This book and its accompanying website present the selected proceedings of the inaugural, 'The Performer's Voice: An International Forum for Music Performance and Scholarship', directed by Dr Anne Marshman (editor) and hosted by the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore. The chapters, which were selected through a process of international peer review, reflect the symposium's wide-ranging interdisciplinary scope, coupled with an uncompromising emphasis on the act of performance, the role of the performer and the professional performer's perspective.

Michael J. Fox abandoned high school to pursue an acting career, but went on to receive honorary degrees from several universities and garner the highest accolades for his acting, as well as for his writing. In his new book, he inspires and motivates graduates to recognize opportunities, maximize their abilities, and roll with the punches--all with his trademark optimism, warmth, and humor. In A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future, Michael draws on his own life experiences to make a case that real learning happens when "life goes skidding sideways." He writes of coming to Los Angeles from Canada at age eighteen and attempting to make his way as an actor. Fox offers up a comically skewed take on how, in his own way, he fulfilled the requirements of a college syllabus. He learned Economics as a starving artist; an unexpected turn as a neophyte activist schooled him in Political Science; and his approach to Comparative Literature involved stacking books up against their movie versions. Replete with personal stories and hilarious anecdotes, Michael J. Fox's new book is the perfect gift for graduates.

Marion Shilling began her career as a silent film ingenue for MGM and went on to play heroines in Westerns of the 1930s. Stage actress Esther Muir made the transition from Broadway to Hollywood just as talkies became popular. Hugh Allan was a leading man in the last years of the silents only to leave the film business in 1930 because of the uncertainty surrounding his transition to sound films and his disgust with studio politics. These three performers and thirteen others (Barbara Barondess, Thomas Beck, Mary Brian, Pauline Curley, Billie Dove, Edith Fellows, Rose Hobart, William Janney, Marcia Mae Jones, Barbara Kent, Anita Page, Lupita Tovar, and Barbara Weeks) reminisce here about Hollywood and the movie business as it made the transition.

Here, in his own colorful, slangy words, is the true American Dream saga of a self-proclaimed "film geek," with five intense years working in a video store, who became one of the most popular, recognizable, and imitated of all filmmakers. His dazzling, movie-informed work makes Quentin Tarantino's reputation, from his breakout film, "Reservoir Dogs" (1992), through "Kill Bill: Vol. 1" (2003) and "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" (2004), his enchanted homages to Asian action cinema, to his rousing tribute to guys-on-a-mission World War II movie, "Inglourious Basterds" (2009). For those who prefer a more mature, contemplative cinema, Tarantino provided the tender, very touching "Jackie Brown" (1997). A masterpiece--"Pulp Fiction" (1994). A delightful mash of unabashed exploitation and felt social consciousness--his latest opus, "Django Unchained" (2012).

From the beginning, Tarantino (b. 1963)--affable, open, and enthusiastic about sharing his adoration of movies--has been a journalist's dream. "Quentin Tarantino: Interviews," revised and updated with twelve new interviews, is a joy to read cover to cover because its subject has so much interesting and provocative to say about his own movies and about cinema in general, and also about his unusual life. He is frank and revealing about growing up in Los Angeles with a single, half-Cherokee mother, and dropping out of ninth grade to take acting classes. Lost and confused, he still managed a gutsy ambition: young Quentin decided he would be a filmmaker.

Tarantino has conceded that Ordell (Samuel L. Jackson), the homicidal African American con man in "Jackie Brown," is an autobiographical portrait. "If I hadn't wanted to make movies, I would have ended up as Ordell," Tarantino has explained. "I wouldn't have been a postman or worked at the phone company. . . . I would have gone to jail."

