cover image Trevor Howard: A Gentleman and a Player: The Authorized Biography

Trevor Howard: A Gentleman and a Player: The Authorized Biography

Vivienne Knight. Beaufort Books, $18.95 (280pp) ISBN 978-0-8253-0430-9

Knight's witty, colorful style entertains while it illuminates the life of Howard, a British actor internationally admired as a peerless performer. Although an authorized biography, it is candid in its coverage of Howard's personal and professional life from his birth in 1916 to the present. We see him growing from a fun-loving, indifferent student into a teenager who devoted himself to mastering his art on stage and, eventually, the screen, and perfecting the skills that brought him recognition as the ""least actory'' player. Brief Encounter (1945), his first landmark movie, was succeeded by equally unforgettable productions: The Heart of the Matter, The Third Man. There are stories about Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles and other luminaries including Helen Cherry, an actress well known in British theater and Howard's wife since 1944. Knight is an independent film producer. Photos. (June 26)