THE KENNETH WILLIAMS LETTERS: An Outrageous Memoir of the Carry On Star and His Famous Friends - Softcover

Davies, Russell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007291922 ISBN 13: 9780007291922

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2008

Synopsis

Following the bestselling publication of THE KENNETH WILLIAMS DIARIES, the devastating self-portrait of one of our most loved and complex performers is completed with this marvellous selection of his letters.

This is a wonderful treasure trove of correspondence with all manner of people, including Alec Guinness, Maggie Smith, Joe Orton, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, and the Stokers’ Mess of HMS Leverton. Kenneth Williams took letters very seriously, and he was always disgusted by a morning that failed to provide him with some material to pore over.

Letters called forth the performer in Williams in a way that his diaries never did: many of them are virtual comic monologues, and in general they suggest more strongly than the diaries the likeable and constructive side of a man who remains, nevertheless, as outrageous and ‘difficult’ as ever.

About this title

About the Author

Born in Barmouth, Russell has a first-class degree in Modern Languages from St John's College Cambridge. He was Caricaturist of the Times Literary Supplement and Film Critic of the Observer, later TV critic of the Observer and Sunday Times. He first chaired Brain of Britain in 2004. His books include biographies of the cartoonist Vicky and the graphic artist Ronald Searle, and he edited the Kenneth Williams Diaries. He is married with 3 sons, and has played jazz trombone and tuba since 1964.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0007291922
• ISBN 13: 9780007291922
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336