Beyond My Worth: Lillian Roth (1910-1980)

Catapulted back into the limelight as a “reformed” alcoholic, faced with the problems of a professional come-back, besieged by people who sought solace and advice, troubled by her own weaknesses and doubts, Roth found herself on the verge of panic and blindness. But the love and strength of her husband, the will to make good on her own, and the faith and affection of a vast audience who turned to her for help, carried her over the troubled waters. Step by step she found her way out of the darkness that still threatened her. With the same frankness and honesty that made her autobiography a deeply moving experience, Lillian Roth now describes her struggle back to the top of the nightclub circuit, of the lean and the full years, of the disappointments and triumphs, and of her search for religious understanding. She tells of her decision to become a serious actress, of the way she finally found a home, after forty-six years, and of the never-ending struggle that everyone is faced with. “Life is a struggle—and to stop struggling is to stop living. But that struggle is not for money alone, but to create, to realise the best within us.” “People turned to me for help, not realising that I too suffered human frailty. But wondrously, they brought me their strength along with their fears.”