IntroductionAbout forty-five years ago, I put ten or so framed photographs of friends and family and people I’ve worked with all grouped together on a living room wall in my Malibu home. Everyone who came over loved to look at this montage, and so the “Wall of Life” was born. Over time, I added more until there were scores and scores of images pretty much covering the space, similar to the collection of photographs on the first and last few pages of this book. I even created a Wall of Life at my ranch in the New Mexico mountains and, until fairly recently, there was also a giant one at my home of almost twenty years in Santa Fe. But this collection really wasn’t about me as much as it was about all the people around me. In this magical and enchanting life of mine, I’ve known so many women and men who were interesting—extraordinary, really—and whom I was truly fond of and lucky to know. This wall helps me to remember them and respect them and keep them a part of my life. And there are photographs of people and friends from not only film and television but dance and theater, as well as government and politics, my spiritual journey, and, of course, my family. This is really the only book I’ve written that includes all the different worlds I’ve traveled through and been so fascinated by. Today, I am still shocked and surprised when, after looking at the wall, my memories surface and I realize who is still with me and who is not.
The Wall of Life has been a stage for asking questions, and not just for visitors to ask me things, but for me to ask myself to get at a deeper truth, and to ask my visitors to understand them more. I’ve been reminded that I’m not someone who eagerly engages in small talk and I am known to ask some rather probing questions. Most of the time people are fine with it, and these questions somehow help me know the human race better and understand what is wrong with us. Or what is right with us. Or what is still unknown about who we are. Human identity and human nature are what I love to study, and if nothing else, I want to be remembered for my curiosity and trying to see and know as much as possible. I worry, though, that I haven’t done enough, documented enough, or asked enough questions, so for now, I continue to add and subtract pictures on the Wall of Life—it’s still an ongoing project.
Copyright © 2024 by Shirley MacLaine. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
