Draws on the actor, director, and producer's personal documents to offer insight into his complex life behind his famous roles, discussing the death of his son, his relationship with Sydney Pollack, and his establishment of the Sundance Film Festival.

"An Improvised Life" is Oscar winner Alan Arkin's wise and unpretentious recollection of the process--artistic and personal--of becoming an actor, and a revealing look into the creative mind of one of the best practitioners on stage or screen.

"Drawing on the Academy Award-winning actor's journals and diaries from the last 40 years, this book presents a uniquely McConaughey approach to achieving success and satisfaction"-- "I've been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five." McConaughey sat down with those diaries. He found lessons he learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions,...

The actress shares her story in a memoir that spans her childhood in Texas, her arrival in New York City, her distinguished acting career, and her loyalty to her rural roots.