Paris has always exerted a magnetic force on artists; it has historically offered safety to those escaping oppressive regimes in Europe and farther afield. In recent years it has welcomed performers, artists and intellectuals from all over the world, offering strategies for the practice of theatre in a new Europe of ever-shifting boundaries. This book, once again available in paperback, examines the creation and development of communities of actors, directors, designers and playwrights in Paris over the past thirty years. It shows how the willingness of the city to welcome international influences has enriched its creative life. Many of the most important trends and new developments in the art of theatre have been the direct result of the creative combination of influences from all over the world. This study demonstrates how the pioneering work of Brook, Boal, Mnouchkine, Lecoq and many others has been able to draw on this vibrant, multi-cultural mix, in turn creating new work that has enriched theatre's potential to enlarge our thinking and our imagination. -- .

The Emmy-nominated star of the classic 1950s sitcom I Married Joan, Joan Davis (1912-1961) was also radio's highest paid comedienne in the 1940s and she displayed her unique brand of knockabout comedy in more than forty films. This book provides a complete account of her career, including a filmography with critical commentary, and the most detailed episode logs ever compiled for her radio and television programmes. A biographical chapter offers never-before-published information about her family background, marriage to vaudeville comedian Si Wills, relationships with other men and her tragic early death.

Curly Watts is a TV icon - for twenty years appearing on millions of TV screens around the country in Coronation Street. Kevin Kennedy is one of the UK's most successful soap actors, although behind the scenes and high-profile appearances, he faced a painful personal battle. Kevin shares his experiences of alcoholism, rehab and IVF as well stories from the set and stars he worked with during some of the brightest, and darkest moments of his life, through to his music career and current roles. This brutally honest autobiography provides a rare glimpse into life behind the scenes, the power of addiction, and his battle with recovery.

This is the first book-length study of the American actress Sandy Dennis (1937-1992). Winner of two successive Tony Awards for her work in the theatre in 1963 and 1964, she moved into film in supporting roles. For her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) Dennis won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award. She starred in films like Up The Down Staircase (1967), The Fox (1968), Sweet November (1968), That Cold Day in the Park (1969), Thank You All Very Much (1969), and Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982). Full information is provided for each film and television appearance, with cast and crew credits, synopses, notes, release information, reviews, and DVD availability.

Thanks to the globalization of media, stars and celebrities are increasingly important figures in the transnational circulation of not only films but also ideas about identity and personhood. Combining a diverse range of case studies with an innovative collaborative discussion between leading scholars in star studies and transnational cinema, this book analyzes stars as sites of cross-cultural contestation. The contributors examine the phenomenon of global stardom as an important locus to help individuals better understand the construction of gender, race, nationality, and the individual as well as the importance of stars within transnational film industries. In a world in which cinema and its audiences are increasingly mobile, the essays in this collection explore how the plasticity of stars may help disparate peoples manage the shifting ideologies of a transnational world.

With a career spanning four decades, Wes Craven (1939-2015) bridged independent exploitation cinema and Hollywood big-budget horror. A pioneer of the modern horror cinema, Craven directed such landmark films as The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream-considered not only classics of the genre, but examples of masterful filmmaking. Producing an impressive oeuvre that mixed intellectual concerns and political ideas, Craven utilized high-tension suspense, devastating visual brutality, and dark humor to evoke a unique brand of fear. Moreover, his films draw attention to the horror of American society-Namely racism, classism, and the traumas often associated with family. This collection of twenty-nine interviews-spanning from 1980 until his final interview in 2015-traces Craven's life and career, from his upbringing in a strict religious family and his life as an academic to his years toiling in exploitation cinema. The volume also chronicles Craven's ascendancy as an independent director, his work within the studio system, and his eventual triumph in mainstream cinema. Within the interviews gathered here, including three previously unpublished pieces, Craven reflects on failed projects and the challenges of working with studios while offering thoughtful meditations on the dynamics and appeal of horror. Wes Craven: Interviews cements Craven's legacy as a master of horror who left an indelible mark on the genre by forever altering expectations of-and approaches to-the cinema of fear.

This new biography contains excerpts from interviews and articles by and about Curtis all the way from his teens in the Bronx to his death at 85 in 2010. Many of these are little known and provide insights into his complex relationship with fame, family and females, the three obsessions of his life. The book also documents his many struggles with substance abuse, his disenchantment with Hollywood when it failed to take him seriously as an actor despite his best efforts, the violent deaths of his two brothers, the failure of four of his marriages, a heart attack, the death of a son from a drug overdose and, most importantly, the manner in which his resilient spirit saw him through these challenges and tragedies. It's a revisionist biography which adds significantly to the received wisdom on his life and times, not only through personal interviews but also revelations from two recent books not yet available in English, one written by his daughter Allegra and the other by his ex-wife Christine Kaufmann.

