Years ago, when the book first came out, I reviewed it in the newspaper in glowing terms. As a fan of his, I came to know Guinness far better than I thought. He is gentle, charming, humorous, self-deprecatory and understands his craft inside and out. His ego is present, as it should with all of us, but he doesn't flaunt it, like a star. He doesn't dish dirt the way more recent memoirs by his confreres too often do.He doesn't even get angry or vindictive with Martita Hunt, who playfully boxed both his ears leaving him partially deaf.The memoir begins with a young man who is content not to be a star but a character actor who can stand aside and watch everything else. it was a niche I cut out for my own acting aspirations.
He reflects on his life, from the beginning, and even talks about how his Christianity has informed on his life, without any stridency or polemics. As a non-Christian, I appreciated that -- even more so now.
My occasion to revisit this warmly delightful book after all these years was needing a gift for a young beginning actor of my acquaintance. I felt he really needed to have this in toolkit and so tracked it down in the dusty bins of used books, since it's been out of print for years. maybe if enough people show an interest, some publisher might reissue it.
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Howard Armstrong
THIS WAS A GIFT
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2020Andre70
Beautifully written and unputdownable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 7, 2019