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DANIEL DAY-LEWIS

Name: DANIEL DAY-LEWIS
Author: Garry Jenkins
ISBN: 0-312-13044-9

THE FIRE WITHIN

by Garry Jenkins ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1995

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British journalist Jenkins adds to the mystery of the elusive actor in this respectful, not very gossipy, unauthorized biography. Though not yet 40, and though he's been featured in only ten or so films, Daniel Day-Lewis has already established himself as a star of amazing depth and range. Jenkins relies largely on interviews with Day-Lewis's half-brother, his nanny, and his teachers, as well as the few previously published interviews with the striking-looking but demure Englishman. Day-Lewis boasts quite a fancy pedigree. His father, Cecil Day-Lewis, was the poet laureate, a translator, and a mystery novelist (as Nicholas Blake); his mother, Cecil's second wife, Jill, is the daughter of Sir Michael Balcon, the head of production at Ealing Studios during the heyday of British filmmaking. Jill is also an actor of note, though she abandoned her career to raise her two children. A comfortable childhood was darkened only by Daniel's father's death when the boy was 15. Daniel's tendency to befriend lower-class toughs and mimic their ways led to his first bit role as a hooligan in Sunday, Bloody Sunday. He studied Method acting at Bristol Old Vic, where he began preparing for roles with grueling immersion into character, and made a name for himself onstage. But but it wasn't until 1985 that Day-Lewis made a splash with his widely disparate portrayals of a gay London punk in My Beautiful Laundrette and the upper-class prig in A Room with a View. His shape-shifting has persisted with roles as a Czech Don Juan, an early American frontiersman, an Irish political prisoner, and the crippled writer Christy Brown in My Left Foot, for which he won the 1989 Best Actor Oscar. Jenkins inflates his prose at times, and indulges in not a few show-biz clichÇs. But it's a serviceable job nonetheless, a fine tribute to a talent in full bloom.

Pub Date: July 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-312-13044-9

Page Count: 304

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WIZARD OF SUN CITY
by Garry Jenkins

- BOOK REVIEW
COLONEL CODY AND THE FLYING CATHEDRAL
by Garry Jenkins

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.