{"product_id":"alec-guinness-piers-paul-read-9781451636444","title":"Alec Guinness: The Authorised Biography","description":"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 \u003ci\u003eOliver Twist\u003c\/i\u003e and Sidney Stratton in \u003ci\u003eThe Man in the White Suit.\u003c\/i\u003e His performance as Colonel Nicholson in \u003ci\u003eThe Bridge on the River Kwai\u003c\/i\u003e won him an Oscar and, in his later years, he captivated a new generation of admirers as George Smiley in \u003ci\u003eTinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy\u003c\/i\u003e and Obi-Wan Kenobi in \u003ci\u003eStar Wars.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 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. \u003cbr\u003e 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 Given full co-operation by the Guinness family and free access to Sir Alec's papers, including his private and unpublished diaries, Read has written an enjoyable, yet penetrating and perceptive account of an intriguing and complex man. \u003cbr\u003e Read shows how Guinness's quirks of character and genius had roots in the circumstances of his early life. His marriage to Merula Salaman, a young actress of great promise, is chronicled by the many hundred letters Guinness wrote to her when serving in the Navy during World War II, while his post-war diaries reveal that readjustment to civilian life was traumatic, with doubts about his talent and a confusion about his sexual nature leading to bouts of severe depression. \u003cbr\u003e Guinness's conversion to Catholicism in 1956 partly exorcised his demons, but he never wholly escaped the contradictions of his life -- his domestic ties vying with wayward passions, a yearning for holiness with an intolerance of constraint, a raw sensitivity to the feelings of others with an irascible and domineering nature. Yet from the diaries and letters to his friends quoted extensively in this biography, there emerges a man of great compassion, generosity, wit and charm -- intellectually curious, a talented writer, a great gossip, bon viveur and munificent host.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Piers Paul Read\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 145163644X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781451636444\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Simon \u0026amp; Schuster\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/01\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 640\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.74lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.65d","brand":"Piers Paul Read","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43980400328959,"sku":"9781451636444","price":36.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_a6124030-71ef-4850-87b5-4ce59903a0d0.jpg?v=1683249709","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/alec-guinness-piers-paul-read-9781451636444","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}