Public Places: My Life in the Theater, with Peter O'Toole and Beyond

Rating:
Summary: Better than commented on
Review: Having seen her perform in Pal Joey in London and again in My Old Lady in Hollywood, I was quite interested to read her story. I was not disappointed. The book tells HER story, not the story of O'Toole and others. For the lady who wanted gossip, I suggest getting the scandal sheets at your local super market when you check out.

The book covers not only her stage career and O'Toole relationship, but her thoughts and feelings about both and many other aspects over about a 40 year period.It is an intimate commentary on what she was going through from day, week, month and year onward.

For the comment that O'Toole wrote a good book... that is rubbish. He can't hold a candle to her as a writer. His "style" is awful. A poor man's James Joyce! And Joyce was bad enough himself.

Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: I found this book tedious to read beyond belief. Writing in the first person (autobiographical)is always difficult and this is no exception. There seems to be no construction or flow and the reader begins not to care about the ending. I usually stick with biographies as being more factual and less self serving.

Rating:
Summary: Delicious Stories of an Adventurous Life
Review: I loved reading this book. Sian Phillips took me places I wouldn't dream of venturing. One ride with O'Toole as driver and I would have said, "Enough already!" But she seems to adore a daring life -- and it takes her places. I was thrilled to go along, sinking ever deeper into my armchair. I'm reading to others at a Christmas party for booklovers the sequence that starts with her arrival in Cambodia in a "little girl" Mary Quant outfit that enrages her husband through the Hong Kong roaming in a neighborhood too dangerous for the police to enter.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: I loved this book! First of all because I think that Sian Phillips is an amazing actress who is terribly underappreciated -at least in this country. (I can't help but wonder what she would have achieved had Peter O'Toole allowed her to work more often.) I think her book is an honest, insightful picture of what her life was like - being married to a superstar, trying to juggle a career and a family, with less than no support from a husband who felt her only place was in the home - or at his beck and call - all pretty standard views at that time. Certainly the frustration she felt comes through very clearly, as does the turmoil she felt when she had to make the choice whether to stay in the marriage and go on the way they had been, or leave and find her own life. Obviously the success she has had (in Britain, anyway) since the marriage ended would indicate she made the right choice. But the stories of their life and adventures make for a fascinating and enjoyable read.

As for the reviewer who complained that there was nothing about her childhood in Wales - the reason is simple. This is the second part of her autobiography. Her life in Wales and her early days in London - up to the time she met Peter O'Toole - was beautifully told in the first book - "Private Faces" which was never released in this country, but which you can get through amazon.co.uk. It too is a fascinating story, since I doubt very many of us can even imagine what it would be like growing up in a very rural part of Wales.

I can't recommend this book highly enough - if only for more people to discover this amazinglybeautiful and talented woman.

Rating:
Summary: Empty Spaces
Review: I started out prejudiced in Sian Phillips' favor, having loved her Livia in I, Claudius and having attended her reading in New York City and been charmed by her manner and style. Her book is all manner and style, too, but thin on substance. She goes on at length about obscure persons, gives inexplicably short shrift to I, Claudius, and the occasional portraits of celebrated actors do not come to life. Instead, we are served pages upon pages of deadly filler in the form of the minutiae of everyday life at the O'Tooles. Ms. Phillips' memoir proves that the daily humdrum can be humdrum for the rich and famous, too. And Ms. Phillips' midlife crisis, which took the form of an affair with a younger actor, lost her my sympathy, as did her candid admission that she remained in her marriage for financial reasons. The author, as the wife of a major star, was shielded from much of real life. There are juicy bits in this story, but they are few and far between. Much of the book could have been cut, and then we would have had a bright and spritely magazine article. As it is, we have an overly long and unnecessary book. Ms. Phillips is a loquacious raconteur, and alas, much of her material is simply not worth recounting.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: I was really looking forward to reading this book, but I'm severely underwhelmed by it on a number of levels.

