Stage and Screen Lives

Distinguished theatre critic and presenter Michael Billington has made a personal selection taken from the Dictionary of National Biography of approximately 130 mini-biographies spanning a wide spectrum of people who have played some part in shaping the culture of the worlds of stage andscreen in Britain.This title, following on from the success of Brief Lives, which was first published in hardback in 1997 and subsequently in paperback, will be published alongside two other similar titles, Political Lives and Literary Lives.As Michael Billington details in his very entertaining introduction, the choice of entries has been based partly on the subject of the entry and partly on the individual biographer and their own insight into the life of the subject.The biographies include actors, critics, entertainers, directors, and pioneers in film and theatre.From Somerset Maugham to Eric Morecambe, Richard Burton to Noel Coward, and Tony Hancock to Alfred Hitchcock.Examples of entries:Moira Shearer on Frederick AshtonMichael Denison on Noel CowardElizabeth Pollitt on Gracie FieldsRachael Low on Cary GrantArthur Marshall on Tony HancockAlan Bennett on Russell HartyPaul Johnson on Philip Hope-WallaceRalph Richardson on Alexander KordaMargot Fonteyn on Lydia LopokovaEric Ambler on James MasonJohn Gielgud on Margaret RutherfordBarry Took on Kenneth WilliamsThe selected entries, such as those above, together create a highly readable and fascinating anthology, which gives some insight into the broader picture of the world of theatre, film, and TV in Britain as we know it today.