Sir John Gielgud: A Life in Letters [Paperback]

John Gielgud (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 2005

A remarkable autobiography of one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, seen through his frank, mesmerizing, and intimate letters. Sir John Gielgud, best known to audiences for his Academy Award-winning turn in the hit comedy Arthur, as well as starring roles in Gandhi and other major movies, was an incomparable actor whose career on stage and screen spanned eight decades, from his 1921 London stage debut to recent smash films like Shine and Elizabeth. John Gielgud wrote letters almost every day of his adult life, whether at home in England or abroad. From thousands of letters, beginning with those to his mother when Gielgud was an aspiring but still unknown actor, the editor has chosen these 200 gems. Through them we meet a man of keen mind and astute observation, who met hundreds of luminaries of his day. Gielgud candidly assesses his contemporaries and clearly delights in gossip. He had a lifetime reputation for speaking his mind, and here for the first time are his love letters, which were never available to his biographer, and show that he was never shy about expressing his intimate feelings. This is the autobiography that Gielgud never wrote.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though Gielgud (1904â€"2000) remains best known, especially to American audiences, for his Academy Awardâ€"winning performance as the butler in Arthur, his theatrical career in England and the U.S. spanned eight decadesâ€"and if the voluminous correspondence reproduced here is any indication, he wrote to family and friends nearly every day of that career. Mangan, a British theater historian, arranges the letters chronologically, and eschews explanatory text save for minimal bits of biographical data. As with any actor, there are roles that never materialized (e.g., he mentions almost getting Rex Harrison's part in the Broadway production of My Fair Lady and turning down the lead in Bridge on the River Kwai) and gossip about colleagues (e.g., from the set of Julius Caesar, he reports Marlon Brando "seems quite unaware of anything except the development of his own evident talents"). Though sometimes catty about fellow actors, like the "revolting boy who plays Rosencrantz abominably" in a 1930s production of Hamlet, Gielgud is equally hard on himself, turning down one movie part by confessing to George Bernard Shaw that he fears performing badly on film. (He eventually beat the fear, though he never entirely warmed to the medium.) The real treasures here, however, are the letters to male lovers, unavailable to previous biographers, which reveal Gielgud's ease with expressing both his sexuality and his affections. This thick volume may overload casual film buffs, but Gielgud's fans will delight in its abundant riches. 16 pages of b&w photos and eight line drawings not seen by PW.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Sir John Gielgud was one of the twentieth century’s finest actors of stage and screen and one of the very few to win an Oscar, Tony, Grammy, and Emmy. He died in 2000.

Richard Mangan is an administrator of the Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson Theatre Collection in Greenwich, England. He also edited John Gielgud’s Notes from the Gods. He lives in England. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing (April 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559707550
• ISBN-13: 978-1559707558
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,568,670 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Summertime or Anytime Read, June 24, 2004

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Jack Rice (California, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sir John Gielgud: A Life in Letters (Hardcover)

I think letters make the best autobiographies. By definition, letters by the subject are first-hand. They are convenient, because they are also by nature episodic, which means you can put them down and pick them up when the mood strikes. And John Gielgud's letters certainly prove wrong those who say he never wrote an autobiogrsphy. (As the Washington Post reviewer says here, he must have written two letters to different people every day of his life.)

So, here's not just a life ideally presented, but a life worth knowing about, since Gielgud was one of the three or four greatest English-speaking actors of the twentieth century.

Also, we have the experience of Gielgud's films, which flesh out for us this man of letters (literally and figuratively, since Gielgud was the first actor to receive an honorary doctorate from Oxford.) As was also pointed out in the Post review, Gielgud was not just a great actor but a gifted writer, so we have the treat of beautiful prose, rendered in the service of a rich history: this man knew and had opinions about almost everything and everyone that mattered in the performing arts, especially the stage and screen.

Through these letters, we also end up knowing something about the luminaries of the world Gielgud inhabited and moved about in with complete ease. Gielgud writes conversationally, candidly and competently to and about people we only dream of knowing - Shaw, Coward, Gish, Lunt and Fontaine, Olivier and Leigh, Selznick, Richardson, Guinness, Stravinsky, Brando.... Amazing! And in such a natural, unassuming way that there's not even a hint of name dropping or self-promotion, which is so tiresome in today's celebrity interviews and memoirs.

Here is a great actor, director, producer and impresario, who takes his work seriously and has a glorious time doing it, who loves and is loved and who lives into his 90s. If only everyone could be so lucky. On second thought, it wasn't just luck...

One quibble: The picture selection is very poor. If one didn't know better, they might think that Gielgud was born middle-aged. But this is Gielgud's book, and kudos to John Mangan, whose enormous work of collecting, collating and editing has made it so.

5.0 out of 5 stars Sir John, March 25, 2010

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L. Dobbins - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sir John Gielgud: A Life in Letters (Paperback)

A fabulous, very funny read. If you like tidbits of juicy gossip sprinkled among historical theater commentary, this book is for you. I loved it!

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Visit To How It Was..., April 29, 2007

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Michael J. Armijo (Marina Del Rey, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sir John Gielgud: A Life in Letters (Paperback)

I liked reading this (though I didn't finish it--as I lost interest half way through) because it took me to a time when people had to write letters. Sir John Gielgud was a famous ACTOR...especially on the London State initially...and it's amazing to read about all of the other actors, friends and family that crossed his paths. It's a reminder that over time...a Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie will be nothing but a distant memory and no one in 100 years will really know of them as readily as they do today. Thank God for books...they take us back to another time...and I do want to go back and finish this book ONE DAY...it's just that a better book came along. I nned to stop myself from getting sidetracked. :(