Principal characters : film players out of frame / Christopher Neame.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Neame, Christopher, 1942-

Series:

Filmmakers series ; no. 123.

Filmmakers series, ; no. 123

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Neame, Christopher, 1942-.

Neame, Christopher.

Motion picture producers and directors--Great Britain--Biography.

Motion picture producers and directors.

Television producers and directors.

Great Britain.

Television producers and directors--Great Britain--Biography.

Genre:

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

xxi, 125 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2005.

Summary:

As the grandson of actress Ivy Close and son of director Ronald Neame (the author of Straight from the Horse's Mouth: Scarecrow, 2003), Christopher Neame's roots in the film business were already firmly established by the time he joined the family profession. In his first memoir, Rungs on a Ladder, Neame gave readers an insider's look into a number of Hammer Studios productions of the 1960s and '70s. This was followed by A Take on British TV Drama, which recounted the challenges and rewards of working on some of the most distinguished works of British television, including The Flame Trees of Thika, Monsignor Quixote, and Danger: U.X.B. In Principal Characters, Neame fills the gaps in his illustrious career with brief intimate portraits of many important film figures. In this charming collection of anecdotes, he asks and answers questions about the stars, such as the following: Was Richard Harris really such a hell-raiser as a young man? What was Peter Sellers like to work with? How did Robert Mitchum find himself in trouble? How many faces did Alec Guinness have? What was behind Peter O'Toole and a bomb threat in Paris?

Looking behind the camera lens, Neame captures director Karel Reisz (This Sporting Life) wearing a producer's hat, marvels at cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth "painting" Cabaret with light, discloses Kenneth Tynan's unusual predilection, and weighs in on the culinary skills of Ismail Merchant (A Room with a View). Throughout these accounts, Neame looks both acutely and often amusingly at many who are household names, pulling no punches. This is a fitting conclusion to an autobiographical trilogy and will be of interest to all those curious about the film industry, especially the stars and directors Christopher Neame has worked with over the years.

Contents:

Principal Characters xviii

Chapter 1 Purling Them Out 1

Chapter 2 One of the Bad Boys! 13

Chapter 3 A Friendly Pirate 29

Chapter 4 Another Bad Boy and Some Goodies 41

Chapter 5 Good Chums and a Rather Naughty Boy 59

Chapter 6 The Best of British ... 81

Chapter 7 Shades of Disney 91

Chapter 8 Fathers and Sons 95.

Notes:

Includes index.

Filmography: pages 117-118.

ISBN:

0810856832

OCLC:

59098828