asiamiles

I'll second the recommendation. Almost finished Rupert Everett's "Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins" which has been a most entertaining read even though I've had little interest in any of his films aside from DELLAMORE DELLAMORTE which he doesn't even mention.

Not strictly an actor, but he has acted so...Samuel Fuller's autobiography is just brilliant storytelling.

SirOllyBolly

For Errol Flynn, I'd recommend Flynn's own "Wicked, Wicked Ways" but in addition to that, "Errol Flynn: The Life and Career" by Thomas McNulty - a great read and at the end of the book, tributes from all those who met Flynn, people like Tony Curtis etc.

For Oliver Reed, I'd recommend his own biograpghy, "Reed All About Me" - tall tales abound, but it is hugely entertaining.

For example:

We were staying at the Gresham Hotel in O’Connell Street and I decided to drive to a restaurant in Bray where they serve some excellent trout. I was sitting in my Rolls (Rover to Rolls in less than 18 months! Was I travelling!) with Snotter and Reg, waiting for Rose of Tralee - chaperone to all the beauty queens who stay at the Gresham - to join us when I noticed a chap with a polaroid camera trying to persuade passers-by to have their photographs taken. Nobody seemed interested as they were all too intent on passing by to get to the hurling and see Tipperary play Kerry. Feeling extremely sorry for him and his lack of success, I got out of the car and said to him, ‘Excuse me, would like to take our picture?’
‘Certainly, sir,’ he said, delighted that trade had picked up at last, and Rose, Reg, Snotter and myself posed in front of his camera. It was a lousy photograph, mostly of Snotter’s big feet and the top of Rose’s head. The rest of it was obliterated by what looked like a coffee-coloured spider, but the photographer seems quite pleased with it and charged me ten bob.
‘Marvellous,’ I said. ‘We’ll have another one taken like that,’ and I lined up with the others, all of us presenting him with the best sides of our faces.
While he was focusing us, or so he fondly believed, I heard a voice from somewhere behind him saying: ‘A little bit to the left and the lady a little bit to the right. And the fellow with the thick glasses a little bit further forward.’
I looked up and saw a priest directing us. We had several more spiders taken and every time I was asked for ten bob, the priest cried, ‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph, you’re robbing the fellow!’
‘Come over here, Father,’ I shouted, ‘and have your picture taken with us.’
‘No, I won’t,’ he said.
‘Well, will you have a drink with us?’
‘I will,’ he said, so we took him into a bar and he drank twenty glasses of Guinness. He introduced himself as Father McKinney and said he was on his way to watch the hurling.
‘We are off to have some nice trout,’ I said. ‘Why don’t you join us? You can still see the hurling on the television.’
‘I will,’ he said, and Snotter aimed us towards Bray, passing a large house on the way that Father McKinney said was where he lived.
‘That’s a very big house,’ I said. ‘Do you live there by yourself?’
‘It’s not a house,’ he said. ‘It’s a hospital.’
‘Really, what kind of hospital?’
‘A hospital for alcoholics and the nervously afflicted,’ he said, leaving us to work out what category of patient he was.
We reached the restaurant without Snotter crashing the Rolls once and laid into the trout. Then we switched on the restaurant’s TV and Father McKinney got down on his knees in front of the set. ‘What are you doing on your knees, Father?’ I said. ‘Praying for your team to win?’
‘I’m on my knees,’ he said, ‘in case I fall asleep.’
It was an amazing game, full of excitement and punch-ups, and I tried to think of a game that we could play to try to emulate the hurling. We went outside and I said to Reg, ‘Jump off that bank on to your head.’ Reg jumped off the bank on to his head and nearly broke his neck and I turned to Snotter and said, ‘Your turn now.’ Snotter stopped picking his nose and also jumped on to his head. The Father seemed very interested in this game as he had never seen it played before and said to me, ‘Now you.’
‘I don’t play,’ I said, but he insisted so I dived off the bank on to my head just to please him and we went back into the restaurant and had tea and crumpets.
Then Father McKinney asked us if we would like to see the school where he used to teach children and we said we’d be delighted. At the school, the children flocked to see him and he sat on the grass, hugging and kissing them and telling them stories. They obviously adored him and my heart warmed towards Father McKinney. I wanted to stay with him all day and took him into a hotel in Bray and ordered gin and Ts all round before returning to Dublin and the Gresham. At the hotel, I asked him if he liked oysters. ‘I love oysters,’ he said, and swallowed three dozen and washed them down with fifteen gaelic coffees. Eventually, he said it was time for him to go back to the hospital, so reluctantly I put him in the Rolls, wrapped a rug round his feet and told Snotter to drive him home.
About an hour later, I got a phone call from a Dr Murphy.
He said, ‘Were you out with Father McKinney today?’
‘Yes,’ I said.
‘And did he have trout and watch the hurling on his knees?’
‘That’s right.’
‘And did someone called Reg Prince jump off a bank just because you told him to and nearly break his neck?’
‘He did.’
‘And did you visit his old school where all the children listened to his stories?’
‘Yes.’
‘And did you go to the Gresham Hotel in O’Connell Street where he ate three dozen oysters and drank fourteen gaelic coffees?’
‘It was fifteen,’ I said.
‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph!’ said the doctor. ‘I thought he’d had a relapse!’

