Notes for a Life

For a man – actor, writer and director – whose own films were usually rather sad, bittersweet affairs, this memoir is surprisingly light-hearted. But does anyone remember Bryan Forbes anymore? He wrote the screenplays for two movies I love – The League of Gentlemen with Jack Hawkins, and Hospcotch with Walter Matthau – and directed a couple of the aforementioned sad and bittersweet that stick in my mind: Whistle Down the Wind and Séance on a Wet Afternoon.*

Apart from being eminently readable, there’s a couple of things I like about this book. One is that he doesn’t – as many showbiz memoirs tend to do – go in for mean true stories about other celebrities. For the most part, he’s unfailingly generous. And even when he does have a criticism, he manages to express it politely rather than vindictively.

The second is that doesn’t shy away from painting himself in a less than favourable light at times, especially in his dealings with girlfriends in his teens and 20s. He owns up to his mistakes, which is refreshing.

So I’m really glad I managed to find a copy of this, but I wonder: does anyone remember Bryan Forbes anymore?

 

* He was also responsible, as head of EMI Films, for getting The Railway Children and The Go Between (among many others) made. More points for a pass to Heaven.