Forever Dobie: The Many Lives of Dwayne Hickman

Product Description Chronicling the career of a successful actor and teen heartthrob, a revealing portrait discusses his many film and television credits, while detailing his widely known role as Dobie Gillis From Publishers Weekly Remembered for his title role in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Hickman began his acting career as the reluctant protege of a stage mother and dreamed of one day holding a regular job. The pivotal decision of his life was a choice between a junior executive position with an L.A. utility company and a meaty role on The Bob Cummings Show. Heeding his father's advice to take "the least amount of work for the most amount of money," Hickman chose acting. But he would work very hard-and become a teen celebrity. Hickman's career has been rich and varied. Never abandoning his fascination with the corporate world, he tried being a "suit," working as a CBS executive assigned to such hits as Maude, M*A*S*H and Designing Women, but found himself always returning to acting. Now married and a director as well as an actor, Hickman retains the self-effacing charm that made Dobie Gillis so appealing. His amusing autobiography offers an insider's view of the entertainment business as well as his working relationships with such stars as Tuesday Weld, Jack Benny and George Burns. Photos not seen by PW. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist To a nation raised on Nick at Nite reruns, TV history begins in the mid-1950s, and Dwayne Hickman and Dobie Gillis are interchangeable. To the knowledgeable vidhead, however, Dobie's genesis lies in Hickman's character on The Bob Cummings Show (aka, in reruns, Love That Bob). For that and many other reasons, Hickman's story of teen stardom in the 1950s and 1960s is a must-have for TV and pop culture buffs. Politely recounting his differences with erstwhile Dobie sidekicks Tuesday Weld and Warren Beatty, Hickman doesn't dish much dirt in his breezy showbiz bio, and still, the historical tidbits (the derivation of the name Dobie, for instance) and brief sketches of such pop culture icons as Jack Benny, Bob Cummings, and Max Schulman (Dobie's literary creator, a very successful 1950s comic novelist) are priceless. Mostly, this is a fast-paced look at a fascinating, in some ways groundbreaking sitcom that answers at least one of the period's most important questions, What became of Dobie's brother, Davey Gillis? Mike Tribby