Kenneth Clark TV - The King of Marvin Gardens 1972 - Quentin Crisp - John Berger - Robert A Heinlein - Tom Robbins - Jo Brand - Henri Philippe Petain - The Ghost Writer 2010 - Alan Yentob, Imagine … Lenny Henry TV -
Ruskin said, Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts: the book of their deeds, the book of their words, and the book of their art. Kenneth Clark: Civilisation 1/13 ***** The Skin of Our Teeth, BBC 1969
No-one reads any more. I have been deprived of my literary right. And I crave an audience. The form of the tragic autobiography is dead ... Goodbye written word. The King of Marvin Gardens 1972 starring Jack Nicholson & Bruce Dern & Ellen Burstyn & Julia Anne Robinson & Scatman Crothers & Charles Lavine et al, director Bob Rafelson, Nicholson dictating on bog
An autobiography is an obituary in serial form with the last instalment missing. Quentin Crisp, The Naked Civil Servant, 1968
Autobiography begins with a sense of being alone. It is an orphan form. John Berger
Autobiography is usually honest but it is never truthful. Robert A Heinlein, Friday
Usually, autobiography is such an indulgence of the ego. Tom Robbins
Look Back in Hunger. Jo Brand, autobiography, 2009
To write one’s memoirs is to speak ill of everybody except oneself. Henri Philippe Petain, Observer 26th May 1946
His last effort was the autobiography of a magician: I came, I sawed, I conquered. The Ghost Writer 2010 starring Ewan McGregor & Pierce Brosnan & Kim Cattrall & Olivia Williams & Tom Wilkinson & Timothy Hutton & Jon Bernthal & Tim Preece & Robert Pugh & David Rintoul & Eli Wallach et al, director Roman Polanski, book guy
Now why did he go and get himself mixed up with that damned fool from the White House? ibid. old man
Lenny Henry has just released his memoirs. And he’s chosen not to focus on his glory days but on the early years, learning his trade on the working men’s club circuit, in a world of 70s light entertainment, and 5 years performing with the Black & White Minstrels. Alan Yentob, Imagine … Lenny Henry, BBC 2019
In recent years he has reinvented himself as a serious actor and an unspoken champion of diversity. ibid.
He arrived in 1957 to the smoke and chimneys of Dudley in the West Midlands. ibid.