A Sunday Times Book of the Year 'For anyone interested in Lee's legacy, this is a roundhouse kick of a biography' - Sunday Times 'At last, Bruce Lee has the powerful biography he deserves... It will thrill Lee's fans and fascinate the unfamiliar' - Jonathan Eig, author of Ali: A Life and Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig 'Meticulously researched' - Jimmy McDonough, author of Shakey: Neil Young's Biography and Soul Survivor: A Biography of Al Green 'You won't find a better match for a biographer with his subject than Matthew Polly and Bruce Lee... A definitive biography, told with passion and punch' - Brian Jay Jones, author George Lucas: A Life and Jim Henson: The Biography. More than forty years after Bruce Lee's sudden death at age 32, journalist and author Matthew Polly has written the definitive account of Lee's life. It's also one of the only accounts; incredibly, there has never been an authoritative biography of Lee. Following a decade of research that included conducting more than one hundred interviews with Lee's family, friends, business associates and even the mistress in whose bed Lee died, Polly has constructed a complex, humane portrait of the icon. There are his early years as a child star in Hong Kong cinema; his actor father's struggles with opium addiction and how that turned Bruce into a troublemaking teenager who was kicked out of high school and eventually sent to America to shape up; his beginnings as a martial arts teacher, eventually becoming personal instructor to movie stars like Steve McQueen; his struggles as an Asian-American actor in Hollywood and frustration seeing role after role he auditioned for go to white actors in eye makeup; his eventual triumph as a leading man; his challenges juggling a sky-rocketing career with his duties as a father and husband; and his shocking end that to this day is still shrouded in mystery. Polly breaks down the myth of Bruce Lee and argues that, contrary to popular belief, he was an ambitious actor who was obsessed with martial arts-not a great kung-fu master who just so happened to make a couple of movies. The book offers an honest look at an impressive yet flawed man whose personal story was even more entertaining and inspiring than any fictional role he played on-screen. Praise for Matthew Polly 'Hypnotic...Tapped Out manages to humanize a sport once demonized as "human cockfighting" by deconstructing the stereotype of the martial-arts tough guy.' - New York Times 'Tapped Out is a knockout for MMA fans, who will laugh at the intimate portraits Polly sketches of some of the sport's most famous personalities. But it also works for those not familiar with the sport...You won't be disappointed.' - OpposingViews.com 'A delight to read.' - TheFightNerd.com 'Polly's self-deprecation in the painful learning process stands out as much as the witty prose. His delivery is Plimpton-esque.' - ESPN.com 'Smoothly written . . . Polly has a good eye for characters.' - Publishers Weekly

On screen and off, movie star Mary Pickford personified the 'New Woman' of the early 1900s, a moniker given to women who began to demand more autonomy inside and outside the home. Well educated and career-minded, these women also embraced the new mass culture in which consumption and leisure were seen to play a pivotal role in securing happiness. Mary Pickford: Hollywood and the New Woman examines Pickford's role in the rise of industrial capitalism and consumer culture, and uses her life and unprecedented career as a wildly popular actress and savvy film mogul to illustrate the opportunities and obstacles faced by American women during this time. Following Pickford's life from her childhood on stage to her rise as a powerful studio executive, this book gives an overview of her enduring contribution to American film and mass culture. It also explores her struggles to surpass her confining public film persona as 'America's Sweetheart' with her creative and business achievements, mirroring how women, both then and today, must reconcile domestic life with professional aspirations and work. About the Lives of American Women series: Selected and edited by renowned women's historian Carol Berkin, these brief biographies are designed for use in undergraduate courses. Rather than a comprehensive approach, each biography focuses instead on a particular aspect of a woman's life that is emblematic of her time, or which made her a pivotal figure in the era. The emphasis is on a 'good read' featuring accessible writing and compelling narratives, without sacrificing sound scholarship and academic integrity. Primary sources at the end of each biography reveal the subject's perspective in her own words. Study questions and an annotated bibliography support the student reader.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Edwyna ""Salt"" Evelyn and Jewel ""Pepper"" Welch learned to tap dance on street corners in New York and Philadelphia. By the 1940s, they were black show business headliners, playing Harlem's Apollo Theater with the likes of Count Basie, Fats Waller and Earl ""Fatha"" Hines. Their exuberant men's-style tap performed in men's attire earned the respect of their male peers and the acclaim of audiences, though they were paid less than black male dancers. Based on extensive interviews with Salt and Pepper, this book chronicles for the first time the lives and careers of two overlooked performers who succeeded despite the racism, sexism and homophobia of the Big Band era.

