British actress Liz Smith is best known for her TV work in comedy shows like The Vicar of Dibley and The Royle Family. Her first big break came at the age of forty-nine when film director Mike Leigh asked her to be in his 1971 debut film, Bleak Moments.
From that point on she rose out of suburban obscurity and enjoyed a flourishing career doing bit parts and supporting roles. Like most aspiring performing artists, Smith spent many years sending off resumes to agents trying to get on their books. In some cases, the rejections were so brusque and crushing that it would take the actress a year to recover enough confidence to try again.
Delightful Scenes From Liz Smith’s Life
Our Betty - Scenes From My Life, was published when Smith was 85 years of age. The book is illustrated with charming line drawings by the author, somewhat in the style of British poet Stevie Smith’s drawings.
As the subtitle of the book suggests, Our Betty is a patchwork of short snapshots from Smith’s life. More properly, the ‘scenes’ Smith writes are like gorgeous miniature paintings.
Smith has a great feel for describing taste, texture, smell and colour. Her descriptions of English life in the 1920s and 1930s are amazing for their recall of fine detail. The reader very much feels like they have been placed right in the middle of her grandparents’ house, the fragrant aromas of her grandmother’s cooking wafting by. After reading these passages, it’s difficult not to long to visit the places of Smith’s childhood, if only for a little while.
Enter Tragedy, Melancholy and Many Lonely Years
The charm and delight of Liz Smith’s memoir is shot through with a heartbreaking sadness. At the age of two, she lost her mother, who died in childbirth. And at the age of seven, her father left her, promising to write. Smith spent five years waiting for a letter that would never, ever come. More heartbreak came when her husband left her in the late 1950s. Liz Smith never remarried or formed another romantic relationship. Life became terribly lonely.
Our Betty is a highly enjoyable if plaintive memoir that proves that life’s struggles sometimes do bear fruit. Smith writes in a simple, clear prose that transports the reader back to the time of her childhood and war service, to the dreariness of English suburban life and the excitement of the Portobello Road after the Second World War. It’s a precious glimpse into a life full of triumphs, and also deep losses.
Our Betty: Scenes From My Life, by Liz Smith is published by Pocket Books (2006). ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-1161-X
Chris Saliba - Chris Saliba is a freelance writer. Read more of his workplace articles at chrissalibafreelancewriter.blogspot.com
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