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Will She Do? Hardcover – October 7, 2021

by Eileen Atkins (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 607 ratings
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'She is the cur's cods, the terrier's testicles, the business. I will go farther and declare that Atkins is thefinest actor appearing in theworld right now' -A. A. GillWill She Do? is the story of a girl from a council estate in Tottenham, born in 1934 to an electric-meter reader and a seamstress, who was determined to be an actress.Candid and witty, this memoir takes her from her awkward performances in working-men's clubs at six years of age as dancing 'Baby Eileen', through the war years in London, to her breakthrough at thirty-two on Broadway with The Killing of Sister George , for which she received the first of four Tony Award nominations. She co-created Upstairs, Downstairs and wrote the screenplay for Mrs Dalloway (for which she won an Evening Standard Award) and at aged eighty-six, this is her first autobiographical work.Characterised by an eye for the absurd, a terrific knack for storytelling and an insistence on honesty, Will She Do? is a wonderful raconteur's tale about family, about class, about youthful ambition and big dreams and what really goes on behind the scenes.Made a Dame in 1991, Eileen Atkins has been on American and British stage and screen since 1957 and has won an Emmy, a BAFTA and is a three-time Olivier Award winner; her theatre performances include The Height of the Storm, Ellen Terry, All that Fall and she has appeared in television and films ranging from Doc Martin to Cranford to The Crown.
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  1. Language
    English
  2. Publication date
    October 7, 2021
  3. Dimensions
    5.51 x 1.34 x 8.66 inches
  4. ISBN-10
    0349014663
  5. ISBN-13
    978-0349014661
  6. See all details
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Product details

  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0349014663
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0349014661
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.51 x 1.34 x 8.66 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 607 ratings

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Eileen Atkins

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
607 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Pamela Goodrich-Yohe
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended!
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2022
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Highly recommend! Dame E is a phenomenal storyteller! An open and honest account of her life, on and off the stage. I hope that she continues to publish!
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jean
4.0 out of 5 stars Limited to early career only.
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2021
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Did not expect it to be only about Eileen's early life. I was more interested in her later life so was a bit disappointed. Hope she plans on a follow up about her life up until now. It was mostly a boring list of play after play she acted in. Very lacking in personal information. Mostly dry career facts. Wanted to know more about the person and less about the career.
5 people found this helpful
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Joseph S.
5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious!!!
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2022
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A very good read for a snowy afternoon. You’ll laugh out loud like an idiot, and these days we all need more laughter.
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Jacqualine G. Couch
5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful Read
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2022
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Interesting remembrances of an incredible actor.
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Dix88
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2024
Thank God for a well written book by a woman who has lived a fascinating life. Beginning with a mother determined, even at the point of deforming her beautiful daughter, to become successful to making it in theatre, Eileen Atkins takes us along with her on her life’s journey. There are hilarious moments (her and her fiancé in a hotel), frightening (the London blitz), frustrating (scrabbling for roles when her bosoms weren’t large enough), and triumphs.
I have been finding it so difficult in the last 5 years to discover good books. Hooray for Eileen Atkins for her wonderful acting and writing!!!
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Deborah Z. Shaw
5.0 out of 5 stars Dame Eileen Atkins is a highly amusing author
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2022
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What a lovely woman! Totally honest and nearly perfect recall about her early life. Very easy to read. She faced many harsh circumstances as a child with a stiff upper lip and just got on with her life and career. Very entertaining. I couldn't put it down.
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Lawrence A. Fricke
5.0 out of 5 stars One of Britain Great Actresses
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2021
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I liked everything. It is for my personal use.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Another excellent memoir from an outstanding actor.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 3, 2024
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I was sorry that it did not continue with all her later successes .
I wanted to learn much more about Upstairs and Downstairs which was part of my own childhood.
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Martynb
4.0 out of 5 stars Better than most
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 30, 2021
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An interesting read, although some of the editing is poor and I can't help feeling her memory let her down on a few occasions (e.g. she couldn't have heard "who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler" at the Stage Door Canteen during WW2 as it was written especially for Dad's Army over 20 years later). Norwich to Euston via East Dulwich on what appeared to be one train? Those minor grumblings aside I really enjoyed reading it and Eileen is a very competent author compared to so many other acting memoirs I've read in the past few years. When Eileen was interviewed on R4 Woman's Hour recently she said she was not planning to write a sequel about her later life. A good decision and that's not a reflection on her writing at all; she's was right in saying that so many stage autobiographies become a boring list of achievements and anecdotes once the initial discovery and rise to stardom is achieved.
8 people found this helpful
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FictionLover
5.0 out of 5 stars A memoir as gripping as one of Eileen Atkins’s stage performances
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 4, 2023
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A wonderful read, the story of the poor Tottenham girl who made it to the stage and became a star. It’s well written, and I felt as if she were sitting talking to me. I am 15 years younger than her, but Will She Do is still recognisable as a slice of working class London life where poverty butts up against classic British class divisions – when her mother for instance describes something as ‘common’ I can hear my own mother’s voice (particular venom was reserved by her mother for Butlins holiday camps).

Her childhood, her ambitious mother, her slow and frequently painful progress to ‘the stage’ and slice-of-life accounts of underpaid repertory theatre in grotty digs are vivid and compelling. And this is only the First Act – ending in 1965 with Eileen Atkins recognised as a great actress - a star of The Killing OF Sister George on stage on London and on Broadway. The book is sprinkled with many luvvie stage stories; names are named, and all of the stories delivered without rancour, no scores being settled though conflicts were many and jealousies apparent.

So when do we get Act 2? There was that song: ‘Come On Eileen!’ and that’s what I am sending out across the universe to you, dear Dame. I’m hungry to know about the next thirty years.
3 people found this helpful
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Lady Fancifull
5.0 out of 5 stars But I want to read Act 2 NOW – come on, Eileen, don’t make us wait!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 11, 2021
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Eileen Atkins, born in 1934, did not come from a theatrical family, and at the time she was determined to make her way as an actor, her class (working) was still very much against her.

Her father was a meter reader, her aspirational, quite snobbish, rather cold mother, was the one who pushed little Eileen into performance, as the result of a gypsy fortune teller saying she would be a famous dancer. At a very young age Eileen was performing rather risqué, suggestive song-and-dance numbers in Working Men’s Clubs. Almost Child Porn, though the times were perhaps a bit more innocent.

Dame Eileen Atkins, as she is now, is a multi gifted person, not only as a performer, but also, as a writer. This is a wonderfully direct account, from her childhood, up till her launch into stardom from The Killing of Sister George, and the breakdown of her first marriage, in 1966.

She is clearly a woman with a wonderful talent for strong friendships, and one with quite a fierce temper – particularly when younger, before she had any ‘clout’ at all. I relished the account of her, as a lowly ASM, shouting at the enormously up and coming Peter Hall for his rudeness to the hardworking technical staff.

Atkins is prepared to be revelatory about her failures and bad behaviours, and comes across as direct, salty, pulling no punches – and also very funny indeed.

A highly enjoyable read, leaving the reader with the sense that Eileen has been talking without artifice, about her interesting life and times, and that she has been authentically communicating, without pretence. She takes her craft extremely seriously, but not herself.
19 people found this helpful
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Andrew Leigh
3.0 out of 5 stars It's a tough life
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 16, 2022
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You get a real flavour of what a challenging life acting can be. So much of her early career was dull, dull, dull, that surviving it must have taken huge persistence. All thos dreary digs and demoraling rejections, and weeks, months and even a year without any acting work. Every aspiring actor should be made to read it.
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