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Subject: Robert Newton biography Author: Tim Sanderson. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] Date Posted: 11:56:56 09/06/02 Fri Dear All, Having just completed reading the Sheridan Morley biog of John Gielgud I wrote to Mr morley complimenting him on his book and suggesting that as he has written several excellent biogs he might consider writing one on Robert Newton, as the continued absence of a book seems to leave rather a blank space in the history of film and theatre - he pops up in anecdote form in many other similar books. Mr Morley kindly replied to me that he had heard that one of RN's sons was working on a book, so I am sure many of us will be hoping that one will appear. I'm very pleased to have found this site, been looking for some time, thanks to the people who set it up !!! " Top O' the mornin to ee squire" ! Best Tim Sanderson. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Subject: Re: Robert Newton biography Author: Susan [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 11:15:54 09/07/02 Sat Welcome, and top o' the mornin' to 'e too! (Should I add that to the "Great Lines" page? Pretty soon, I'm going to have the entire script on there! As it is, I can no longer watch the movie without saying all Robert Newton's lines with him!) I totally agree that a bio on Robert Newton is long overdue. In fact, I can't see why there wouldn't be room for several of them. If you go to the biography section in most libraries, for example, you can find multiple bios each on his contemporaries, like Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Richard Burton, Alec Guiness ... Olivier even has more than one *autobiography*. I'm glad to hear that you got a nice response from Mr. Morley and that he wrote such a good bio on John Gielgud. I'm sure he's an excellent writer. But I don't think he's the best person to write one on Robert Newton. I haven't read the whole book (just sifted for info on RN), but in his 1985 bio on David Niven, "The Other Side of the Moon," Morley sets out to show that David Niven's life was *not* as happy as he made it sound in his own writings. "In his own autobiographies," says the dust jacket, "Niven offered a very selective, carefully edited, and sometimes inaccurate account of his own life." Wouldn't you think that in such a thorough study, he'd talk somewhere about his subject's relationship with a man he'd claimed as a close friend and written so much about? There are, in fact, *several* mentions of Robert Newton in the book. However, not one of them even brings up their friendship (and if their friendship was a fabrication, shouldn't he have talked about this at least?). Newton is only mentioned in passing, as a fellow actor and costar. (Well, once it quotes Cyril Cusack saying that Niven once took the two of them out for a drink, so you might infer from that that Niven had more than a passing acquaintance with Bobby.) Not only that, but in a total of five mentions in the entire book, he describes Robert Newton *only* in terms of his drinking problem, and not in a kind way: In two of them, he describes him as "an old English actor on a short alcoholic run to the grave" and "a legendary Hollywood drunk." As for Newton's participation in "Around the World in 80 Days," he says only that he "took to the bottle"--which is in direct contradiction to Niven's own account of the filming. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Re: Robert Newton biography Author: Michelle [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 22:36:50 09/07/02 Sat I would also very much like to read a biography on Robert Newton. Why such a book hasn't already been written is beyond me! I think we should all band together and commission a well-respected and able author to do something about it! Cheers, Michelle :) [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject: Re: Robert Newton biography Author: Tim Sanderson [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 06:56:39 09/08/02 Sun I agree,you are right,and in fact, in my letter to Mr Morley I did politely remark that I felt there were some unessecary comments to do with Alec Guinness. It would possibly be difficult to find a writer to do an RN book,as, with the passage of time, contemporaries are getting scarce, also many younger writers may take some convincing,plus the fact that research material is probably scarce apart from material with RN's family. So, we can hope that one of them is gathering it together as we speak. There are numerous other books, including "Rich" on Richard Burton, and the Celia Johnson Biog by Kate Fleming, which contain Newton stories, and indeed he driftsd through many books of his time. SO what we need is a writer aboard !!! " Well, ee's aboard all rite, I know I left 'im 'anging about somewhere......... Best Tim Sanderson [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> Subject: Re: Robert Newton biography Author: Susan [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 13:35:40 09/08/02 Sun Of course, I'm sure Mr. Morley is quite an able and talented writer, but you really have to *like* your subject to write a good biography (as opposed