Christian Petzold (b. 1960) is the best-known filmmaker associated with the "Berlin School" of postunification German cinema. Identifying as an intellectual, Petzold self-consciously approaches his work for both the big and the small screen by weaving critical reflection on the very conditions of contemporary filmmaking into his approach. Archeologically reconstructing genre filmmaking in a national film production context that makes the production of genre cinema virtually impossible, he repeatedly draws on plots from classic films, including Alfred Hitchcock's, in order to provide his viewers with the distinct pleasures only cinema can instill without, however, allowing his audience the comforts the "cinema of identification" affords them. Including thirty-five interviews, Christian Petzold: Interviews is the first book in any language to document how one of Germany's best-known directors thinking about his work has evolved over the course of a quarter of a century, spanning his days as a flailing student filmmaker in the early 1990s in postunified Germany to 2020, when his reputation as one of world cinema's most respected auteurs has been firmly enshrined. The interviews collected here-thirty of which are published in English for the first time-highlight Petzold's career-long commitment to foregrounding how economic operations affect individual lives. The volume makes for a rich resource for readers interested in Petzold's work or contemporary German cinema but also those looking for theoretically challenging and sophisticated commentary offered by one of global art cinema's leading figures.

This biography tells the story of Alice May, a touring prima donna in the nineteenth century who travelled from England to Australia, New Zealand, India and the US, taking part in pioneering performances of the popular light operas of the day. Along the way she took part in many premieres, including the first production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer and the first authorised American production of The Mikado . This colourful life story will appeal to theatre historians, fans of the melodrama, burlesque, and the musical stage.

In this essay collection, established experts and new researchers, reassess the performances and cultural significance of Ellen Terry, her daughter Edith Craig (1869-1947) and her son Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966), as well as Bram Stoker, Lewis Carroll and some less familiar figures.

Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies is a paradox; a famous actress whose career spanned most of the twentieth century she is now largely forgotten. Drawing on material held in Ffrangcon-Davies's personal archive, Grime argues that the representation of the actress, on and off the stage, can be read in terms of its constructions of normative female behaviours.

Dramatic Comedy / 3m, 2f / Simple Sets The play is based on the life of Saul Alinsky, who, starting out from Chicago's mean streets, became a master organizer in American cities from the '30's through the '60's. With his imaginative techniques, colorful language, and wild humor, Alinsky taught communities how to win over an indifferent "establishment" and resurrect themselves. His ideas are still a force today. We see Alinsky on the road in 1972, at the end of his career and exhausted after an off-day, weighing the worth of all his efforts. Alone in his motel room, he conjures up the trials and triumphs of past campaigns-in urban ghettos, middle-class neighborhoods, and colleges. He relives encounters with Al Capone, Mayor Daley, Marshall Field, Senator Joe McCarthy, Albert Einstein, Catholic bishops, and Vietnam vets. He revives his passion for democracy that enabled him time and again to succeed against the odds. The next day, rejuvenated, Alinsky sets out on what will be his final campaign for a "newer world." Advocating the simplest of means to effect change, he prevails on his audience to find within their everyday lives the tools to rebuild their communities and secure "something of what we are all looking for-laughter, beauty, love, and the chance to create."

Lucille Ball's comic genius made them famous, but many of the unforgettable plot lines for "I Love Lucy" came from the life of their writer, Madelyn Pugh Davis. In "Laughing with Lucy, " Davis and her long-time writing partner, Bob Carroll Jr., recount her rise in television and her many years working on the set and behind the scenes with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Lighthearted and witty, this book offers a trip back in time to the tumultuous early days of television.

