Library Journal - Audio
★ 06/01/2022
Scottish actor Cox's career has spanned six decades in which he has played Shakespearean characters on stage and a long list of character roles on film and television (he has recently garnered much success in the recent HBO series Succession). Born in Dundee, Scotland, he was the youngest of five children. His father died when he was eight and his mother subsequently suffered from mental health issues. Raised mainly by his three eldest sisters, he often escaped to the local cinema where he would see up to eight films per week. He loved American films but was smitten with acting after seeing Albert Finney in the film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. At 17 he enrolled in the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and the rest is history. A great storyteller, Cox presents a series of recollections from childhood experiences and progresses through his colorful career. He has insightful observations on the craft of acting, sprinkled with gossipy anecdotes about the people he has worked with. He also writes candidly about his own shortcomings as a husband and father. Cox narrates in his distinct and commanding Scottish brogue. VERDICT An entertaining and well-written memoir from a master actor.—Phillip Oliver
DECEMBER 2021 - AudioFile
Born in Dundee, Scotland, actor Brian Cox recounts the day of his birth, when his nervous, distracted father went to the registry office to register the newborn’s name as Colin. However, due to an opinionated office manager, his father was talked into calling him Brian. With humor and grace, the versatile, well-respected actor offers candid insights into his early family life and the struggles that led to his becoming an internationally recognized theater, screen, and television actor. A fabulous storyteller, Cox offers tales filled with personal, sometimes gossipy, anecdotes spent among theater greats, brilliant directors, and assorted film personalities. Moments of self-awareness lead to moments riddled with gallows humor, while poignant moments are guaranteed to touch the heart. Smart, entertaining listening. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
11/22/2021
In this candid work, Scottish actor Cox (Salem to Moscow), of HBO’s Succession, chronicles the triumphs and setbacks in his distinguished career. Growing up in 1950s Dundee in the shadow of his father’s death (who died suddenly when Cox was eight), Cox found refuge from a fraught home life with his mentally frail mother by going to the movies. It was watching Saturday Night and Saturday Morning one day when he finally realized his calling: “It was all about working-class people.... I thought, My God, that could be me.” From here, Cox runs through the most memorable moments of his acting career, from his humble beginnings at the Dundee Repertory Theatre to his film debut in the 1971 drama Nicholas and Alexandra to being awe-struck by Peter O’Toole while playing Agamemnon in The Iliad. Cox isn’t one to sugarcoat his opinions; for instance, Succession, he writes, sometimes “focuses too much on the comedy at the expense of what is, essentially, a brilliant drama.” Meanwhile, fellow actor Steven Seagal “suffers from that Donald Trump syndrome of thinking himself far more... talented than he actually is.” At the same time, he doesn’t shy away from his own flaws or his struggles with “deep-seated insecurity.” While this doesn’t exactly break new ground as a celebrity memoir, its prickly honesty is delightfully refreshing. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
"Cox writes eloquently about his origins in Dundee, Scotland, as the youngest of five children who occasionally had to beg for batter bits from the local chip shop. . .[O]n the page, at least, he is present, lively and pouring forth."—New York Times
"[Cox] offers a bold, funny account of his path from an impoverished boyhood in Scotland to the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, and Hollywood. The narrative is punctuated with gossip ('Did I forget to mention that I got touched up by Princess Margaret once?'), frank appraisals of industry bigwigs (Johnny Depp is 'so overblown, so overrated'), and frank reflections on his own shortcomings as a spouse and father. At its core, though, the book is a meditation on craft and a paean to acting."—The New Yorker
"Putting the Rabbit in the Hat tracks [Cox's] journey from embattled working-class lad in Dundee, Scotland, to, at age 75, improbable pop-culture icon — and forfeits none of the spiky candor that got him there."—Washington Post
"The versatile actor’s voice rings loud in this no-holds-barred memoir that traces his rags-to-riches story."—USA Today
"Wisdom, a modicum of modesty, and delicious gossip make for an entertaining memoir."—Kirkus Reviews
"In this candid work, Scottish actor Cox (Salem to Moscow), of HBO’s Succession, chronicles the triumphs and setbacks in his distinguished career. . . [I]ts prickly honesty is delightfully refreshing."—Publishers Weekly
“[Cox’s] road to fame makes for fascinating reading.”—People Magazine
"[C]andid and engaging. . . Theater fans and viewers of Succession will enjoy the personal stories this accomplished actor and raconteur has to tell."—Booklist
"[A]musingly irreverent."—The Guardian
"An enjoyable and conversational backstage pass to the entire life of a highly respected character actor."—Library Journal
"[U]ndoubtedly [Cox's] most comprehensive, and candid, work."—Yahoo! Entertainment
“A life well lived and a story well told. From first page to last, Brian Cox the great actor is Brian Cox the great storyteller, and nobody is spared his sharp eye and his caustic wit, himself and some big Hollywood names included. He is brutally honest about who and what he likes and doesn’t like, and honest too about his own failings. But what shines through every page is a man who loves being an actor and who has a deep understanding of why culture, and especially theatre and film, really matter.”—Alastair Campbell
