"Errol Morris: Interviews" is an irreverent and humorous collection of conversations with the acclaimed documentary filmmaker. Morris (b. 1948) has created some of America's most innovative, lasting cinematic works. Generations of filmmakers, scholars, cinephiles, and film fans turn again and again to such works as "The Thin Blue Line; Fast, Cheap and Out of Control"; Academy Award-winner "The Fog of War"; and "Standard Operating Procedure."

Throughout his career--which has included stints as a private eye, film programmer, and commercial director--Morris has honed a unique formal and technical cinematic approach. A Morris film is characterized by intense personal interviews; dramatic re-creations; a haunting, modernist musical atmosphere; and a keen sense of complexity, irony, and black humor. With each new film, Morris challenges and redefines what a documentary can be. This volume features startling interviews from throughout his career, as well as intimate, never-before-published discussions.

Born into the famous, sometimes scandalous, theatrical clan of Colley Cibber, Charlotte was an actress destined for greatness. But she rebelled, and started dressing as a man. When her father disowned her, her life became an adventure extending from the pinnacles of London society to its dangerous depths. Kathryn Shevelow captures Charlotte - an artist and a survivor - in all her guises, from her time among the leading lights of glamorous Drury Lane Theatre to her trials as a strolling player and puppeteer, to her comeback as author of one of the first autobiographies written by a woman. "Charlotte" is the captivating story of an extraordinary woman, set against the rich tapestry of London's colorful theatre world, its history and savage political battles.

Henry Irving (1838-1905), the first actor to be knighted, dominated the theatre in Britain and beyond for over a quarter of a century. As an actor, he was strikingly different with his idiosyncratic pronunciation, his somewhat ungainly physique, and his brilliant psychological portrayals of virtue and villainy. He was also the director of spectacular, and commercially driven, entertainments and as the manager of the Lyceum theatre, he controlled every aspect of the performance. First published in 2008, this collection of essays by leading theatre scholars explores each element of Irving's art: his acting, his contribution to the plays he commissioned, his flair for the stage picture, and his ear for incidental music. This book will be of interest to those studying the history of theatre.

Agnes Moorehead (1900-74) was unique among twentieth-century American actresses in making a major career for herself in all four entertainment media after the age of 40. As the title indicates, Agnes Moorehead on Radio, Stage and TV focuses on Moorehead's career in radio, on the stage, and in television. A representative selection of 25 of her most interesting and representative performances in these media are discussed in separate profiles ranging in length from 1,500 to 7,500 words, with the longest chapters devoted to Mayor of the Town, Suspense, Moorehead's one-woman show, Bewitched and Gigi. Naturally, the book also covers Moorehead's celebrated appearance on The Twilight Zone, both her productions of Don Juan in Hell, and her Emmy-winning appearance on The Wild Wild West. Many less well-known performances have never been analyzed in detail before. These include fascinating and entertaining portrayals on TV series such as Wagon Train, Adventures in Paradise, Rawhide and Burke's Law. The profiles are organized in chronological order. Thus, from The Shadow to Gigi, the book can be read as a continuous, chronological narrative of Moorehead's unfolding acting career through more than three decades; or the individual chapters may be read as self-contained accounts of individual shows and performances. Each profile concentrates on Moorehead's contribution to the show or episode. In addition to analyzing the nature and function of Moorehead's role and how she performs it, the author variously discusses the place of the performance in her career development as a whole; her relationship with directors, producers, and/or fellow actors: comparisons and contrasts with similar types of roles in the same or other media; and curious, little known facts about the production. Nissen also discusses salient events in Moorehead's personal life at the time.

Clint Eastwood (b. 1930) is the only popular American dramatic star to have shaped his own career almost entirely through films of his own producing, frequently under his own direction; no other dramatic star has directed himself so often. He is also one of the most prolific active directors, with thirty-three features to his credit since 1971.As a star, he is often recalled primarily for two early roles--the "Man with No Name" of three European-made Westerns, and the uncompromising cop "Dirty" Harry Callahan. But on his own as a director, Eastwood has steered a remarkable course. A film industry insider who works through the established Hollywood system and respects its traditions, he remains an outsider by steadfastly refusing to heed cultural and aesthetic trends in film production and film style. His films as director have examined an eclectic variety of themes, ranging from the artist's life to the nature of heroism, while frequently calling into question the ethos of masculinity and his own star image. Yet they have remained accessible to a popular audience worldwide. With two Best Director and two Best Picture Oscars to his credit, Eastwood now ranks among the most highly honored living filmmakers.These interviews range over the more than four decades of Eastwood's directorial career, with an emphasis on practical filmmaking issues and his philosophy as a filmmaker. Nearly a third are from European sources--several appearing here in English for the first time.