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.

In the early 1930s, George Raft, an actor and dancer from New York City's Hell's Kitchen, gained a name for himself playing stylish and charismatic gangsters in films like 1932's original Scarface. Raft's own real-life connection to the New York mob added frightening authenticity to his portrayals, and his star quality coincided with the peak years of the Hollywood factory to produce a remarkable track record of successful movies. Although he was highly regarded during his lifetime as a performer, his reputation as an actor suffered a steep decline after his death. This definitive study of all of Raft's films offers intimate insight into all of his productions, including casts, characters, technical credits, and story synopses, and dispels a number of myths surrounding his legendary career.

Film star. Cabaret sensation. Recording artist. Writer. Marlene Dietrich was nothing short of enchanting face=Calibri>- and remains so even today. In this book she chronicles her fabulous rise to stardom. From her early career in Germany as a chorus girl to her breakout role as Lola in The Blue Angel to her courageous wartime tours, Dietrich recounts a life that captivates on the page just as she smouldered on the screen. She writes passionately of her friends face=Calibri>- including Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, and Edith Piaf, among many others face=Calibri>- and she shares memories of what she calls her greatest accomplishment: entertaining the Allied troops during World War II. A sustained expression of her bold, sophisticated style, Marlene reminds us why Dietrich remains an international icon and a true Hollywood legend.

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.

Ellen Terry's correspondence was both exuberant and extensive. Her remaining letters provide a fascinating insight into the dynamics of the Victorian theatre, and the difficulties of life for a woman maintaining a successful public persona whilst raising two illegitimate children.

'The book is filled with that most distinctive of all her qualities: her voice' The Times Home Work, the second instalment of Julie Andrews' internationally bestselling memoirs, begins with her arrival in Hollywood to make her screen debut in Walt Disney's Mary Poppins. It was closely followed by The Sound of Music, and the beginning of a movie career that would make her an icon to millions all over the world. With her trademark charm and candour, Julie reveals behind-the-scenes details and reflections on her impressive body of work - from the incredible highs to the challenging lows. She shares her professional experiences and collaborations with giants of cinema and television, and also unveils her personal story of adjusting to a new and often daunting world. This included dealing with unimaginable public scrutiny, being a new mother, embracing two stepchildren, adopting two more children, and falling in love with the brilliant and mercurial Blake Edwards. The pair worked together in numerous films, including 10, S.O.B and Victor/Victoria. Home Work takes us on a rare and intimate journey into a remarkable life that is funny, heart-breaking and inspiring.

In this absorbing and surprising memoir, one of the biggest names of classic Hollywood-the star of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and Marnie-tells her story, including never-before-revealed experiences on the set of some of the biggest cult films of all time ...now with a foreword by Melanie Griffith For decades, Tippi Hedren's luminous beauty radiated from the silver screen, enchanting moviegoers and cementing her position among Hollywood's elite-beauty and star power that continue to endure. For too long Hedren's story has been told by others through whispered gossip and tabloid headlines. Now, Hedren sets the record straight, recalling how a young and virtuous Lutheran girl from small-town Minnesota became a worldwide legend-as one of the most famous Hitchcock girls, as an unwavering animal activist, and as the matriarch of a powerful Hollywood dynasty that includes her movie star daughter Melanie Griffith, and rising star Dakota Johnson, her granddaughter. For the first time, Hedren digs deep into her complicated relationship with the man who discovered her talent, director Alfred Hitchcock, the benefactor who would become a repulsive and controlling director who contractually controlled her every move. She speaks openly about the dark pain she endured working with him on their most famous collaborations, The Birds and Marnie, and finding the courage she needed to break away. Hedren's incandescent spirit shines through as she talks about working with the great Charlie Chaplin, sharing the screen with some of the most esteemed actors in Hollywood, her experiences on some of the most intriguing and troubling film sets-including filming Roar, one of the most dangerous movies ever made-and the struggles of being a single mother-balancing her dedication to her work and her devotion to her daughter-and her commitment to helping animals. Filled with sixteen pages of beautiful photos, Tippi is a rare and fascinating look at a private woman's remarkable life no celebrity aficionado can miss.

