Chasing the Panther

Adventures and Misadventures of a Cinematic Life

By: Carolyn Pfeiffer, Gregory Collins - contributor

Narrated by: Devon O'day

Length: 10 hrs

Publisher's summary

A cinematic and vibrant coming-of-age memoir, Chasing the Panther captures the thrilling and, at times, heartbreaking early years of Carolyn Pfeiffer, a pioneering film producer and one of Hollywood's first female executives—a “mini-mogul” in the words of the Wall Street Journal.

For a moment in the 1980s, Carolyn Pfeiffer was the only woman in Hollywood who could greenlight a movie. Working with directors like Sam Shepard and Wes Craven, and with actors like River Phoenix and Bette Davis, she had a hand in producing or distributing many landmark films, among them Ridley Scott's The Duellists, Alan Rudolph's Choose Me, and the Academy Award-winning Kiss of the Spider Woman. However, long before establishing herself as a player in the world of film, Carolyn was a horseback-riding tomboy who dreamed of exploring the world beyond her small hometown. Her journey turned out to be a tale fit for the movies.

As a young girl jumping from rock to rock in a rural North Carolina town, Carolyn felt a calling she couldn’t articulate but that she nonetheless understood: it was a tug on her heart, a yearning for something more. When she could, she set out for New York City, a refuge for young women exercising their independence and resisting the pressures of marriage and motherhood. There, swept up in the glamorous world of beat poets and millionaires, Carolyn brushed shoulders with a young Burt Reynolds and became fast friends with an English journalist named Penny.

As the turbulent 1960s dawned, Carolyn booked a one-way passage to Europe. Her plan was to visit Penny and to travel around Europe for the summer but, instead, the world opened up to her in ways she never could have imagined. She found herself on set with Italy’s great filmmakers, in the couture houses of Paris’ fashion icons, and swept up in the youthful energy flooding London. She learned about film and found work on iconic movies like Federico Fellini’s 8 ½, Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, and David Lean's Doctor Zhivago, and she came to befriend and work alongside luminaries like the Beatles, Tennessee Williams, Francoise Truffaut, and Barbra Streisand. Amid these adventures and misadventures, Carolyn fell in and out of love, and was beset by tragedies and triumphs that resoundingly affirmed what she'd known since girlhood—that she was always destined for something more.

Set against the dazzling backdrop of Fellini's Rome, the Paris of the French New Wave, and Swinging London, Chasing the Panther comes across like a true-to-life novel revealing Carolyn’s unforgettable journey to find her place in the world.

Photos are included in the audiobook companion PDF download.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Carolyn Pfeiffer (P)2022 Harper Horizon

Fascinating memoir

Come for the celebrity stories from the golden age of American and European film. Stay for the lessons of relationships and career and poignant heartache and joy. I loved this so much more than I expected to.

Beautifully Written

Incredible story that shouts the embodiment of the strength of women. An amazing cinematic journey!

A surprise

I tend to not like memoirs but this book is the exception. It’s not a tell all book but a story about a remarkable woman who happened to be present during an historic time in cinema. There’s no trashing of people here. Just an appreciation of the art of film
Making and the people who make it possible.

The Epitome of Courage and Grace

Carolyn has lived a life that most of us could only dream about! She tells the story of her early years in cinema with such eloquence and grace, it feels like she’s taking you on the journey with her!

The dawning of the 60’s and 70’s brings a lot of change for women and what women can do; how they navigate relationships, working and children, with and without marriage.

With good comes indescribable heartache and yet Carolyn finds the wisdom, grace and perseverance to truly find the good and peace that life brings.

I hope Carolyn writes another book picking up where this one let’s off!

Love, art, music, cinema, history.

A beautifull full life throughout history. So many images come to our imagination while listening to this brilliant courageous woman ahead of time. With open heart. Absolutely beautiful. And the voice of Devon O'day just perfect!

Captivating and well crafted

Coming of age story of trailblazing female producer who leaves the US for Europe. On her own, she finds love and loss. Bemused and engaged with movies, Carolyn drops us into Rome, Paris and London during the 60s and 70s .There we meet lovers, new friends and family. She deftly weaves the story of career, movie history and tender love affairs - and does it with a strong authorial voice. I was moved. Strong female memoir.

Insightful look at an inspirational life

Not many auto biographies are as beautifully written with the thoughts provoked by the times lived through.
One example I had to write down to remember and also to share with potential readers:

Reflecting on the End of the 60s
“It had been a decade of change, of asking questions that were more interesting than the available answers.
Why ARE women unequal?
Why are races segregated?
Why do ideology and religion lead to war?
Why is sex SO regulated?
As the decade progressed, the drumbeat of these questions grew louder and louder until it became evident that the answers would have to be made up, dreamed into existence by the same people asking the questions.”

Everything I hate in a memoir.

I was looking forward to reading about a small-town girl who with both ambition and luck, became interwoven in the emerging creative world of Europe in the ‘50s and “60s. Certainly, the names are all here: Fellini, Deneuve, the Beatles, Sharif. And Pfeiffer praises each with anecdotes aplenty. But, she also colors herself as their guiding star, their muse, their love. Like Forrest Gump, in every key moment, there is Carolyn.

Through her good ol’ American gumption, she’s Johnny on the spot, to save the day, say the right thing, inspire genius. For me, it was hard to take.

Even more difficult to take, to be honest, was the endless string of liaisons with both the famous and the not-so-famous, This book has more sex than any biography or autobiography I’ve ever read. Sean Connery’s hand up Carolyn’s thigh at a restaurant, Omar Sharif’s unending infidelities (including the panties of one lover) and countless other details about not only her own sex life but those of the celebrities she met are all included - in fact, highlighted.

There’s an old saying: “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” That’s how I feel about Chasing the Panther. I do believe that this book is well researched and I have no doubt Pfeiffer was part of many of the events she recounts here. However, her role in all of it seems exaggerated.

What I see, rather than the bright, educated star-magnet the book tries to present, is a zealously ambitious opportunist. Pfeiffer achieved her dreams. She paid attention and leveraged her relationships to get where she wanted to go. But this book is definitely not where I wanted to go.