Celebrity Sightings

In his tell-all autobiography, My Life, Burt Reynolds writes of Bill McKinney, one of the Deliverance hillbillies: “He always played sickos, but he played them well. With my dark sense of humor, I was kind of amused by him. But as we got closer to the rape scene, I caught him staring at Ned Beatty in an odd, unnerving way. Ned would see it, and look away.” Featuring over-the-top Hollywood anecdotes (but strangely devoid of mean stories about ex-wife Loni Anderson), the book lends itself to stentorian performance. Which you can see today at 4 p.m. during the grand opening of the Out There Coffeehouse inside the Out There Card and Gift Shop (205 Westport, 816-753-4757), where a group of Kansas City notables, including actor and playwright Phil Hooser, will perform dramatic readings from celebrity autobiographies. Besides Reynolds’ My Life, expect to hear excerpts from memoirs by Greg Louganis, Tab Hunter, Bette Davis and Truman Capote. Donations are welcome and will benefit community radio station 90.1 KKFI.
Sat., April 11, 4-5:30 p.m., 2009