Contemporary Authors

1. A life in parts https://lccn.loc.gov/2016295860 Cranston, Bryan, 1956- author. A life in parts / Bryan Cranston. First Scribner hardcover edition. New York : Scribner, 2016.©2016 274 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm PN2287.C657 A3 2016 ISBN: 97814767938561476793859

• Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Cranston

  Bryan Cranston
  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Bryan Cranston
  Bryan Cranston Peabody 2014.jpg
  Cranston in May 2014
  Born March 7, 1956 (age 61)
  Hollywood, California, U.S.
  Residence Ventura County, California, U.S.
  Other names Lee Stone
  Phil Williams
  Occupation Actor, voice actor, director, screenwriter, producer
  Years active 1980–present
  Spouse(s) Mickey Middleton
  (m. 1977; div. 1982)
  Robin Dearden
  (m. 1989)
  Children 1
  Bryan Lee Cranston (born March 7, 1956) is an American actor, voice actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is best known for portraying Walter White on the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad, Hal on the Fox comedy series Malcolm in the Middle, and Dr. Tim Whatley in five episodes of the NBC comedy series Seinfeld.

  For Breaking Bad, Cranston won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series four times (2008–2010, 2014), including three consecutive wins (the second time in television history after Bill Cosby in I Spy during the 1960s).[1] After becoming one of the producers of Breaking Bad in 2011, he also won the award for Outstanding Drama Series twice.[2]

  Cranston was also nominated three times for the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in Malcolm in the Middle. His role in Breaking Bad also earned him five Golden Globe nominations and one win in 2014, nine Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations with four wins, and six Satellite Awards nominations with four wins. In June 2014, he won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his portrayal of Lyndon B. Johnson in the play All the Way on Broadway. He reprised his role in the television film of the same name, which debuted on HBO in May 2016. For the film Trumbo (2015), he received widespread acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

  Cranston has directed episodes of various television series, including seven episodes of Malcolm in the Middle, three episodes of Breaking Bad, two episodes of Modern Family and one episode of The Office. He has also appeared in several acclaimed films such as Saving Private Ryan (1998), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Drive (2011), Argo (2012) and Godzilla (2014). In 2015, Cranston, together with David Shore, executive produced and wrote the story for the Amazon Studios original crime drama Sneaky Pete, the pilot episode of which aired on August 7, 2015.[3]

  Contents [hide]
  1 Early life
  2 Career
  3 Personal life
  4 Filmography
  5 Awards and nominations
  6 References
  7 External links
  Early life[edit]
  Bryan Lee Cranston was born on March 7, 1956[4] in Hollywood, California,[5] the son of Audrey Peggy (née Sell; 1923–2004), a radio actress, and Joseph Louis "Joe" Cranston (1924–2014), an actor and former amateur boxer.[6][7][8] He is the second of three children. He was raised partly by his grandparents,[9] living on their poultry farm in the Canoga Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.[2][10][11] His father was of Austrian, German, Irish, and Jewish descent, while his maternal grandparents were German immigrants.[12][13] He has stated that his parents were "broken people" and that they were "incapacitated as far as parenting", causing the family to lose their house in a foreclosure.[9]

  Cranston's father held many jobs before deciding to become an actor, but did not secure enough roles to provide for his family. He eventually walked out on the family when Cranston was 11 years old, and they did not see each other again until 11 years later, when Cranston and his brother decided to track their father down.[6] Cranston was 22 at the time, and he and his father maintained a relationship until his father's death in 2014.[14] Cranston later claimed that he based his portrayal of Walter White on his own father, who had a slumped posture "like the weight of the world was on his shoulders".[6]

  During his preteen years, Cranston encountered a young Charles Manson while riding a horse at the Spahn Ranch.[15] This happened about a year before the Tate-LaBianca murders.[16] He graduated from Canoga Park High School, where he was a member of the school's chemistry club.[17] He earned an associate's degree in police science from Los Angeles Valley College in 1976.[18]

  Career[edit]
  After college, Cranston began his acting career in local and regional theaters, getting his start at the Granada Theater in the San Fernando Valley. He had previously performed as a youth, but his show business parents had mixed feelings about their son being involved in the profession, so he did not continue until years later.[8] Cranston was ordained as a minister by the Universal Life Church, and performed weddings for $150 a service to help with his income.[19][20]

  He started working regularly in the late 1980s, mostly doing minor roles and advertisements.[citation needed] He was an original cast member of the ABC soap opera Loving, where he played Douglas Donovan from 1983 to 1985.[8] Cranston starred in the short-lived series Raising Miranda in 1988.