First of all, there's practically nothing about her childhood. Her mother does have a part to play in the book, and there is a peek into a complicated and interesting relationship there, but the dearth of detail about her early life is odd. I wanted to learn about what it was like to grow up in Wales, speaking Welsh, and what that contributed to her identity, but she hardly touched on that. (Interesting that her ex-husband managed to mine an entire book, and an interesting one at that, just from his childhood.)

Other reviewers have complained of the lack of depth in discussing her most famous roles, especially the utterly fascinating Livia, whom Sian Phillips practically dismisses in a few sentences. That landmark role deserves much more!!

Phillips does prattle on a bit about her daughters, but I got absolutely no sense of them as personalities or real people.

There's way too much about what a heartless cold person her first ex-husband was capable of being. Sure, I was disappointed to learn that my favorite actor could be so cruel and unsentimental, not to mention apparently having an obsession with his wife's lack of virginity, but Phillips really went on and on about those things too much, to the point of overkill.

I still admire the woman for her acting talent, but she has no aptitude for writing a memoir.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing Bio
Review: I was really looking forward to reading this book, but I'm severely underwhelmed by it on a number of levels.

First of all, there's practically nothing about her childhood. Her mother does have a part to play in the book, and there is a peek into a complicated and interesting relationship there, but the dearth of detail about her early life is odd. I wanted to learn about what it was like to grow up in Wales, speaking Welsh, and what that contributed to her identity, but she hardly touched on that. (Interesting that her ex-husband managed to mine an entire book, and an interesting one at that, just from his childhood.)

Other reviewers have complained of the lack of depth in discussing her most famous roles, especially the utterly fascinating Livia, whom Sian Phillips practically dismisses in a few sentences. That landmark role deserves much more!!

Phillips does prattle on a bit about her daughters, but I got absolutely no sense of them as personalities or real people.

There's way too much about what a heartless cold person her first ex-husband was capable of being. Sure, I was disappointed to learn that my favorite actor could be so cruel and unsentimental, not to mention apparently having an obsession with his wife's lack of virginity, but Phillips really went on and on about those things too much, to the point of overkill.

I still admire the woman for her acting talent, but she has no aptitude for writing a memoir.

Rating:
Summary: I wanted more dirt
Review: If you want to hear droning stories about British theatre life, then this is your baby. However, if you're hoping for some juicy revelations about Peter O'Toole, look someplace else. What a crushing disappointment this is. Sian was married to O'Toole for 20 years and during the height of his world-wide fame. She was with him during his breakthrough role as Lawrence of Arabia, in Becket, Goodbye Mr. Chips, and all his other stellar 60's roles. I expected gobs of gossip on Taylor and Burton, but Sian merely relates Peter's drinking binges with Burton and the fact Kate Hepburn referred to Liz and Richard as "fat pigs."

And what about O'Toole's drinking? As one of the most famous drunk actors of all time, in the league of Lee Marvin, Burton, Oliver Reed and Richard Harris, I expected some fireworks in this area. Forget it. Sian clinically describes Peter's addictions, his out of control lifestyle and racing cars, but it's all told in a desperately dry manner. All very disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Well written memoir, but a little awkward
Review: Sian Phillips is a graceful and accomplished actress who here proves to be an exceptional writer as well. Starting with the subtitle, Phillips makes no secret of using the name of her ex-husband, Peter O'Toole, to entice readers into buying and reading this book. In my case, it worked, and I have been rewarded with a captivating memoir of English stage life, particularly in the 1960s. Phillips is articulate about the strange and unfair ways women have been regarded, and treated, in numerous aspects of life before, during and since that time--all in the context of personal reflection, not political tract. She is candid about her own personality, and overall provides an engaging personal diary with some riveting anecdotes. Something, however, feels a little bit awkward. I didn't enjoy the feeling that the author had been just waiting for an opportunity to spill the beans about her unhappy marriage to an unpredictable man, and that somehow this book was a measure of revenge in which, even by reading, I was participating. That said, anyone interested in either a partial (but candid, and presumably unauthorized) biography of O'Toole, or a memoir of a fine English stage and screen actress, will not come up empty-handed here.