Ray Winstone - The Biography

Added: (Mon Sep 20 2010)

Pressbox (Press Release) - If you think of British actors who play stereotypical hard men then Ray Winstone would have to be near the top of your list having played some memorable hard men both on TV and in the movies. But there is another side to Ray Winstone, the proud Brit and family man who is fiercely protective of both. Much of which is admirably covered in Nigel Goodall's biography "Ray Winstone: The Biography" although sadly it didn't live up to my expectations when it came to delving into Ray Winstone's life away from the camera covering biographical staples such as childhood, family and relationships. That's not to say it does mention his childhood or family but for the most "Ray Winstone: The Biography" is a book which focuses more on his career in front of the camera going into incredible depth on his TV appearances and movies.

As you would expect from a biography "Ray Winstone: The Biography" follows Winstone's life from childhood although it starts with an opening chapter which delivers us an insight into where his life was when Goodall wrote the book. It has to be said that what follows is a very restrained look at Ray Winstone's life covering his East End childhood, his fanatical passion for football and so on through to becoming an actor both on the small and big screen. I say it feels restrained because it appears that Winstone is a very private man and doesn't go into depth about his personal life, almost skipping over anything from his past such as money issues which isn't pleasant. As such you don't feel like you are ever getting to know Winstone and it maybe that he thinks of himself as an uninteresting, average guy with nothing really special about him. But as such one thing which does come across is that Winstone is not only a down to earth guy but one who is straight talking.

On the few occasions where Winstone opens up a little is usually about his proudness for his family. It's touching that you have this actor who has created such a tough guy image to speak so warmly about his wife and children, although he does hold back almost respecting them as individuals and their privacy which is fair, although unusual for a biography.

Aside from the slim look at Winstone's life away from the camera Goodall dedicates a lot of the book over to his career giving immense amount of detail on various TV shows and movies he's appeared in. Much of it is surprisingly interesting such as the behind the scenes information on the likes of "Nil by Mouth" but at the same time there is so much information it seems to go on a little bit too much. It ends up being a book more interesting for those who want to know about various movies and performances rather than Ray Winstone the man.

But having said that some of the best moment in "Ray Winstone: The Biography" are when Winstone opens up about various roles he has played and the emotional impact they had on him. It's surprisingly shocking when you read about how Winstone playing such roles as a wife beater or a rapist and you get a real sense of how much he gives over to every single character he plays.

What this all means is that "Ray Winstone: The Biography" is not the worse biography I've read but because it has that feeling of being restrained when it comes to Winstone's personal life it just doesn't feel like a proper biography. But even so it's still quite interesting especially if you are more interested in the various movies and TV shows which Winstone has appeared in.


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