Charlotte Greenwood never intended to become a comedienne, but she was unfashionably tall at 5'10"" and her early aspirations to become a great dramatic actress eventually led her to the field of comedy. Greenwood, whose early life had taught her nothing if not how to be optimistic, stifled her disappointment and used her considerable skill to become one of the greatest comedic actresses of the early twentieth century. Based on Greenwood's unpublished memoirs; this biography presents a personal, detailed look at her colorful life. Beginning with her early years in Philadelphia, Boston and Norfolk, it relates her struggles with ill health, her social difficulties caused by her then unusual height and her realization of her ambition to become an actress. The main focus of the work is her career, which spanned more than 50 years and ranged from vaudeville to the stage and, finally, to films (during the World War II years she starred in Twentieth Century Fox musicals with Cesar Romero, Betty Grable, Edward Everett Horton, Jack Haley, Don Ameche, and Carmen Miranda). Her roles in a variety of works including ""The Passing Show of 1912"", ""So Long Letty"" (both stage and film), and ""I Remember Mama"" are also discussed. Special emphasis is placed on her career-defining (and best-known) role as Aunt Eller Murphy in the 1955 film adaptation of ""Oklahoma!"" Charlotte Greenwood's performance history, a list of her known recordings, and a filmography for her husband Martin Broones are also included.

This thorough critical study of Chaplin's films traces his acting career chronologically, from his initial appearance in 1914's Making a Living to his final starring role in 1957's A King in New York. Emphasizing Chaplin's technique and the steady evolution of his Tramp character, the author frames the biographical details of Chaplin's life within the context of his acting and filmmaking career, giving special attention to the films Chaplin directed/produced.

A top vaudeville comedian for the first quarter of the 20th century, Henry Langdon rose from performing in Midwest traveling shows to headlining at the Palace Theatre in New York City. He would go on to draw comparisons to Chaplin for his work in the classic silent films ""Tramp, Tramp, Tramp"" and ""The Strong Man"", and he is often recognized as one of the 'big four silent comedians' alongside Chaplin, Lloyd and Keaton. Later in his career, Landon also appeared in a great number of talking films, starring or co-starring in almost a hundred of them between 1924 and 1945 and working with several legendary directors, from Frank Capra to Michael Curtiz.This second edition of the only book-length biography of Langdon includes significant new information, including expanded coverage of his early years and more personal details that lend a human side to the Langdon story. The book also includes a comprehensive filmography and several photographs from all phases of Langdon's life and career.

Dolores del Rio's enormously successful career in Hollywood, in Mexico, and internationally illuminates issues of race, ethnicity, and gender through the lenses of beauty and celebrity. She and her husband left Mexico in 1925, as both their well-to-do families suffered from the economic downturn that followed the Mexican Revolution. Far from being stigmatized as a woman of color, this Mexican star was acknowledged as the epitome of beauty in the Hollywood of the 1920s and early 1930s. While she insisted upon her ethnicity, she was nevertheless coded white by the film industry and its fans, and she appeared for more than a decade as a romantic lead opposite white actors. Returning to Mexico in the early 1940s, she brought enthusiasm and prestige to the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, becoming one of the great divas of Mexican film. With struggle and perseverance, she overcame the influence of men in both countries who hoped to dominate her, ultimately controlling her own life professionally and personally.

How does an actor embody a character? How do they use their body as an instrument of expression? Rethinking the Actor's Body offers an accessible introduction to the fields of neurophysiology and embodied knowledge through a detailed examination of what an actor does with their body. Built on almost a decade of conversations and public seminars by the author Dick McCaw in partnership with John Rothwell (Professor of Neurophysiology at University College London, UK), Rethinking the Actor's Body explores a set of questions and preoccupations concerning the actor's body and examines overlaps in research and practice in the fields of actor training, embodied knowledge and neurophysiology.

From movie villains to scream queens, here are interviews with 36 actors and actresses familiar to fans of sixties and seventies cult cinema. Interviewees include the well-known (David Carradine, Christopher Lee), the relatively obscure (Marrie Lee), sex symbols (Valerie Leon), surfers who became movie stars (Don Stroud), and action heroes (Fred Williamson), among many others. Each interview is accompanied by a biography and filmography.