This book gives a new view on the legacy of Jerzy Grotowski (1933-1999), one of the central, and yet misunderstood, figures who shaped 20th-century theatre, focusing on his least known last phase of work on ancient songs and the craft of the performer. Salata posits Grotowski's work as philosophical practice, and more particularly, as practical research in the phenomenology of being, arguing that Grotowski's departure from theatrical productions (and thus critical consideration) resulted from his uncompromising pursuit of one central problem, "What does it mean to reveal oneself?" - the very question that drove his stage directing work. The book demonstrates that the answer led him through the path of gradually stripping the theatrical phenomenon down to its most elemental aspect, which shows itself through the craft of the performer as a non-representational event. This particular quality released at the heights of the art of the performer is referred to as aliveness, or true liveness in this study in order to shift scholarly focus onto something that has always fascinated great theatre practitioners, including Stanislavski and Grotowski, and of which academic scholarship has limited grasp. Salata's theoretical analysis of aliveness reaches out to phenomenology and a broad range of post-structural philosophy and critical theory, through which Grotowski's project is portrayed as philosophical practice.

The author studies the woman behind her public image as a natural, wholesome, even saintly person, an image carefully crafted by Bergman's first producer David O. Selznick. Bergman hid behind that image to live her life on her own terms. That life included three difficult marriages, numerous lovers, and a major scandal that stained her reputation but which she survived by creating her own legend. Bergman was filled with contradictions: she was both dependent upon men and chafed under their control; she loved her children but constantly left them to perform; she longed for romance but walked away from her affairs without looking back; she desired to make great films but settled for being an entertainer; she hated the scrutiny of the media but learned to charm reporters. Bergman's artistry--her star qualities and her acting skills is also assessed: she did her best work in Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious, Roberto Rossellini's Voyage in Italy, and Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata. Bergman's life and image were the inspiration for these films in the first place.

Long before his momentous teaming with Oliver Hardy, comedian Stan Laurel (1890-1965) was a motion picture star in his own right. From his film debut in Nuts in May (1917) through his final solo starring effort Should Tall Men Marry? (1928), Laurel headlined dozens of short comedies for a variety of producers and production companies, often playing characters far removed from the meek, dimwitted ""Stanley"" persona that we know and love. This film-by-film look at the pictures Stan made as a solo artist, as well as those he wrote and directed for other stars, shows his development as a movie comedian and filmmaker. Comedy legend Jerry Lewis, a longtime friend and admirer of Stan Laurel, provides an affectionate and eloquent foreword. Included are several rare photographs and production stills.

In his first full-length autobiography, comedy legend and national treasure Billy Connolly reveals the truth behind his windswept and interesting life. Born in a tenement flat in Glasgow in 1942, orphaned by the age of 4, and a survivor of appalling abuse at the hands of his own family, Billy's life is a remarkable story of success against all the odds. Billy found his escape first as an apprentice welder in the shipyards of the River Clyde. Later he became a folk musician - a 'rambling man' - with a genuine talent for playing the banjo. But it was his ability to spin stories, tell jokes and hold an audience in the palm of his hand that truly set him apart. As a young comedian Billy broke all the rules. He was fearless and outspoken - willing to call out hypocrisy wherever he saw it. But his stand-up was full of warmth, humility and silliness too. His startling, hairy 'glam-rock' stage appearance - wearing leotards, scissor suits and banana boots - only added to his appeal. It was an appearance on Michael Parkinson's chat show in 1975 - and one outrageous story in particular - that catapulted Billy from cult hero to national star. TV shows, documentaries, international fame and award-winning Hollywood movies followed. Billy's pitch-perfect stand-up comedy kept coming too - for over 50 years, in fact - until a double diagnosis of cancer and Parkinson's Disease brought his remarkable live performances to an end. Since then he has continued making TV shows, creating extraordinary drawings... and writing. Windswept and Interesting is Billy's story in his own words. It is joyfully funny - stuffed full of hard-earned wisdom as well as countless digressions on fishing, farting and the joys of dancing naked. It is an unforgettable, life-affirming story of a true comedy legend. 'I didn't know I was Windswept and Interesting until somebody told me. It was a friend who was startlingly exotic himself. He'd just come back from Kashmir and was all billowy shirt and Indian beads. I had long hair and a beard and was swishing around in electric blue flairs. He said: "Look at you - all windswept and interesting!" I just said: "Exactly!" After that, I simply had to maintain my reputation...'

