How I Clawed My Way to the Middle

by John Wood

The long awaited autobiography of one of Australia's best loved actors.

‘Your job is to go out there, grab the audience by the balls, and drag them up on stage with you!’ I was flabbergasted. This I understood. A language that I spoke – had spoken most of my life. It was the best acting note I ever got.

John Wood grew up in working-class Melbourne; when he failed out of high school, an employment officer told him, ‘You have the mind of an artist and the body of a labourer.’ And so John continued to pursue his acting dreams in amateur theatre, sustaining himself by working jobs as a bricklayer, a railway clerk and even in the same abattoir as his father.

When he won a scholarship to NIDA, in Sydney, it moved John into a new and at times baffling world, full of extraordinary characters. It was the start of a decades-long acting career, most famously on shows such as Rafferty’s Rules and Blue Heelers, where his charm made him beloved in households across the country. His popularity was such that he was nominated for a Gold Logie nine times in a row, finally culminating in a win in 2006.

How I Clawed My Way to the Middle is a beguiling memoir from one of Australia’s most cherished actors on both stage and screen. Full of humility, warmth and humour, it tells of the ephemeral nature of theatre, the luminous personalities John encountered along the way, and the perilous reality of life as a professional actor in Australia.

Genres: Biography

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 4, 2020

About the author

John Wood (born 14 July 1946 in Melbourne) is a Gold Logie Award-winning Australian actor and scriptwriter, best known for his roles as Stipendiary Magistrate Michael Rafferty in the legal drama Rafferty's Rules and as Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon in the long running police drama Blue Heelers, both for the Seven Network. - wikipedia

Reviews

[Annie Booker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really wonderful, thoroughly enjoyable and readable autobiography by well-known and popular Australian actor John Wood. I loved the insights he gives into his theatrical career as well as his more well known roles in shows like Rafferty's Rules and Blue Heelers. There are many reasons why John Wood is so beloved and this book gives us one more reason to appreciate him.

[Malcolm Frawley · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Wood has been one of this country's best actors for many decades now. I first saw him, onstage, at the Nimrod Street Theatre in the early 1970s. This memoir is enjoyable & enlightening, especially in regard to his early days before acting. We get a real sense of who the man inside all the roles we know him for actually is. Naturally, in a career as long & successful as Wood's - although he makes it clear that he never became rich &, like most Australian actors, once he finished shooting or performing a role, even after years playing one on Blue Heelers, he was Out. Of. Work. - there are many plays & TV shows to reminiscence over & he allows at least a partial insight into the mechanics of making a show. As it goes on, the book does begin to resemble a list of all the people he has worked with but not in a self-aggrandizing fashion. He doesn't simply name drop. If you are looking for scurrilous gossip from inside the world of showbiz, look elsewhere. Wood has nothing more than kind & appreciative words to say about almost all of those he ever worked with.

[Krishna Chandak · Rating 1 out of 5]

DAY 1 WITHOUT KINDLE-
HI! Hope everyone is happy! It doesn't make me feel good that you guys are sad about people leaving and all, but i will try to come back soon! oof, divyansh I want your books to release! Because i have no good company! Anyway, i have to say i am doing good. Listening to songs, reading stupid, awesome, cringy books......is what i call a day!

hope u are happy!

Krishna!

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

🎧 I’ve never followed the TV shows that made made John Wood famous in Australia, or seen him on stage, but I really enjoyed his memoir.

He writes well and is authentic and honest. Having him narrate the audiobook made it a more personal listening experience. The memoir ends fairly abruptly which was a bit jarring. But he had just said that he didn’t particularly enjoy writing the book, so I wonder if that was the compromise conclusion.

[Carolyn Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although mainly a theatre actor, John Wood is well known to many of us through some wonderful roles in several tv series. I enjoyed his memior, and am disappointed I have never seen him on stage! One of our Aussie treasures.

[Frankie Fyffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recommend the audiobook as it is read by the author himself. I have known John Wood from growing up watching him as Tom Croydon in Blue Heelers and the notable voice from the industry superfunds tv ads in Australia. However this memoir goes into depth about his roots onstage performing as a triple threat. He name drops a lot of people he worked with throughout the book. Some familiar, some needing requiring research. To me he is an Australian icon and I love to hear his stories.

[Leticia Supple · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reviewed this title for The Australian Arts Review. Read it at: http://artsreview.com.au/review-john-...

[Tangles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throughly enjoyed it well worth the read .

[Vera Hardiman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read about working class life in the outee east of Melbourne in the 1950's. John Wood, always candid and humble, captured my attention and kept me hankering for more throughout .
I thoroughly recommend this memoir, especially for Melburnian Blue Heeler fans, like yours truly.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the greatest book I have ever red, but interesting. I am only vaguely aware of John Wood the actor and chose to read his book as he went to NIDA and I have a friend who also went there so I was curious about the experience. I will reserve this one fort the 'Blue Healer' addicts.

[Sarah Tummey · Rating 5 out of 5]

John comes across as very modest, even in the title of this book. Despite having played the lead role in a successful television show, he still says: "The middle is as far as I got". He seems to see his life as dull and ordinary, but I've never visited Australia or worked on the stage, so it's vastly different from mine.

I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the last, particularly reading about John's early years. His descriptions of people and places really put you in the moment. Later on, there were several points where he listed the names of people he'd worked with on a project, whereas I much preferred it when he told stories. What I most looked forward to was the part about Blue Heelers, so I would have liked more anecdotes about the other actors, but overall, a good book and I'm very glad I read it.