  Cranston's voice acting includes English dubbing of Japanese anime (under the pseudonym Lee Stone),[21] including Macross Plus and Armitage III: Poly-Matrix, and most notably, the children's series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Cranston did voice work for the 1993-94 first season of that series, playing characters such as Twin Man and Snizzard, for which he was paid about $50.00 an hour for two or three hours of daily work. The Blue Power Ranger, Billy Cranston, was named for him.[22][23]

  Cranston in 2008
  From 1994 to 1997, Cranston made a handful of appearances as Dr. Tim Whatley, Jerry's dentist, on Seinfeld. In 1996, he played his second astronaut when he portrayed Gus Grissom in the film That Thing You Do! In 1997, Cranston had a small role in Babylon 5 as Ericsson. In 1998, Cranston appeared in an episode of The X-Files written by Vince Gilligan. That same year, he portrayed astronaut Buzz Aldrin in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. In 1999, Cranston wrote and directed the film Last Chance.[24] That same year he made his second appearance for a recurring role on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens, playing Doug Heffernan's neighbor, Tim Sacksky.

  In 1998, he appeared in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, as War Department Colonel I.W. Bryce, who insists that Private Ryan be rescued.

  His theatrical credits include starring roles in The God of Hell, Chapter Two, The Taming of the Shrew, A Doll's House, Barefoot in the Park, Eastern Standard, Wrestlers and The Steven Weed Show, for which he won a Drama-Logue Award.[25]

  In 2000, Cranston landed a leading role as Hal on the comedy series Malcolm in the Middle. He would remain with the show until its end in 2006. Cranston ended up directing several episodes of the show and received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his performance.[26] Cranston reprised his role in a cutaway gag during the Family Guy episode "I Take Thee Quagmire", killing Lois (his wife on Malcolm in the Middle) with a refrigerator door, and in a leaked alternate ending of Breaking Bad with Jane Kaczmarek reprising her role as Lois.[27]

  Cranston at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International
  He has had guest roles in many television series, including a white-collar criminal searching for his estranged wife and daughter on The Flash, a lawyer attempting to free the title character from a contract in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and a bigoted man being driven insane by extremely low frequency sonar waves in The X-Files episode "Drive". He also had a guest role in late 2006 on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, playing Ted Mosby's obnoxious co-worker and former boss Hammond Druthers. He played Lucifer in the ABC Family miniseries Fallen and appeared as Nick Wrigley, an irresponsible uncle who accidentally brings Christmas close to destruction when he steals Santa's sleigh to have a crazy ride, in the 2001 Disney Channel Original Movie 'Twas the Night. He appeared as the more successful business colleague of Greg Kinnear's character in the film Little Miss Sunshine (2006). In September 2008, Cranston narrated a pre-teen adventure/fantasy audiobook called Adventures with Kazmir the Flying Camel.[28]

  From 2008 to 2013, Cranston starred in the AMC series Breaking Bad, created by Vince Gilligan, in which he played Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Walter teams up with former student Jesse Pinkman (played by Aaron Paul), to manufacture and sell methamphetamine to ensure the well-being of Walter's family after he dies. Cranston's work on the series was met with widespread critical acclaim, winning him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in each of the show's first three seasons and being nominated in 2012 and 2013 for seasons four and five (winning again in 2014 for the second half of season 5). Cranston and Bill Cosby are the only actors to have won the award three consecutive times.[2] Cranston was also a producer for the fourth and fifth seasons of the series, and directed three episodes of the show during its run.

