Some people have all the talent
Jul. 3rd, 2013 10:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
litlover12A side benefit of the British films project: I recently picked up a copy of Blessings in Disguise, the first volume of Alec Guinness's memoirs, when I saw it in a used bookstore. Just finished reading it last night. What a marvelous book. The man could not only act, he could write. Really write.
For those interested, I'll cross-post my Goodreads review below the cut.
Alec Guinness was as gifted a writer as he was an actor, and that's saying something. Shining through this memoir are his great wit, his humility (rare in a star of his magnitude!), and his gift for seeing the good in almost everyone -- a fortunate gift for him, because some of the people he knew were absolute horrors. There was the poet who refused to speak to him for two years after he said he liked Beethoven; the actress who declared she couldn't act with him and got him fired from his first leading role; the actor who decked him as he walked through a door, just because he (the decker) was in a bad mood. Sir Alec treats most of these as little more than amusing quirks. I'd probably be on the psychiatrist's couch, sobbing and tearing my hair out. But his friendships were deeply important to him -- made clear in the lovely last line ("Of one thing I can boast; I am unaware of ever having lost a friend") -- and he was able to see the big picture with these people, and balance the good and the bad. His generous, affectionate, and forgiving spirit taught me some things that will be helpful in my own life and relationships.
His description of actress Edith Evans is typical: "When I think of her now . . . my mind see-saws between gratitude for what she was, her enormous generosity in big things, and exasperation at her meanness in small ones, amusement at her egocentricity, reverence for her artistry, and astonishment at her occasional lapses into artistic blindness, which almost amounted to dishonesty. If I think of, and record, a pettiness or silliness in Edith's behaviour, I can always cheerfully outweigh it with five times as many actions of human warmth, affection and wisdom. . . . Let me put two of her different sides back to back, so to speak, like bookends and then cap her large, generous action with the gesture of beautiful thoughtfulness and kindness she showed me."
And he enjoys telling a good story on himself as well as on others. Some of his stories of theatrical mishaps and wartime blunders made me laugh aloud.
Guinness doesn't even attempt to tell this story in any kind of order. Chapters are organized around various people who were important to him, with a couple of exceptions (there's one chapter on his conversion to Catholicism, and another on his war service). He jumps back and forth in time, and from place to place, stringing together anecdotes haphazardly. You'll get several pages about his experiences in Cuba, and then all of a sudden we're in Spain, by way of Ireland. By the same token, he'll suddenly plop down a character in the midst of his narrative, and not get around to introducing him or her until later. But I got used to all of this quickly, and the book as a whole was so enjoyable, it didn't bother me.
This book heightened my appreciation for Alec Guinness as an actor, a writer, a Christian, and a human being. It must have been a joy to know him. All those friends were very blessed indeed.
For those interested, I'll cross-post my Goodreads review below the cut.
Alec Guinness was as gifted a writer as he was an actor, and that's saying something. Shining through this memoir are his great wit, his humility (rare in a star of his magnitude!), and his gift for seeing the good in almost everyone -- a fortunate gift for him, because some of the people he knew were absolute horrors. There was the poet who refused to speak to him for two years after he said he liked Beethoven; the actress who declared she couldn't act with him and got him fired from his first leading role; the actor who decked him as he walked through a door, just because he (the decker) was in a bad mood. Sir Alec treats most of these as little more than amusing quirks. I'd probably be on the psychiatrist's couch, sobbing and tearing my hair out. But his friendships were deeply important to him -- made clear in the lovely last line ("Of one thing I can boast; I am unaware of ever having lost a friend") -- and he was able to see the big picture with these people, and balance the good and the bad. His generous, affectionate, and forgiving spirit taught me some things that will be helpful in my own life and relationships.
His description of actress Edith Evans is typical: "When I think of her now . . . my mind see-saws between gratitude for what she was, her enormous generosity in big things, and exasperation at her meanness in small ones, amusement at her egocentricity, reverence for her artistry, and astonishment at her occasional lapses into artistic blindness, which almost amounted to dishonesty. If I think of, and record, a pettiness or silliness in Edith's behaviour, I can always cheerfully outweigh it with five times as many actions of human warmth, affection and wisdom. . . . Let me put two of her different sides back to back, so to speak, like bookends and then cap her large, generous action with the gesture of beautiful thoughtfulness and kindness she showed me."
And he enjoys telling a good story on himself as well as on others. Some of his stories of theatrical mishaps and wartime blunders made me laugh aloud.
Guinness doesn't even attempt to tell this story in any kind of order. Chapters are organized around various people who were important to him, with a couple of exceptions (there's one chapter on his conversion to Catholicism, and another on his war service). He jumps back and forth in time, and from place to place, stringing together anecdotes haphazardly. You'll get several pages about his experiences in Cuba, and then all of a sudden we're in Spain, by way of Ireland. By the same token, he'll suddenly plop down a character in the midst of his narrative, and not get around to introducing him or her until later. But I got used to all of this quickly, and the book as a whole was so enjoyable, it didn't bother me.
This book heightened my appreciation for Alec Guinness as an actor, a writer, a Christian, and a human being. It must have been a joy to know him. All those friends were very blessed indeed.
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Date: 2013-07-03 04:45 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2013-07-04 12:36 pm (UTC)I haven't seen many movies with Alec Guinness but I think he was amazing in "Kind Hearts and Coronets", "Ladykillers" and "Lawrence of Arabia" (not a big part but he made it memorable).
You're on goodreads? Me too. Would you mind if I friend you there?
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Date: 2013-07-04 07:08 pm (UTC)http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4891475.Gina_Dalfonzo
I LOVE "Kind Hearts and Coronets." Such a brilliant, funny movie.
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Date: 2013-07-04 08:21 pm (UTC)Isn't it hilarious? ^_^ Perhaps I have a weird sense of humour but one of my favourite scenes is when they're having tea in the garden and there's slowly more and more smoke coming from the blown-up garden shed behind the hedge. Perfect timing. And Guinness is so good in all those different roles.