SirOllyBolly

"What fresh lunacy is this?"

Blanche Fury

Dirk Bogarde wrote several (I think it was six) volumes of autobiography, which are pretty good. They're not sequential, but hop around from period to period. According to his biographer, some of the details in them are probably fabrications or at least exaggerations, but they make a fascinating portrait of the period and the man. Interestingly, he never directly refers to the question of his sexuality; though why should he have done if he felt it was no one else's business.

His style can be irritatingly precious at times: too many deeply sensitive. Short sentences. Designed to make one realise. How terribly. Terribly. Profound. His observations were.

He wrote three novels too, which I possess but haven't yet got around to reading. There's a thought: which actors have written novels? Bryan Forbes and Eric Morecombe come to mind.

dremble wedge

David Niven, William Shatner and Richard Dreyfuss have produced novels.

Haven't read any of them though...

Windthrop

Bryan Forbes novels are well worth reading, both those about the movie world and those not. His two volumes of memoirs are well worth reading as well.

Thats the joke that killed the Music Hall !

batman

Shatner's 'Tek-War' novels are quite good ... his 'Star Trek Memories' book is also worth a read.

"Boom boom a baby .... Banham Zoo .... Banana pants! Hahahaha"

cully

I can heartily recommend "Shark Infested Waters" by Michael Whitehall which is all about his life as an agent. He is married to the fine actress Hilary Gish and in latter years he turned his talents to producing. A very good and amusing read and he doesn't mince his words about the behaviour of (lots of named) actors!

cully

I've just remembered another one.

Read Bob Monkhouse's book about his..50 years in showbiz, I think. Don't be put off if you didn't like his memoirs which WERE, I agree, a bit odd but this book is a series of 2 or 3 page essays about a whole host of interesting people he knew in the world of show biz. Terrific book and very well written. I guarantee you will never have heard many of the extraordinary stories he has to tell about Dick Emery, Bing Crosby and...others whose names escape me only because I've got a lousy memory!

Edward G

What a riot! Very amusing. Is this for real?

I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!

wadsy

Years ago I read Leonard Nimoy's book "I am not Spock" where he scorned

his most famous role. More recently I read His book "I am Spock" in which he

embraced it!!


Sean Connery's autobiography is out soon, should be a great read!!

SirOllyBolly

I read David Niven's The Moon's The Balloon but didn't really take to him. He seemed to be just a well connected charmer rather than an actor - still, great stories about Errol Flynn though!

SirOllyBolly

"What fresh lunacy is this?"

Windthrop

Well that is largely what Niven was.

Errol Flynn's is good as well, though like the Niven one is of doubtful accuracy.

Thats the joke that killed the Music Hall !

hoggers

Michael Pertwee's autobiography, "Name Dropping" is my all-time favourite... Well worth a look.

Hoggers

dpgmel

Just finished reading David Hemmings' autobiograohy ; " Blow Up and Other Exaggerations", very entertaining even if you have to take a lot of it with a pinch oif salt, which is I think what DH had in mind.

vetchbook

I've just read an interesting biography all about Sid James caled Blimey! It's teh Sid James Book. Loads of info and details about his numerous film/ telly/theatre and radio. He did it all, it seems.