  Cranston at the “All the Way” premiere at the LBJ Library in Austin
  In 2011, Cranston had supporting roles in three successful films, the drama The Lincoln Lawyer, as well as the thrillers Drive and Contagion. He voiced James Gordon in the animated film Batman: Year One (2011).[29] In 2012, he had supporting roles in John Carter, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted as Vitaly the tiger, and Rock of Ages, and a major role in the hostage drama Argo. He also lent his voice to several episodes of the animated series Robot Chicken.[30] In 2012, he starred in the remake of the 1990 film Total Recall, as Chancellor Vilos Cohaagen, the corrupted president of a fictional war-ravaged United Federation of Britain. In the same year, he made a guest appearance as Kenneth Parcell's step-father, Ron, on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, and was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[31]

  From September 2013 to June 2014, Cranston played U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson in the American Repertory Theater and Broadway productions of All the Way, in a performance that has received widespread acclaim, and he later won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for the role.[32][33][34][35] He also played scientist Joe Brody in the 2014 reboot of Godzilla.[36]

  Cranston has produced an instructional DVD called KidSmartz, which is designed to teach families how to stay safe from child abductors and Internet predators. KidSmartz raises money for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children by donating half the proceeds from sales. Also, following the success of Breaking Bad, the year 2014 saw reports of Cranston developing new TV projects in collaboration with Sony Pictures Television.[37] In 2016, it was announced that he would star in an episode of the Channel 4/Amazon Video series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, and would also serve as an executive producer on the series. [38][39]

  On July 16, 2014, it was announced that Cranston would star in an HBO adaptation of his hit play All the Way. Steven Spielberg was set to be an executive producer on the film.[40] Following the film's premiere on May 21, 2016, Cranston's performance was widely praised by critics, garnering eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations and a Television Critics Choice Award nomination.[41] In 2015, Cranston starred as screenwriter Dalton Trumbo in the biopic Trumbo, for which he received his first Academy award nomination.[42]

  In 2016, Cranston voiced Li, the biological father of Po, in Kung Fu Panda 3.[43] Also that year, he appeared in many films, including The Infiltrator and Wakefield. Cranston's memoir, A Life in Parts, was published on October 11, 2016, became a New York Times best-seller, and received positive reviews.[44][45][46]

  In 2017, he voiced Zordon in Lionsgate's Power Rangers, which marked his return to the franchise after providing voices for the series' first season.[47]

  Personal life[edit]

  Cranston and wife Robin Dearden, September 2008
  From 1977 to 1982, Cranston was married to writer Mickey Middleton.[48] At 33, he married Robin Dearden,[49] whom he had met on the set of the series Airwolf in 1984. He was playing the villain of the week and she played the hostage he held at gunpoint. Their daughter, Taylor Dearden Cranston (born 1993), is a theatre studies student at the University of Southern California and played an extra in the Breaking Bad episode "No Mas", directed by her father. She plays Ophelia Mayer in Sweet/Vicious.

  Cranston played baseball when he was a student[8] and remains a collector of baseball memorabilia and an avid fan of the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers.[50] When he accepted his third Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Cranston thanked his wife and daughter, and told them he loves them "more than baseball". The family has a beach house in Ventura County, California, which Cranston designed.[1][51] Cranston lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico while filming Breaking Bad.[52] He was a co-owner of the former independent theater Cinemas Palme d'Or in Palm Desert, California.[53][54]

  To commemorate the final episode of Breaking Bad, Cranston and castmate Aaron Paul both got Breaking Bad tattoos on the last day of filming; Cranston's tattoo consists of the show's logo on one of his fingers.[55][56]

  In April 2014, Cranston presented at Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet Competition with Idina Menzel, Fran Drescher, and Denzel Washington, after raising donations at his Broadway show All the Way.[57]

• Biography - https://www.biography.com/people/bryan-cranston-21347665

  Bryan Cranston Biography.com
  Actor, Television Actor(1956–)
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  QUICK FACTS