Documenting a theater project for incarcerated youth in a New Mexico juvenile detention facility, this book presents the script of a play about prison life, and interweaves the author's creative, self-reflective text (autoethnography). The collaborative experience of writing and staging such a play enacted by prisoners frames a discussion of larger social and political themes in the criminal justice system, and of the complexities of getting juveniles to engage with administrators and social workers as mentors.

The vanished world of India's late-colonial theatre provides the backdrop for the autobiographies in this book. The life-stories of a quartet of early Indian actors and poet-playwrights are here translated into English for the first time. These men were schooled not in the classroom but in large theatrical companies run by Parsi entrepreneurs. Their memoirs, replete with anecdote and humor, are as significant to the understanding of the nationalist era as the lives of political leaders or social reformers.

Roger Corman (b. 1926) is known by many names-craftsman, artist, maverick, schlock-meister, mini-mogul, mentor, cheapskate, and King of the B's. Yet his commitment to filmmaking remains inspired. He learned his craft at the end of the studio system, only to rebel against Hollywood and define himself as the true independent. And the list of directors and producers who learned under his tutelage--Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Jonathan Demme, and many more--is astonishing.

Collected here are many of the most honest and revealing interviews of his epic career, several of which have never been seen in print. "Roger Corman: Interviews" brings into focus a life committed to the entertaining art of motion pictures.

Corman's rare talent combined artistic drive with business savvy, ensuring a successful career that was constantly in motion. At a remarkable pace more akin to silent movies than modern Hollywood, he directed over fifty films in less than fifteen years, some entertaining ("Not of This Earth"), trendsetting ("The Wild Angels"), daring ("The Intruder"), workmanlike ("Apache Woman"), stylized ("The Masque of the Red Death") and even profound ("X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes"). In a single year, Corman famously shot a cult classic in two and a half days ("The Little Shop of Horrors"), reinvigorated the American horror film with a dash of Poe and Price ("House of Usher")--and still turned out a few more films shot across the globe. Recently awarded an honorary Oscar for his lifetime contribution to cinema, the self-made Corman has created a legacy as a defining filmmaker.

An illustrated celebration of Grace Kelly, one of Hollywoods brightest stars, is already long overdue. Following on from the popular full-sized edition, this must-have gift-sized version was published to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Grace Kelly's death and is now reissued to coincide with the release of the film Grace of Monaco, starring Nicole Kidman. A fascinating look at one of the world's most enduring and glamorous icons, the book includes a detailed biography and over 160 pictures and contact sheets, many of which are reproduced for the first time. Hand-written documents and famous quotes on and from Grace Kelly complement impressive iconographic research (family pictures, national archives, private collections, press agencies, newspapers). Also included are images and contact sheets from prestigious photographers, all of which give us a highly individual portrait of a cinematic legend.

Carmen Miranda was not only the first Latin American star to be invited to imprint her hands and feet outside Grauman's Chinese
Theatre in Hollywood, she was also, for a period, the highest paid female star in the US. Lisa Shaw's study of Miranda's film career and star persona traces her emergence as one of the first stars of the Brazilian film industry and her subsequent triumph in Hollywood.

Shaw charts Miranda's transition from singer to film star, analysing how her star persona drew on performance techniques honed during her singing career. She examines shifts in Miranda's star identity after her move to Broadway in 1939, and Hollywood a year later, with her identification as an 'ethnic' star emphasised by extravagant baiana costumes.

Shaw shows how Miranda consciously constructed an identity that both endorsed and subverted stereotypes about Latin America
during the era of the 'Good Neighbor Policy', and explores Miranda's appeal across mainstream and marginalised audiences, both in the US and Brazil. Finally, she considers why Miranda's image is still instantly recognisable, examining her impact on material culture, particularly women's fashions, both during her lifetime and until the present day, and the role played in the consecration of her 'tropical' star persona by imitators, ranging from Bugs Bunny, Lucille Ball and Mickey Rooney, to contemporary Carmen Miranda imitators of both genders

Brigitte Bardot's rise from fashion model and film starlet to global celebrity was meteoric and unprecedented: after her breakthrough role in Et Dieu ... crea la femme in 1956, audiences the world over rushed to see her films. Predating Beatlemania, she provoked mass hysteria: paparazzi stalked her, journalists, sociologists and novelists wrote about her; young women imitated her style. All at once sex bomb, radical proto-feminist and scandalous figurehead of a hedonistic and sexually free lifestyle, 'B.B.' was France's first mass-media star.

In this original and illuminating study, film scholar and Bardot fan Ginette Vincendeau explores the star's complex and revolutionary
image of femininity, her film career and her lasting and controversial celebrity. Analysing all Bardot's output, encompassing popular
comedies and melodramas, work with New Wave directors Louis Malle and Jean-Luc Godard, and international productions such
as Dear Brigitte (1965) and Shalako (1968), Vincendeau shows how Bardot's enduring fame is based on her status as a sexual, lifestyle, musical, and fashion role model and even, in her guise as Marianne, the emblem of the French Republic, an icon of national
identity. Finally, she considers the ageing Bardot's continued prominence in popular culture through her own writings and animal rights activism, arguing that, as well as a glamorous film star, Bardot was one of the inventors of modern celebrity.

