Bean There Done That: The Life and Times of Rowan Atkinson [Paperback]

Bruce Dessau (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1998

With the release of "Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie", and its largely American setting, Atkinson's zany brand of humor has now become accessible to an even wider audience. This well-illustrated book includes all the best routines, lines, and characters in an affectionate celebration of Rowan Atkinson's career. 80 color photos .

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Stewart Tabori & Chang (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556707134
• ISBN-13: 978-1556707131
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,781,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Atkinson's Depth Glossed-Over in At-A-Glance Bio, May 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Bean There Done That: The Life and Times of Rowan Atkinson (Paperback)

While Dessau's book does cover the talented British comic's meteoric rise to success, the frantic pace and "press-bio" approach ultimately ruin what true fans await. Admirers of Atkinson's work will find themselves asking, "and then what?" on every page. We learn of his childhood surroundings, but very little of his family life. His impressive body of work is listed chronologically with no discussion of the blood, sweat and tears behind it. His classic influences are mentioned in passing, save his British similiarities to Stan Laurel. Left with very little insight into the creative process, Dessau's book reads like a coffee-table version of an Entertainment Weekly article with great photos.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Superficial, but with BIG COLOR PHOTOS, July 22, 2002

By 

Andrew McCaffrey "The Grumpy Young Man" (Satellite of Love, Maryland) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bean There Done That: The Life and Times of Rowan Atkinson (Paperback)

Bruce Dessau has written two books on the life and career of British comedian Rowan Atkinson. The first one that I read (simply titled ROWAN ATKINSON) was a three hundred and fifty page biography -- a detailed and concise history of the man's television, film, and theatre work. This volume, BEAN THERE DONE THAT, covers the same material in coffee-table form, but only taking one hundred and twelve pages to do so. What this book lacks in content, it makes up for in large, glossy, color photographs of the clown himself. It's a fairly good summary of Atkinson's career, though after reading the more in-depth tome, this slimmer volume can't help but feel watered down.

Like Dessau's other biography, this volume has a lot to say about the various characters that Atkinson has created over the years, but very little about his private life. This omission is more forgivable here, since one probably isn't looking for an enormous amount of insight in a book of this type. It does do quite a good job at following Atkinson's career and will especially be enjoyed by anyone who isn't overly familiar with some of the television shows he has appeared in that haven't sustained the amount of international exposure as MR BEAN.

While BEAN THERE DONE THAT suffers from many of the same flaws as the other Dessau biography, this volume should be recommended to people new to Atkinson's work. There are some excellent photographs and the text is quite adequate at the task of describing all of Rowan Atkinson's work (up to the MR. BEAN movie). It may be a bit too superficial for the Atkinson fans, however, as most of the information included is available in other forms.

0 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bean Here And I'm Going To Read It Again!, March 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Bean There Done That: The Life and Times of Rowan Atkinson (Paperback)

This book is in the words of Bart Simpson is," Fab-U-Lus! "