  NAME
  Bryan Cranston
  OCCUPATION
  Television Actor
  BIRTH DATE
  March 7, 1956 (age 61)
  DID YOU KNOW?
  Bryan Cranston once harbored dreams of becoming a police officer.
  DID YOU KNOW?
  Bryan Cranston and Bill Cosby are the only actors to have won the Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor in a drama series three consecutive years.
  EDUCATION
  Los Angeles Valley College
  PLACE OF BIRTH
  Canoga Park, California
  AKA
  Bryan Cranston
  FULL NAME
  Bryan Lee Cranston
  ZODIAC SIGN
  Pisces
  SYNOPSIS
  CITE THIS PAGE
  Award-winning actor Bryan Cranston played the character of Walter White, a high school teacher turned meth kingpin, on the hit television drama 'Breaking Bad.'
  IN THESE GROUPS

  FAMOUS PEOPLE IN TELEVISION
  FAMOUS EMMY WINNERS
  FAMOUS PEOPLE BORN IN CALIFORNIA
  FAMOUS PEOPLE BORN IN UNITED STATES
  Show All Groups
  QUOTES
  “I love acting because it's empowering. It empowers me.”
  —Bryan Cranston

  Synopsis

  Born in 1956 in Canoga Park, California, Bryan Cranston spent the early part of his career taking on a variety of commercial jobs and single-appearance television roles. In 2000, he landed the character of Hal, the father in the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. He earned his greatest fame for the portrayal of Walter White in the critically acclaimed drama Breaking Bad, garnering four Emmy wins for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Cranston has also claimed a Tony Award for his stage work as well as Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for his performance in the 2015 biopic Trumbo.

  Younger Years

  Bryan Lee Cranston was born in Canoga Park, California, on March 7, 1956. The son of an aspiring actor, Cranston spent much of his early childhood watching his father, Joe, live a disappointed life for failing to achieve the big-screen stardom he longed for.

  Eventually his father left show business, but his still-inconsistent earnings put too heavy a strain on the family and his marriage. At the age of 12, Bryan Cranston weathered his parents' divorce and, not long after, the foreclosure on the family home. The crisis forced Cranston and his older brother, Kyle, to move in with their grandparents for a year. The two boys didn't see their father for a solid decade.

  In school, Cranston was a decent student and an unsure athlete, talented but lacking confidence. "It was not a great time for me," he later said. "I was really quiet and unassuming and insecure. And my timidity pushed me to the sidelines, literally and figuratively."

  At the age of 16, Cranston joined the Los Angeles Police Department's Law Enforcement Explorer Program. He rose to the top of his class, setting his sights on earning a political science degree and embarking on a career as a cop. But when a guidance counselor said he needed to add an elective to his course work, Cranston opted for acting and quickly found he had a gift for stage work.

  By the time he graduated from high school, in 1976, Cranston had ditched any dreams of a job in law enforcement and instead set out on a two year-motorcycle excursion with Kyle, in which the pair roamed the country, stopping just long enough to find short-term work to earn money and get back on the road.

  The two brothers eventually settled back into a life in California, where they both set out to become actors.

  Early Acting Career: 'Malcolm in the Middle'

  Not harboring the same kind of star-studded dreams his father had, Cranston took on nearly any and all work that came his way. That included Preparation H ads and bit spots on shows such as Airwolf and Murder, She Wrote.

  By the late 1990s, Cranston had assembled a respectable, low-key career. His credits from this period include recurring parts on Seinfeld and King of Queens. Additionally, he played Buzz Aldrin in the Tom Hanks television miniseries From the Earth to the Moon (1998), and portrayed an American colonel in Saving Private Ryan (1998).

  His profile received a big boost in 2000 when he signed on to play Hal, opposite Jane Kaczmarek's Lois, as the father of five boys, on the hit FOX sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. The role garnered three supporting actor Emmy Award nominations for Cranston.

  'Breaking Bad'

  It was while looking for work shortly after the end of Malcolm in the Middle in 2006 that Cranston got his first look at the Breaking Bad script. The show's creator, Vince Gilligan, had first met Cranston in 1998, when the two collaborated as director and character actor in an episode of The X-Files. As he began putting together the pieces for his new show, Gilligan kept coming back to Cranston as the central character, Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with lung cancer who starts cooking meth in order to leave his family with enough money after his death.

