My Name Escapes Me

This eighteen-month diary, from January 1995 to June 1996, from one of the most distinguished -- and beloved -- actors of stage and screen, reveals the octogenarian spryness of a civilized mind and a beguiling mixture of the meditative and the hedonistic. Sir Alec Guinness's interests and preoccupations recur: theater and film, of course, but also books and paintings; the church, sometimes held up for amused observation; food and drink, from fish'n'chips gatherings with fellow actors in Cambridge to solitary repasts at the Connaught; and the delights of being at home with his wife in the English countryside. Although the entries are written with a keen eye on contemporary events and culture, they also open to a past replete with fascinating memories and anecdotes from his long career. Inevitably, there is a strand of poignancy as friends die and memorial services are attended, but the pleasures and fun to be had with close friends such as Alan Bennett, Irene Worth, and Lauren Bacall form a strong backbone to this marvelously entertaining diary, which offers a glimpse of the private side of Guinness's often very public life.