“I had become an actor because real life was hard for me. Sometimes it was really rough. Acting was different from real life, yet it gave me the chance to search for complex stories that helped me understand and cope with what I encountered away from the stage lights.”
Legendary actor Nick Nolte delivers his most revealing performance yet. This intimate memoir is a tale of art, passion, commitment, addiction, and the quest for personal enlightenment as intense and hypnotic as the man himself.
In a career spanning five decades and hundreds of roles, Nick Nolte has become a true Hollywood icon. Rising from a difficult childhood in the rural Midwest to leading roles and a trio of Oscar nominations in the golden West, he has been both celebrated and vilified; survived marriages, divorces, and a string of romances; was named the “Sexiest Man Alive” by People magazine; and suffered public humiliation over his addiction issues, including a drug-fueled trip down the Pacific Coast Highway that resulted in his infamous arrest. 
Despite these ups and downs, Nolte has remained true to the craft he loves, portraying a diverse range of characters with his trademark physicality and indelible gravelly voice. Already thirty-five when his performance in the 1976 miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man launched him to stardom, Nolte never learned to play by Hollywood’s rules. A rebel who defies expectations, a committed actor willing to go to extremes for a role, Nolte is motivated by personal, edgy projects, not box office success. Today, he has found peace on his own terms, yet is still driven, juggling projects while raising his young daughter.
Nick’s untold story, with never-before-seen photos, offers a candid, unvarnished close-up look at the man, the career, the loves, and the life.

Rebel: My Life Outside the Lines

Arts & Photography

Nolte, Nick

History & Criticism

William Morrow

The legendary icon tells his story—a tale of art, passion, commitment, addiction, as intense and hypnotic as the man himself.
In a career spanning five decades, Nick Nolte has endured the rites of Hollywood celebrity. Rising from obscurity to leading roles and Oscar nominations, he has been both celebrated and vilified in the media; survived marriages, divorces, and a string of romances; was named the “Sexiest Man Alive” by People magazine; and suffered public humiliation over his drug and alcohol issues, including a drug-fueled trip down a “long road of nothingness” that ended in arrest.
Despite these ups and downs, Nolte has remained true to the craft he loves, portraying a diverse range of characters with his trademark physicality and indelible gravelly voice. Already 35 when his performance in the 1976 miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man launched him to stardom, Nolte never learned to play by Hollywood’s rules. A rebel who defies expectations, an obsessive method actor who will go to extremes for a role (he lived among the homeless to prepare for Down and Out in Beverly Hills), Nolte is motivated more by edgier, more personal projects than by box office success. Today he is clean yet still driven, juggling a number of upcoming works and raising his young daughter.
A man who refuses to hide his mistakes, Nolte now delivers his most revealing performance yet. His revealing memoir, filled with sixteen pages of color photos, offers a candid, unvarnished close-up look at the man, the career, the loves, and the life.

William Morrow Paperbacks

William Morrow Large Print

Rich Man, Poor Man

Strauss, Peter

GREENE, DAVID

Universal City Studios

Bianculli, David

SHAW, Irwin

Bennett, Harve

Asner, Edward

Epstein, Jonathan

LC Purchase Collection (Library of Congress)

A & E Home Video (Firm)

Sagal, Boris

Riesner, Dean

Blakely, Susan

Henry, Gregg

Jordan, James Carroll

A&E HOME ENTERTAINMENT

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