  Cranston has said that upon reading the show's initial script, he was determined to play White, because he felt it would change the life of whomever landed the role. For Cranston, it certainly did. Critics hailed the show, which debuted in 2008, as one of the best on TV, and it landed the thespian three straight Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series—making Cranston the only actor besides Bill Cosby to win the award in three consecutive years. Cranston added a fourth Emmy win in 2014, following the end of the series.

  Around the time that Breaking Bad came to a close, in 2013 Cranston was cast as Dalton Trumbo in a new biopic about the blacklisted, Academy Award-winning screenwriter. Following the 2015 release of Trumbo, Cranston received both Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. He has also earned acclaim for work in the theater, winning a 2014 lead actor Tony for his portrayal of President Lyndon B. Johnson in All The Way. In 2016, he reprised his role as Johnson in the HBO TV-film by the same name and received a Golden Globe nomination for best actor.

  Other 2016 projects included the films The Infiltrator and Wakefield. Cranston also voiced the character Li, Po's biological father, in Kung Fu Panda 3, and released his New York Times bestselling memoir A Life in Parts (2016).

  In 2017, he played Zordon in the superhero film Saban's Power Rangers. He returned to the popular franchise after voicing the characters of Snizzard and Twin Man in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV series early in his career.

  Personal Life

  Cranston lives in Southern California with his second wife, Robin Dearden. The couple has a daughter, Taylor Dearden.

• Emmys - http://www.emmys.com/bios/bryan-cranston

  Bryan Cranston

  PHOTOS VIDEOS
  Birthplace: Canoga Park, California
  Birthday: March 07
  Bryan Cranston won three consecutive Emmy® Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Walter White on AMC's Breaking Bad. Cranston holds the honor of being the first actor in a cable series, and the second lead actor in the history of the Emmy® Awards to receive three consecutive wins. His performance also earned him a fourth Emmy® nomination in 2013, a Television Critics Association award, two Golden Globe nominations and a Screen Actors Guild award.

  On the big screen, Cranston won a second Screen Actors Guild award for his co-starring role in the 2012 Oscar-winning Best Picture, Argo, essaying the role of CIA operative Jack O’Donnell opposite star-director Ben Affleck.

  He is currently in production on Legendary Pictures remake of Godzilla starring opposite Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen. He will also voice a character in DreamWorks Kung Fu Panda 3.

  He was heard as the voice of Vitality in Madagascar 3 Europe’s Most Wanted, which grossed over $730 million worldwide. He also starred in Len Wiseman’s remake of Total Recall, Adam Shankman’s Rock of Ages and Nicolas Winding Refn's critically acclaimed film, Drive, opposite Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan.

  Cranston's additional feature film credits include: Contagion, John Carter of Mars, Larry Crowne, The Lincoln Lawyer, Little Miss Sunshine, Seeing Other People, Saving Private Ryan and That Thing You Do!

  Born to a show business family and raised in Southern California, Cranston made his acting debut at the age of eight in a United Way commercial. It wasn't until he finished college that acting became a serious consideration. While on a cross-country motorcycle trip with his brother, he discovered community theater and began exploring every aspect of the stage. Soon, he was cast in a summer stock company.

  Cranston returned to Los Angeles and quickly landed a role on the television movie Love Without End, which led to his being signed as an original cast member of ABC's Loving. He went on to appear in numerous television roles including a seven-year run as Hal on FOX's Malcolm in the Middle, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe and three Emmy® awards; the recurring role of Dentist, Tim Whatley on Seinfeld; HBO's acclaimed miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon, as Buzz Aldrin, and the made-for-television movie I Know My First Name is Steven, among others. He has guest starred on numerous TV programs.

  Cranston continues to pursue his love for theater whenever possible. Credits include: The God of Hell, Chapter Two, The Taming of the Shrew, A Doll's House, Eastern Standard, Wrestlers, Barefoot in the Park and The Steven Weed Show, for which he won a Drama-Logue Award.

