Category Archives: The Guardian
To be perfectly Frank
When you’ve come second to ‘Freddie Mercury’ in TV’s Stars In Their Eyes final, your showbiz days should be over. But for Stephen ‘Frank Sinatra’ Triffitt, they were just beginning. Simon Fanshawe tells his story This is a real showbiz … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Celebrity Profiles, Society, The Guardian
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What’s it all about, Albee?
His plays may be full of sparring vitriol and dysfunctional lives, but Edward Albee is rather sweet, thinks Simon Fanshawe Edward Albee reminds me of an airline experiment that happened some years ago. The hostesses served passengers with raspberry-flavoured ice-cream. … Continue reading
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Sam smiles
There is a precedent, of course, but it is pretty unusual for a theatre director to go to Hollywood and make a debut movie that is talked of as a surefire Oscar winner. Dizzying stuff. But, for all the doors … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Celebrity Profiles, The Guardian
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Home truths
Christopher Eccleston is an actor known for his anguished portraints of men in conflict. He wants to do work of integrity, prefers television, and likes his family to approve. A tall order? No wonder he has a reputation for being … Continue reading
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Cruising at new heights
Britain is getting its first gay airline. Sounds like double-entendre hell to Simon Fanshawe, who asks whether we really need one Staggering news. A man called Martin Langham, who used to be a British Caledonian trolley dolly – cabin crew … Continue reading
Posted in Society, The Guardian
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Mister Musical
Once he was a theatre-crazy stagehand. Then he became a struggling producer who backed a couple of turkeys. Now he’s worth £350m, has five homes around the world, and describes his tastes as ‘stylishly common’. Simon Fanshawe on the marketing … Continue reading
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Now I’ll say what I want to say…
Simon Fanshawe feels for Michael Portillo. He too has been dogged by vile rumours All my public life I have been the victim of slurs, stories that I am sure many people took for the truth. Ugly rumours have dogged … Continue reading
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Nothing to declare
Woody Allen satirises our obsession with celebrity in his new film. Simon Fanshawe says it is time to stop sanctifying sensation and start recognising people who achieve something real Woody Allen once said “I don’t want to achieve immortality through … Continue reading
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Olympian heights
Olympia Dukakis was always the consummate actress, above all a ‘theatre animal’. Then, in 1988, she won an Oscar for her role in the film Moonstruck, and since then celebrity has never been far away. But now she is back … Continue reading
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Black, pink and British too
The nail bombs were a blast from a straight, white, imperial past There’s a bomb. Then there’s the outrage, the shock, the horror. The police under pressure. Something must be done. And, remarkably soon, there’s an arrest. The country pastes … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Society, The Guardian
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