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Private Faces and Public Places
- The Autobiography
- Narrated by: Sian Phillips
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
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Private Faces and Public Places
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Summary
The remarkably honest and brilliantly entertaining memoir of one of our finest acting Dames whose long and celebrated career includes her much-loved performance as Livia in I, Claudius and who was married for 20 years to the hell-raising Hollywood star Peter O'Toole.
Siân Phillips has a long and celebrated career on both stage and screen. For the first time, her two best-selling volumes of memoir, Private Faces and Public Places, will be available as a single volume with a brand new foreword by the author.
With wonderful stories and unflinching candour, Private Faces and Public Places covers her life from its beginnings in the remote Welsh countryside, where life hadn't changed for centuries, to finding herself at the epicentre of the acting world at its most glamorous alongside husband Peter O'Toole, whose career was about to take off with the spellbinding Lawrence of Arabia. Siân describes the mad and wonderfully impulsive times with O'Toole alongside the tempestuous, insecure and often lonely periods in their marriage. Incredibly, it endures over 20 years.
When it ends, surprising even herself, she plunges straight into another marriage, with the much younger actor Robin Sachs. Emerging alone from her second marriage, triumphant and unrepentant, the story Siân tells ranks alongside the very best in show business.
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What listeners say about Private Faces and Public Places
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- C. Seaton
- 03-12-21
What a life.
Superb account by one of our best actresses from the time spent with O’Toole, to arriving where she is today.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- bbrr
- 16-11-22
enthralling
admired the honesty which this book portrayed of a often sad but exciting life.Wonderful experience
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- clive preece
- 01-03-22
Extraordinarily honest
Well to listen to her voice is a real treat . Her analysis of herself , her thoughts and motivation very honest. To have succeeded and to have remained true to herself in public and private very admirable. Well worth the time to listen and admire .
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Glenn
- 18-06-22
The best autobiography I have ever listened to.
I do have a passion for actor’s autobiographies. This autobiography (of which we have two volumes) however, is beyond what I have heard or read before. With a gripping honesty Dame Sian really does take us on her (now ubiquitously described) journey. And without cliche it is an expedition, sometimes literally. At one point I felt as if I was in that helicopter with her on a deadly mission to Angel Falls with Peter O’Toole. Sian’s voice is clear, calming and soothing and her outlook on life has helped me take stock of my own. I listened to the whole audiobook and immediately had to listen to it again. From the verdant Welsh village and community where she grew up to her life in London, punctuated with many international trips to exotic, glamorous locations, we travel with her. It is also a love letter to her family, the people she has shared her life with, laughed with and adored. With a rare eloquence, Dame Sian recounts her years on the stage and screen with fascinating detail. Thank you Dame Sian for narrating your autobiography, I just hope you’ll write your third instalment very soon.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- brianpwharton@yahoo.co.uk
- 18-02-22
A charmed tale from a great dame often overlooked
A gifted scholar and a talented actress who tells her story with much honesty and candour.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- LadyLyndsay
- 24-12-21
A Privilege to Share
Sian Phillips allows herself to be known to us and in so doing bestows that unique privilege that normally only comes with deep and close friendship.She unfolds her life with heart-touching sincerity, expressing herself completely naturally, as if she barely realises that the magnificence of her poetic prose is a thing of beauty in itself, as moving as the narrative of a life of one who has spent all her love on those who have peopled her life
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ann
- 01-02-22
Outstanding
I have admired Sian Phillips as an actress all my life but as a writer she is extraordinary.
Her honesty, intelligence, empathy but above all her fluid literacy skills and story telling are in a class above.
I have listened to her book over 4 days, unable to metaphorically, ‘put it down’ and rejoice with her at the ending rather than selfishly demand more.
Sian Phillips is a woman and writer of exceptional ability whom it is a privilege to read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gillian Bates
- 06-12-23
Wonderful diction
What a successful story of one of life’s dreamers, overcoming much. Read beautifully. Fascinating insights into the character Peter O’Toole.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- pjw
- 11-03-22
long and drawn out
So much detail and lists and lists and lists of fairly uninteresting parts of this story. Easy to listen to, especially good for falling off to sleep. Excellent professional performance from Miss Phillips. A theatrical delivery, apart from the word Ireland which the storyteller always pronounced Aarland with an Eire accent. After many hours of listening I felt as disconnected to the story at the end as I had at the begining.
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