The Performer's Tale
The Nine Lives of Patience Collier
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The Performer's Tale
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Narrated by:
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Julia Franklin
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By:
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Vanessa Morton
About this listen
Though Patience Collier's name has faded from public consciousness since her death in 1987, it still conjures cool memories of iconic television and film from the 1970s and 1980s - Sapphire and Steel, Who Pays the Ferryman, Fiddler on the Roof and The French Lieutenant's Woman. Fearsome, eccentric and unpredictable, Patience Collier was an actress whose perfectionism shone through in her every performance, and who worked alongside many of the most celebrated actors and directors of her time.
Drawing on material from Collier's extensive archive of diaries and letters as well as interviews with many of those who worked with her (including Joanna Lumley, Zoë Wanamaker and Timothy West), The Performer's Tale paints an involving portrait of a gifted and eccentric woman weaving her way through the 20th century, mixing with artists, leftists and numerous figures from world of entertainment. But Vanessa Morton also offers a panoramic overview of theatre, film, TV and radio in Britain over half a century. Part social history, part cultural history, The Performer's Tale is a richly entertaining account of an actor's life and times.
©2021 Vanessa Morton (P)2021 Head of ZeusListeners also enjoyed...
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
It was the Golden Age of Radio and powerful men were making millions in advertising dollars reaching thousands of listeners every day. When television arrived, few radio moguls were interested in the upstart industry and its tiny production budgets, and expensive television sets were out of reach for most families. But four women - each an independent visionary - saw an opportunity and carved their own paths, and in so doing invented the way we watch TV today.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Must Read T.V.
- By cindy on 05-18-21
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The Crown: The Official Companion, Volume 1
- Elizabeth II, Winston Churchill, and the Making of a Young Queen (1947-1955)
- By: Robert Lacey
- Narrated by: Alex Jennings
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 197
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 175
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 174
Starring Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II and John Lithgow as Winston Churchill, Netflix's original series The Crown, created by Peter Morgan and growing out of his Oscar-winning movie The Queen starring Helen Mirren, paints a unique and intimate portrait of Britain's longest-reigning monarch. This official companion to the show's first season is an in-depth exploration of the early years of Elizabeth II's time as queen, complete with extensive research and additional material.
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5 out of 5 stars
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If you like The Crown
- By E F on 10-23-17
By: Robert Lacey
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Battle of Brothers
- William and Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult
- By: Robert Lacey
- Narrated by: Tim Frances
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 373
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 323
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Story4 out of 5 stars 320
From best-selling author and historical consultant to the award-winning Netflix series The Crown, an unparalleled insider account of tumult, secrecy, and schism in the royal family.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Same book, different title
- By Rhonda E Watson on 10-23-20
By: Robert Lacey
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The Queen and Di
- The Untold Story
- By: Ingrid Seward
- Narrated by: Emily Gray
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 140
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 121
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 124
The Manchester Evening News declared, it took "a biographer like Ingrid Seward to unleash a sober, challenging glimpse into the one relationship of such scrutiny." That relationship is the complex, troubled, and often turbulent association between Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Quite one sided.
- By Beatnik RN on 02-17-15
By: Ingrid Seward
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Furious Love
- Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century
- By: Sam Kashner, Nancy Schoenberger
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 17 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 174
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 116
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 117
He was a tough-guy Welshman softened by the affections of a breathtakingly beautiful woman; she was a modern-day Cleopatra madly in love with her own Mark Antony. For nearly a quarter of a century, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were Hollywood royalty, and their fiery romance - often called "the marriage of the century" - was the most notorious, publicized, and celebrated love affair of its day.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Paul Boehmer needs more practice
- By Brenda Miller on 06-16-10
By: Sam Kashner, and others
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Without Lying Down
- By: Cari Beauchamp
- Narrated by: Holly Palance
- Length: 20 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 23
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 20
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Story5 out of 5 stars 20
Cari Beauchamp masterfully combines biography with social and cultural history to examine the lives of Frances Marion and her many female colleagues who shaped filmmaking from the early teens through the 1940s. Frances Marion was Hollywood's highest paid screenwriter - male or female - for almost three decades, wrote almost 200 produced films and remains the only woman to win two Academy Awards for original screenwriting (The Big House and The Champ).
