Works by Helen Sheehy
12 WORDS
New York Times Magazine "Lives"
SENTENCES
"Sentences" Under the Gum Tree
Eleonora Duse. A Biography
A New York Times Notable Book of 2003
Benedict Nightingale New York Times Book Review:
ELEONORA DUSE is always riveting, frequently funny, sometimes touching, and at the end it is moving too. Who would have thought that thousands upon thousands of Americans would have filed past the Italian actress's coffin when it was moved to a church on Lexington Avenue, or that huge crowds would have watched it travel to the pier at 58th Street for its final journey to Naples? But then it was not just acting experts like Strasberg who worshiped Duse. One of the more unexpected tributes in this biography comes from Charlie Chaplin, who knew a few things about skill and feeling.
Her technique, he wrote, was ''so marvelously finished and complete that it ceases to be technique.'' And she combined that craftsmanship with a ''simple, direct 'child soul,' '' a heart ''that has been taught the lesson of human sympathy, and the incisive analytical brain of the psychologist.'' She was ''the greatest artiste I have ever seen.'' Yes, and thanks to Helen Sheehy, the greatest I have ever read about, too.
Benedict Nightingale New York Times Book Review:
ELEONORA DUSE is always riveting, frequently funny, sometimes touching, and at the end it is moving too. Who would have thought that thousands upon thousands of Americans would have filed past the Italian actress's coffin when it was moved to a church on Lexington Avenue, or that huge crowds would have watched it travel to the pier at 58th Street for its final journey to Naples? But then it was not just acting experts like Strasberg who worshiped Duse. One of the more unexpected tributes in this biography comes from Charlie Chaplin, who knew a few things about skill and feeling.
Her technique, he wrote, was ''so marvelously finished and complete that it ceases to be technique.'' And she combined that craftsmanship with a ''simple, direct 'child soul,' '' a heart ''that has been taught the lesson of human sympathy, and the incisive analytical brain of the psychologist.'' She was ''the greatest artiste I have ever seen.'' Yes, and thanks to Helen Sheehy, the greatest I have ever read about, too.
Eva Le Gallienne. A Biography
"An enthralling story" Richard Dyer, Boston Globe
"An extraordinary, deeply felt portrait" Blythe Danner
"A thoroughly engaging biography of an exceptional theatre artist. For any woman in or out of the theatre, Helen Sheehy's book is a treasure." Wendy Wasserstein
"An extraordinary, deeply felt portrait" Blythe Danner
"A thoroughly engaging biography of an exceptional theatre artist. For any woman in or out of the theatre, Helen Sheehy's book is a treasure." Wendy Wasserstein
Margo: The Life and Theatre of Margo Jones
"Helen Sheehy's perceptive and sympathetic biography of Margo Jones makes abundantly clear the great debt all of us interested in the decentralization of the American theatre owe her." Horton Foote
"Exhilarating, funny, moving, expertly crafted." Mark Lamos
"Exhilarating, funny, moving, expertly crafted." Mark Lamos