Catherine Deneuve is indisputably one of the world's most celebrated actresses, both in her own native France and throughout the world. Her career has spanned five decades during which she has worked with the most significant of French auteurs, as well as forging partnerships with international directors such as Bunuel and Polanski. The Deneuve star persona has attained such iconic status as to come to symbolise the very essence of French womanhood and civic identity. In this wide-ranging and authoritative collection of essays by a selection of international film academics and writers, the Deneuve persona is scrutinised and illuminated. Beyond the glamorous iconographic status of Yves Saint Laurent's muse, and the epitome of sexual inviolability, Deneuve's status as actress is foregrounded. The book will be essential reading for students and lecturers in star studies.

Now in paperback, this posthumous work by an American classic was a fitting last book, an instant bestseller, and a huge success! One of the undisputed heavyweight champions of American comedy, with nineteen appearances on the Johnny Carson show, thirteen HBO specials, five Grammys, and a critical Supreme Court battle over censorship under his belt, George Carlin saw it all throughout his extraordinary fifty-year career, and made fun of most of it. Last Words is the story of the man behind some of the most seminal comedy of the last half century, blending his signature acerbic humor with never-before-told stories from his own life, including encounters with a Who's Who of 1970s celebrity-from Lenny Bruce to Hugh Hefner-and the origins of some of his most famous standup routines. Carlin's early conflicts, his long struggle with substance abuse, his turbulent relationships with his family, and his triumphs over catastrophic setbacks all fueled the unique comedic worldview he brought to the stage. From the heights of stardom to the low points few knew about, Last Words is told with the same razor-sharp wit and unblinking honesty that made Carlin one of the best-loved comedians in American history.

John Wayne died more than thirty years ago, but he remains one of today's five favorite movie stars. The celebrated Hollywood icon comes fully to life in this complex portrait by noted film historian and master biographer Scott Eyman. Exploring Wayne's early life with a difficult mother and a feckless father, "Eyman gets at the details that the bean-counters and myth-spinners miss...Wayne's intimates have told things here that they've never told anyone else" (Los Angeles Times). Eyman makes startling connections to Wayne's later days as an anti-Communist conservative, his stormy marriages to Latina women, and his notorious-and surprisingly long-lived-passionate affair with Marlene Dietrich. He also draws on the actor's own business records and, of course, his storied film career. "We all think we know John Wayne, in part because he seemed to be playing himself in movie after movie. Yet as Eyman carefully lays out, 'John Wayne' was an invention, a persona created layer by layer by an ambitious young actor" (The Washington Post). This is the most nuanced and sympathetic portrait available of the man who became a symbol of his country at mid-century, a cultural icon and quintessential American male against whom other screen heroes are still compared.

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.

This book discusses affective practices in performance through the study of four contemporary performers - Keith Hennessy, Ilya Noe, Caro Novella, and duskin drum - to suggest a tentative rhetoric of performativity generating political affect and permeating attempts at social justice that are often alterior to discourse. The first part of the book makes a case for the political work done alongside discourse by performers practising with materials that are not-known, in ways that are directly relevant to people carrying out their daily lives. In the second part of the book, four case study chapters circle around figures of irresolvable paradox - hendiadys, enthymeme, anecdote, allegory - that gesture to what is not-known, to study strategies for processes of becoming, knowing and valuing. These figures also shape some elements of these performances that make up a suggested rhetorical stance for performativity.

This is the story of one boy's journey from an ordinary childhood in a European middle-class family into an alien world of terror and persecution where fear and violence reigned. Millions had to perish before Germany was defeated and the Continent could return to sanity. The Nazis' rise to power had transformed occupied Europe into a hostile environment where life for Jews had become a living hell. Suddenly, old relationships had been swept aside as neighbours and friends had suddenly become enemies and would-be persecutors. Survival now depended on learning new skills and sharpening newly acquired instincts. The margin between freedom and incarceration was often minute. Under such a brutally repressive regime life became dependent on quick thinking and adjustment to every new situation. Living on the razor's edge those instincts soon become second nature, and with it new, hitherto unsuspected abilities to cope. With familiarity and increasing self-confidence it was inevitable that some bravado could also creep in. How else could such escapades as earning money in the epicenter of the Nazi war machine - a German Army HQ in occupied Budapest be explained? . Also described are the realities of life under continuous bombardment, from the air and by artillery, in a city laid waste and under siege where one was continually in danger, hungry and cold. To alleviate that hunger it became necessary to find food from unusual sources such as cutting flesh from army horses killed in the shelling and drinking melted snow. Everything had its uses and was recycled: even shoe polish could be used as a substitute for candles for lighting up a dark cellar in a ruined city where electricity, gas and water supplies as well as all the amenities of modern life were but a distant memory. The siege of Budapest ended with liberation by the Red Army and the realization of the terrible cost in human terms - especially that of Jews - of the Nazi regime.Starting a new life in England and a return to normalcy, concentrating on integration and education; preparing for a worthwhile career in a free and happy environment bring the story full circle. It shows that trauma need not necessarily be injurious but can also have a positive effect that leads to a greater appreciation of life and acts as a stimulant for achievement.Service in the British army, immigration to Israel and serving in the Israeli army as well as creating a family and a career conclude the narrative.Originally this memoir was intended for my children, but as it took shape I felt it could be of interest to the general reader who may wish to look at this cataclysmic era as seen through the eyes of a child.

