Barbara Roisman Cooper presents interviews she personally conducted with more than twenty stars of film, television, and theatre. Held in intimate surroundings-including the actors' private homes and theatre dressing rooms between performances-these interviews provide readers with a rounded understanding of the creative process and the dedication required to develop a performance. Including many well-known Oscar, Tony, Olivier, and BAFTA winners, each interview is preceded by a short introduction and followed by the performer's most significant credits, both on the stage and screen.
At nearly 400 pages and with an hefty index, this represents quite a body of work with 28 interviews including; Dame Eileen Atkins Isla Blair, Simon Callow, Dame Joan Collins, Peggy Cummins, Sinead Cusack, Samantha Eggar, Stephen Fry, Julian Glover, Stephen Greif, Jeremy Irons, Sir Derek Jacobi, Felicity Kendal, Sir Ben Kingsley, Dame Angela Lansbury, Sir John Mills, Alfred Molina, Lynn Redgrave, Jean Simmons, David Suchet, Richard Todd and Michael York. The questions are theatrical, not in a wild sense but in the sense of trying to get to the nub of what these people see as "acting", there are none of the celebrity and lifestyle questions that so often dominate interviews, these are the questions anyone who loves the art of theatre would want to ask .... and Barbara Cooper gets the sort of answers we want to hear.
One may argue about the choice of interviewees, in fact it makes for an interesting debate over a drink, but all of these deserve to be in the "Great Britons" list, its just that I can think of so many more equally worthy! Perhaps there will be a second edition?! The quality of paper results in poor images, not that there are many, and a rough feel but it is the content that counts in this interesting book.
