My Name Escapes Me: The Diary of a Retiring Actor
by By Guinness, Alec
Category: Biography & Autobiography , Entertainment & Performing Arts

Best known for his roles in films as varied as Lawrence of Arabia and Star Wars, Guinness is one of the most distinguishedand beloved - movie actors of his generation. His charmingly sincere diary entries offer a glimpse of the private side of his often very public life.What makes Guinness a fine and versatile actor is precisely what also makes him a good diarist: an ironically observant eye. In his diary, which covers the eighteen months from January 1995 to June 1996, he reveals the inner life of a hugely successful actor while remaining completely accessible. This work is, at the same time, a poignant account of a man coming to terms with being eighty-two and its accompanying infirmities and a delightfully humorous record of his extemporaneous opinions and careful reflections. Certain interests and preoccupations recur: theater and films, of course, but also books and paintings; the church, sometimes held up for amused observation, more often the focus of a personal faith; food and drink, whether fish 'n' chips with a group of fellow actors or a solitary entrecote at the Connaught; and the delights of being at home with his wife in the Hampshire countryside.Though Guinness shows a keen interest in contemporary events and culture (such as taking a perhaps surprising pleasure in the Wallace and Gromit cartoons), he also brings to the diary some fascinating anecdotes from his long and distinguished acting career and new tales of his current friendships.