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Free 1-3 day Priority Mail shipping & insurance in USA 48. Book Condition: Near Fine, First Edition & First Printing, Hardcover, Signed and inscribed by the author to Sue Carvell, his agent, on the date it was published: "For Sue Carvell-My very best wishes. Ben Piazza 9/14/64" (see listing photograph of front free end paper); Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good, in archival mylar cover. This is the first and only novel by Broadway & Hollywood star Ben Piazza. This outstanding book comes with a fascinating history. Ben Piazza was a personal friend of the bookseller in Los Angeles. He was also a protegé and clandestine lover of world-famous gay playwright Edward Albee (see listing photograph), to whom this book is dedicated (and who presumably convinced him to exit the closet). Ben Piazza played Nick in the original 1962 Broadway production of Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" replacing George Grizzard and winning out over George Segal (see listing photograph). Ben published this first (and only) novel in 1964 after that Broadway success. From Wikipedia: Ben Piazza (July 30, 1933 September 7, 1991) was an American actor. LIFE AND CAREER: Piazza made his film debut in Sidney J. Furie's Canadian film "A Dangerous Age" (1959) followed by his Hollywood debut in "The Hanging Tree" (1959). Though he signed contracts with Warner Bros. and Gary Cooper's production companies for five years, he did not make another film until "No Exit" (1962). A prolific television and film character actor, Piazza is perhaps most widely recognized as the wealthy restaurant patron "father" in John Landis' 1980 comedy hit "The Blues Brothers" from whom Jake (John Belushi) offers to purchase his wife and daughter. Prior to that, he also played the violent boyfriend who scars Liza Minnelli's character's face in Otto Preminger's "Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon" (1970). Piazza's other film appearances include "The Candy Snatchers" (1973); Piazza played a dramatic role in an episode of Barnaby Jones, titled Bond of Fear (04/15/1975), "The Bad News Bears" (1976), "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" (1977), "Nightwing" (1979), Peter Bogdanovich's "Mask" (1985), "Clean and Sober" (1988), and "Guilty by Suspicion" (1991), in which he portrayed Hollywood film director/mogul Darryl F. Zanuck. In 1986, Piazza had a three-month stint on the daytime soap opera "Santa Barbara" as Dr. A.L. Rawlings. Piazza also wrote plays and a novel, "The Exact and Very Strange Truth" (1964), a coming-of-age story about an Italian-American boy in Little Rock, Arkansas, which was Piazza s hometown. However, Ben wrote in the book s introduction that any resemblance between the characters and real people was irrelevant , although the parallels to his own life were unmistakable. Piazza dedicated the book to openly gay playwright Edward Albee, who was a close friend. Personal life and death Piazza was married to actress Dolores Dorn from 1967 until 1979.[6] Piazza was in a committed relationship with Wayne Tripp, from 1973 until Piazza died of AIDS-related cancer in 1991 and is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, CA.
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