The "Laugh-In" Girl

More than awesome, if you stop and think about it. For instance, Goldie also writes that "the new brain--the prefrontal cortex that scientists have only recently discovered," can actually understand that we no longer "have to fear being eaten by saber-toothed tigers." Which just goes to show how evolved she is. Moreover, she realizes that, even if attacked by something saber-toothed, there is no cause for alarm because "we are all miracle workers, and we can all heal others." (Like so many infomercials featuring actresses, however, this one comes with a warning label: "Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.")

Small matter. Goldie has other gifts. She tries to save elephants in India and children from Peru. One can even believe, sort of, her contention that she "never aspired to be a movie star, rich or famous." She was always nice to her late mother, a famous harpy, and to her father, a violinist who didn't much like her mother. She still loves Takoma Park, and whenever the spirits move her, which is now and then, returns (much to the astonishment of the current occupant) to her childhood home. She never once told us whom to vote for or which war to protest--and for an actress, this is self-abnegation indeed.

If only she'd applied the same restraint to her spiritual journeys. It might have been better--and not only for Goldie. But for Elvis.

Judy Bachrach is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair.