Anything for a Quiet Life by Jack Hawkins

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"This can't happen to me................ But it can, and it did, and it does."
"So malignant, so cruelly and destructively greedy as it gnaws and destroys; the most dread of all diseases."

Jack Hawkins' autobiography was written towards the end of his life and published shortly after his death and my gratitude is that we still have a personal record of a remarkable, understated man who was a brilliant actor, so versatile in the roles he chose and working with other equally famous heart-throbs such as Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, John Gielgud and Lawrence Olivier. The list is endless but oh so remarkable.

He was such an ambitious actor intent on reaching the bright lights and the dazzle of Hollywood fame from such an early age and succeeding much to his surprise. His revelations indicate the equal importance he allotted to his family and friends and his memoirs reveal a warm, caring and colourfully interesting man who cared deeply for his family and friends. He also carried much guilt for his failure to become a good husband to Jessica Tandy, his first wife and his daughter, Susan who disappeared from his life. Starcrossed like Romeo and Juliet. He blamed his ambition and perhaps his young age and inexperience also contributed to their demise?

The greatest tragedy was when he eventually lost his battle with cancer after fighting it for so many difficult and frightening years. He was in his prime, his career at its zenith and only 62 years of age when he died.

His inwardly private fears were hidden from the public and he lived in self-denial easily persuaded by Hollywood to continue filming, to continue floating on this bubble of fame. Undeniably he showed great courage to persevere and behave like a typical trooper although Jack admits it was "cowardice pure and simple" as he experienced his own private hell because he was terrified and haunted by dark and worrying thoughts.
"Even a voiceless life held far more than the silence of death."
He chose not to write openly about his fear of dying and admitted what was suppressed in the dark recesses of his mind. "An irreversible fact" he called it, something he had feared for five years, something he had covered up and made copious excuses for-his vocal problems.
Cancer.

Jack's career was as diverse as sunshine and rainfall covering the stage, films and t.v. His repertoire covered Gilbert and Sullivan in those early days with The Cenci followed by Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare, Beau Geste, Journey's End, The Breadwinner, The Cruel Sea, Lawrence of Arabia, Ben Hur, Bridge Over the River Kwai, Mandy and Dr Kildare and many others.

He was acclaimed a star by Hollywood to be "handled with care" because he was seen as "valuable property" which amused Jack. Refreshingly without pretentiousness, Jack was cynical of the razmataz of Hollywood stardom. He was pragmatic about those demons that could destroy and cites the tragic circumstances surrounding Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland. The stresses of stardom can become intolerable and lead to tragedy. Sadly it wasn't this that destroyed such a fine actor as Jack Hawkins.

In 1933 J.C.Bergel critic for the Evening News bemused Jack by referring to him as "the most indubitable of matinee idols."
"Mr Hawkins looks like training to be the irresistably breezy, infectiously gay young hero."

The most dramatic memory of Jack's childhood was the "clamour" outside which produced excitement and delight with people dancing in the streets. The cause? The war of course. Remember, attitudes have changed and today people are sickened by fighting but this was 1914-1918. Jack "delighted in the thrills of war" and he cherished "the thrill of the dash for the safety of the broom cupboard under the stairs" with Zeppelins dangerously hanging overhead.

The church and choir dominated his early life but once he had experienced "the thrill and the smell of the theatre, the thrill of a full house. the brightness of the limelights" amateur operatics and choir seemed dull, flat and uninviting for his ambitions.

Surprisingly there was a time in Jack's life when the theatre lost its magical world of make believe and he felt lonely, unhappy and restless. So he joined the army, travelled the world and met the love of his life, Doreen Lawrence who he rated as an extremely talented actress and physically attractive. It sounded like love at first sight. They performed to troops in south-east Asia and then after the war, throughout Europe. The nesting instinct came once they returned to the U.K.



A journalist commented on his attraction:
"Women fall like a ton of bricks for the strong, silent charms of actor Jack Hawkins. They have made him the biggest romantic idol in British films since the heyday of James Mason."

At the end of his autobiography his widow, Doreen Hawkins added an emotional post-script covering the period April-July 1973 describing her heart-ache and the final moments surrounding his battle to stay alive:
"I am so cold. We all are. Nick fetched some brandy, and we sipped it between us and comforted ourselves that at least he would not suffer any more, and we would not have to watch his despair and unhappiness. Jack has found his quiet life. Now I have to try and find mine."
Dramatically ironic but a fitting tribute to a husband and father.

Publisher: Coronet Books, Hodder and Stoughton.  ISBN: 0-340-19866-4

COPYRIGHT 2013. Permission must be obtained from the author before any of this review is reproduced.

Wonderful review. Am reading this book now. 
So, so sad how many famous actors (not just your average Joe like my own dear father) died from lung cancer and emphysema and other cigarette related diseases.
My young granddaughter and I enjoy watching old movies from the 40s and 50s and she is always shocked at all the smoking that goes on. When I explained that everyone back then smoked she asked, "Even your parents and grandparents?" I have to admit-----
Jack Hawkins did die young but a few others lasted a bit longer. Robert Mitchum died of lung cancer and emphysema but he was pushing 80. John Wayne died of stomach cancer....which may or may not have been due to cigarettes but I would guess probably so-----he was in his seventies.
Sixty two was way too young for Jack Hawkins, that's all I have to say. 
I hope he and his daughter, Susan, were reconciled before it was over. He seems to have been a very decent fellow.

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