful, and remained at least attractive for much of her later years. Still, there's something a little off-puttingly conceited about a woman who's so quick to shower herself with compliments that should emanate more naturally from others. I wonder if I would've liked Beverly Garland, had I met her (her daughter, Carrington, played a memorable role on the soap "Santa Barbara", and it would've been nice if a little more of her were included in the book). The author did a very nice job covering her subject, but I think a little less of Ms. Garland now than I did before I bought the book, and somehow, I doubt that was the author's intent.