by Robert Morley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1967

Robert Morley, the distinguished actor, in his autobiography ROBERT MORLEY: A Retuctant Autobiography., written, or rather delivered verbally, in conjunction with his old friend Sewell Stokes, had the witty idea of beginning his book backwards by presenting a few comments from his obituary and generally arranging the contents in a shuffled sequence untidily out of Context. Simon & Schuster. And it works. Much of the credit, for this grabbag of Wildean Morleyisms must go to Stokes, who plays, straight man very deftly indeed. When not casting bon mots upon the water of Stokes' personality, Morley twiddles with the telly; he is an addict and has four sets around his house in Berkshire, England. Or he gambles, compulsively. Despite his contention that he is often a great bore, the Morleyisms he has retained in the autobiography have enough, wit to get by though with not much genius. He seldom goes very deeply into his stage and film successes and failures, and one occasionally wonders what the play or venture was about. The highlights include his greatest success as a writer-actor in Edward. My Son, though the book's funniest passages are about working with Capote and John Huston on Beat the Devil. But backwards runs Morley's career until we find him now playing with Jerry Lewis in Way Way Out... Superior in its genre.

Pub Date: May 1, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION