Read more
'She is the cur's cods, the terrier's testicles, the business. I will go farther and declare that Atkins is the
finest actor appearing in the
world right now' -
A. A. GillWill She Do? is the story of a girl from a council estate in Tottenham, born in 1934 to an electric-meter reader and a seamstress, who was determined to be an actress.
Candid and witty, this memoir takes her from her awkward performances in working-men's clubs at six years of age as dancing 'Baby Eileen', through the war years in London, to her breakthrough at thirty-two on Broadway with
The Killing of Sister George, for which she received the first of four Tony Award nominations. She co-created
Upstairs, Downstairs and wrote the screenplay for
Mrs Dalloway (for which she won an
Evening Standard Award) and at aged eighty-six, this is her first autobiographical work.
Characterised by an eye for the absurd, a terrific knack for storytelling and an insistence on honesty,
Will She Do? is a wonderful raconteur's tale about family, about class, about youthful ambition and big dreams and what really goes on behind the scenes.
Made a Dame in 1991, Eileen Atkins has been on American and British stage and screen since 1957 and has won an Emmy, a BAFTA and is a three-time Olivier Award winner; her theatre performances include
The Height of the Storm, Ellen Terry, All that Fall and she has appeared in television and films ranging from
Doc Martin to
Cranford to
The Crown.
About the author
Born in 1934 in Tottenham, London, made a Dame in 1991, Eileen Atkins has been on American and British stage and screen since 1957 and has won an Emmy, a BAFTA and is a three-time Olivier Award winner; her theatre performances include
The Height of the Storm, Ellen Terry, All that Fall and she has appeared in television and films ranging from
Doc Martin to
Cranford to
The Crown.
Summary
The acclaimed memoir of one of Britain's most loved actresses, a girl from Tottenham with big dreams who is now Dame Eileen Atkins. `Wit as dry as a martini' Daily Mail `Bliss' Observer `Exhilarating' Spectator
Foreword
The acclaimed memoir of one of Britain's most loved actresses, a girl from Tottenham with big dreams who is now Dame Eileen Atkins. `Wit as dry as a martini' Daily Mail `Bliss' Observer `Exhilarating' Spectator
Additional text
I really hope she's planning to write a few more volumes. She's a gifted storyteller, who writes evocatively about her childhood on a Tottenham council estate in the Second World War, and has a knack for a sharp anecdote. And oh, those anecdotes! . . . A rollicking ride through the early career of one of our greatest acting dames