Fans and critics alike perceive Wong Kar-wai (b. 1958) as an enigma. His dark glasses, his nonlinear narrations, and his high expectations for actors all contribute to an assumption that he only makes art for a few highbrow critics. However, Wong's interviews show this Hong Kong auteur is candid about the art of filmmaking, even surprising his interlocutors by suggesting his films are commercial and made for a popular audience. Wong's achievements nevertheless feel like art-house cinema. His third film, Chungking Express, introduced him to a global audience captivated by the quick and quirky editing style. His Cannes award-winning films Happy Together and In the Mood for Love confirmed an audience beyond the greater Chinese market. His latest film, The Grandmaster, depicts the life of a kung fu master by breaking away from the martial arts genre. In each of these films, Wong Kar-wai's signature style-experimental, emotive, character-driven, and timeless-remains apparent throughout. This volume includes interviews that appear in English for the first time, including some that appeared in Hong Kong magazines now out of print. The interviews cover every feature film from Wong's debut As Tears Go By to his 2013 The Grandmaster.

Just as the Academy Awards have an impact upon stars and their careers, their achievements influence the Academy and contribute to the rich history of the Oscars. Upset wins, jarring losses and glaring oversights have helped define the careers of Hollywood icons, while unknown actors have proven that timing sometimes beats notoriety or even talent. With detailed discussion of their performances and Awards night results, this book describes how 107 actors earned the Academy's favor - and how 117 others were overlooked.

He was one of the world's true superstars, and the silver screen's most beloved James Bond. Sir Sean Connery - a proud Scotsman born in 1930 to a working-class family - died at home in the Bahamas on 31 October 2020. He left behind him a legacy to rival any actor. Connery bestrode Hollywood like a Colossus. He commanded some of the highest fees in the industry and was lauded by critics and the public alike. In July 2000, his unique contribution to the world of film was recognised when he was accorded a knighthood. John Parker traces the astonishing rise to stardom of a tough street kid from Edinburgh. The part of 007 became a monster that threatened to kill Connery as an actor; he escaped to establish himself as one of the world's most magnetic and commanding character actors, winning an Oscar for his role in iconic crime drama The Untouchables. The author has drawn on reminiscences of famous friends and colleagues, including Honor Blackman, Robert Hardy and Eric Sykes, to create an authoritative and entertaining portrait of a talented, complex actor - and, above all else, a magnificent man.

Born into a family of vaudevillians, Buster Keaton made his first film appearance in 1917 at the age of 21. By the early 1920s, he had established himself as one of the geniuses of silent cinema with such films as Sherlock, Jr. and The Navigator and his 1925 work, The General, placed at number 18 in the American Film Institute's poll of the 100 greatest features, the highest ranked silent film on the survey. But with the advent of sound in the late 1920s, silent stars like Keaton began to fall out of favor and the great comedian's career began to decline. In The Fall of Buster Keaton, James Neibaur assesses Keaton's work during the talking picture era, especially those made at MGM, Educational, and Columbia studios. While giving some attention to the early part of Keaton's career, Neibaur focuses on Keaton's contract work with the three studios, as well as his subsequent work as a gagman, supporting player, and television pitchman. The book also recounts the resurgence of interest in Keaton's silent work, which resulted in a lifetime achievement Oscar and worldwide recognition before his death in 1966. This fascinating account of an artist's struggle and triumph during the more challenging period of his career will be of interest to anyone wanting to learn about one of film's most influential performers.

Joe Davis, the focus of "The Melody Man" enjoyed a 50-year career in the music industry, which covered nearly every aspect of the business. He hustled sheet music in the 1920s, copyrighted compositions by artists as diverse as Fats Waller, Carson Robison, Otis Blackwell, and Rudy Vallee, oversaw hundreds of recording session, and operated several record companies beginning in the 1940s. Davis also worked fearlessly to help insure that black recording artists and song writers gained equal treatment for their work.

