Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Simon Callow's 6 best books

Simon Callow is an actor, director, and writer. He has appeared in many films, including the hugely popular Four Weddings and a Funeral (he played Gareth). His books include Being an Actor, Shooting the Actor, a highly acclaimed biography of Charles Laughton, a biographical trilogy on Orson Welles (of which the first two parts have now been published), and Love Is Where It Falls, an account of his friendship with the great play agent Peggy Ramsay. His recent books include My Life in Pieces, which won the Sheridan Morley Prize in 2011, and Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World.

One of his six best books, as told to the Daily Express:
MR NORRIS CHANGES TRAINS
by Christopher Isherwood

Isherwood went to Berlin in 1929 and lived through the rise of the Nazis. He wrote two novels which depict the agonising death throes of the Weimar Republic.

This one introduces us to one of the great comic characters of 20th century, the shady Norris, against a background of rising political horror.
Read about another entry on Callow's list.

--Marshal Zeringue