Steve Guttenberg is opening up about his personal life and career in his new memoir Time To Thank: Caregiving For My Hero.
In his new book, the Police Academy actor shares about how he switched from Hollywood star to the new role of doting caregiver for his father after he was diagnosed with kidney failure, according to People.
He goes on to track his weekly trips from his home in Los Angeles to Arizona to help care for his dad; reflect on his childhood with his mom and dad in Queens and Long Island, New York; and discuss his life as a young actor through all the disappointment with the help of his parents and their encouragement.
‘From glamorous Hollywood parties and film sets around the world to the daily process of dialysis in suburban Phoenix, Steve offers his wit, empathy, and signature charm,’ an advertisement on Amazon reads.
In Time to Thank, Guttenberg serves as a guide of sorts through the different phases of his life, one of which is as a successful and famous and actor who for the most part was able to keep the many unhealthy temptations of Hollywood at bay.
Steve Guttenberg, 65, shares how he was able to dodge the temptations of Hollywood to go on and have a successful career as an actor, who was able to take on the role of caregiver to his father at the end of is life
Guttenberg, now 65, revealed that he actually left Hollywood the first time he tried to make a career out of performing because he didn’t like the culture of the business.
‘L.A. was fine. It was very laid back at the time. But acting is so competitive, and I didn’t make many friends,’ he said while recalling his time after he moved to Los Angeles after graduating from high school.
In fact, he not only left LA Guttenberg quit acting altogether and went back to school at SUNY Albany.
But then fate would step in when, just five months into his first semester, he got an audition for the thriller film Boys From Brazil (1978) starring screen legends Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier.
‘My dad was like, “Try it and if you get it and don’t like it, you can quit,”‘ he said of advice he got from his late father Stanley, who he says turned out to be his biggest supporter and champion.
Guttenberg went on to land the role of Barry Kohler, a young amateur Nazi hunter who spies on meeting of fugitive Nazis who are embarking on a secret plan to German to all its glory though the use of cloning.
From that point, the offers for roles started pouring in, leading to such popular film as Diner (1982) Police Academy (1984), Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985), Cocoon (1985), Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986), Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987), Three Men And A Baby (1987), Cocoon: The Return (1988) and Three Men And A Little Lady (1990).
During all the success in the 80s Guttenberg saw people partying and partaking in drugs an alcohol, and while he dabbled briefly he never got a raging drug problem like many others in the business.
The actor talks about his career in Hollywood, his parents’ encouraging influence and caretaking for his dad the last five years of his life following a kidney failure diagnosis
The Police Academy star has been promoting for his memoir since before it dropped May 21
Guttenberg was going to leave acting altogether, but his father encouraged him to go to an audition for Boys From Brazil (1978) before quitting, which he ended up landing the role that set up his success for years to come
After landing Bys From Brazil Guttenberg says the role offers started flowing in leading to him starring in such films as Diner (1982) Police Academy (1984), Cocoon (1985), Three Men And A Baby (1987), among so many others; he is seen with Sharon Stone and Michael Winslow
‘I tried it, but it wasn’t a part of my life,’ the Brooklyn, New York native said of the cocaine culture that was so prevelent in New York and Los Angeles.
‘Some people I know would do it all the time, and I’d be like, “How can you do this every day? Don’t you feel lousy in the morning?” They’re like, “Yeah, you got to get it back together in the morning.” That wasn’t for me,’ Guttenberg says.
Later in life the Short Circuit actor would dedicate what turned out to be five years to help take care of his ailing father.
During the time when he put his father his priority over Hollywood he was still able to do a little bit of work with smaller parts, such as the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs.
‘He was an extraordinary guy,’ Guttenberg told People of his dad, who was 89 when he finally passed away in July 2022.
‘He really was the guy who you didn’t want to disappoint,’ the star said of his father, before sharing how he was pushing for his son to return full-time to Hollywood. ‘He really wanted me to start working again. And I wanted to start working again.’
Guttenberg’s memoir Time to Thank: Caregiving For My Hero is available wherever books are sold on May 21
Guttenberg’s memoir Time to Thank: Caregiving For My Hero si available wherever books are sold since May 21.
‘It’s all the memories of my dad when he was young and fit and what he did for me,’ the Hollywood leading man and character actor said of his book.
‘My dad would help me put my pajamas on when I was a kid. And when I was older, I helped my dad put the pajamas on,’ he said while promoting the publication.
‘So I wrote this book, and it’s for the caregivers,’ he added, ‘I think that’s going to be powerful.’
