Robert shaw biography book

John French was Robert Shaw's agent for the last few years of Shaw's life, so he is the ideal person to write with at least some inside knowledge of this fine actor. Although he made some poor decisions during his career his talent was undoubtedly vast. Unfortunately as a person he does come across to me at least as a bit of a prick.

This book has not chnaged the fact that I will always enjoy his performances, but his personality leaves a lot to be desired. Sean Peters. A book I enjoyed, but understand many will not enjoy the book as I did, due to the author and to Robert Shaw the personality. I think most people will agree he was quite a difficult person, aggressive, rude, arrogant, he could have been a major star, but bad choices, bad attitude, large ego, and of course a rough personality, I am sure he lost good film roles, as he wanted his name first above the title.

The book shows very strongly timing, choices, decisions, attitude, drinking, relationships, money problems, even in the last few years, made more money, but spent more, and bad choices of films roles, not one successful film after Jaws. John French, Shaw's biographer, knew him well, as he was his agent in the later years of Shaw's life, professionally and personally.

Robert Shaw: The Price of Success is a perceptive, sympathetic, but unsparing portrait of the blessings and curses endowing this mercurial, enigmatic and deeply engaging man, also a tormented character, aggressive and a wild personality and a drinker. Very disappointing. More about the processes of getting a movie made, staging a play, and avoiding taxes.

Sandy Livingstone. I would expect that the author being Robert's agent should have known that Quint was talking about the USS Indianapolis not Philadelphia. Was this proof read? Robert Redford is called Bedford at least twice. What other inaccuracies are in here that we would not find so obvious? A fascinating book about an immensely talented but difficult and not very likeable man.

It is hard to warm to a man who seems to have used 'boy' as his common form of address to other males. It is often frustratingly short on detail about Shaw's acting, either film or stage - on the other hand if you want to know about his marital complexities, his tax affairs or the prices he paid for expensive cars you have come to the right shop.

The title 'The Price of Success' is literally true - we learn a lot about Shaw's relationship with his accountants. Actually the details of what it meant to be an artistic tax exile in the late s and s are really quite fascinating, as are the details of the finer points of 'billing' - important given Shaw's absurdly competitive personality. Considering the book's relative neglect of Shaw's acting and its sometimes mercenary tone it is surprisingly good on his now largely forgotten writing career - it is odd to think that Shaw was considered one of the really important novelists of the s, given that his novels are comprehensively out-of-print, and not even considered rare or collectible.

Surely it is time for a reevaluation of his novels I was interested in knowing more about Shaw after watching a few of his Harold Pinter plays and seeing him in films, the book is interesting but unfortunately focuses more on how movies are made and how actors avoided tax, was looking for a more in-depth look into Shaw psyche, but this wasn't really that.

There are also quite a lot of errors, it's clearly been poorly proof read. I also think the writer should've set aside his obvious dislike for Shaw, obviously Shaw doesn't sound like a very nice character, but the book might have had less bias to show this. Sometimes it was frustrating, with obvious inaccuracies, at one point the writer writes that after Shaw moved to Ireland it all went down hill in terms of career.

But that couldn't be true considering this was when he made "The Taking of Pelham one two three" and "Jaws"? Alex Ward Davies. I was aware of previous reviews of this biography, most of them being negative. I can certainly understand the reasons! Robert Shaw is an outstanding actor, one of the greatest to emerge during the late s.

I wanted to know something about the man, so I bought John French's biography. It made for tough reading: the manuscript is full of spelling roberts shaw biography book and grammatical errors. Readability Talent Revealing content Author biography. Images in this review. Top reviews from United Kingdom. There was a problem filtering reviews right now.

Please try again later. Verified Purchase. I have always been a huge fan of Robert Shaw but didn't know much about him as a man. This book reveals him as a highly complex and contradictory character. He clearly had huge talent and intelligence as a writer, as well as his great ability as an actor, but had a self-destructive drive. The later parts of the book detail his chronic alcoholism and make fascinating reading; having seen Force Ten From Navarone several times and enjoyed it it was the first film I ever saw at the pictures - I read in the book that it was viewed as a very poor film I was amazed to read that Shaw was drunk throughout the weeks of filming but I for one couldn't tell!

A book I enjoyed, but understand many will not enjoy the book as I did, due to the author and to Robert Shaw the personality. I think most people will agree he was quite a difficult person, aggressive, rude, arrogant, he could have been a major star, but bad choices, bad attitude, large ego, and of course a rough personality, I am sure he lost good film roles, as he wanted his name first above the title.

The book roberts shaw biography book very strongly timing, choices, decisions, attitude, drinking, relationships, money problems, even in the last few years, made more money, but spent more, and bad choices of films roles, not one successful film after Jaws. His breakthrough came when Hollywood was experiencing something of a British Invasion.

But Shaw was arguably more talented than any, a figure of extraordinary and wide-ranging promise. More than just a mesmerising actor on stage and screen, he was also a gifted writer. He wrote no less than six published novels winning the Hawthornden Prizewhile his plays include the acclaimed Man in The Glass Booth. The flipside to Shaw's diverse abilities was his well-earned reputation as a hellraiser.

A fiercely competitive man in all areas of his life, whether playing table tennis or drinking whisky, he emptied mini-bars, crashed Aston Martins, fathered nine children by three different women, made and spent a fortune, and set fire to Orson Welles' house. He died at 51, having driven himself too hard, too fast, but unable to get over his father's suicide when Shaw was just John French, Shaw's biographer, knew him well, as he was his agent in the later years of Shaw's life, professionally and personally.

Robert shaw biography book

This edition features a new foreword written by Richard Dreyfuss. Also a rather strange, running attack on Sean Connery through the book. Equating to nothing else than the author obviously had an issue with Connery at some point in his life. Despite Jaws and The Sting, Shaw never had anything like the star power of Connery although the author seems to compare the two throughout.

Odd but overall a good read. I was really looking forward to reading this book as they dosnt seem to be many books about him around. What a disappointment this isthe author for some reason is obsessed on giving weekly updates on shaw renovating some farm house in Ireland. It also gives us his weekly airmiles, coming in and out other country, so he doesn't have to pay high taxes.

It also gives an insight into his troubles with drink and marriages but it hardly mentions his work on his films. A chapter on jaws alone could have told some tales, arguing with Richard dreyfuss every day, boats sinking etc. Very poor. See more reviews. Top reviews from other countries. Translate all reviews to English. Report Translate review to English.

Both books should be read, but unfortunately "More Than A Life" is very hard to find and quite dear when you do. I was lucky enough to get both books. French present Shaw warts and all, so to speak. The family disapproves of this book possibly because Shaw is presented as only an Agent can do. Actors often hide things from their families that they dump all over an agent.

A trusted agent often becomes a kind of sounding board and the more wretched parts of an actor's personality is shown to him but not the family. We loved all the photographs and comments. Good job. By the way, we're actually his Robert Shaw's daughters and don't get the John French book as it's full of lies. It does seem that the Carmean bio is preferred but the French bio is much more difficult to find.

His feedback on Amazon often speaks of great delays in the provision of books. A perfectly legal, although slightly shameful, way of making a living. Caveat Emptor. Before parting with large sums of money always check mega book malls like Addall. Some modest relisters are content merely to treble up. Labels: biography. No comments:.

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