Much more than a biography, this book is an investigation of the role played by music publishers during much of the twentieth century. Joe Davis was not a music "great" but he was one of those individuals who enabled "greats" to emerge. A musician, manager, and publisher, his long career reveals much about the nature of the music industry and offers insight into how the industry changed from the 1920s to the 1970s. By the summer of 1924, when Davis was handling the "Race talent" for Ajax records, he had already worked in the music business for most of a decade and there was more than five decades of musical career ahead of him. The fact that his fascinating life has gone so long under-appreciated is remedied by the publication of Never Sell A Copyright.

Originally published in England, in 1990, Never Sell a Copyright: Joe Davis and His Role in the New York Music Scene, 1916-1978 was never released in the United States and available in a very limited print run in England. The author, noted blues scholar and folklorist Bruce Bastin, has worked with fellow music scholar Kip Lornell to completely update, condense, and improve the book for this first-ever American edition.

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE The definitive biography of the deeply complex and widely misunderstood matinee idol of Hollywood's Golden Age. Devastatingly handsome, broad-shouldered and clean-cut, Rock Hudson was the ultimate movie star. The embodiment of romantic masculinity in American film throughout the '50s and '60s, Hudson reigned supreme as the king of Hollywood. As an Oscar-nominated leading man, Hudson won acclaim for his performances in glossy melodramas (Magnificent Obsession), western epics (Giant) and blockbuster bedroom farces (Pillow Talk). In the '70s and '80s, Hudson successfully transitioned to television; his long-running series McMillan & Wife and a recurring role on Dynasty introduced him to a whole new generation of fans. The icon worshipped by moviegoers and beloved by his colleagues appeared to have it all. Yet beneath the suave and commanding star persona, there was an insecure, deeply conflicted, and all too vulnerable human being. Growing up poor in Winnetka, Illinois, Hudson was abandoned by his biological father, abused by an alcoholic stepfather, and controlled by his domineering mother. Despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Hudson was determined to become an actor at all costs. After signing with the powerful but predatory agent Henry Willson, the young hopeful was transformed from a clumsy, tongue-tied truck driver into Universal Studio's resident Adonis. In a more conservative era, Hudson's wholesome, straight arrow screen image was at odds with his closeted homosexuality. As a result of his gay relationships and clandestine affairs, Hudson was continually threatened with public exposure, not only by scandal sheets like Confidential but by a number of his own partners. For years, Hudson dodged questions concerning his private life, but in 1985 the public learned that the actor was battling AIDS. The disclosure that such a revered public figure had contracted the illness focused worldwide attention on the epidemic. Drawing on more than 100 interviews with co-stars, family members and former companions, All That Heaven Allows finally delivers a complete and nuanced portrait of one of the most fascinating stars in cinema history. Author Mark Griffin provides new details concerning Hudson's troubled relationships with wife Phyllis Gates and boyfriend Marc Christian. And here, for the first time, is an in-depth exploration of Hudson's classic films, including Written on the Wind, A Farewell to Arms, and the cult favorite Seconds. With unprecedented access to private journals, personal correspondence, and production files, Griffin pays homage to the idol whose life and death had a lasting impact on American culture.

This is the first book dedicated to Brian Donlevy, an underrated actor who was often typecast as a villain but who had a surprising range and an unheralded gift for comedy. Separating fact from fiction, the narrative charts his colorful early life as a boy soldier, his years playing comedy on Broadway, and details his long career in Hollywood. Although he made a decided impact as the bad guy in such classics as Destry Rides Again, Union Pacific and Beau Geste, he also displayed his range in the title role of Preston Sturges' timeless political satire The Great McGinty (1940). Thereafter he impressed both the New York critics and the Soviet government as the epitome of calm authority in Wake Island. He showed to good effect in a wide variety of films including The Glass Key, Kiss of Death, Canyon Passage, Command Decision, Song of Scheherazade, Impact and The Big Combo among many others. He was fondly remembered as a globe-trotting detective in the television series Dangerous Assignment, and as Professor Quatermass in two acclaimed science fiction films.]