  Cranston is also a dedicated screenwriter and director. He wrote the original romantic drama, Last Chance as a birthday gift for his wife, Robin Dearden, and directed and starred in the film. Cranston has also directed several episodes of Malcolm in the Middle, the Comedy Central pilot Special Unit, Breaking Bad and recently an episode of Modern Family.

  In early 2011, Cranston served as executive producer and star of an exclusive online series called The Handlers for Atom.com. The comedic short series followed Cranston as the character Jack Powers and his race to win a seat on the State Senate.

  Cranston also produced an instructional DVD called KidSmartz, which is designed to educate families on how to stay safe from child abduction and Internet predators. KidSmartz raises money for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

A Life in Parts
Publishers Weekly.
263.41 (Oct. 10, 2016): p72.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text: 
A Life in Parts
Bryan Cranston. Scribner, $27 (320p)
ISBN 978-1-4767-9385-6
Though known today for Breaking Bad, Cranston played a number of roles before becoming an actor. Paperboy, biker, grocery store security guard--each chapter explores a different facet of Cranston's personal history, as though
Cranston were teaching another actor how to play him onstage. Deeply personal from the outset, Cranston walks readers through his early aimless years, his moment of Zen inspiration to be an actor, and the obsessive hard work on the
soap opera Loving, during which he was also dealing with the fallout from an abusive relationship. Cranston discusses his later success on Malcolm in the Middle; Breaking Bad fans, of course, will fly straight to Cranston's chapters on
script changes made behind the scenes and the reasoning behind Walt's underwear choices. But the way in which Cranston's simple, staccato prose invites readers to empathize with every "character" he's played elevates this
autobiography to more than just a look behind the scenes--it's a look behind a life. (Nov.)
Source Citation   (MLA 8th
Edition)
"A Life in Parts." Publishers Weekly, 10 Oct. 2016, p. 72. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA466616213&it=r&asid=37d02b3d057b0cc9a1c199f71c961c40. Accessed 28
May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A466616213

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Cranston, Bryan. A Life in Parts
Terry Bosky
Library Journal.
141.15 (Sept. 15, 2016): p86.
COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text: 
Cranston, Bryan. A Life in Parts. Scribner. Oct. 2016.320p. illus. ISBN 9781476793856. $27; ebk. ISBN 9781476793887. memoir
Cranston, Breaking Bads Walter White (or Malcolm in the Middles father Hal), pens a literal compilation of the roles hes played throughout his life. We see not only the television actor but also the parts hes assumed in his family (son,
father, husband), the odd jobs hes held (farmhand, lifeguard, dating consultant), and other elements that form the man he is today. The books organization is fragmented with a new role coming every few pages, but its presented
chronologically and narrative threads connect the many roles. A disastrous elementary school role as Professor Flipnoodle in The Time Machine haunts him decades later as he prepares to play Lyndon B. Johnson on Broadway. His
relationship with his alcoholic mother and absentee father influence his marriage and his parenting. Cranston has led an exciting life, but fans of his biggest roles will be disappointed. His focus on Malcolm in the Middle is largely on
Hals shenanigans and its a good 250 pages into the memoir before we come to Breaking Bad. His Oscar-nominated turn as Dalton Trumbo barely fills a sentence (whereas Seinfeld dentist Tim Whatley is given a whole section).
VERDICT Recommended for people who are more interested in the actors life than a celebrity tell-all.--Terry Bosky, Madison, WI
Source Citation   (MLA 8th
Edition)
Bosky, Terry. "Cranston, Bryan. A Life in Parts." Library Journal, 15 Sept. 2016, p. 86. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA463632523&it=r&asid=9574674a5b5538c8521377ba1fa7bb9b. Accessed 28 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A463632523

