Status Updates From Public Places: My Life in t...

The description of her trip up the Orinoco River after filming in Venezuela in the early 1970s almost defies belief. I’ll try to post a scan of her photos when I review the book.

“It was my good fortune to love and be loved by this extraordinary man and it was my deep misfortune to be as incapable as the next person of expressing my anger at his unfair, unjust behavior. ... I was part of a huge conspiracy directed towards protecting O’Toole from the painful consequences of his behavior.” p. 192

I know the late 50s and early 60s were another time, but it is often difficult to read about the emotional abuse Phillips endured from Peter O’Toole.

dull...For whatever reason Sian Phillips things she has some special gift in acting. That's wrong. Her career is totally attributable to her marriage to O'Toole as she refers to him throughout the book, and cribbing his notes. She even looks like him sans the blond hair. But she is not as charismatic and not nearly as good an actor. She whines throughout about her lot and suffering from his drinking etc.

dull...dull..dull

And...suddenly we are in the realm of travel writing! It cannot be claimed that this book is boring or celeb-focused!

I love how celeb biographies come with interesting snippets of history. If I wasn't reading this book, I would never have known that King Hussein of Jordan met wife #2 on the set of Lawrence of Arabia, or that somewhere in the Jordanian desert there is a 51 year-old woman named Sian.

Not quite as lushly fascinating as the first volume, but I love the way she writes. Peter O'Toole - gah!

So far, a slower read than Private Faces, perhaps because I don't find Peter O'Toole that fascinating?