Arts

Michael Douglas and Sylvester Stallone are among the tough (and tough-ish) guys getting personal in memoirs this fall.

Sylvester Stallone’s mother “constantly” reminded him “that the only reason I was even alive was that the coat hanger didn’t work and neither did her bouncing down the stairs.”

“You hung in there,” she said to Stallone, “ya little bastard.”

Stallone shares this anecdote in his memoir, “The Steps” — a book as crackling as Bill Conti’s famous “Rocky” theme — which takes the reader up to that film’s Best Picture Oscar win in 1977.

It’s one of a flurry of revealing celebrity memoirs by actors of a certain age being published this fall. Another is by Stallone’s “Rocky IV” opponent Ivan Drago, better known as the actor Dolph Lundgren, who gets his punches in a week earlier.

What do you get when screen heroes share their stories? A lot of sex, bravado, determination, illness, depression and insecurity, love-life mazes, addiction, recovery and — one thing they all share — battles to vanquish various demons.

Several more of Hollywood’s aging roosters are squawking this fall, including Christopher Lloyd (“In My Own Time,” Oct. 27); Tony Shalhoub (“We Thought They’d Never Leave: Musings on Food and Family,” Oct. 27); and Dustin Hoffman (“Look at Me,” Nov. 10).

In the meantime, here’s a guide to six potential page-turners, in order of when they’re fighting their way into your nearby bookstore.

Ke Huy Quan
Never Say Die (Grand Central, out now)

Story arc Born in Vietnam in 1970, Quan and his family escape the country and eventually settle in Los Angeles. Young Ke becomes an overnight sensation as Short Round in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984). Later largely works behind the camera, until his Oscar-winning return in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022).

Writing style Moving, evocative, impassioned.

Lows As they attempt to flee Vietnam, Quan and his father spend time in a Hong Kong refugee camp, “alive, but not free … I didn’t understand politics then, but I understood the way people looked at us — like they wished we didn’t exist.”

Highs Harrison Ford teaches Quan how to swim on the set of “Indiana Jones.” Best supporting actor Oscar is a Hollywood comeback for the ages.

Who knew? The success of “Crazy Rich Asians” encouraged Quan to try acting again.

Shining figures Mom and dad. Steven Spielberg. George Lucas. Jamie Lee Curtis. His wife, Echo. Cate Blanchett.

Surprise supporting character The director Wong Kar-wai, who in 2001 asked Quan to help develop Asian films “that could cross over.”

Lessons learned From his Oscars acceptance speech: “Dreams are something you have to believe in. I almost gave up on mine. To all of you out there, please keep your dreams alive.”

Dolph Lundgren
Fights Worth Fighting: Finding Strength in Struggle (Harper Horizon, out now)

Story arc Chiseled Swedish hunk grows up in shadow of tyrannical father. Comes to America, couples up with Grace Jones, becomes a musclebound movie star, lives the ’80s high life at Studio 54 with Andy Warhol and the gang. Career rebirth after years in the straight-to-video wilderness.

Writing style Engaging and innovative — text is broken up with testimonies by Lundgren’s daughters, wife, friends and two exes (though not Jones), who offer cleareyed assessments of his behavior.

Lows Brutal upbringing. Later: drink and drug issues. Jones burns his clothes at the end of their relationship. Not being around for his young daughters. Cancer diagnosis.

Highs Buddying around with Stallone and Schwarzenegger. A second bout of fame, starring in “The Expendables” franchise. Cancer-free since 2023.

Who knew? “Grace and I were also into having sex with multiple partners. She had sexual relationships with a lot of well-known women, and I got pulled into some of that as well.”

Shining figures Most of his exes. His daughters. His wife, Emma Krokdal. Gianni Versace, who made him a bespoke motorcycle outfit with black rubber trim.

Surprise supporting characters Talk show host Jerry Springer, who starred as the U.S. President opposite Lundgren in “The Defender.”

Lessons learned End every day by reciting positive affirmations, like: “My mind is peaceful and clear. I’m confidently moving toward my dream.”

Sylvester Stallone
The Steps (Morrow, Sept. 29)

Story arc Begins with a forceps delivery which accidentally damaged a nerve on his face, leaving Stallone with “this crooked mouth and a permanent slur.” Ends with “Rocky” winning Best Picture at the 1977 Academy Awards.

Writing style Butch and emotional: a visceral portrait of being down but never out in an evocatively described, seedy 1970s New York.

