For every taste and budget, a paperback

Gielgud: An Actor and His Time, A Memoir, by John Gielgud in collaboration with John Miller and John Powell. New York: Penguin Books. 229 pp. $3.95.

Gielgud gazes musingly out from the cover as if portraying the role of Eminent Author as Actor. The book evolved from a long series of BBC radio interviews conducted by the co-authors. The resulting account preserves the spontaneity of conversation, as Gielgud retraces a career extending over six decades and recalls the pantheon of the great players with whom he has worked.