Because of his lengthy screen resume that includes almost eighty appearances in such movies as Camille and Waterloo Bridge, as well as a marriage and divorce to actress Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Taylor was a central figure of Hollywood's classical era. Despite this, he can be regarded as a "lost" star, an interesting contradiction given the continued success he enjoyed during his lifetime. In Robert Taylor: Male Beauty, Masculinity, and Stardom in Hollywood, author Gillian Kelly investigates the initial construction and subsequent developments of Taylor's star persona across his thirty-five-year career. By examining concepts of male beauty, men as object of the erotic gaze, white American masculinity, and the unusual longevity of a career initially based on looks, Kelly highlights how gender, masculinity, and male stars and the ageing process affected Taylor's career. Placing Taylor within the histories of both Hollywood's classical era and mid-twentieth-century America, this study positions him firmly within the wider industrial, cultural, and socioeconomic contexts in which he worked. Kelly examines Taylor's film and television work as well as ephemeral material, such as fan magazines, to assess how his on- and off-screen personas were created and developed over time. Taking a mostly chronological approach, Kelly places Taylor's persona within specific historical moments in order to show the complex paradox of his image remaining consistently recognizable while also shifting seamlessly within the Hollywood industry. Furthermore, she explores Taylor's importance to Hollywood cinema by demonstrating how a star persona like his can "fit" so well, and for so long, that it almost becomes invisible and, eventually, almost forgotten.

American filmmaker John Cassavetes (1929-1989) made only nine independent films during a quarter century, but those films affected the cinema culture of the 1960s to the 1980s in unprecedented ways. With a close nucleus of actors and crew members on his team, including his wife Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, and Ben Gazzara, Cassavetes created films that explored the gritty side of human relationships. He staunchly advocated the right of actors and filmmakers to full artistic freedom over their work. Attracting both fervent admirers and harsh critics, Cassavetes's films have garnered prestigious awards in the US and Europe and continue to evoke strong reactions. Starting in New York with his first film Shadows, Cassavetes moved on to the West Coast with Faces, Husbands, Minnie and Moskowitz, A Woman Under the Influence, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Opening Night, Gloria, and Love Streams. He also directed several studio films, which often rankled his independent streak that rebelled against a loss of artistic freedom. Cassavetes's work in the theater and his performances in numerous television programs and films, including The Dirty Dozen and Rosemary's Baby, made him, as a director, fiercely protective of his actors' right to self-expression.

Early in the twentieth century, the political humorist Will Rogers was arguably the most famous cowboy in America. And though most in his vast audience didn't know it, he was also the most famous Indian of his time. Those who know of Rogers's Cherokee heritage and upbringing tend to minimize its importance, or to imagine that Rogers himself did so-notwithstanding his avowal in interviews: "I'm a Cherokee and they're the finest Indians in the World." The truth is, throughout his adult life and his work the Oklahoma cowboy made much of his American Indian background. And in doing so, as Amy Ware suggests in this book, he made Cherokee artistry a fundamental part of American popular culture. Rogers, whose father was a prominent and wealthy Cherokee politician and former Confederate slaveholder, was born into the Paint Clan in the town of Oolagah in 1879 and raised in the Cooweescoowee District of the Cherokee Nation. Ware maps out this milieu, illuminating the familial and social networks, as well as the Cherokee ranching practices, educational institutions, popular publications and heated political debates that so firmly grounded Rogers in the culture of the Cherokees. Through his early career, from Wild West and vaudeville performer to Ziegfeld Follies headliner in the late 1910s, she reveals how Rogers embodied the seemingly conflicting roles of cowboy and Indian, in effect enacting the blending of these identities in his art. Rogers's work in the film industry also reflected complex notions of American Indian identity and history, as Ware demonstrates in her reading of the clearest examples, including Laughing Billy Hyde, in which Rogers, an Indian, portrayed a white prospector married to an Indian woman- who was played by a white actress. In his work as a columnist for the New York Times, and in his radio performances, Ware continues to trace the Cherokee influence on Rogers's material-and in turn its impact on his audiences. It is in these largely uncensored performances that we see another side of Rogers' Cherokee persona-a tribal elitism that elevated the Cherokee above other Indian nations. Ware's exploration of this distinction exposes still-common assumptions regarding Native authenticity in the history of American culture, even as her in-depth look at Will Rogers's heritage and legacy reshapes our perspective on the Native presence in that history, and in the life and work of a true American icon.

