Alec Guinness: The Authorised Biography - Hardcover

Read, Piers Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743244982 ISBN 13: 9780743244985

Publisher: Pocket Star, 2005

Synopsis

Sir Alec Guinness was one of the greatest actors of the twentieth century. With a talent recognised by discerning critics from his very first appearance on the stage, he gained a world-wide reputation playing roles on the screen such as Fagin in Oliver Twist and Sidney Stratton in The Man in the White Suit. His performance as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai won him an Oscar and, in his later years, he captivated a new generation of admirers as George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars.
Guinness was a man who vigorously guarded his privacy and, despite publishing an autobiography and two volumes of his diaries, he remained an enigma to the general public and a mystery even to his family and closest friends.
After his death in August 2000, his widow, Merula, asked the author Piers Paul Read, who had been a friend of her husband, to write his authorised biography. Given full co-operation by the Guinness family and free access to Sir Alec's papers, including his private and unpublished diaries, Read has written an enjoyable, yet penetrating and perceptive account of an intriguing and complex man.

About this title

Review:

"A deeply intelligent work, full of humanity and passion."-- "The Independent on Sunday"

About the Author:

Piers Paul Read is the author of thirteen acclaimed novels, most recently ALICE IN EXILE, and four works of non-fiction, among them a history of the crusading order, THE TEMPLARS and the international bestseller ALIVE! Past novels have won the Hawthornden Prize and the Geoffrey Faber, Somerset Maugham and James Tail Black Awards. His occasional journalism includes a profile of Sir Alec Guinness written for THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE in 1985.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pocket Star
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0743244982
• ISBN 13: 9780743244985
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 632