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A Life in Parts
Carol Haggas
Booklist.
113.1 (Sept. 1, 2016): p26.
COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text: 
A Life in Parts. By Bryan Cranston. Oct. 2016.368p. Scribner, $27 (9781476793856). 791.45.
One could be forgiven for being unaware of the soap opera Loving (1983-1995). It's entirely possible to have ignored the mania for Malcolm in the Middle (2000-2006), and certainly understandable to have missed the handful of
Seinfeld episodes featuring dentist Tim Whatley. But one would have to have been living in a cave on Mars to be oblivious to the cultural phenomenon that is Breaking Bad. As suburban chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin Walter
White, Cranston took whatever viewers might have thought about him as Lovings nice guy, Doug Donovan, or Malcolms nerdy dad, Hal, and turned that on its head. As Cranston discusses seminal episodes from his past as an estranged
son from a broken home, a rent-a-cop security guard, a Universal Life minister, and a struggling actor, he builds the case that, as an actor, every experience shapes each persona you portray. Cranston fans will delight in the intimate
revelations in this substantial memoir from one of Hollywood's most introspective stars. And anyone interested in acting will devour Cranston's savvy advice about honing one's craft and building one's career.--Carol Haggas
Haggas, Carol
Source Citation   (MLA 8th
Edition)
Haggas, Carol. "A Life in Parts." Booklist, 1 Sept. 2016, p. 26. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA463755012&it=r&asid=b7dabebdcc31fad626b7d2116c677b98.
Accessed 28 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A463755012

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A Life In Parts
Edward Morris
BookPage.
(Nov. 2016): p38.
COPYRIGHT 2016 BookPage
http://bookpage.com/
Full Text: 
A LIFE IN PARTS
By Bryan Cranston
Scribner
$27, 288 pages
ISBN 9781476793856
Audio, eBook available
MEMOIR
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Although his father was a small-time actor (with outsize dreams), Bryan Cranston didn't pledge himself to Thespis until he was stranded for six rainy days and nights in a picnic area on the Blue Ridge Parkway with only an anthology of
plays for entertainment. He was 21 at the time and had already done a smattering of amateur theater. But until this soggy epiphany broadsided him, his focus had been on a career in law enforcement.
It would be another six years of small roles and TV commercials before Cranston found steady work, acting on the ABC soap opera "Loving." There followed such memorable mileposts as six appearances on "Seinfeld" as selfaggrandizing
dentist Tim Whatley, seven seasons as the goofy dad, Hal Wilkerson, on "Malcolm in the Middle" and, most triumphantly, five seasons on "Breaking Bad" as Walter White, the emotionally defeated high school chemistry
teacher turned psychopathic drug lord.
Cranston's memoir, A Life in Parts, is an engrossing blend of stories and tricks of the acting trade. He learns to slaughter chickens, becomes a mail-order minister, motorcycles from coast to coast with his brother, barely survives a crazy
girlfriend and proposes marriage in a bubble bath. And that's just a sampling.
He advises aspiring actors to stay busy and go the extra mile to secure and inhabit a role, noting that he took rock-climbing lessons to score a candy commercial and clothed himself in live bees for an episode of "Malcolm." He also
explains how he adopted a mindset that turns even unsuccessful auditions into personal victories and presents a numerical scale by which to judge whether or not a part is worth taking. More subtle tips abound.
While there may have been bees on Cranston, there are assuredly no flies. "I never want to limit myself," he writes. "I want to experience everything. When I die, I want to be exhausted."--EDWARD MORRIS
Source Citation   (MLA 8th
Edition)
Morris, Edward. "A Life In Parts." BookPage, Nov. 2016, p. 38. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA469503140&it=r&asid=b5e3efa45ebc71d9e0b8f0546f684a06.
Accessed 28 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A469503140

"A Life in Parts." Publishers Weekly, 10 Oct. 2016, p. 72. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA466616213&it=r. Accessed 28 May 2017. Bosky, Terry. "Cranston, Bryan. A Life in Parts." Library Journal, 15 Sept. 2016, p. 86. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA463632523&it=r. Accessed 28 May 2017. Haggas, Carol. "A Life in Parts." Booklist, 1 Sept. 2016, p. 26. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA463755012&it=r. Accessed 28 May 2017. Morris, Edward. "A Life In Parts." BookPage, Nov. 2016, p. 38. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA469503140&it=r. Accessed 28 May 2017.

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