“Rage and vulnerability, loss and passion, self-doubt, triumphs and laughs. Brian Cox’s memoir brings to mind the Blake poem ‘What is the price of experience? Do men buy it for a song? Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price of all that a man hath: his wife, his house his children.’ What a treat and privilege to be invited in. I’ve never read a book that conveys the joy, grace and pain of the journey of being an actor and a human more honestly and with such straightforward blistering charm.”—Kate Beckinsale
“It is much more than a rabbit Mr. Cox pulls out of his hat. In this candid vision of his life it is revealed how it is he is able so convincingly, authentically and uniquely to play such an abundance of characters. All of them different, all of them real, all of them him.”—Hampton Fancher
“Brian Cox is not only one of the greatest actors of his generation, he is a gentleman among men. Kind, wise, funny and intense in the best ways possible, Brian is also a wonderful tale-teller as this book proves. It is an honor to call him a friend and I’m so proud of him. What a life well lived.”—Ryan Murphy
“Wonderfully honest, touching and funny.”—Gemma Jones
“There has always been a coiled-spring energy to Brian’s acting and, now in his 70s, he has lost none of it. This book is like listening to him talk, switching from anecdote to diatribe to honest self-reflection and back to his original story before he interrupted himself. The effect is of undiminished curiosity and passion for life and work. All his observations are laced with his characteristic generosity, self-deprecation and cut-the-crap wisdom.”—Harriet Walker
Library Journal
01/07/2022
At the age of 75, Cox has carved himself a place on stage, on television, and in film, where his face and voice, if not always his name, have become widely recognizable. In this autobiography, Cox relates many tales of his career on both sides of the Atlantic with a signature style and language, often speaking directly to the reader. He describes growing up in Scotland; his father died when Cox was young, and his mother lived with mental illness. As a teen, Cox pursued a career in repertory theater that has been the constant thread throughout his life. His memoir is both an entertaining and anecdotal tour through his career and a perceptive piece of introspection on his personal life; he admits to not being "truly present" as a parent, yet being "in the moment" is what makes him such an exceptional actor. He has a marvelous way of sprinkling less than glowing yet informed opinions on various films and actors throughout the text without seeming critical (most of the time), and it's nice to hear someone being truly forthright. VERDICT An enjoyable and conversational backstage pass to the life of a highly respected character actor.—Peter Thornell
DECEMBER 2021 - AudioFile
Born in Dundee, Scotland, actor Brian Cox recounts the day of his birth, when his nervous, distracted father went to the registry office to register the newborn’s name as Colin. However, due to an opinionated office manager, his father was talked into calling him Brian. With humor and grace, the versatile, well-respected actor offers candid insights into his early family life and the struggles that led to his becoming an internationally recognized theater, screen, and television actor. A fabulous storyteller, Cox offers tales filled with personal, sometimes gossipy, anecdotes spent among theater greats, brilliant directors, and assorted film personalities. Moments of self-awareness lead to moments riddled with gallows humor, while poignant moments are guaranteed to touch the heart. Smart, entertaining listening. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2021-10-20
A versatile actor recounts his life’s work.
At 75, award-winning actor Cox looks back on a long career in theater, movies, and TV, most recently in HBO’s Succession. He grew up in Dundee, Scotland, the youngest of five children, “besieged by the forces of tribalism and the Catholic faith.” When he was 8, his father died, leaving the family “dirt poor” and his mother suicidal. “I don’t believe that you have to live through tragedy in order to portray it,” Cox reflects, “but it does help clarify things for you.” At 17, while enrolled at the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he attended dress rehearsals at the National Theatre, watching the likes of Glenda Jackson, Peter O’Toole, Laurence Olivier, and Maggie Smith. “Witnessing this kind of magic,” writes the author, made him yearn to be part of that world. From working odd jobs at the Dundee Repertory Theatre, he rose to eminence on all of London’s major stages. Cox portrays with sly wit the actors he admires (Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, among them) and those he does not (Sylvester Stallone, Michael Gambon) and the many directors he worked with, including the “consummate cineaste” Spike Lee, diffident Woody Allen, Royal Shakespeare Company founder Peter Hall, and titan John Schlesinger, whose Julius Caesar, writes the author, “was a misbegotten nightmare if ever there was one.” When Hollywood beckoned, Cox happily left England: “I went from being a lead actor on the London stage to a supporting turn in Hollywood, and I did it with a big smile on my face.” Besides chronicling his career, the author is forthright about his shortcomings as a husband and father. Above all, he extolls the exhausting, energizing thrill of performing: “You never stop wanting to show off, working out that insecurity, expiating yourself of your guilt,” and basking in the audience’s acclaim.
Wisdom, a modicum of modesty, and delicious gossip make for an entertaining memoir.