to a tell-all expose), and it seems pretty clear from what he said and *didn't* say about Robert Newton that he didn't exactly share David Niven's fondness for him. Thanks for the tip about the Celia Johnson bio! I'll check it out! I hadn't seen that particular Richard Burton bio either, so I'll look for that too. I've amassed a lot more information about Bobby than what I've included in the online biography, and there are still a few of his contemporaries around as well. I'd really like to compile what I have into a cohesive narrative, but I'm reluctant to put it on the webpage because I've already been plagiarized more than once. It's too easy to cut and paste things from the Web and hard to prove that you were the first to write them. So I've actually been wanting to try my hand at writing a full-fledged biography myself. I'm not saying it would be the definitive one, but I still think there is room for several of them, and it would be nice to at least have *one* book out there until a professional comes along to tackle the job. What do you think? Then again, there's our friend Phil Leibfried who's already written a few good biographies himself and a nice, long article on Robert Newton ... Phil, are you out there? :-) [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Robert Newton biography Author: jab [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 14:31:05 09/08/02 Sun Oh Susan, you should definitely do it. You are certainly the most qualified. I was thinking that myself, even before you wrote of your interest. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Robert Newton biography Author: Tim Sanderson [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 07:55:40 09/09/02 Mon Hi Susan, I also think the idea of you writing this is a good one, I'd suggest it might be good to see if indeed another is being prepared by RN's family first,as I feel sure they would be a major input if one were not already in the pipeline from them. There are precedents for people writing such books, and self - publshing them also, BUT I think you are probably looking at a long term project and possibly some considerable travel which would nessecarily involve California, England, and the records of such organisations as Equity, the Screen Actors Guild, and Academy of Motion Pix Arts and Sciences, to say nothing of the relevant libraries, the Theatre Museum in London and possibly a lot of second hand bookshops. This is probably leaping ahead here, but if you needed some help or collaboration over here in the UK, I'd be happy to help. Best Tim Sanderson. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Robert Newton biography Author: Susan [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 13:44:23 09/10/02 Tue Well, that's *two* yes votes! Thanks for your confidence in me! (Or are you just saying that cuz I write a "book" every time I post something here? ;-)) I appreciate your suggestions and encouragement! I've thought about a lot of the things you mentioned already. Of course, I wouldn't want to write a book *against* the family's wishes, so the first thing to do is to find out whether they have a problem with my writing one or whether it would even be redundant if they've got one going to press. At the same time, it's so exciting every time I uncover some new little tidbit of information about him--a quote or some anecdote or fact--it's like adding another piece to the puzzle, and I want to share it with his other fans. Robert Newton was such a fascinating person. I know it would be a lot of work and take a long time, but it would be a labor of love. Getting it published would be a wonderful, of course, but I wouldn't even mind if I had to self-publish, even on a scale of running off copies at Kinko's and mailing them to you interested folks as a supplement to the site. (I have no illusions of becoming a bestselling author or winning any Pulitzer prizes!) And I was already expecting to have to do some travel--all part of the fun. (Maybe I should've been a detective ... Hmm, like Inspector Fix, right?) I'd really love to just keep adding to the website bio, if it weren't for the plagiarism issue. Maybe it's selfish of me, but, while I'm not expecting big profits or recognition, it really bothers me to have other people take credit for my work! Plus who wants to read a whole book's worth of stuff on their computer screen? I'd rather curl up with a nice bound volume that I can carry around with me that never "crashes" and I don't have to plug in. Of course, help with such an undertaking would always be appreciated ... but it all hinges on whether the family has any objections. I'll let you know if I get a response. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Re: Robert Newton biography Author: Tony [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 03:03:31 05/10/04 Mon ROBERT NEWTON WHAT A FINE ACTOR. WHERE ARE THE ACTORS OF TODAY OF HIS CALIBRE?I ENVY PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN THE USA YOU HAVE FAR MORE CHOICE AND ACCESS TO RARE CLASSIC TIMELESS GREAT MOVIES ON CABLE AND RARE VIDEO OUTLETS TRY AQUIRING THESE IN AUSTRALIA. GOODLUCK TONY austrlia. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]