Another Hamlet: The Mystery of Leslie Howard

In this revised, second edition of Another Hamlet (which includes updated versions of both his original 30-page 1993 essay and the original screenplay based upon it) Charles Boyle expands [30 additional pages, plus indexes and appendices] upon his original story of British actor Leslie Howard's interest in the Earl of Oxford as Shakespeare, and how that may have played into both his role as an artist and propagandist in World War II, as possibly a spy for Britain during the war, and, finally, as a factor in his fate at the hands of German fighter pilots in 1943. “In Another Hamlet Charles Boyle has produced a riveting political thriller that explores the life and tragic death of actor and film-maker, Leslie Howard, a British patriot drawn into a deadly propaganda duel with the Germans. Deftly interweaving the behind-the-scenes politics of World War II with the decadent showbiz world of the 1930s-1940s, Boyle makes the tantalizing suggestion that it was Howard’s growing conviction that the Earl of Oxford wrote Shakespeare which sealed his doom. From Leslie Howard himself to Humphrey Bogart, Merle Oberon, Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, and Joseph Goebbels, Boyle brings to life a fascinating and often chilling cast of characters to tell the story of a maverick artist’s losing battle with the power-brokers of his age.” -- Charles Beauclerk, author of Nell Gwynn and Shakespeare's Lost Kingdom. "Charles Boyle has opened a window on an amazing true story with immediate implications for our own time. His narrative essay on Leslie Howard and 'Shakespeare' is impossible to put down and I have no doubt that his screenplay, which follows, will become a stunning and important movie. I can't wait!" -- Hank Whittemore, author of CNN: the Inside Story and Your Future Self. "Fascinating take on the continued mystery surrounding the death of Leslie Howard ... It would make an interesting movie." (review on amazon.com) "I must confess that I was spellbound and could not turn the pages fast enough to see what happens next ... this screenplay is beautiful." (review on amazon.com)