Absolute Beginners, an autobiography by British actress Patsy Kensit is one of those books I wasn’t sure I really wanted to read. While I’ve always been interested in the various worlds of entertainment, having spent a couple of decades as an entertainment-focused journalist, in that time I never crossed paths with the actress, and in the world of entertainment, especially North American entertainment, Patsy is not as well known as those A-listers, who’ve had larger and more prolific careers. You see Patsy is an actress who has demonstrated immense talent in some films, such as Twenty-One and Angels & Insects, truly remarkable films, but has also found herself caught in the world of straight-to-video ‘B’ movies, such as Bitter Harvest and the German made Kill Cruise.
By not seeing Patsy Kensit as a larger-than-life actress in the world of cinema, I was assuming there wasn’t much of interest to her story, or one worth exploring; I simply assumed her book would perform well in Great Britain, where I’m sure she is better known than North America. I was wrong. I assumed and you know what happens when one assumes (if you don’t, look it up).
Having covered films in the 1980’s, ‘90’s and into the new century, I was familiar with Patsy’s work during that time, although I had forgotten quite a few of the films and had no idea she was a child actress. From the start, Patsy had it tough, her mother having to deal with cancer, giving her cause as a young girl, and a teenage girl, and onward to be constantly worried she was going to lose her. Add to that, her Father settled on a criminal life, being an associate of notorious British crime figures Ron and Reggie Kray, and in doing so wasn’t always the best provider for his family, causing her and her brother to know what it was like to live with very little, even having to scrap enough together at times for a meal. While as a young woman, Patsy really came to the media’s attention once she was cast as Suzette in director Julien Temples musical screen adaptation of Absolute Beginners by author Colin MacInnes, and at the same time she was the lead singer in the pop group Eighth Wonder, it was assumed she had led a glamorous life of privilege, but her childhood and teenage years were full of their own interesting struggles, as she pursued an acting career.
In telling her story, Patsy comes across as authentic and honest. For instance when talking about her role in the German film Der Skipper a.k.a. Kill Cruise, alongside Elizabeth Hurley and Jurgen Prochnow, she’s honest in explaining that after they signed on to do the film both she and Elizabeth realized it was a stinker, but were committed, so just found a way to enjoy themselves during the three-month shoot. She also explains her regrets in making some ‘B’ movies like the erotic-thriller Bitter Harvest, but explains that as a child who knew poverty, she found herself compelled to work, rather than just sitting around waiting for the right project, and these ‘B’ movies paid well, even though they weren’t going to do anything for her career in general. Patsy doesn’t try to make excuses for such forays, but explains her motivation and reasons for doing them.
You get the impression that Patsy had been in the film business so long, she understood the ups and downs within it, and approached her career with realism, taking pride in explaining those roles she enjoyed and found fulfilling, and not making excuses for the miscues.
Of course, any book by Patsy Kensit does not only deal with the film industry, but also forays into the world of music. While Eighth Wonder had its hits, Patsy only made one album with the band (that also featured her brother, Jamie), the actress is also well known in Great Britain for her interest in dating and marrying rock ‘n’ rollers, having first married Dan Donovan a member of Big Audio Dynamite, then Jim Kerr from Simple Minds, and Liam Gallagher from Oasis. Both Jim Kerr and Liam Gallagher were high profile enough to keep her under the watchful eye of the aggressive and relentless British media. As she explains, in her early days her mother was able to protect her from the press, but as a young woman, branching out on her own, she didn’t always know how to handle them and might have said too much at times, setting herself up as a target – of course being married to prominent musicians later on didn’t help either.
It would be a mistake to define Patsy by those marriages, as she has accomplished quite a lot in her life on her own, and is due the respect for that. One thing of note that stuck with me while she was writing about her marriage to Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr was the graciousness and support she received from Jim’s former wife, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders. What Patsy says about Chrissie only renews my respect for the rock ‘n’ roller, and I suggest those interested pick up Chrissie Hynde’s autobiography Reckless for one hell of an interesting read.
But back to Patsy.
I don’t know if it is because the biography I read before Absolute Beginner was Waylon: Tales of My Outlaw Dad by his son Terry Jennings, a loving tribute from a son to his father, but I got the impression while reading Absolute Beginner that it was more than just an autobiography of Patsy Kensit, but in her own way, a love letter and tribute to her mother, who one could only argue after reading the book, was one of the world’s strongest women and someone we could all learn a thing or two about in how we conduct ourselves in this world.
Sometimes a book will surprise you. As I said earlier, I have seen some of Patsy Kensit’s work and I have enjoyed it, but I wasn’t sure that was enough to get me to read her autobiography. Something, however, compelled me to do so, and in the long run I’m glad I did. She is a fascinating individual who is worth spending some time with, even if it is only in the pages of her autobiography.