Late in Claude Rains's distinguished career, a reverent film journalist wrote that Rains "was as much a cinematic institution as the medium itself." Given his childhood speech impediments and his origins in a destitute London neighborhood, the ascent of Claude Rains (1889--1967) to the stage and screen is remarkable. Rains's difficulties in his formative years provided reserves of gravitas and sensitivity, from which he drew inspiration for acclaimed performances in The Invisible Man (1933), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Casablanca (1942), Notorious (1946), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and other classic films. In Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice, noted Hollywood historian David J. Skal draws on more than thirty hours of newly released Rains interviews to create the first full-length biography of the actor who was nominated multiple times for an Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor. Skal's portrait of the gifted actor also benefits from the insights of Jessica Rains, who provides firsthand accounts of the enigmatic man behind her father's refined screen presence and genteel public persona. As Skal shows, numerous contradictions informed the life and career of Claude Rains. He possessed an air of nobility and became an emblem of sophistication, but he never shed the insecurities that traced back to his upbringing in an abusive and poverty-stricken family. Though deeply self-conscious about his short stature, Rains drew notorious ardor from female fans and was married six times. His public displays of dry wit and good humor masked inner demons that drove Rains to alcoholism and its devastating consequences. Skal's layered depiction of Claude Rains reveals a complex, almost inscrutable man whose nuanced characterizations were, in no small way, based on the more shadowy parts of his psyche. With unprecedented access to episodes from Rains's private life, Skal tells the full story of the consummate character actor of his generation. Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice, gives voice to the struggles and innermost concerns that influenced Rains's performances and helped him become a universally respected Hollywood legend.

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) is widely acknowledged as one of the twentieth century's most significant masters of vocal music-solo, choral and operatic-quite apart from his achievements in instrumental spheres. But what it cost him has been underestimated. In this seminal biography, which will serve as the definitive guide to the songs, Graham Johnson shows that it is in Poulenc's extraordinary songs and seeing how they fit into his life-his hidden sexuality, addiction and all-that we discover the composer's essential artistic being. With Jeremy Sams's song translations, the first in over forty years, and the insight that comes from a lifetime of performing this music, Johnson provides an essential volume for singers, pianists, listeners and readers interested in the artistic milieu of modernism in the first half of the twentieth century.

"So smart and entertaining it should come with its own popcorn"-People Coinciding with the sixtieth anniversary of the film version of Truman Capote's Breakast at Tiffany's, the acclaimed, New York Times bestseller that is the definitive account of Audrey Hepburn and the making of the cultural landmark film-now updated with a new introduction by the author. In Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M., Sam Wasson goes beyond the legend to explore the woman inside the little black dress and the film that captured the imagination of the nation in 1961-when the staid propriety of the Eisenhower years gave way to the glamorous modernity of the Kennedys. With a colorful cast of characters including Truman Capote, Edith Head, Givenchy, Moon River composer Henry Mancini, and, of course, the iconic Audrey Hepburn herself, Wasson immerses us in the America of the late fifties and early sixties before Woodstock and birth control, when an alluring, not-so-virginal girl by the name of Holly Golightly melted hearts, raised eyebrows, and forever transformed Americans' notions of fashion, film, sex, and culture. Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. includes an 8-page black-and-white photo insert.

From his early horror movies, including Scanners, Videodrome, Rabid, and The Fly-with their exploding heads, mutating sex organs, rampaging parasites, and scientists turning into insects-to his inventive adaptations of books by William Burroughs (Naked Lunch), Don DeLillo (Cosmopolis), and Bruce Wagner (Maps to the Stars), Canadian director David Cronenberg (b. 1943) has consistently dramatized the struggle between the aspirations of the mind and the messy realities of the flesh. ""I think of human beings as a strange mixture of the physical and the non-physical, and both of these things have their say at every moment we're alive,"" says Cronenberg. ""My films are some kind of strange metaphysical passion play."" Moving deftly between genre and arthouse filmmaking and between original screenplays and literary adaptations, Cronenberg's work is thematically consistent and marked by a rigorous intelligence, a keen sense of humor, and a fearless engagement with the nature of human existence. He has been exploring the most primal themes since the beginning of his career and continues to probe them with growing maturity and depth. Cronenberg's work has drawn the interest of some of the most intelligent contemporary film critics, and the fifteen interviews in this volume feature remarkably in-depth and insightful conversations with such acclaimed writers as Amy Taubin, Gary Indiana, David Breskin, Dennis Lim, Richard Porton, Gavin Smith, and more. The pieces herein reveal Cronenberg to be one of the most articulate and deeply philosophical directors now working, and they comprise an essential companion to an endlessly provocative and thoughtful body of work.