Lows Sleeping rough inside Port Authority. Incarceration. Rejection.

Highs Writing the “Rocky” screenplay — and battling to play the title role. Running up those art museum steps.

Who knew? He was born Tyrone Gardenzio Stallone, named after his mother’s favorite actor, Tyrone Power. His father “blew his stack” and changed it to Sylvester.

Shining figures First wife Sasha Czack. Henry Winkler. The New York Public Library guard who sneaked him in to see original Edgar Allan Poe manuscripts.

Surprise supporting character “Network” screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, who told Stallone at the Oscars, “You’re not winning Best Screenplay tonight. I’m winning that!” (Chayefsky did.)

Lessons learned “It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. … Keep punching.”

Kyle MacLachlan
Fictional Selves (Crown, Sept. 29)

Story arc A sober interrogation of an acting career, and private and public personas, that starts with David Lynch’s “Dune” (1984) and goes on to include “Blue Velvet,” “Twin Peaks” and … “Showgirls.”

Writing style Intelligent, wry, inquisitive. The on-page presence of an inner ego called “Other Kyle” allows him to both experience and observe events, and nods to the multiple Coopers he played in “Twin Peaks: The Return.”

Lows Missing out on major roles in “Top Gun,” “Platoon,” “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” and “Miller’s Crossing.” Hated having to play Trey in “Sex and the City,” giving wife Charlotte the infamous cardboard baby.

Highs Continuing to work with Lynch even after “Dune” bombed.

Who knew? Lynch playfully pronounced his name “Kale.” Isabella Rossellini calls him “Kylino.”

Shining figures Lynch. MacLachlan’s wife, Desiree Gruber. Ex-girlfriend Laura Dern. The Warehouse Theater in Yakima, Wash., his hometown.

Surprise supporting character Marianne Williamson, Dern’s ex-roommate.

Lessons learned “There’s a parasocial dynamic that arises where you’re walking around both as yourself and as these other, fictional people. The lines aren’t as clear as you think — ­or as you’d like them to be.”

Michael Douglas
One Helluva Ride (Grand Central, Oct. 6)

Story arc Being Kirk Douglas’s son is “a blessing and a curse.” Behind-the-scenes Hollywood dish on “Fatal Attraction,” “Romancing the Stone” and “Basic Instinct.” Revelation of on-set affairs. Surviving cancer, happiness with second wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Writing style Fabulously gossipy, dream dinner party guest.

Lows “Unpredictability and fear cast a permanent shadow over my relationship with my father.” His own son Cameron spent time in prison.

Highs Literally, lots, including coke with O.J. Simpson and more than a hundred doses of LSD over a three-year period. Also, Best Actor Oscar for playing Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street.”

Who knew? Glenn Close was furious about how a rewritten “Fatal Attraction” ending killed off her character. “I felt her pain, but all I could think of to say was, ‘Babe, I’m a whore.’ I will never forget the way she looked at me after I said that.”

Shining figures Zeta-Jones, Jann Wenner and Danny DeVito.

Surprise supporting character Spain’s King Juan Carlos I, who inadvertently helped him get into the 1992 Olympics basketball final.

Lessons learned To appreciate time: “No matter how much money you have, you can’t buy it.”

Joe Manganiello
Bloodlines (Avid Reader Press, Oct. 13)

Story arc Manganiello, who found fame in the HBO drama “True Blood,” endures a mysterious autoimmune disease that ravages his body. Book explicitly details not just multiple surgeries and extreme physical pain, but the deterioration of his marriage to “Modern Family” star Sofía Vergara.

Writing style Visceral. “My fear of death was replaced by the realization that, though my death would be sad for everyone else, it would be a relief to me. I’d be out of pain.”

Lows Overwhelming. Manganiello writes of Vergara: “She’d married the ‘Number One Bachelor in the World,’ one of Men’s Health’s ‘100 Fittest Men of All Time,’ not the sickly, bleeding zombie I had become.”

Highs Sparse. “My job was simple: Be a warrior.”

Who knew? Manganiello’s search for medical help leads him to a shaman who recommended he lick animals’ pituitary glands.

Shining figures Vergara, amply thanked for love and care even though their marriage ended. Current fiancée Caitlin O’Connor. Bubbles, his dog.

Surprise supporting character Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who delivers gobsmacking news about Manganiello’s family on an episode of “Finding Your Roots.”

Lesson learned “What happened to me was caused by generational trauma passed down from the Armenian Genocide.”