About the Book:

HARD TO FIND BOOK, only a very limited number of copies are still available.

Still appearing on stage and in films almost up to his death at 96, Sir John Gielgud must rate as one of the finest actors of his or any era. He made his Shakespearean debut in 1920 as Orlando in an amateur open-air production of As You Like It, "I strode on to the lawn at the first performance, drew my sword fiercely and declaimed "Forebear and eat no more!", but unfortunately I tripped over a large log and fell flat on my face". From that inauspicious start John Gielgud has gone on to enjoy one of the longest and most distinguished careers in theatre history.

In John Gielgud: A Celebration author Gyles Brandreth presents a portrait in words and pictures of a remarkable actor and director whose work has quite extraordinary range, from silent movies in the 1920s to Hollywood in the 1980s, from Chekhov and Shaw to David Storey and Harold Pinter from Sheridan and Wilde to Noel Coward and Alan Bennett, and always Shakespeare, from the Old Vic in 1921 to the National Theatre in 1977. Illustrated with outstanding photographs, filmstills, playbills, reviews and caricatures, the book reveals the whole gamut of John Gielgud's work, as an actor and director in the theatre, as well as a television performer and film star.

What people say:

"Brandreth has created a brilliant tribute larded with anecdotes told to him by Gielgud himself and also by friends ranging from Tony Richardson to Kenneth Branagh.." — The Independent on Sunday

About the Author:

Gyles Brandreth is a British writer, broadcaster and former Member of the British Parliament and junior minister. He wrote an authorized biography of actor John Gielgud.