"If the book sucks, at least there are gobs of pictures, and they're not crammed in the middle like all those other actor books." This is the guarantee on the back of a book I picked up at a Borders bookstore one day. Strolling through the Barnes and Noble look-alike, I came across a face that I knew I had seen countless times before on the TV screen. Bruce Campbell's smirk mug looked back at me from the cover of a book labeled "If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a "B" Movie Actor." I remember and loved Campbell from the "Evil Dead Trilogy of movies" and his humorous portrayal of Brisco County, Jr. on the TV show of the same name that at one time aired on FOX. The biography was marked at $14 and I thought that could be a bit pricey for me at the time due to shallow pockets, but the cover and guarantee sparked my interest enough for me to buy it. After two weeks I finished the book, sat back and realized I just read the best autobiography ever. Groovy.
"If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a "B" Movie Actor" by Bruce Campbell is simply the best autobiography any cheapskate could buy. It is a no-bull tell-all tale of a "B" movie actor trying to take a slice of the Hollywood pie. Campbell is perhaps the hardest-working and most famous "B" movie actor in Hollywood today. His fame began with the cult "Evil Dead Trilogy" and then moved on into dozens of spots on TV from "Hercules" and "Xena" TV shows to starring in his own short-lived TV series, "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." Still don't know the guy I am talking about? Then check out the list of movies and TV movies he has done:
| YEAR |
MOVIE |
CONTRIBUTION |
| 2002 |
Serving Sara |
Actor: Gordon Moore |
| 2002 |
Spider-Man |
Actor: Announcer |
| 2002 |
Bubba Ho-Tep |
Actor: Elvis |
| 2002 |
Terminal Invasion |
Actor: Jack |
| 2001 |
The Majestic |
Actor: Roland the Intrepid Explorer |
| 2000 |
Jack of All Trades[TV] |
Executive Producer
Actor: Jack Stiles |
| 1999 |
Gold Rush[TV] |
Actor |
| 1999 |
La Patinoire |
Actor: The Actor |
| 1999 |
From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money |
Actor |
| 1999 |
Icebreaker |
Actor |
| 1997 |
Running Time |
Actor: Carl |
| 1997 |
The Love Bug[TV] |
Actor: Hank Cooper |
| 1997 |
McHale's Navy |
Actor: Virgil |
| 1997 |
Assault on Dome 4 |
Actor |
| 1997 |
In the Line of Duty: Blaze of Glory[TV] |
Actor |
| 1996 |
Tornado![TV] |
Actor: Jake Thorne |
| 1996 |
Fargo |
Actor: Soap Opera Star on TV |
| 1996 |
Escape from L.A. |
Actor: Surgeon General of Beverly Hills |
| 1996 |
Menno's Mind |
Actor: Mick Dourif |
| 1995 |
Congo |
Actor: Charles Travis |
| 1995 |
The Quick and the Dead |
Actor: Wedding Shemp (cut out) |
| 1994 |
The Hudsucker Proxy |
Actor: Smitty |
| 1992 |
Lunatics: A Love Story |
Co-Producer
Actor: Ray |
| 1992 |
Army of Darkness |
Co-Producer
Actor: Ash (Ashley J. Williams) |
| 1992 |
Knowing Lisa |
Producer |
| 1991 |
Mindwarp |
Actor: Stover |
| 1991 |
Waxwork II: Lost in Time |
Actor: John Wright |
| 1991 |
Sundown |
Actor |
| 1990 |
Maniac Cop 2 |
Actor: Jack Forrest |
| 1990 |
Darkman |
Actor: Shemp, Final |
| 1990 |
Sundown, the Vampire in Retreat |
Actor: Elvis |
| 1989 |
The Dead Next Door |
Actor |
| 1989 |
Intruder |
Actor: Officer Howard |
| 1989 |
Easy Wheels |
Producer |
| 1989 |
Moontrap |
Actor: Ray Tanner |
| 1988 |
Maniac Cop |
Actor: Jack Forrest |
| 1987 |
Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except |
Story Author
Actor: Video Newscaster |
| 1987 |
The Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn |
Co-Producer
Actor: Ash (Ashley J. Williams)
|
| 1985 |
Crimewave |
Co-Producer
Renaldo "The Heel" |
| 1983 |
The Evil Dead |
Executive Producer
Actor: Ash (Ashley J. Williams)
|
| 1983 |
Going Back |
Actor |
Long list, huh? Well luckily, Campbell writes his life into a nice, simple 342 pages. He starts out with his outrageous childhood, moves on to when he met Sam Raimi and how they began to make their first movies, then all the way to the present. Unlike other autobiographies of other actors who spew arrogance and self-worship, Campbell's writing is refreshing and down-to-earth. He cusses; he jokes; he goes on rants, and gives just enough butt-kissing to the readers because he knows it is the fans who put him where he is today and helped make this autobiography a New York Times Bestseller.
After finishing Cambell's book you feel like you have known him all your life (that can be a good or bad thing, depending on who you are). Campbell is not like other high and mighty actors. He is much like the common man and is not afraid to admit it. His stories are human and give a unique insight to his mentality that at times is not all here on planet Earth. The book also gives you a great behind-the-scenes of the rough and gritty Hollywood. Campbell is honest, fan caring, and fun. He knows that you don't want to pick up another drab biography off the entertainment shelf of your bookstore so he makes it as fun and entertaining as possible while telling you his story.
"If Chins Could Kill" could be the most honest book since the Bible. Maybe that is why thousands of his fans hold up signs at book signings and conventions proclaiming, "Bruce Campbell is God."
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Name: Shaggy
Comments:
The Evil Dead Trilogy is just fantastic. His newest movie is Bubba-Hotep where he plays like an 80 year old Elvis going against a hell bringing Mummy. Rumor has it he might even be cast as "The Lizard" in one of the upcoming Spiderman movies.
Name: b.faust
Comments:
Bruce Campbell is awesome. I remember the first movie I saw with him in it...Army of Darkness. A classic!
Great article, Shag.
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