Jon Krampner

Female Brando: The Legend of Kim Stanley
HERE IS THE BOOK'S OPENING PASSAGE, FOLLOWED BY THE TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Kim Stanley, born Patricia Beth Reid, told three different stories about her origins. In the rural Texas version, she has a hardscrabble farm youth outside of Lometa, a small town in the hill country of Texas. Her muffled free spirit labors under the yoke of a hardshell Baptist family for whom the church is the center of society, with movies, dancing and even the radio forbidden as instruments of the devil.

This version has a permissive variant: no stern Baptist parents block the picture-show box office, dance hall doorway or radio dial. The bright, sensitive young girl even gets a special pass to the adult section of the library and checks out Henry Miller ("My, my," says the kindly, gray-haired librarian date-stamping Tropic of Capricorn for the eager blonde moppet, "aren't we a precocious young lady!")

In the urban Texas version, Kim grows up in San Antonio, just beyond the shadows of the Alamo. This version also has several variants, usually Dallas and Houston.

The third version places Kim in colorless, bourgeoise Albuquerque, New Mexico, the daughter of a stern, unloving father and his sympathetic but frustrated wife. Sometimes the father is a professor of adult education at the University of New Mexico; at other times, of philosophy.

Kim would mix and match these versions, varying and improvising upon them with the same versatility she would one day use to dazzle Broadway audiences. For all their differences, though, Kim's origin stories always have several things in common: she was a daydreaming loner, angry without knowing why, eager to get out of town and discover the wide world beyond the cramped confines of her girlhood. When her father is in adult education, the third version is true, although the first was her favorite.

"Acting was my ticket out of Texas," she often said. But Kim, while Texan by heritage, was not by experience. She was as authentically New Mexican as the zia sun symbol or pastel blue and pink colors of the Santa Fe style. Like a good New Mexican, she was even born in an adobe house.

As a state of mind, though, Texas was a place Kim longed to get back to. She had a love-hate relationship with the mythical Texas she hailed from, just as she did with her father, railing against their oppressive Baptist strictures, yet magnetically drawn to their spirited and larger-than-life cowboy qualities. J.T. Reid cast a long shadow over his daughter's life, and any effort to understand the complex and vibrant Kim Stanley must begin with him...

Table of Contents
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Part One: The Early Years
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CHAPTER ONE: Daddy Dearest (1925-1941)

This chapter traces Kim's childhood from her birth in Tularosa, N.M., in 1925, through her graduation from high school in Albuquerque. She was the daughter of a strong and indifferent patriarch and his good-natured but erratic wife. Kim's family history and the roots of her character are examined, with an attempt made to separate myths from the truth about her childhood.

CHAPTER TWO: The Yellow Rose of New Mexico (1941-1946)

Kim becomes the leading lady of the drama department at University of New Mexico, which she leaves early to attend Pasadena Playhouse, which she also leaves early. Kim does winter stock in Louisville on the way to New York.

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Part Two: On the New York Stage
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CHAPTER THREE: Yes is For a Very Young Woman (1946-1949)

Kim struggles to find a foothold in New York, acts off-Broadway, and marries and divorces actor Bruce Hall.

CHAPTER FOUR: Method to Her Madness (1949-1952)

Kim gets her first Broadway role in "Montserrat" and also appears in "The House of Bernarda Alba" and "The Chase." She acts in live television, marries Curt Conway, and has an affair with Brooks Clift. She joins the Actors Studio, home of Method acting.

CHAPTER FIVE: A Star is Born (1952-1956)

Kim appears in "Picnic" and stars in "The Traveling Lady" and "Bus Stop." She becomes the leading lady of live television. In her personal life, she divorces Curt Conway, and takes up with Alfred Ryder, but also has numerous affairs.

CHAPTER SIX: A Slap of the Poet (1956-1960)

Chapter 6. "A Slap of the Poet". Kim appears in "A Clearing in the Woods," "A Touch of the Poet," and "Cheri." She also appears in her last live television dramas. She makes her first film, "The Goddess." In her personal life, she marries Alfred Ryder, has more affairs and becomes embroiled in tabloid controversies over her departure from "A Touch of the Poet" and the paternity of her younger daughter.

CHAPTER SEVEN: Last Tango on Broadway (1960-1965)

Kim appears in "A Far Country," "Natural Affection" and "The Three Sisters," which ends her stage career. She does her first filmed television, and makes the British film "Seance on a Wet Afternoon." She divorces Alfred Ryder and marries attorney Joseph Siegel, then suffers a nervous breakdown which spells an end to her stage career.

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Part Three: The Lost Years
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CHAPTER EIGHT: This House of Women (1965-1972)

Kim no longer acts on stage, but makes several filmed and taped TV shows. Broadway and off-Broadway unsuccessfully try to lure her back. Joseph Siegel (fourth husband) divorces her, and she starts to become reclusive.


CHAPTER NINE: "God Had His Hand on My Shoulder" (1972-1982).

Kim leaves New York for Santa Fe. She teaches acting and directs at College of Santa Fe, where her drinking, belligerence and anti-social behavior get her fired. She returns to New York in 1978 to teach acting, and unsuccesfully tries to start a repertory theater. Her drinking and self-destructive behavior worsen. (1972-1981)

CHAPTER TEN: Exit, Pursued by Demons (1982-2001)

Kim goes to Hollywood, where she makes "Frances," "The Right Stuff" and the PBS version of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." She teaches acting and turns into an urban hermit. In 1995, she returns to New Mexico for the last time, dying in Santa Fe in the summer of 2001. An attempt is made to sum her up and to sum up her place in American theater history.


Appendix 1: The Stage Work of Kim Stanley

Appendix 2: The TV Shows of Kim Stanley (the most comprehensive listing anywhere!)

Appendix 3: The Films of Kim Stanley

Appendix 4: Where You Can See the Work of Kim Stanley