The long-awaited memoir by movie and theatre legend, Brian Cox. A Guardian, Times, Sunday Times and Independent Book of the Year *Featuring a foreword by the executive producer of Succession, Frank Rich, an executive producer of HBO's Succession, a former chief drama critic of The New York Times, and the author of the memoir Ghost Light.* 'One of the best showbiz memoirs ever written... it's as funny as it is furious... Brian Cox has done everything and with this book he leaves everyone else standing' - Mail on Sunday 'Absolute heaven' - Sunday Times 'A hugely readable memoir from a giant of stage and screen' - Mark Kermode 'A life well lived and a story well told. From first page to last Brian Cox the great actor is Brian Cox the great storyteller, and nobody is spared his sharp eye and his caustic wit, himself and some big Hollywood names included' - Alastair Campbell 'Laced with his characteristic generosity, self-deprecation and cut-the-crap wisdom' - Harriet Walter 'Mesmerizing' - Peter Biskind 'Blisteringly brilliant' - Bryony Gordon 'Funny and irreverent' - The Times From Titus Andronicus with the RSC to media magnate Logan Roy in HBO's Succession, Brian Cox has made his name as an actor of unparalleled distinction and versatility. We know him on screen, but few know of his extraordinary life story. Growing up in Dundee, Scotland, Cox lost his father when he was just eight years old and was brought up by his three elder sisters in the aftermath of his mother's nervous breakdowns and ultimate hospitalization. After joining the Dundee Repertory Theatre at the age of fifteen, you could say the rest is history - but that is to overlook the enormous graft that has gone into the making of the legend we know today. This is a rags-to-riches life story like no other - a seminal autobiography that both captures Cox's distinctive voice and his very soul. Rich in emotion and meaning, with plenty of laughs along the way, it will be a classic in the vein of The Moon's a Balloon by David Niven and What's It All About by Michael Caine.

Dancing with Merce Cunningham is a buoyant, captivating memoir of a talented dancer's lifelong friendship with one of the choreographic geniuses of our time. Marianne Preger-Simon's story begins amid the explosion of artistic creativity that followed World War II. While immersed in the vibrant arts scene of postwar Paris during a college year abroad, Preger-Simon was so struck by the unconventional dance style of choreographer Merce Cunningham that she joined his classes in New York. She soon became an important member of his brand new dance troupe - and a constant friend. Through her experiences in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Preger-Simon offers a rare account of exactly how Cunningham taught and interacted with his students. She describes the puzzled reactions of audiences to the novel non-narrative choreography of the company's debut performances. She also portrays the relationships among the company's dancers, designers, and musicians, many of whom - including John Cage, David Tudor, and Carolyn Brown - would become integral to the avant-garde arts movement, telling tales of their adventures and conversations touring in a VW Microbus across the United States. Finally, reflecting on her connection with Cunningham throughout the latter part of his career, Preger-Simon recalls warm moments that continued to characterize their enduring friendship. Her memoir is an intimate look at the early years of one of the most influential companies in modern American dance and the brilliance of its visionary leader.

From the London Sunday Telegraph: Acting Shakespeare is extraordinary. The tone of the voice is unmistakably Sir John's, the atmosphere congenial. We're in the company of our greatest actor, who holds in his hands the last links of a chain of tradition leading to Shakespeare himself ... this book is crucial for anyone who believes that Shakespeare on the stage should be Shakespeare at his greatest ... Gielgud is by turns, wise, witty and wicked, but unfailingly modest.