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Must Read
- By Robert Wallace on 03-19-19
By: Cari Beauchamp
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Meghan: A Hollywood Princess
- By: Andrew Morton
- Narrated by: Charles Armstrong
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 128
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 114
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Story4 out of 5 stars 112
From Andrew Morton, the New York Times best-selling author of Diana: Her True Story, comes a revealing, juicy, and inspiring biography of Meghan Markle, the American actress who won Prince Harry's heart. When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were set up by a mutual friend on a blind date in July 2016, little did they know that the resulting whirlwind romance would lead to their engagement in November 2017 and marriage in May 2018. Since then, our fascination with the woman who has smashed the royal mold has rocketed.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Book offers no new material
- By Jean on 04-24-18
By: Andrew Morton
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Can I Go Now?
- The Life of Sue Mengers, Hollywood's First Superagent
- By: Brian Kellow
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 67
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
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Story4 out of 5 stars 59
A lively and colorful biography of Hollywood's first superagent - one of the most outrageous showbiz characters of the 1960s and 1970s, whose clients included Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, Faye Dunaway, Michael Caine, and Candice Bergen. Before Sue Mengers hit the scene in the mid-1960s, talent agents remained quietly in the background. But staying in the background was not possible for Mengers.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A little long.
- By Doris on 11-29-15
By: Brian Kellow
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Another Nice Mess
- The Laurel & Hardy Story
- By: Raymond Valinoti
- Narrated by: Jack de Golia
- Length: 2 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
Arguably the greatest comedy duo in show business history, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy delighted filmgoers and theatregoers for over 30 years. The public not only found Laurel's serene simpleton and Hardy's pompous buffoon hilarious, but they also thought of them as friends. Laurel and Hardy may have been nitwits, but they were loveable nitwits.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Two Hours + of Biography
- By Jim on 05-13-15
By: Raymond Valinoti
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On Duty with the Queen
- By: Dickie Arbiter, Lynne Barrett-Lee - contributor
- Narrated by: Dickie Arbiter
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 66
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 61
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Story5 out of 5 stars 62
In this honest and entertaining book, Dickie Arbiter recounts his life's journey from a broadcast journalist to becoming a press spokesman to the Royal family, and back again to journalism. He discusses the inner workings of everyday life in Buckingham Palace, and what it was really like to work under the media spotlight with the most famous family in the world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Story of Many Fascinating Events
- By Batgirl on 11-03-24
By: Dickie Arbiter, and others
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The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock
- An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense
- By: Edward White
- Narrated by: Qarie Marshall
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 78
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
Author Edward White explores the Hitchcock phenomenon - what defines it, how it was invented, what it reveals about the man at its core, and how its legacy continues to shape our cultural world. Illuminating different aspects of Hitchcock's life and work, the book's 12 chapters reveal something fundamental about the man he was and the mythological creature he has become, presenting not just the life Hitchcock lived, but also the various versions of himself that he projected and those projected on his behalf.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Very Good History of Hitch
- By aaron on 07-31-21
By: Edward White
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Diana
- Her True Story - in Her Own Words
- By: Andrew Morton
- Narrated by: Michael Maloney, Caroline Langrishe
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,747
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,533
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,529
The sensational biography of Princess Diana, now revised to commemorate the 20th anniversary of her death. When Diana: Her True Story - in Her Own Words was first published in 1992, it forever changed the way the public viewed the British monarchy.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful overall with one issue...
- By globewest on 07-02-17
By: Andrew Morton
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Nazi Wives
- The Women at the Top of Hitler's Germany
- By: James Wyllie
- Narrated by: Dalya Raphael
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 177
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 153
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 152
Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, Heydrich, Hess, Bormann - names synonymous with power and influence in the Third Reich. Perhaps less familiar are Carin, Emmy, Magda, Margarete, Lina, Ilse, and Gerda. These are the women behind the infamous men - complex individuals with distinctive personalities who were captivated by Hitler and whose everyday lives were governed by Nazi ideology. Throughout the rise and fall of Nazism these women loved and lost, raised families, and quarreled with their husbands and each other, all the while jostling for position with the Fuhrer himself.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Scary
- By Three River on 05-15-21
By: James Wyllie
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Something Wonderful
- Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution
- By: Todd S. Purdum
- Narrated by: Todd S. Purdum
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 452
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 382
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 379
They stand at the apex of the great age of songwriting, the creators of the classic Broadway musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music, whose songs have never lost their popularity or emotional power. Even before they joined forces, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had written dozens of Broadway shows, but together they pioneered a new art form: the serious musical play.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fabulous book about Rodgers & Hammerstein!!!
- By BigWally on 06-27-18
By: Todd S. Purdum