Peter Sallis

[WellyMan]

A couple of years ago I read his autobiography but was disappointed that he didn't devote much of the book to SW. It gives the impression he was a frustrated actor who wanted to do more serious work. One interesting revelation, IIRC, is that he didn't like Thora Hird because she tended to hold court and talk incessantly.

Have any of the other cast members written autobios worth reading?

 

[Pearl]

Have you red Kathy Staffs? She didn't talk all that much about SW either.

 

[WellyMan]

Have you red Kathy Staffs? She didn't talk all that much about SW either.

Didn't realise she`d written one so. My late auntie knew her from church, so another reason to look into it.

 

[Pearl]

It was called My Story, Whinkles and All.

 

[Amos Hames 2]

A couple of years ago I read his autobiography but was disappointed that he didn't devote much of the book to SW. It gives the impression he was a frustrated actor who wanted to do more serious work. One interesting revelation, IIRC, is that he didn't like Thora Hird because she tended to hold court and talk incessantly.

Have any of the other cast members written autobios worth reading?

I have that book and Bill's too

 

[Barrychuckle]

Didn't realise she`d written one so. My late auntie knew her from church, so another reason to look into it.

I've also got to get round to reading that book, everything I hear about Kathy was she was universally regarded as a nice and decent person. I know someone who briefly met her at a motorway services many years ago and she told me she couldn't have been more gracious and humble. This is in stark contrast to the formidable character she portrayed which also makes her an incredible actor!

 

[onyx(John)]

A couple of years ago I read his autobiography but was disappointed that he didn't devote much of the book to SW. It gives the impression he was a frustrated actor who wanted to do more serious work. One interesting revelation, IIRC, is that he didn't like Thora Hird because she tended to hold court and talk incessantly.

Have any of the other cast members written autobios worth reading?

I did think that about Peter's book too, almost like he was distancing himself from his Summer Wine work, but then I realised the fact that he chose to be laid to rest where he spent so many years working on SW, the show must have been very close to his heart.

 

[Barrychuckle]

I did think that about Peter's book too, almost like he was distancing himself from his Summer Wine work, but then I realised, the fact that he chose to be laid to rest where he spent so many years working on SW, the show must have been very close to his heart.

I've read reviews about the book on Amazon which generally say the book is quite a dull read and a bit of a roll call ie I was in such and such a theatre then and worked with such and such actor etc.
I went to see Peters one man show a number of years ago and probably at least a third of that was talking about LOTSW. It just seems odd to me it's like reading David Jasons book and him only devoting a handful of pages to OFAH. Incidentally I have read Davids autobiography and rightly so a large chunk of that book is about his time on that show!

 

[WellyMan]

I've read reviews about the book on Amazon which generally say the book is quite a dull read and a bit of a roll call ie I was in such and such a theatre then and worked with such and such actor etc.
I went to see Peters one man show a number of years ago and probably at least a third of that was talking about LOTSW. It just seems odd to me it's like reading David Jasons book and him only devoting a handful of pages to OFAH. Incidentally I have read Davids autobiography and rightly so a large chunk of that book is about his time on that show!

I have to agree that the Sallis autobio is a bit dull.

 

[mashibinbin]

I think with Peter his commitment to the show was well known and decided to open doors more to other parts of his career instead. When he reads his book however you can't help but hear it as Clegg's much touted memoirs instead despite much less lively content!

 

[wstol]

I have John Cleese's (Welcome to Earth) autobiography, So Anyway, expecting it to be littered with bits about Fawlty Towers. There was nothing about the show.

 

[BruceC]

Is there really anything left secret that everyone doesnt already know about all the people mentioned above?

 

[Sarkus]

It's also possible that some of these books were written with a lot of help from someone who steered them a certain way to aim them at a particular audience. Really hard to know.

 

[captain clutterbuck]

I was thinking about Peter , how many actors can say not only were they in the longest running comedy show from episode 1 to the very final one but also part of team who won an Oscar and attended the Oscar ceremony itself . There are great actors who achieved much but got nowhere near such an accolade.