Paul Scofield: An Actor for All Seasons (Hardcover) [Hardcover]

Garry O'Connor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2002

Garry O'Connor, highly respected for his theatrical biographies, presents a richly drawn, fully dimensional portrait of the great actor Paul Scofield. He interviewed the intensely private Scofield himself, as well as many of the actors and directors he has worked with, including Simon Callow, Trevor Nunn, Richard Eyre and Peter Hall. The result is a masterly biography that paints a revealing portrait of a man who, for the serious film and theatre-goer, is more of an icon than any other living actor.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Scofield is perhaps best known for his Academy Award-winning portrayal of Sir Thomas More in the film A Man for All Seasons (1966). This most private of actors has had an extraordinarily successful career since his stage debut in 1940 and is considered a consummate professional by reviewers and audiences as well as by his peers, many of whom were interviewed for this work. The biographer of numerous other theatrical figures (e.g., Peggy Ashcroft, Ralph Richardson, Alec Guinness, and Sean O'Casey), O'Connor offers a thoroughly researched tome that includes a chronology of Scofield's work in theater, film, radio, and television. His book is valuable as the only available contemporary record and examination of Scofield's professional career, but it is not a satisfactory biography, as the reader is left without the essence of the man. Recommended for large public and academic libraries. Bruce Henson, Georgia Tech. Lib., Atlanta
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Applause Books (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557834997
• ISBN-13: 978-1557834997
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,714,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A excellent "Workgraphy", April 17, 2008

By 

T. Azevedo (Brazil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paul Scofield: An Actor for All Seasons (Hardcover) (Hardcover)

As someone who much admires Paul Scofield, but only had access to his movies, I liked to know more about his work (until 2000), principally in theater, and this book supplied me with some photos, reviews, some interviews, and descriptions about Paul Scofield and his wonderful life as the best actor I have seen. That is an opinion shared by many others, indeed his "King Lear" was chosen as the best ever Shakespeare performance in a unique poll (2004)of members of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Besides his work as an actor, I came to admire more the man for his self-assurance and adult balance. As Felice Kendall said to the author: "He's like an adult. Most actors are like children".
Sure, I'd like that he had made more films, but as he said: "A long time ago, I realised I should have to choose between films and theatre--and the theatre has always come first. I'm not an actor because I feel the need to say `Look at me, aren't I clever?' I don't have an inferiority complex I must disguise. I'm an actor because...oh, because I'm good at it. I can say honestly and, I hope, without self-satisfaction, that I'm happy with my lot."

I recommend this book and I hope that all his films (includind TV) be released in DVD.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bland For All Seasons, November 18, 2006

By 

Mad Beast "madbeast" (Sherman Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paul Scofield: An Actor for All Seasons (Hardcover) (Hardcover)

"Paul Scofield: An Actor for All Seasons" would seem to be an excellent argument that just because someone has had a successful career doesn't make them a prime candidate for a biography. For despite Scofield's acting triumphs in such roles as Thomas More, Solieri, King Lear, Hamlet, and John Gabriel Borkman, he is depicted in Garry O'Connor's relatively slim volume as a quiet, modest and rather shy man.

This is not in any way meant as a criticism of Scofield, and indeed it is refreshing to encounter such an unassuming personality compared with such personally unpleasant Shakespearean Titans as Laurence Olivier or Donald Wolfit. But that is the major problem with the book: with such a demure central figure as Scofield, the narrative is primarily a bland chronology of the actor's various stage roles.

Had O'Connor anything profoundly interesting to say about Scofield as an actor, the verdict might have been different, but he primarily offers up tired hyperbole of the actor's "greatness" without ever really putting his finger on what set Scofield apart from his contemporaries. Even his chronology is inaccurate, writing, for instance, that Scofield filmed his role in "The Train" from summer into Autumn of 1966 (after he had appeared in the Oscar winning film of "A Man for All Seasons"), whereas "The Train" was actually released in Europe in the autumn of 1964 (more than two years before "A Man for All Seasons").

If this sounds like harsh criticism of O'Connor's book, it isn't meant to be. Scofield is simply a quiet, dignified man whose life doesn't lend itself to the kind of larger-than-life biography of an Olivier or a John Gielgud. This is likely to be as good a biography as we'll ever see of Scofield, a fine actor and a good man whose life isn't really all that interesting when recounted in print.