Cecil Packer was a farm labourer, a factory worker, a shepherd and a devoted family man from Wiltshire who like so many others was sent to France to fight for his country in the First World War, and never returned. Cecil survived both the Gallipoli and Somme campaigns, so for his descendants, his death on the Western Front when his battalion was far from the front line was a mystery as well as a tragedy. Alan Gaunt, whose wife Shirley is Cecil's great-granddaughter, set about researching Cecil's humble but interesting life and finally established the tragic circumstances of his accidental death in December 1916 at the age of 31."This is not the story of a traditional hero in the mould of Nelson or Wellington but that of a village shepherd, a local man who did not come from the nobility or the ranks of the nation's leaders but simply loved his family and died in the service of his country."

In 1964, novelist/screenwriter Terry Southern met actress Gail Gerber on the set of ""The Loved One"". Though they were both married, there was an instant connection and they remained a couple until his death 30 years later. In her memoir, Gail recalls what life was like with 'the hippest guy on the planet' as they traveled from Los Angeles to New York to Europe and back again. She reveals what went on behind the scenes of Southern's movies including ""The Cincinnati Kid"", ""Barbarella"", and ""Easy Rider"". And she relives the 'highs' hanging out with The Rolling Stones and Peter Sellers in swinging '60s London to the lows, barely scraping by on a Berkshires farm during the '70s & '80s.

In a career that spanned eight decades, Christopher Lee (1922-2015) appeared in more than 200 roles for film and television. Though he is best known for his portrayal of Dracula in films of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s-as well as his appearances in the Lord of the Rings trilogy-Lee also appeared in many other films, including The Three Musketeers, The Man with the Golden Gun, and Star Wars. The Christopher Lee Film Encyclopedia encompasses all of the films in the distinguished actor's prolific career, from his early roles in the 1940s to his work in some of the most successful film franchises of all time. This reference highlights Lee's iconic roles in horror cinema as well as his non-horror films over the years, including The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. The entries in this book feature: *Cast and crew information *Synopsis *Critical evaluation *Newspaper and magazine reviews *DVD availability Many of the entries also feature Sir Christopher's recollections about the production, as well as the actor's insights about his directors and fellow costars. Appendices in this volume include discussions of Lee's significant work on radio and television, as well as film shorts, screen tests, films in which he is mentioned, films from which he was cut, and unrealized projects. A film-by-film review of the actor's cinematic output. The Christopher Lee Film Encyclopedia will appeal to this legend's many devoted fans.

The Routledge Companion to Michael Chekhov brings together Chekhov specialists from around the world - theatre practitioners, theorists, historians and archivists - to provide an astonishingly comprehensive assessment of his life, work and legacy. This volume aims to connect East and West; theatre theory and practice. It reconsiders the history of Chekhov's acting method, directing and pedagogy, using the archival documents found across the globe: in Russia, England, America, Germany, Lithuania and Switzerland. It presents Chekhov's legacy and ideas in the framework of interdisciplinary theatre practices and theories, as well as at the crossroads of cultures, in the context of his forays into such areas as Western mime and Asian cosmology. This remarkable Companion, thoughtfully edited by two leading Chekhov scholars, will prove invaluable to students and scholars of theatre, theatre practitioners and theoreticians, and specialists in Slavic and transcultural studies. Marie-Christine Autant-Mathieu is Director of Research at the National Center For Scientific Research, and Assistant-Director of Sorbonne-CNRS Institute EUR'ORBEM. She is an historian of theatre and specialist in Russian and Soviet theatre. Yana Meerzon is Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre, University of Ottawa. Her book publications include Adapting Chekhov: The Text and Its Mutations, co-edited with Professor J. Douglas Clayton, University of Ottawa (Routlegde, 2012).

Pam Cook's study of the star persona of Nicole Kidman traces Kidman's career trajectory through an examination of her (sometimes controversial) film choices and places her in the context of a globalised media and celebrity culture.