Dennis Hopper (1936-2010) was one of most charismatic and protean figures to emerge from the American independent film movement of the 1960s and '70s, an incredibly compelling screen presence who helped give cult classics like Easy Rider and Blue Velvet their off-kilter appeal. But his artistic interests went far beyond acting, and this collection of essays is the first major work to take in Hopper as a creative artist in all his fields of endeavour, from acting and directing to photography, sculpture, and expressionist painting. Stephen Naish doesn't skimp on covering Hopper's best-known work, but he breaks new ground in putting it in context with his other creative enterprises, showing how one medium informs another, and how they offer a portrait of an artist who was restless, even flawed at times, but always aiming to live up to his motto: create or die. Follow the podcasts by Steve Naish here

In 1922, a 15-year-old girl, fed up with life in a French convent school, answered an ad for a travelling secretary. Tall, blonde, and swaggering with confidence, she might have passed for twenty. She also knew what she wanted: to become the first female to drive around the world. Her name was Aloha Wanderwell. Aloha's mission was foolhardy in the extreme. Drivable roads were scarce and cars were alien to much of the world. The Wanderwell Expedition created a specially modified Model T Ford for the journey that featured gun scabbards and a sloped back that could fold out to become a darkroom. All that remained was for Aloha to learn how to drive. Aloha became known around the globe. She was photographed in front of the Eiffel Tower, parked on the back of the Sphinx, firing mortars in China, and smiling at a tickertape parade in Detroit. By the age of 25, she had become a pilot, a film star, an ambassador for world peace, and the centrepiece of one of the biggest unsolved murder mysteries in California history. Her story defied belief, but it was true. Every bit of it. Except for her name. The American Aloha Wanderwell was, in reality, the Canadian Idris Hall. Drawing upon Aloha's diaries and travel logs, as well as films, photographs, newspaper accounts, and previously classified government documents, Aloha Wanderwell reveals the astonishing story of one of the greatest and most outrageous explorers of the 1920s.

Over a brief, twelve-year career, the Iranian director and playwright Reza Abdoh broke all of the conventions of American theater, pushing actors and audiences past their limits to create hallucinatory, at times nightmarish, dreamscapes shot through with humor, song, and an unlikely spirituality. His productions addressed the bitter political realities of his time- the systemic devaluation of black life, governmental indifference to the AIDS crisis, sexual repression, genocide in Europe, and war in the Middle East-with harrowing eloquence. Just before his death he ordered that his plays should never be performed again. Profusely illustrated, the catalogue contains new essays on the influence and reception of Abdoh's works in theater, film, and video, published and unpublished interviews with the director, and conversations with his friends and colleagues, as well as scripts of his plays and contemporary reviews.

In her memoir Talking to the Stars: Bobbie Wygant's Seventy Years in Television, Bobbie Wygant recalls her trailblazing career as an arts and entertainment reporter for Dallas-Fort Worth's Channel 5. Started in 1948 by Amon G. Carter, WBAP (now KXAS) was the first television station west of the Mississippi, and Wygant was there from the beginning. Like everyone on that early Channel 5 staff, Wygant pitched in to do a little of everything-writing copy, performing live on-air skits, presenting commercials-but she soon became known for the way she connected with celebrities. In a career spanning seven decades, Wygant has interviewed literally thousands of the most notable entertainers and celebrities since the 1950s-from Bob Hope, Jane Fonda, and Denzel Washington to Meryl Streep, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Matt Damon. Wygant was live on the air with her popular midday program Dateline on November 22, 1963, when news broke of JFK's assassination. A few months later, during their debut tour of the US, she interviewed the Beatles. In addition to charming and often funny accounts of her interviews with the stars, Wygant's personal observations of television broadcasting as it emerged at WBAP-TV offer fascinating insights into the infancy of today's multi-billion-dollar industry. This engaging and informative volume includes more than three hundred photographs of her favorite celebrity encounters.

MARILYN MONROE is the most celebrated and controversial female icon of the 20th century. At last, Donald Spoto has produced an acclaimed biography worthy of this extraordinary and unforgettable star. With access to more than 35,000 pages of formerly sealed documents and interviews with 150 people who have never spoken on record before, Spoto's definitive biography reveals the truth behind the myths and speculations surrounding Marilyn's life and death. He exposes the falsehoods and casts new light on every aspect of Marilyn Monroe's 36 years: her dramatic childhood; her marriages; her relationships with movie moguls; politicians, poets, artists and statesmen. But most astonishing of all, he presents the reality of her death - more horrifying than anything a Hollywood screenwriter could have devised. Moving, often shocking, always absorbing, Marilyn Monroe will stand as the ultimate and compulsively readable biography of the woman who continues to enthrall millions. 'Not just sensational, but sensationally good' - Sunday Telegraph 'At long last Marilyn Monroe has found her knight in shining armour...[her] true story has been revealed' - Daily Mirror 'An impressive reminder of the tough, triumphalist Norma Jean...for once she has a biographer worthy of her' - JULIE BURCHILL, Sunday Times

