Book info

• Title Behind the Screen Door
• Author Richard Gregson
• Year 2012
• Genre Memoir

For more than 20 years, Englishman Richard Gregson was one of the most powerful film personalities in Hollywood and London. As the agent for Robert Redford, John Schlesinger, Alan Bates, Frederic Raphael and producer Jo Janni, he saw the industry from many angles and met ‘anyone who was anyone’ in Hollywood, including Frank Sinatra and members of the Mafia. He also produced films (Downhill Racer) and a musical on Broadway (Cyrano, starring Christopher Plummer) and co-scripted the Academy Award-nominated The Angry Silence. During this time he was married to the legendarily beautiful film star Natalie Wood. His memoir is a brilliantly witty tale of life as a top Hollywood agent and an account of just how deals were cut and movies made in his time.

Thoughts

This is my favourite kind of memoir - short snippets of fascinating stories, told well. Instead of the long and drawn out obligatory trawl through childhood years, we skip straight to the good stuff for a glimpse at an interesting life.

It’s a short book, which makes it easy to digest, and split into handy bite size chapters. My only issue with the book is that my cultural knowledge doesn’t live up to the challenge. I didn’t recognise many names, and I had to look up a lot of the films to get a frame of reference.

They’re still interesting stories though, how the business works on both sides of the pond, through the eyes of an English agent. There are also some personal stories as well, of trying to maintain a functioning relationship with a celebrity. The final tale is sad, but a fitting tribute, and it finishes off the book nicely.

Rating: 3 / 5