John Gielgud: The Authorized Biography [Hardcover]

Sheridan Morley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2002

Sir John Gielgud's career as an actor was perhaps the most distinguished of any of his generation, and, in a lifetime that spanned almost a century, he appeared in hundreds of theatrical productions and films, receiving virtually every honor given, including an Academy Award.

Now, in this wonderfully insightful biography, fully authorized and written with first-ever access to Gielgud's personal letters and diaries, bestselling biographer Sheridan Morley not only traces the actor's fascinating career, but provides a fresh and remarkably frank look into John Gielgud the man, showing how his success as an actor in many ways came at the expense of his personal happiness.

Born into a theatrical family, John Gielgud took to the stage as naturally as a duck to water, and almost from the beginning, those who saw him perform knew that they were experiencing something extraordinary. A determined actor, intent on learning and polishing his craft, he worked incessantly, taking on one role after another, the greater the challenge, the better.

During his long and remarkable career, he took on every truly great and demanding role, including all of Shakespeare's major plays as well as many contemporary and experimental productions. At ease in both great drama and light comedy, he was blessed with a great range and a seemingly infinite capacity to inhabit whatever character he attempted.

Basically a somewhat shy man offstage, however, Gielgud for the most part limited his friendships to those with whom he worked, and as a result the theater -- and later, film -- made up just about his entire life. That he was flesh and blood, however, was reflected in the fact that he did enter intotwo long-term relationships, the first with a man who eventually left him for another, but with whom Gielgud maintained a strong tie, and the second with a handsome, mysterious Hungarian who lived with him until he died, just a few months before Sir John.

True scandal came into Gielgud's life only once. In 1953, just weeks after Gielgud had been knighted by the Queen, he was arrested in a public men's room and charged with solicitation. The British press had a field day, but Gielgud's friends and fellow actors rallied to his support, as did his thousands of fans, and the result was the eventual change of law in England regarding sex between consenting adults.

While these and many other aspects of his personal life are discussed for the first time in this distinguished biography, it is Gielgud's career as an actor, of course, that receives the greatest attention. And while British audiences had the pleasure of seeing him perform in the theater for his entire life, Americans came to know him best for his work in the movies, and most especially for his Oscar-winning performance as Hobson the butler in the Dudley Moore film "Arthur."

As dramatic and captivating as one of Sir John's many performances, this authorized biography is an intimate and fully rounded portrait of an unforgettable actor and a remarkable man.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Some 12 years before his death, Gielgud asked theater critic Morley to write his biography. Here are the happy results.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Part of the generation of great Shakespearean actors that included Michael Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, and Laurence Olivier, Gielgud outlived them all--to the very end performing in movies, reading Shakespeare on the radio, and hawking California wines on TV--to die at 96, on the verge of the new millennium. Ironically, he was a late bloomer. Early stage appearances in the 1920s were awkward and unsure, as were his first attempts in the movies. But Gielgud, driven by love of the craft and his famous "Terry genes"(nineteenth-century star Ellen Terry was his great aunt), eventually mastered his art, and watching him grow into the giant he became is one pleasure afforded by Morley's rich, lively biography. Morley is passionate enough to be consistently readable, and objective enough to recount such seamier matters as Gielgud's notorious 1950s arrest for sexually soliciting an undercover cop. Oh, the book could have been better edited, for it is somewhat repetitious and chronologically sloppy. Still, it is hard to argue with any 500-pager that maintains its momentum and never bores. Jack Helbig
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (March 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743222423
• ISBN-13: 978-0743222426
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,450,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dueling Gielguds, April 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: John Gielgud: The Authorized Biography (Hardcover)

It is difficult not to compare Morely's work to Jonathan Croall's altogether superior "John Gielgud: A Theatrical Life 1904-2000," which came out shortly before. "John Gielgud: The Authorized Biography" is decidedly inferior to the Croall book, although a interesting effort on its own merit. It does not have the depth of analysis of Croall's book (essentially skipping over Gielgud's relationship to his family, which Croall goes into in significant detail), as well as making numerous mistakes (saying, for instance, that Gielgud didn't play his first Shaw until doing the Preminger film of "Saint Joan" - forgetting that he played in both "Arms and the Man" and "Androcles & The Lion" at the Old Vic almost twenty years previously; or saying that Gielgud's 1974 Prospero was "his first full-length Shakespeare since 1958," forgetting that he played Othello in 1961. Another puzzling inconsistency was when Morely wrote that Donald Wolfit's hatred of Gielgud started when they did "Richard of Bordeaux" together in 1933, even though he'd already written that Wolfit was furious at Gielgud for allegedly having his Claudius cut down for the West End transfer of "Hamlet" in 1930. Morely also insisted that Gielgud won two Tony Awards for directing "Big Fish, Little Fish" and "Five Finger Excercise" (Gielgud was awarded for the former, but was even nominated for the latter; although Gielgud did win "Best Foreign Production" for "The Importance of Being Earnest" in 1947 and a special Tony for "The Ages of Man" in 1959.)

There are some surprising omissions as well, ignoring completely Gielgud's rivalry with Giles Isham when they were at the Old Vic in 1929/30, when at the offset it was assumed that Isham instead of Gielgud would play Hamlet.

Still, it's an interesting book that probably would have seemed better if I hadn't read Croall's first. He's very matter-of-fact about Gielgud's homosexuality, and uses his 1953 arrest as a focal point (as Croall does). Olivier comes off poorly in both books, although I would say that Morely has more patience with him than Croall seems to (in Croall's book, Olivier is depicted as a kind of antagonist, which I think gives his book more drama). I also think that Morely has a tendency to accept a lot of the Gielgud history at face value, whereas Croall thinks it through and considers the logic of a lot of it. The best example of this is the legendary story of Gielgud and Olivier swapping of roles of Romeo and Mercutio in 1936: Morely accepts that this gimmick was intended from the get-go, whereas Croall ponders (quite logically) that Gielgud and producer Binkie Beaumont were hedging their bets against Olivier's inexperience in Shakespeare at the time, and the role-swapping was agreed upon in case Olivier's reviews as Romeo were so disastrous that they would switch parts to keep the production from suffering. In view of the state of Olivier's career at the time (he had yet to even attempt a leading Shakespearean role on the professional stage), this makes infinitely more sense. Another example is the famous story that Gielgud went to Olivier after the latter opened in Hamlet and said "it's one of the most brilliant performances I've ever seen, but it's still my part." Morely reports it as though
he witnessed it, but Croall points out that not only did neither actor mention it in his autobiography and that Gielgud was actually in America when the comment was allegedly made, but such boasting was very out of character for Gielgud.

This is not to say that Morely's book is a wash. He does a fine job of talking about Gielgud's finances, and brings up the point that Ralph Richardson and Gielgud maintained a friendship despite the fact that Richardson was homophobic and openly uncomfortable with Gielgud's private life (a topic Croall doesn't mention, and indeed even Morely doesn't do much more than mention in passsing). Morely does blow it a lot, though - such as the famous anecdote where Gielgud goes to meet Richard Burton in the latter's dressing room after a performance of "Hamlet," and drops the brick "Why don't you come along when you're better...I mean ready?" Every time I've heard that story related (including Croall's book), it took place in 1953 when Burton played the part at the Old Vic, but Morely maintains that the exchange took place during the 1964 Broadway production. I think he booted it, and I think he does that a disconcertingly large amount of the time. He also has a tendency to bring himself into the narrative (a paragraph might begin with "John approached me about writing this book..."), which I find disconcerting.

"John Gielgud: The Authorized Biography" is a must-read for serious students of Gielgud's career, but Croall's book is the definitive study and should definitely be read first.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid yet slightly lacking, May 25, 2003

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E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: John Gielgud: The Authorized Biography (Paperback)

Sir John Gielgud was one of the great Shakespearean thespians of the twentieth century, although I unfortunately never saw him on stage where he was apparently at his best. Morley's biography is well-written and informative, but somehow lacks a certain spark.

It follows Gielgud from his childhood (from a family with several respected actors) to his early acting career, ascending from a skinny-legged boy to a much-respected actor, and then a knight and universally revered thespian. His arrest for soliciting a plainclothes policeman resulted in a reworking of laws on homosexuality. And he left behind an astonishing body of work, from a quiet man whose life essentially revolved around his work.

One of the unusual aspects of "John Gielgud: The Authorized Biography" is the respect that Morley has for Gielgud. He keeps his tone constantly respectful but not fannish. His handling of potentially sordid situations (the soliciting case) is always careful and respectful, a rarity in most biographies. His handling of Gielgud's homosexuality and its place in 1940s and 1950s England is particularly good. The attitude there and then was quite different from now. Some of the best actors today -- Ian McKellen being the most prominent -- are able to be openly gay, but then it was actually illegal. Morley does a good job describing the social and legal atmosphere at that time, through conversations, letters to the editors, the press's response, and the changes in the law. One slightly frustrating aspect of the book is the lack of presence of the Gielgud family -- when one of them popped back into the narrative, I found myself wondering, "Who is that again?"

Morley also offers insights into British theater and actors, including Gielgud's connections with Vivien Leigh, Lawrence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Noel Coward. We get to hear the good and bad reviews, some from Gielgud himself, such as his disgust with his shoeless "Romeo" costume (though the picture of him in that play isn't bad). And (wow, another rarity) Morley lets us see some examples of Gielgud's undeniable wit. Though he seems to have put his foot in his mouth frequently, he had some great zingers: at one point he complained about a flatulent crew member by saying that he didn't mind dying, but must it be in a gas chamber?

What is lacking? Perhaps it's a greater sense of knowledge about what made Gielgud tick. Morley knew him, but he fails overall to really let the readers really know what he was like. I got bits and pieces of his personality -- his shyness, his wit, his intense love of acting -- but not a picture of the whole. Some of the dates and situations seem unreliable or debatable. That, and I found the pictures a little unsatisfying. I like it when professional and personal photos are balanced out; this book had almost entirely professional pics.

Gielgud was part of a golden generation of great actors, and had a certain quality that filled whatever stage or screen he was on. While "John Gielgud: The Authorized Biography" can't be called the best, it's certainly worth a look.