Books like Michael Redgrave, My Father — picked by fans

The writer and poet Blake Morrison had a lifelong struggle to come to terms with his overbearing father.

Arthur Morrison, a Yorkshire doctor, was a smooth talker, a small-time cheat, who took pleasure in outwitting the authorities, living out his motto "I may not be right but I’m never wrong."

He was forever invading his children’s space, a habit which his son found painfully hard to resist, leading him to take up writing to escape this domineering influence. But when his father contracted cancer and lay dying, he was overwhelmed with grief and guilt.

It’s a moving, angry, and sometimes harrowing account of a dysfunctional relationship, which yet manages to be funny, and is written with poetic and humane grace. 

This extraordinarily candid memoir is about the complex relationship between the author and his businessman father, both of whom had a secret life.

A self-confessed gay man, young Joe spent much of his life searching for his Ideal Friend in the twilight of homosexual London, but never admitted as much to his father. And only after the latter’s death did his son discover that for many years he had maintained a mistress and their three daughters in a house in Barnes.

The author unravels this complicated tale with impressive honesty and compassion, charting his own feelings of inadequacy, waste, and loss, and lamenting the fact that both he and his father remained ignorant of each other’s hearts and minds.

The creator of Rebecca and Frenchman’s Creek first made her reputation as a writer with this brutally frank biography of her father.

Gerald du Maurier was one of the last actor-managers in the British theatre and the founder of a new naturalistic school of acting. In this compelling portrait, his daughter describes in detail his successful West End acting career and his years as manager of Wyndham’s theatre in London.

Her book contains some wonderful comic passages, but is most remarkable for its deep psychological insights into her father’s character. A needy man who hated to be alone, he was shocked by Daphne’s early desire to lead an independent life and turned against her. She lays out fairly his mass of contradictions, her writing already showing the talent that foreshadowed her later international fame as a novelist. 

Forty years after his father’s death, and now in his mid-seventies, the celebrated playwright and novelist Michael Frayn decided to write about his childhood before it vanished from his memory.

This quest into his past proved to become a powerful portrait of his father, a sales rep for an asbestos firm, and their constantly awkward relationship. He recalls with wry humour his father’s idiosyncratic behaviour – his reckless driving, his absurd penny-pinching, his ridiculous hopes for his unathletic son’s sporting abilities.

He paints a wickedly funny picture of suburban life in postwar London – a life shattered by his mother’s sudden death, an event which amazingly was never mentioned thereafter. For the author, it becomes a journey of self-discovery, during which he realises, despite his father’s many flaws, how much he has inherited from him. 

Time and again, history repeats itself.

Just as Clara Bow, Idina Sackville, and Rebekah Harkness lived wildly glamour lives in the public eye continually shamed for any behavior not fitting for a young woman’s reputation, this book gave me a unique perspective into the bold, brave strength of Elizabeth Taylor – whose parents were from Kansas of all places (although from a time before the Kansas City Chiefs reign). I could not put this book down because the continual shifts in Liz Taylor’s personal and professional life were jarring, inspiring, and mesmerizing.

I started this book to understand better what Taylor Swift saw in Elizabeth Taylor, using her for inspiration in a song titled “Elizabeth Taylor” on The Life of a Showgirl album. I stayed because I needed to know how it ended.

Audrey Hepburn was a little lady with the biggest heart.

I loved this book so much that I’ve reread it several times. I was hooked from the start to the finish, from her childhood in war-torn Europe to her work as a goodwill ambassador with UNICEF. The author perfectly describes Audrey’s grace, style, and compassion.

This is one of the best picture book biographies I’ve read. I wish I had met her. I love this book.

The softest, gentlest voices are heard the loudest.

I found it fascinating that these two very different women faced similar obstacles yet they had the courage and tenacity to help one another overcome them. I think this book perfectly illustrates that anyone–no matter his/her background–has the ability to "make their voices heard" no matter the challenges they face and that’s why I love it.

1950s MGM swimming star Esther Williams dazzled on-screen but faced challenges off it. Her autobiography recounts her rise from poverty, four turbulent marriages, and dangerous stunts that left her injured. A bio-pic of Williams would shine a spotlight on this resilient, forthright woman, blending the opulence of MGM’s golden age with the grit of her off-screen struggles.

From her innovative contributions (thank you for waterproof mascara and lycra swimwear!) to the harrowing realities of her stunts, her story is ripe for the big screen. Plus, imagine the sheer visual delight of recreating her most famous routines on the big screen.

This novel is a blend of fact and fiction and informed speculation, centered on the relationship between two mammoth film stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age: Loretta Young and Clark Gable. While the deeper truths of their relationship during the filming of Call of the Wild might be disputed, what is certain is that they produced a daughter whose identity was kept secret—even from her father. Loretta is sympathetically portrayed, often from the perspective of an Italian nun (the author’s creation). A whole galaxy of film celebrities passes through the pages of this book, which for fans of 20th century cinema, is a plus. One touching and poignant aspect of the story, for me, is the danger Loretta’s beloved child poses to her reputation and career.

The opening, hook, if you will, of this book is exactly why I loved it. She is an attorney.

He is a huge over-the-top movie star whose next role is in a courtroom. When he is late, she blows him off and he can’t believe it. I love love love how she stands up to him and basically, puts him in his place. But when he sees her in action, he’s stunned. And, that is what I love!

It’s convincing and I know that in the end things will work out. That’s the joy of Romance. The journey to the ending you know you’ll love.