| The Man Who Became Sherlock Holmes: The Tortured Mind of Jeremy Brett By Terry Manners Reviewed by Tiffany Powell  | |
| This
book reads like a piece of fiction. That is not a good or bad
reflection on its content at all as I have read other biographies that
I know to be 100% accurate and they read as fiction as well. It is
simply the style of writing. It keeps your interest peeked because you
feel that you are reading a novel and not a biography. A stark difference between this biography and all other biographies I have ever read is the fact that the author feels he has the authority to interpret and put the subjects’ personal thoughts on paper without ever having spoken with the subject himself. There are also many, many details throughout the book that are stated as fact but with absolutely no way of proving whether or not they actually happened. Some are minor, for example, it is stated that a very young JB slept with his mother for protection and comfort through a night of bombing. This may very well have happened but the author gives no reference as to when and where he acquired this information, as JB would have been unlikely to remember such an insignificant event due to young age (in the way it was stated) and his mother of course had passed. I mention this small detail as it makes you wonder what other stories the author has taken such liberties with. As the book progresses, the stories such as the one above increase in volume and detail including some very private conversations between JB and his wife Joan. Even if the author had spoken with JB or Joan and even if they had felt comfortable revealing such intimate details, it still would have been nearly impossible to remember a conversation in such length and detail as the author has recorded it. That being said, a lot of the feelings that the author attributed to JB as having said or thought are, I am sure, very close to the truth as it is simply human nature and we all would have such feelings in times of trial and sorrow. This does indeed bring a feeling of reality and comradely with JB throughout the book. I will touch briefly on the one subject of the book that seems to dominate a significant portion of the author’s time and attention: the sexual molestation of young JB and “his” feelings of sexual inadequacy. The suggestion that JB was molested as a young boy comes across as just that, a suggestion. It is written in the manner that a little old gossipy woman would tell you a story that she finds to be a particularly juicy bit of news. Again, no references, no information on how this knowledge was acquired. It’s simply there for shock value and a way to, later in the book, explain away JB’s well-documented bisexuality. The story where JB finally “becomes a man” as the author puts it, is simply uncomfortable. Had this information been provided directly from JB, I might feel different about the whole thing, but even then it would still be awkward. There is a significant amount of skipping throughout this book, one of a novice author’s biggest mistakes. (A good question would be, has Terry Manners authored any other books?) The author will begin one story and then jump to a story that happened many years after, and then jump back to the story at hand. This isn’t done to prove a point of reference, it just seems to have popped into the authors head at that time and so he added it then and there. For example, we are reading along about how the producers of SH were amazed at JB’s approach to playing SH and then the next paragraph tells us a touching story about Esther Dean’s (who, unless I am missing something, we have not been introduced to thus far) mother passing away and JB comforting her. Charming though it is, it’s placement in the story line makes no sense. There are a few noticeable errors as well that even I, a relatively new JB fan, could pick up on. For example, the author places Bunny’s death before JB’s marriage to Anne. Anne, in her book Telling Some Tales, states: David was born three days after my twenty-second birthday. We were thrilled with him. But when he was just three months old, Jeremy's mother was tragically killed in a car crash in the Welsh mountains. It was the most enormous shock for Jeremy, and from this time on, our marriage suffered greatly. I was filming Peeping Tom, and was not around to give him essential support. But, looking back, I doubt that I would have been of much help. His mother's death released Jeremy from past restraints. He changed, and our relationship never really recovered. Most of the errors made are biographical in nature and would have only taken a small amount of research to correct, something that you would think an author would do if he endeavours to write a biography. Another error that popped out at me is the story of JB and company eating at the restaurant where the proprietor happened to be named Mr. Moriarty. The author describes JB as pointing the name out to those with him and laughing about it. Peter Haining who was actually there and in the company that night also tells the story in his book The Television Sherlock Holmes. However, Peter states that it was he who noticed it just as they were leaving and he thought to himself of the irony, with no mention that it was even brought to JB’s attention. A point I found interesting is Linda Pritchard’s contribution to this book. I find nothing wrong with the fact that she contributed and will give her the benefit of the doubt that she simply didn’t realize the poor quality with which it would be completed. How would she unless the author gave her personal access to his rough drafts before printing? Next time she may want to use that as a stipulation before contributing to a project. Having completed the book I must say that overall I found the book to be entertaining but riddled with errors and mistakes that only a novice author, who did not take the time to sufficiently research his subject, would make. Coming away from this book, I cannot even be sure that Terry Manners had any real interest in writing this let alone whether or not he is a Jeremy Brett “fan”. Usually you set out to write about something you feel passionate about, whether you love it or hate it. Apparently the author simply didn’t care enough to let us know his true intentions, but perhaps we find a clue in his acknowledgements from the book: So many people have helped me write this book. But to those who, for reasons known only to themselves, did not contribute to remembering Jeremy, I say thank you. You made me even more determined to tell his true story. A special thanks, however, to Linda Pritchard. |
August 2011