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Winner Takes All: A Life of Sorts
Michael Winner, the legendary film director, writer and food critic, is a colourful figure who has led a remarkable life. He has a reputation for being outspoken, and, true to form, in his autobiography he tells it like it is with sharp and insightful observations. 'Winner Takes All' begins with his unconventional childhood as a Jewish boy attending a Quaker boarding school and introduces his eccentric mother, who was a compulsive gambler. Michael Winner gained his first taste of fame, when aged fourteen, he met the stars for a showbusiness column in twenty London local papers. At Cambridge he edited the student newspaper and became a local celebrity. The author is a natural raconteur and his anecdotes from the film industry are compelling. He recounts his early life with relish and provides fascinating accounts of his experiences directing some of the world’s most famous actors and actresses, including Charles Bronson, Sophia Loren, Joan Collins, Orson Welles, Marlon Brando and Anthony Hopkins. Many of them became close friends. As a food critic, Michael Winner is famous for shooting from the hip. Love him or loathe him, he is constantly in the public eye. His esure TV commercials – which produced a national catchphrase ‘Calm down dear!’ – have been an advertising industry phenomenon. What may come as a surprise to the reader is the gentle side that he reveals in his autobiography. He speaks with candour about his private life; he admits his fear of relationships with women and confides the heartbreaking story of the love of his life, a famous female star.
- GenresBiography
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
16 people want to read
About the author
Michael Winner
19 books1 followerMichael Winner was a film-maker, restaurant critic and columnist.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 14, 2014
This was a joy to read, mainly because I love British films and their casts and directors. Michael Winner was a top director and producer for British Cinema in the '60s and '70s, and his delightful take on life and his films is all listed here.
He doses the goods on Oliver Reed, Michael Crawford, Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster, and Sophia Loren. He has the ability to laugh at himself and some of his quotes are smilers. I met him at the American Cinematheque dedication, and he was a first class wit.
Book Season = Summer
He doses the goods on Oliver Reed, Michael Crawford, Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster, and Sophia Loren. He has the ability to laugh at himself and some of his quotes are smilers. I met him at the American Cinematheque dedication, and he was a first class wit.
Book Season = Summer
August 5, 2013
I had a lot of time for Michael Winner and he was always very pleasant, if somewhat irritating at times. Working in his local bookshop in West London, I saw quite a bit of him at times. He practically shoved copies of his book into people’s hands, which was entertaining. Plus, it saved me a job. And it pains me to say this, but this book is really good.
Sure, the insistance of documenting every single (it seems) glowing review he has had for each of his films does get a little tedious at the end of every chapter, especially as the rest of it is full of wonderfully endearing and well written anecdotes about the film industry with names that anyone would die for to feature within the pages of their book.
The names that he has worked with reels of the tongue like the synopsis of of the Halliwell's Film Guide and make you wonder whether this Oscar-less director has been overlooked somewhat and frustratingly within the industry.
Certainly with the constant debate over recent years (and especially since the recent success of 'The Queen') of the British film industry as it is, you read this and can't help but chirrup some sort of hope. He certainly was a beacon for our film industry, despite hardly being recognised from within.
His story is one of annoying and unbelievable amount of luck at times. From an early age, as a budding reporter, the access the boy child Winner got to the biggest stars was just incredible. It seems like he managed to talk his way into most areas that now would seem absolutely impossible. Something I could quite imagine seeing him g oto work on a bookshop floor, not long befote his death. He has acheived this (and a considerable name for himself early on) with an astute sense of confidence and bravado that today seems absolutely unheard of in the young folk of this day and age, and that I have to admire.
His anecdotes of the rich and famous reflect this. Aswell as being bizarrely candid, he is modest and uncouth, not to mention subtle, it really was a pleasure to read.
But to the real question, why would someone of this experience and calibre go into such a different direction? One of celebrity? Is it a shame that Michael Winner is known now for shouting (well, not shouting, but appeasing) with Ben Fogle's mother to just 'Calm Down, Dear' than all of the seemingly brilliant films he has made with some of the biggest stars in cinema?
I think to all of these questions, no. Winner is essentially, a huge and whorish self promoter.
That is quite clear from his book, but in a nice, grand-dad way in parts. But more importantly, as much as I deride that sort of change in persona, I awknowledge that it was that sort of blantant desire for success and almost desperation that brought him to the world's stage in the first place.
That's just the nature of his business. Film, cinema, marketing... plug, plug, plug...
He had to plug, he was up against Hollywood, despite dabbling over there. He had to deal with the prospect of being an Englishman, a foreigner, an outsider, a stranger in a strangeland, trying at all costs to suceed at what he had always loved and desired to do.
I'm no director but of course, I was drawn to this. His relationship, in many cases ongoing over a number of years with the likes of Charles Brosnan, Oliver Reed (in particular), Jenny Seagrove and other key players are incredibly heartwrenching and special.
That's the thing you get from this book though. It's no work of literary genius but it feels like you are not so much in the director's chair, but in a slightly smaller one next to him and that is very appealing and eternally fascinating.
Sure, the insistance of documenting every single (it seems) glowing review he has had for each of his films does get a little tedious at the end of every chapter, especially as the rest of it is full of wonderfully endearing and well written anecdotes about the film industry with names that anyone would die for to feature within the pages of their book.
The names that he has worked with reels of the tongue like the synopsis of of the Halliwell's Film Guide and make you wonder whether this Oscar-less director has been overlooked somewhat and frustratingly within the industry.
Certainly with the constant debate over recent years (and especially since the recent success of 'The Queen') of the British film industry as it is, you read this and can't help but chirrup some sort of hope. He certainly was a beacon for our film industry, despite hardly being recognised from within.
His story is one of annoying and unbelievable amount of luck at times. From an early age, as a budding reporter, the access the boy child Winner got to the biggest stars was just incredible. It seems like he managed to talk his way into most areas that now would seem absolutely impossible. Something I could quite imagine seeing him g oto work on a bookshop floor, not long befote his death. He has acheived this (and a considerable name for himself early on) with an astute sense of confidence and bravado that today seems absolutely unheard of in the young folk of this day and age, and that I have to admire.
His anecdotes of the rich and famous reflect this. Aswell as being bizarrely candid, he is modest and uncouth, not to mention subtle, it really was a pleasure to read.
But to the real question, why would someone of this experience and calibre go into such a different direction? One of celebrity? Is it a shame that Michael Winner is known now for shouting (well, not shouting, but appeasing) with Ben Fogle's mother to just 'Calm Down, Dear' than all of the seemingly brilliant films he has made with some of the biggest stars in cinema?
I think to all of these questions, no. Winner is essentially, a huge and whorish self promoter.
That is quite clear from his book, but in a nice, grand-dad way in parts. But more importantly, as much as I deride that sort of change in persona, I awknowledge that it was that sort of blantant desire for success and almost desperation that brought him to the world's stage in the first place.
That's just the nature of his business. Film, cinema, marketing... plug, plug, plug...
He had to plug, he was up against Hollywood, despite dabbling over there. He had to deal with the prospect of being an Englishman, a foreigner, an outsider, a stranger in a strangeland, trying at all costs to suceed at what he had always loved and desired to do.
I'm no director but of course, I was drawn to this. His relationship, in many cases ongoing over a number of years with the likes of Charles Brosnan, Oliver Reed (in particular), Jenny Seagrove and other key players are incredibly heartwrenching and special.
That's the thing you get from this book though. It's no work of literary genius but it feels like you are not so much in the director's chair, but in a slightly smaller one next to him and that is very appealing and eternally fascinating.
March 23, 2015
I enjoyed this book because he talked about people familiar to me.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews