More than an Actor

Well-bred, educated at Eton and the Central School for Speech and Drama in London, the youngest of four boys in an upper-class family, Peter H. was in many ways the embodiment of Englishness, from the way he took his tea to his love of Shakespeare. Encouraged by his wonderful mother, he chose a career in acting and, under the tutelage of Sir Laurence Olivier at the British National Theatre Company, became a stellar performer - a classical actor in the postwar era of gritty realism. W. Grey Champion's narrative, relying on contemporary accounts of people who knew Peter, tells the haunting story of the man himself - beset by misfortune and tragedy, which aggravated mental and physical disorders ending his life too soon. The author withholds Peter's stage name early on in order to accentuate his vision of a truly superlative person, who was much more than an actor. A compelling imaginative read that pays tribute to the memory of the venerable Jeremy Brett (Peter Jeremy William Huggins). - Linda Pritchard