‘A Divided Life’ by Bryan Forbes

My Review (5 stars out of 5)

Writer, director, and actor Bryan Forbes has contributed much to British film-making, and in this informative autobiography he recounts insights into the industry, including his time as head of production for EMI at Elstree.

I’ve long been a fan of Bryan Forbes as an actor and director, though I wasn’t aware of the large number of screenplays and novels he’d written. This is a very readable narrative of his working life in films and theatre, as well as his long-term relationship with his wife, the actor and writer Nanette Newman. The book jumps around quite a bit and is not a chronological account, so his early years as an actor are only touched on later in the book. I was a little disappointed that he barely mentions some of my favourite films (The League of Gentlemen (which he starred in and also wrote), Whistle Down the Wind (directorial debut) and An Inspector Calls (Actor). As you’d expect, there are a great many anecdotes about his work in films and the theatre, his friendship with actors, writers and directors, and his take on Hollywood and the British film industry.

A thoroughly enjoyable book.

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