Kenneth Williams: Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams

Product Information

The haunting nostalgia of THE MESOPOTAMIA TANGO may revive poignant memories for some and it is interesting to note that Mr. Through it all there’s a complicated portrait of the man and all his foibles and while there is a schism between public and private, the voice and cadence we know is unmistakably evident in every word even when outlining thoughts on subjects we might not associate with him. Williams was born in Edgware, Middlesex, on 2 July 1931, to William Williams, a Welsh nonconformist, and his wife Alice (née Myles). The biggest revelation for me was just how cyclical the process of Williams growing disenchanted with absolutely every piece of work he became involved with was. I humbly extend my sincerest of apologies to the families I senselessly wronged and deprived of their loved ones.

I don't own a copy of the diaries so I couldn't check, but the sense of missing detail was constant. It’s somewhat surprising how little he focuses on the work though — particularly the work he is best known for — and it is abundantly clear that more often than not it is just work, pure and simple.BOADICEA sheds new light on a dark period in English history and PARDON ME, SIR FRANCIS is an eye witness account of the Spanish Armada.

But he had a run of flops (Gentle Jack, Loot, The Platinum Cat) and his love/hate relationship with the stage turned into only fear and loathing of a run. Nevertheless it is a fascinating read on what its like to be a British entertainer in the 50's through out the 80'. Diehard fans will have to hope that one day a heavyweight biographer like Peter Ackroyd or Zachary Leader will tackle the subject and really do him justice.Williams, you would think, would hate this type of humor and via his diary he seemed to had very mixed feelings working on this iconic film series. I was 13 at the time, very interested in the Apollo programme and couldn't get enough of moon landing TV.

A rare and exceptional bust of actor Kenneth Williams by the highly sought after Sculptor Irena Sedeckla Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors. I was also very appreciative of the author's well argued contention that Kenneth's death was NOT suicide as a counter to Russell Davies' equally forceful conviction as per the Diaries that it was.As he tries his best to come to terms with his fame, his increasingly ailing Mother and his sexuality - the latter being illegal for most of this book - Williams life gathers a dark momentum until its tragic conclusion. Commissioned portrait heads include Laurence Olivier (she also modeled the huge head used for his appearance in Dave Clark's musical Time at the Dominion Theatre), Donald Sinden, Paul Eddington, Richard Briers, Jimmy Edwards, Ted Moult, Bobby Charlton, Lord Litchfield and Sir Frank Whittle. In August 1992 her work was shown at the Czech Embassy in London as part of an exhibition devoted to the work of five distinguished Czech émigré sculptors. Rarely supervised, Williams started smoking marijuana at the age of 6, and joined the Gangster Disciples and started drinking beer at the age of 9. Yet it is his writing, and especially these remarkable, candid, painful and frank diaries, which (alongside his radio and film comedy performances) will keep him alive for a very long time.

I loved his sharp wit, and felt pain for his constant depression, his hatred of himself and of his sexuality, his love for his mother, his pain over her death, his constant wish for death himself. The author does not gloss over William's rudeness, selfishness and unsociability and he reveals many of the kindly actions which have otherwise gone unnoticed. This is the second book I've read (the first being his autobiography) and it certainly is a lot darker. He initially expressed frustration over his death sentence, saying "I thought: Have they forgotten I am human, or do they just not care?Similarly, SPA’S, which he wrote himself, is an outspoken attack on the medical profession based on personal experience. comedian Kenneth Williams was known to threaten on occasion, although tantalisingly he kept the journal to himself during his lifetime.