David Wood to Release Memoir ELIZABETH TAYLOR'S KISS

In this memoir, actor and writer David Wood recalls his 'brushes with Hollywood'... being kissed on the lips by Elizabeth Taylor as midnight struck on his 22nd birthday; playing Richard Burton's servant on stage in Dr Faustus; being seduced by Shelley Winters in The Vamp, a television two-hander play; hanging upside down from a chandelier and being rescued by David Hemmings in Andrew Lloyd Webber's critically mauled West End musical Jeeves; singing songs and being shot down in flames as a Royal Flying Corps officer in the film Aces High, in which he was reunited with Malcolm McDowell (his fellow rebel schoolboy in the film If....) and acted alongside Christopher Plummer and Simon Ward; sharing the screen at sea in an oil rig supply vessel with Roger Moore, Anthony Perkins and James Mason in North Sea Hijack; penning the daytime Emmy-nominated Back Home, starring Hayley Mills, thereby becoming a Disney-approved writer; and writing The Queen's Handbag to celebrate the Queen's 80th birthday, performed in Buckingham Palace Gardens and seen live by 8,000,000 BBC TV viewers.

He said: "I have been fortunate enough to work with several movie greats, never as a star, but as a supporting player and as an occasional writer. My brushes with Hollywood personalities and productions have provided indelible memories throughout my acting and writing career."

None greater than the crazy time in 1965 when David, as a final year student, found himself sharing the stage with genuine Hollywood royalty...

The Daily Mail announced the appearance of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as the stars of a student production of Dr Faustus as "the most publicised three weeks in Oxford University's 700-year history".

David recounts: "News came through in the autumn of 1965 that Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor intended to come to Oxford to appear in an Oxford University Dramatic Society production of Dr Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. They would appear at the Oxford Playhouse for a week, alongside a student cast. The play would be directed by Professor Nevill Coghill, the Oxford don who had been Burton's tutor during the war years when he was at Exeter College. He had directed Burton in an OUDS production of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, in which Burton played Angelo. Burton's Oxford career was cut short when he was called up to the RAF, but he always retained an admiration for Coghill, and gratitude for his encouragement. Now, as a magnificent gesture of thanks, he and his wife had agreed to perform in Dr Faustus to help raise money for the University Theatre Workshop Fund."

David was cast as Burton's servant, Wagner. "For me the best news was that my girlfriend Sheila Dawson was to be one of the dancers and would also understudy Elizabeth Taylor. I was twenty-one. Sheila was nineteen. To all us undergraduates it seemed extraordinary that Burton, then forty, and Taylor, then thirty-three, would risk their reputations on sharing the stage with us. They were at the height of their renown, courting as much media interest as a royal couple. The scandalous affair between Burton and Taylor during the filming of Cleopatra in 1961-62 had proved a salacious gift for the tabloid press. But now they were married, still pursued by paparazzi, and stars of the gossip columns as much as the silver screen. And they were heading to Oxford to work with a bunch of students. Amazing."

"It's a window into another time and some of the wonderful people that David knew when he was just starting his career as a young actor. I couldn't put it down. It has all the charm and warmth and wit that is David Wood and his lifelong passion for the theatre is inspiring. I loved it." Hayley Mills

David Wood OBE

David Wood OBE is an actor, writer, playwright, composer and magician. He appeared on stage opposite Sir Michael Redgrave in A Voyage Round My Father and in After Haggerty for the Royal Shakespeare Company. On television he appeared in everything from classic serials and The New Avengers, to Jackanory and Play Away. Perhaps best known as 'the national children's dramatist' (The Times), his 75 plays for children have been performed worldwide. They include The Gingerbread Man, The See-Saw Tree, eight Roald Dahl adaptations including The BFG and The Witches, the Olivier Award-winning Goodnight Mister Tom (from Michelle Magorian's classic novel), and the Olivier Award-nominated The Tiger Who Came to Tea (from Judith Kerr's iconic picture book). He wrote the screenplay of the 1974 film Swallows and Amazons. His grown-up musical, The Go-Between (from LP Hartley's novel), co-written with Richard Taylor and starring Michael Crawford, played at London West End's Apollo Theatre in 2016.

Release Date: 28th July, 2022
Price: £9.99