Almost Famous: Recollections

by Robin Hawdon

Few people's careers have spanned as many aspects of the show business world as have Robin Hawdon's. From stage, TV, and film actor (who came close to being James Bond), to playwright performed in over forty countries, to West End stage director, to mainstream Theatre Director, to five star novelist, his activities include both triumphs and major setbacks.



In the course of such a long career he has either worked with, or encountered, some of the most famous names around. From the British stage, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier, John Mills, Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce, and Michael Crawford. From Hollywood, such as Charlton Heston, Lauren Bacall, Deborah Kerr, Vivien Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor, Warren Beatty, and Judy Garland. From the world of comedy, Kenneth Williams, Frankie Howerd, Terry Scott, Peter Cook, and Dudley Moore. From politics, Harold Macmillan, Anthony Wedgewood Benn, and Chris Patten. And many more.



Here are told stories of those encounters, together with entertaining tales of Hawdon's lively domestic life spread over four different countries, his reflections on the national characteristics of the French, Spanish, American, and Australian peoples, his joyous indulgence in the delights of their cultures, his comments on their varied political and social eccentricities, and his dramatic exploits in their property markets.



But above all this is about his love of his work, his family, his homes, his pleasures, and life in general.

142 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2021

About the author

Robin Hawdon’s varied career has spanned numerous aspects of the arts. Actor, playwright, novelist and theatre director. Now one of Britain’s most prolific novelists and playwrights, with productions in at least forty countries and twenty languages. (see www.robinhawdon.com).

THE LAND, THE LAND, is his newest and perhaps most topical book - a psychological thriller involving a family's battle to preserve one of Britain's most beautiful landscapes.

NUMBER TEN is quite different. A fast action political thriller in the Lee Child genre, soon hopefully to be seen on Netflix.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST is Robin’s third novel and encompasses three of his deepest concerns – the extraordinary impact of science on mankind’s progress, the distorting effect of so much religious and superstitious prejudice on that progress, and the telling of real human stories (in this case three stories, all fundamentally inter-connected).
A RUSTLE IN THE GRASS, his first novel, has now been republished after it was discovered that, with the advent of the digital age, it has attracted an extraordinary list of 5 star reviews on Amazon.
Robin has been married for over forty years, has two daughters and four grand children, and lives between Bath, the South of France and Australia.