Sir Alec Guinness was born in London in 1914 and began his professional acting career in 1933. His many films include Oliver Twist, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Bridge on the River Kwai (for which he won an Oscar), Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, and Star Wars. He was knighted in 1959 and made a Companion of Honour in 1994.
Erudite, droll and modest, this sequel to My Name Escapes Me, written in the form of a diary from the summer of 1996 through 1998, comprises the distinguished actor's celebrations of life's pleasures great (the solace of Catholicism; a loving marriage) and small (a good meal, a devoted pet). The opening description of a cataract operationÄso successful that seeing the world "sharply and in full color" prompts the actor to "burst into happy tears"Äis typical of a book that acknowledges how powerful and how evanescent such pleasures can be. The book is shadowed with dark ruminations about the rise of germ warfare, the ethics of abortion and the arms race between Pakistan and India. At the same time, GuinnessÄmarried for 60 years to a woman who drolly blames "the aggressiveness of Donald Duck" for all that is deplorable in Western civilizationÄrefuses to take himself too seriously, and the book can be ferociously quaint. Although his greatest fame came belatedly with his role in the Star Wars trilogy, Guinness is disdainful of the films' cultish appeal, calling them modest entertainments whose acolytes have lost themselves "in a fantasy world of secondhand, childish banalities." He asks one favor of a 12-year-old boy who claims to have seen the film more than 100 times: "Do you think you could promise never to see Star Wars again?" Guinness describes his 1939 Romeo as "the worst... ever to disgrace our boards." Such puckish self-effacement comes easily to a man who thinks, upon seeing the Hale-Bopp cometÄa spectacle "not even seen by Socrates, Christ, or Shakespeare"Äthat it makes the hurly-burly of a British election year "no more than a tiny puff of dust." National publicity. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Let's hope he's wrong, but Sir Alec seems determined that this is his final appearance as author. Perhaps, at the age of 85, he's entitled to put away the pen, but many of us will miss future installments of his life and his memories. Blessings in Disguise was written in a more traditional biographical format, while My Name Escapes Me and this latest book are written as journals, though Guinness takes the opportunity to wander among decades and events as the mood strikes him. He offers theater and film lovers a charming (and at times piercingly perceptive) peek behind the curtains of the world of the British stage and screen, as well as British politics and life. He seems to have known and acted with everyone who is anyone in the theater but is so casual about it all that it's like being invited to a small party where we will know everyone, too. Thanks, Sir Alec, for inviting us along. Highly recommended for all libraries, especially those with theater collections.ÄSusan L. Peters, Emory Univ. Lib., Atlanta Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
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