Actors' Autobiographies Ready Any Good Ones Lately?

[samkydd]

I picked up a copy of Ian Carmichael's autobiography Will the Real Ian Carmichael from 1979 and found it an enjoyable read as I knew virtually nothing about the man before picking it up. Even back then when the book came out in the late 1970s he had enjoyed a long career on stage, pioneering TV days including producing Richard Hearne's Mr Pastry, and films but even as an established actor it appeared that life wasn't always perfect and he spent long periods away from his family touring theatreland.



I suppose the biggest film parts were in School For Scoundrels, I'm Alright Jack and the earliest one Privates on Parade but I suppose the Jeeves and Wooster TV series from the 1960s will be remembered by many.



I last saw him on TV's The Royal as a surgeon I think and it's remarkable that he's 88 years old this month and still has those boyish looks.



A very popular actor and he seems like an all round good bloke!

[batman]

I have been re-reading Brando's autobiography 'Songs My Mother Taught Me'. I hadn't read it since it first came out and at that time I found it very unsatisfactory, especially having previously read Peter Manso's huge biography of the great man.



On second reading I enjoyed it much more and appreciated the eccentric humour running through it. If you want a warts and all expose this isn't it, but if you are looking for a gentle volume of often unrelated anecdotes you will enjoy this.



I have also been reading the posthumously published novel he wrote with Donald Cammel called 'Fan-Tan'. It's surprisingly good.

[CaptainWaggett]

I enjoyed Leslie Phillips' Hello!. The ghostwriter did a good job of capturing Leslie's public persona and the stuff about his time as a child actor (he did pretty well everything - plays, pantos, films, opera) and his war years is especially interesting.

[dremble wedge]

name='CaptainWaggett']I enjoyed Leslie Phillips' Hello!. The ghostwriter did a good job of capturing Leslie's public persona and the stuff about his time as a child actor (he did pretty well everything - plays, pantos, films, opera) and his war years is especially interesting.

I just got that from the library today!



The best one I've read in the past year is Patrick Macnee's Blind in One Ear.



The opening hundred pages or so where he describes his completely and utterly bonkers upbringing is simply wonderful.

[apricot]

I very much enjoyed Brenda Blethyn's,"Mixed Fancies" Barbara Windsor's"All of me" and Kenneth Williams' Diaries, didn't think Rupert Everett's lived up to it's good reviews, but my favourites are still David Niven's "The Moon's a Balloon"

and "Bring on the Empty Horses" more a collection of anecdotes than than a true autobiography, but laugh out loud funny.

[cully]

It isn't an AUTObiography but I today ordered from my local library the bio of James Robertson Justice called What's the Bleeding Time?



It sounded a hoot from the review I read in the latest Oldie magazine.

[billy bentley]

I picked up John Le Mesurier's autobiog "A Jobbing Actor" for a dollar on the streets of NewYork for one dollar. An easy read, but a complete waste of time, don't bother.

[wadsy]

Ray Milland's "Wide Eyed in Babylon" is a good read, he had an interesting



background.



I recently re-read "Too Much Too Soon" by Diana Barrymore & Gerold Frank,



Her life was one of great expectation & tragic disappointment!

[CaptainWaggett]

name='billy bentley']I picked up John Le Mesurier's autobiog "A Jobbing Actor" for a dollar on the streets of NewYork for one dollar. An easy read, but a complete waste of time, don't bother.

What didn't you like about it? I remember enjoying it but can't recall any particular details. He seemed a nice guy.

[batman]

Kirk Douglas' book 'The Ragman's Son' is probably the best actor autobiography I have ever read. It is insightful, brutally honest and very funny. Highly recommended.

[orpheum]

i recently read the first part of Edwards Dryhursts autobiog called "Gilt off the Gingerbread" which is extremely interesting.It deals with his career up till 1945 and includes his time working at Warners Teddington studios.By the way it is available for a modest price from me on Amazon.

Incidentally he wrote a second part called "With friends like these".Try as i might i have been unable to locate a copy of this,so if there is someone out there who has a copy they would be prepared to part with or who knows for sure where i can get a copy please get in touch.

[donna]

I enjoyed Rita Hayworths biography, nice woman .

[suzepulcheria]

name='wadsy']Ray Milland's "Wide Eyed in Babylon" is a good read, he had an interesting



background.



I recently re-read "Too Much Too Soon" by Diana Barrymore & Gerold Frank,



Her life was one of great expectation & tragic disappointment!

Does the Ray Milland book give any of the dirt about his affair with Grace Kelly or is it sanitised?

[wadsy]

name='suzepulcheria']Does the Ray Milland book give any of the dirt about his affair with Grace Kelly or is it sanitised?

Milland wrote it & I don't recall Grace Kelly getting a mention at all!

[scholes]

Stephen Fry's 'Moab is my Washpot'.

[billy bentley]

Cap'n Waggett, I find it all to shallow. I like Le Mesurier and he's worked with some wonderful talent, but his book offers no real insight to any of it. Perhaps he was too nice a chap ? i'm not saying that i'm looking for the dirt on everyone, but I felt had learned practically nothing from the book.

[donna]

name='wadsy']Milland wrote it & I don't recall Grace Kelly getting a mention at all!

I think Miss Kelly might have got a mention in more than Ray s book by all accounts , not so much the ice maiden as portrayed.

[Merton Park]

I have been reading Caught In The Act by Richard Todd. The odd thing is, he doesn't get on to his film career until page 213 out of 292. I feel as if I have been right through the war with him!

[donna]

Loved Richard Todd who was Irish by birth, 1938 - 1939 Was a founding member of Dundee Repertory, Scotland

Raised in England

Enlisted with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, becoming a commander

Served in a parachute regiment, achieving rank of captain

Replaced Richard Basehart in the Broadway production of "The Hasty Heart"

Returned to the Dundee Repertory

[donna]

just been reading this, how sad, for this lovely man to get to such an age to suffer this....



Daily Mail published a feature on the tragic death of two of Todd's four children by suicide. Peter, Todd's eldest son from his first marriage, shot himself in the head on 21 September 2005 - the same method his half-brother Seumas had used 8 years earlier. Peter's reason was his marriage was ending. Seumas's motivation was thought to be a depressive reaction to severe acne and the anti-acne drug he was taking. Todd's mother had also committed suicide when her son was 19, though Todd said 'her death didn't affect me badly ... we had been close but just before she died, we disagreed. She didn't want me to go on the stage. There were various differences and I had lost affection for her'. His sons' suicide affected him very profoundly and he admits to visiting their adjoining graves regularly. Todd said, 'It is rather like something that happens to men in war. You don't consciously set out to do something gallant. You just do it because that is what you are there for.'