Since the late 1990s, Rupert Goold has garnered a reputation as one of the UK's most exciting and provocative theatre directors. His exhilarating, risk-taking productions of both classic texts and new plays have travelled from regional stages to the National Theatre, the West End, Broadway and beyond. Through his artistic directorship of Northampton's Royal & Derngate, the touring theatre company Headlong and London's Almeida Theatre, he has radically transformed, not only the companies themselves, but the landscape of British theatre. This is the first book to survey and analyse the full range of Goold's work to date and is a vital resource for students, scholars and fans of his work. Based on extensive interviews with Goold and some of the playwrights, designers, actors and other creatives who have collaborated with him, The Theatre of Rupert Goold provides an account of Goold's work from the beginnings of his career to the present day, offering a backstage view of the creative processes behind some of his most successful productions including: Paradise Lost, Faustus (Royal & Derngate); Macbeth (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet (RSC); Six Characters in Search of an Author, ENRON (Headlong); Time and the Conways (National Theatre); Charles III and Ink (Almeida). The Theatre of Rupert Goold is an accessible and fascinating guide to Goold's approach to making theatre, an approach that asks provocative questions of the modern world in the most theatrical ways imaginable.

From the late 1940s to the early '60s, Marilyn Monroe appeared in barely thirty movies, beginning with bit parts and moving on into supporting roles for such films as The Asphalt Jungle, All About Eve, and Clash by Night. She soon shot to international fame and gained prominent roles in a number of classics like The Seven Year Itch, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Some Like It Hot. By the time of her early death in 1962, she had already become established as one of the great icons of the silver screen. playwrights, filmmakers, and others looking to cash in on her tremendous impact. In The Immortal Marilyn: The Depiction of an Icon, authors John DeVito and Frank Tropea chronicle the many representations of Marilyn Monroe in the performing arts, from the 1950s to the present day. In a decade-by-decade review, the authors examine how Marilyn is portrayed in four distinct modes: as herself, as a Roman a Clef character, as a referent, and as a documentary subject. By looking closely at these individual works, the authors reveal the ways in which her persona, her history, and - most of all - her image have been appropriated for both fact and fiction. adaptations of works by Norman Mailer and Joyce Carol Oates to an ever-growing list of documentaries, Marilyn has been the subject of countless depictions on stage, screen, radio and television. Monroe is adored, imitated, and idolised, and the enormous amount of material written about her - either directly or indirectly - proves that she will continue to be a source of interest and speculation. has come to assume, this book attempts to encapsulate and understand the enormous influence the actress had on the public and the wide range of creative talents who found her such an intriguing subject. This book includes a filmography of Monroe's work as well as a chronological iconography that list the many depictions of her in film, television, radio, and stage. As both a reference source and cultural study, The Immortal Marilyn is a unique look at one of the most alluring and enduring figures of the twentieth century.

The Ritual Theatre of Theodoros Terzopoulos outlines the story of the Athenian-based Attis Theatre and the way its founder and director, Theodoros Terzopoulos, introduced bio-energetic presences of the body on the stage, in an attempt to redefine and reappraise what it means today not only to have a body, but to fully be a body. Terzopoulos created a very specific attitude towards life and death, and it is this broad perspective on energy and consciousness that makes his work so appealing both to a general public and to students of arts, theatre and drama. Freddy Decreus' study charts the career of Greece's most acclaimed theatre director and provides a spiritual and philosophic answer in times where former Western meta-narratives have failed.