An alternative autobiography of the well-loved actor and man of the theatre, winner of the Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography. In My Life in Pieces Simon Callow retraces his life through the multifarious performers, writers, productions and events which have left their indelible mark on him. The story begins with Peter Pan - his first ever visit to the theatre - before transporting us to southern Africa and South London, where Callow spent much of his childhood. Later, he charms his way into a job at the National Theatre box office courtesy of his hero, Laurence Olivier - and thus consummated a lifetime's love affair with theatre. Alongside Olivier, we encounter Paul Scofield, Michael Gambon, Alan Bennett and Richard Eyre, all of whom Callow has worked with, as well as John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson and Alec Guinness, David Hare, Simon Gray and many more. He writes too about figures he did not meet but who greatly influenced his life and work, figures such as Stanislavsky, Nureyev and Cocteau, as well as Charles Laughton and Orson Welles. And he even makes room for not-quite- legit performers like Tony Hancock, Tommy Cooper, Frankie Howard - and Mrs Shufflewick. The result is a passionate, instructive and beguiling book which, in tracing Simon Callow's own 'sentimental education', leaves us enriched by his generosity and wisdom. 'first rate... the best writer-actor we have' David Hare 'Simon Callow combines zest, originality and passion and has elegantly turned his views and life in the theatre into an astonishing memoir' Richard Eyre

Ellen Terry's correspondence was both exuberant and extensive. Her remaining letters provide a fascinating insight into the dynamics of the Victorian theatre, and the difficulties of life for a woman maintaining a successful public persona whilst raising two illegitimate children.

Leslie O'Dell's current research focuses on the psychology of acting and the phenomenology of creativity. She has worked in theatre and film as a director, actor, and script writer as well as a coach and dramaturge. A working actor needs chameleon-like skills to transform into fictional characters shaped by the conventions of any of a wide variety of genres. Equally important is charisma, that unique personal energy that transforms a skilled mimic into a star. What is the secret of the charismatic chameleon? Beginning with the premise that actors are creative artists, and tracing individual creativity to six distinct temperaments (personality types), Leslie O'Dell demonstrates how actors can tap the profound resources of the psyche in even the most stress-filled situations. After introducing the nuances of the theory behind the practice, readers encounter a "Virtual Workshop" -- A dialogue among acting students, each representing one of the six Creative Personality types, as they diagnose their individual temperaments and then explore how the charismatic chameleon insight might assist each of them in mastering their craft, confronting barriers to personal excellence, and in preparing themselves for a successful acting career. The volume concludes with an annotated bibliography that positions the concepts of charisma, creative temperament, and the dangers and challenges of acting training within the context of writings by leading scholars and theatre practitioners. At the heart of the book is one simple truth: that an effortless flow of charismatic energy is available at any time and that the process for tapping into that source of authenticity and creativity is straightforward, flexible, and easily blended with other acting strategies and styles. This book is essential reading for working actors, for students of acting, and for teachers and directors who seek a more finely-nuanced understanding of the source of acting excellence and how best to optimise creativity through collaborative and individual praxis.

John Ford's classic films--such as "Stagecoach," "The Grapes of Wrath," "How Green Was My Valley," "The Quiet Man," and "The Searchers"--have earned him worldwide admiration as America's foremost filmmaker, a director whose rich visual imagination conjures up indelible, deeply moving images of our collective past.

Joseph McBride's "Searching for John Ford," described as definitive by both the "New York Times" and the "Irish Times," surpasses all other biographies of the filmmaker in its depth, originality, and insight. Encompassing and illuminating Ford's myriad complexities and contradictions, McBride traces the trajectory of Ford's life from his beginnings as "Bull" Feeney, the nearsighted, football-playing son of Irish immigrants in Portland, Maine, to his recognition, after a long, controversial, and much-honored career, as America's national mythmaker. Blending lively and penetrating analyses of Ford's films with an impeccably documented narrative of the historical and psychological contexts in which those films were created, McBride has at long last given John Ford the biography his stature demands.

When it comes to living life to its fullest, Rosalind Russell's character Auntie Mame is still the silver screen's exemplar. And Mame, the role Russell (1907-1976) will always be remembered for, embodies the rich and rewarding life Bernard F. Dick reveals in his biography, "Forever Mame: The Life of Rosalind Russell," now available in paperback.

Drawing on personal interviews and information from the archives of Russell and her producer-husband Frederick Brisson, Dick begins with Russell's childhood in Waterbury, Connecticut, and chronicles her early attempts to achieve recognition after graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Frustrated by her inability to land a lead in a Broadway show, she headed for Hollywood in 1934 and two years later played her first starring role, the title character in Craig's Wife.

Dick discusses all of her films along with her triumphal return to Broadway, first in the musical "Wonderful Town" and later in "Auntie Mame." "Forever Mame" details Russell's social circle of such stars as Loretta Young, Cary Grant, and Frank Sinatra. It traces an extraordinary career, ending with Russell's courageous battle against the two diseases that eventually caused her death: rheumatoid arthritis and cancer. Russell devoted her last years to campaigning for arthritis research. So successful was she in her efforts to alert lawmakers to this crippling disease that a leading San Francisco research center is named after her.