Beginnings. [ Author SIGNED copy.] by BRANAGH, KENNETH:

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,SIGNED,1st edn.FINE/FINE-.No owner inscrptn but author's handwritten,bold,large,blue ink dedication+signature: 'To Delyth All the Best! Kenneth Branagh' to title page and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated author/subject b/w portrait photographic illustrated dw/dj panels with orange+ed lettering to front, yellow+red lettering to spine/backstrip and orange letters to rear panel.
Front,lower corner tip of dw/dj with tiniest of snicks/closed tear; rear panel with minor superficia score/indent but without any penetration or mark to board beneath and a faint crease to not quite entire length of spine/backstrip - hence FINE-.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners - appears unread,apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original navy blue cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/ backstrip,and immaculate navy blue endpapers illustrated with superimposed contemporary b/w photographs with white text - parents wedding to front,and gathering for Henry V Read-Through Oct '88,to the rear. UK, 8vo HB+dw/dj,SIGNED,1st edn,ix-xpp+1-244pp [paginated] includes author's 2pp introduction, 3 Pts - Home,Work,and Adventure - comprising 3,4 and 3 chapters respectively,and a postscript,b/w line illustrations interspersed throughout the text and the book,by Phyllida Law; plus [unpaginated] publisher's b/w colophon illustrated half-title with b/w line illustrated frntis to reverse,author SIGNED+dedicated title page,acknowledgements with dedication to reverse,and an epigraph (from As You Like It).
The most acclaimed actor of his generation,Branagh is also a writer, producer and director.His outstanding performances include several major roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company (at twenty-three, Stratford's youngest ever Henry V),and on the screen in 'A Month in the Country' and as the bespectacled Gary Pringle in BBC's 'Fortunes of War'.he has also been involved in founding the most exciting theatre company in years,Renaissance,which was launched in 1987 with a phenomenally successful season of Shakespeare plays directed by some of Britain's leading actors.
'Beginning' is an impassioned and forthright book about Branagh's lfe and career: a childhood in Belfast,a period at RADA (where he won the gold medal,and then a starring role in Julian Mitchell's 'Another Country',followed by an astonishingly varied series of stage and film roles.Branagh talks candidly about his failures and successes; about his family and friends; about the setting up of Renaissance and of his association with Prince Charles,the company's Patron; and about the filming of 'Henry V',a major feature film directed by and starring Branagh himself.
Full of humour,charm,anecdotes and sharp observation,'Beginnings' is a frank and fascinating account of an actor's life,and the record of a young man at the very top of his profession.
Born in 960,Kenneth Branagh came to England in 1970.He studied at a Reading comprehensive and at RADA,and is well-known both as an actor and director.He is also the author of two plays,'Tell Me Honestly' and 'Public Enemy'. His screenplay of Shakepeare's Henry V is published simultaneously by CHATTO & WINDUS.
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