Keep on dancing: An autobiography

by Sarah Churchill

A candid autobiography by the daughter of Winston Churchill provides an intimate portrait of her father and discusses her dramatic life, marriages, Hollywood career, and personal tragedies

243 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1983

About the author

Sarah Millicent Hermione Touchet-Jesson, Baroness Audley (née Spencer-Churchill (7 October 1914 – 24 September 1982), was an English actress and dancer and a daughter of Winston Churchill.

Sarah Churchill is best known for her role in the film Royal Wedding (1951) as Anne Ashmond, the romantic interest of Fred Astaire.

Reviews

[Jean Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-written and engaging autobiography that focuses more on Sarah's career than on her personal life. I was left with the feeling that I wished I knew her better than what the glimpses of this book allow. She writes from the upbringing of her British upper middle class background - never airing the dirty linen and never saying anything negative about anyone. If one is hoping for any gossip or scandal, you won't find it here. She writes with great affection toward her parents and siblings and some of the anecdotes about her famous father are quite touching. There are few details of her relationships and the reasons behind the failure of her first two marriages. She makes one reference to Anthony's "many infidelities" but nothing more. Her problems with alcohol and drugs are acknowledged but glossed over. As for her career, she writes in some detail what it was like to be a stage actor and the joys and exhaustion of performing stage tours in the 1950's and the celebrities she encountered along the way. She states that much of the material for the book came from letters written to her mother. This may explain why there seem to be large chunks of her life and career that are missing. She was clearly a multi-talented, artistic, perhaps tragic and enigmatic individual. I wish there was a biography of her life that told me more.