Rudolph Grey’s Ed Wood bio THE NIGHTMARE OF ECSTASY was definitely on the bizarre side, what with its eyewitness accounts of Wood hang- ing out in dresses with more famous reported drag queens Jack Benny, Vincent Price, and Milton Berle. (Fuller only recalls Danny Kaye as a fellow cross-dressing pal of her ex-director/ boyfriend.) Fuller presents Wood as a charm- ing, normal man and professes to know little of his sordid, depressing years as an alcoholic, poverty-ridden novelist of porno books, years emphasized in Grey’s book—not that she doesn’t provide juicy, or at least wacky, tidbits from her Wood years. Not only did it take twenty-six takes for Steve Reeves to tie his tie in JAIL BAIT, the muscular actor seems to have been uncomfort- able with the very notion of wearing a shirt. Hero Tony McCoy could barely wait to wrap up his BRIDE OF THE MONSTER scenes so he and the script girl could hustle to a nearby tool shed and get it on. Orson Welles gave Vampira the clap! If that’s not enough, Fuller also remi- nisces about a “brief, delightful romance” with Dudley Manlove, the haughty alien from PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, whom she describes as a chess champion and an excellent dancer. Guess this explains why his character was named Eros! Discussion of ED WOOD, the movie based on the man she lived with, gives the actress a chance to refute the picture’s unflatteringly comic portrayal of her. (“Do I really have a face like a horse?”) In this section, Fuller goes off the rails a little bit, repeatedly referring to the actress who played her as “Sarah Jurassic Parker” and saying Parker hired Kim Catrall to bring sex appeal to SEX IN THE CITY [sic], the implication being that Parker has no appeal of her own. Furthermore, Parker is described as unprofessional and having more of a knack for self-promotion than actual talent. Fuller con- cedes that her acting in Wood’s films isn’t very good, but says she improved by moving to New York and studying under Stella Adler. Fuller is more positive about Martin Landau, in spite of the fact he once called Fuller the worst actress in the world, and portrayed a Lugosi that she says is the opposite of the Bela she knew, a cul- tured gentleman who never swore (in mixed company, at least). All blame for the film’s por- trayal of Fuller as “bitchy” and “whiny” is as- signed to Parker, when surely the somewhat oversimplified script, which was apparently fol- lowed closely by director Tim Burton, had more to do with it.
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Fuller’s second marriage (not counting the unofficial live-in relationship with Wood) was to the head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party. This makes you wonder, when you reach this part, what gossipy secrets she might reveal about the political figures of the era, but they mostly amount to being hit on by Nelson D. Rockefeller and being unable to understand anything Henry Kissinger ever said. A long- time health nut, Fuller peppers her text with admonitions to eat more fish and vegetables and avoid fried foods, and often returns to the subjects of dance and sex, offering sage observations like this one: “There is nothing more beautiful and sensuous than the move- ments of a dancer’s body having sex. The arching of the back as the breasts protrude and demand attention... rhythmic patterns that bring one to ecstasy.”
After losing Johnny Rivers and, years later, Tanya Tucker just as they were on the verge of success, Fuller was unable to find other acts with the same spark. Charo slipped through her fingers, then her other would-be star acts (The Deltas, The Country Affair, and Mickey Elley’s The Aristocracy) never hit the big time. With the aid of good friend Danny Simon (Neil Simon’s brother), Fuller at- tempted to nurture another little star in Brenda Smith, with only limited success. Not only is Ms. Fuller out to settle the score with Sarah Jessica Parker, she’s also determined to correct Tanya Tucker’s autobiography, which she says not only denigrated her in general, but more specifically wronged her by misspelling her name and leav- ing her out of the acknowledgments. Fuller’s major misstep seems to have been trying to pedal Tucker as a polite little lady, when in fact she was on the verge of notoriety as country music’s wild woman.
Fuller’s memoirs have been shaped by Stone Wallace, who saw PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE as a Communications student in 1982 and eventually sought out Fuller and her latest husband, Dr. Philip Chamberlin (who gets a writing credit one suspects is largely honorary). A true fan, Stone gushes in his Foreword about Fuller’s “smash perfor- mances” in summer stock plays. On a sadder note, Fuller winds the book down by discuss- ing her declining health and the death of her friend Howard Keel. Yet even here Fuller dis- plays the same positive enthusiasm for living that helps make A FULLER LIFE more likeable and readable than the average film biography.
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