Woody Allen is a uniquely innovative performer, writer and director with nearly fifty movies to his credit, from cult slapstick films and romantic comedies to introspective character studies and crime thrillers. Classics such as Annie Hall, Manhattan, Stardust Memories, Broadway Danny Rose and Hannah and Her Sisters still resonate, and more recently Midnight in Paris and Blue Jasmine have been notable successes. In this timely retrospective, Tom Shone reviews Woody Allen's entire career, providing incisive commentary on his films and shedding light on this uniquely self-deprecating filmmaker, with the help of comments contributed by Allen himself. Superbly illustrated with more than 250 key images, this is a fitting tribute to one of the masters of modern cinema, published to mark Woody Allen's eightieth birthday. 'I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.' Woody Allen

Anna May Wong was an extraordinary Asian American woman who became the country's most famous film actress of Chinese descent. From small parts in silent films to starring roles in Hollywood and across the Atlantic, Wong made an impression on audiences of all persuasions. In Perpetually Cool, Anthony Chan takes the reader on a compelling journey through Wong's early years in Los Angeles and her first Hollywood pictures. Chan also examines the scope and nature of race, gender, and power and their impact on Wong's personal growth as a Chinese American. Perpetually Cool is not only the captivating story of a cinematic career, but also of roots and identity, as it recounts Wong's desire to connect with her heritage in the United States and in China. Chan provides extensive textual analyses of Wong's signature films, especially The Toll of the Sea (1922), The Thief of Bagdad (1924) with Douglas Fairbanks, and her most famous role as Hui Fei in Shanghai Express (1932), opposite Marlene Dietrich. Perpetually Cool is a fitting tribute to the influence of this Chinese American icon.

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.

This day-by-day account of the legend's life-the first of its kind-succeeds in the daunting task of tracking Judy's myriad professional pursuits, the personal crises she triumphed over, and her many accomplishments. Lavishly illustrated with eighty rare photos, this volume contains new information to enthrall even the most knowledgeable Garland fan. For those just encountering Judy, this book provides the perfect introduction, an engrossing narrative bursting with information: her performance dates, concert set lists, and recording session schedules; the evolving critical reception to her work; the many celebrities that came into contact with and adored Judy, from the Beatles to Elvis to Sinatra; her filming itineraries and guest appearances; excerpts from rare interviews and press conferences; and much more. Here is Judy Garland as never viewed before, in a way that allows readers to see her whole life on a daily basis and come to their own conclusion about what her life was really about. They will encounter a survivor, parent, friend, and one of the greatest entertainers the world has ever known, who overcame one obstacle after another in order to devote forty-five of her forty-seven years to delighting her fans. From her debut performance as a Gumm Sister at age two to her final day, Judy Garland is the definitive chronicle of this remarkable icon.

This edited volume provides new readings of the life and career of iconic actress Vivien Leigh (1913-67). Written by experts in theatre and film studies and curators from the Victoria and Albert Museum, it uses newly accessible family archives to explore the intensely complex relationship between Leigh's approach to the craft of acting for stage and screen and how she shaped, developed and projected her public persona as one of the most talked about and photographed actresses of her era. Featuring key contributors from the UK, France and the US, the chapters range from analyses of Leigh's work on stage and screen to her collaborations with designers and photographers, an analysis of her fan base, her interior designs and the 'public ownership' of Leigh's celebrity status during her lifetime and beyond. -- .

Introduction to the Alexander Technique, part of the brand-new Acting Essentials series, is the first textbook about the Alexander Technique written specially for undergraduates. This eight-week program can be taught over the course of half a semester, a full semester, or dipped into as needed to address students' issues with physicality, movement, breathing, voice and performance habits. The Alexander Technique has been a vital part of training for performers since the early 20th century. It is a core part of the curriculum at most acting conservatories and in many BFA programs. Sometimes considered purely a movement discipline, the Alexander Technique in fact takes into consideration the entire person-mind, body, voice, emotions, and imagination. Introduction to the Alexander Technique addresses the student's self as a whole and is suitable for beginning acting students in any academic setting, including those who take performance classes as an elective. The book also includes more than 150 practical, easy-to-follow exercises that help students reduce tension and improve their alignment, flexibility, and poise. The textbook is supported by a range of online videos demonstrating key exercises described throughout the book.