Thank Heaven... My Autobiography

Spotted by Gene Kelly in Paris when she was just 17 and a member of Roland Petit’s legendary ballet company, Leslie Caron became an overnight sensation when Kelly brought her to Hollywood to co-star with him in An American in Paris. She recalls the days of all-night parties where Judy Garland would try out her songs, Gregory Peck smiled at you on the sidewalk, the Duke of Windsor turned up to watch the filming, and Elizabeth Taylor came to supper.The toast of the town, Leslie Caron went on to star in a series of famous films which she writes about with endearing candour, including such classics as Lili, Daddy Long Legs with Fred Astaire, Gigi, with Maurice Chevalier, Fanny, and the L-Shaped Room.However, her story starts in occupied Paris, and she describes vividly her family’s changing fortunes under the Germans and her early successes as a young ballerina in Paris before her move to Hollywood.Never less than frank, Caron talks about the many men in her life – including her second husband Peter Hall and Warren Beatty, with whom she had a two-year love affair; nor does she shrink from describing her more recent battles with alcoholism and depression and – movingly – her triumphant recovery and continuing success in television and films including Damage and Chocolat, and her adventures in converting an old warehouse in Burgundy into a lovely auberge.With friends that have included Jean Renoir, Vincent Minelli and Rudolf Nureyev, Leslie Caron’s story is rich, colourful and entertaining.Leslie Caron now lives in Paris.