Improvisation is a highly creative and collaborative art form, encompassing the skills of storytelling, character creation and stage presence all in the moment. However, with an array of styles and techniques to choose from, it can be hard for new practitioners to negotiate the moving parts and find their own individuality. In this practical guide, Artistic Director and improv expert Jason Moran explores the basic pillars of improvisation and explains how to practically apply these in an improvised scene, game or situation. Each chapter showcases a different pillar and offers a practical checklist to make each scene interesting and robust. This helpful book unpacks and analyses real-life improvised examples from the stage, rehearsal room and classroom, illustrating to the reader what works well and what could work better, making it essential reading for actors, presenters and anyone who wants to increase their confidence in public performances.

Steve Waters examines how the very idea of film has defined him as a playwright and a person in this book. Through the the lens of cinema, it provides a cultural and political snapshot of life in Britain from the 2nd part of the 20th century up to the present day. The films spanning almost a century, starting with The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929) and moving most recently to Dark Waters (2019), each chapter examines aspects of Waters's journey from his working-class Midlands upbringing to working in professional theatre to living through the Covid epidemic, through the prism of a particular film. From The Wizard of Oz to Code Unknown, from sci-fi to documentary, from queer cinema to world cinema, this honest, comic book offers a view of film as a way of thinking about how we live. In doing so, it illuminates culture and politics in the UK over half a century and provides an intimate insight into drama and writing.

Das Lexikon enthalt samtliche fur die Sprechwissenschaft relevanten Begriffe - insgesamt etwa 1000 Lemmata, ausgewahlt auf Basis der sprechwissenschaftlichen Fachliteratur der letzten vierzig Jahre. Die Terminologie der Disziplin speist sich neben den facheigenen Teilgebieten aus Nachbarwissenschaften wie der Psychologie, der Sprachwissenschaft, der Phonetik, der Poetik sowie der Logopadie und Phoniatrie. Das Nachschlagewerk bildet diese interdisziplinare Vielfalt ab und bietet damit erstmals passgenaues lexikalisches Wissen fur das Fachgebiet.

Palmer, a long-time friend of Bruce Lee and one of his youngest martial arts students, recounts Lee's early years, when he would train a multicultural group of local toughs in empty parking lots and backyards around Seattle. Palmer spends a summer with Lee and his family in Hong Kong and provides fascinating insight into Lee's personality, from his silly sense of humor and love of practical jokes to his uncanny ability to learn from different fighting traditions to hone his skills. Palmer's stories paint a picture of a fun-loving, intense young man who worked hard to excel at his craft.

Praise for Five Easy Decades: How Jack Nicholson Became the Biggest Movie Star in Modern Times
"Dennis McDougal is a rare Hollywood reporter: honest, fearless, nobody's fool. This is unvarnished Jack for Jack-lovers and Jack-skeptics but, also, for anyone interested in the state of American culture and celebrity. I always read Mr. McDougal for pointers but worry that he will end up in a tin drum off the coast of New Jersey."
-- Patrick McGilligan, author of Jack's Life and Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light
Praise for Privileged Son: Otis Chandler and the Rise and Fall of the L.A. Times Dynasty
"A great freeway pileup--part biography, part dysfunctional family chronicle, and part institutional and urban history, with generous dollops of scandal and gossip."
-- Hendrick Hertzberg, The New Yorker
"McDougal has managed to scale the high walls that have long protected the Chandler clan and returned with wicked tales told by angry ex-wives and jealous siblings."
--The Washington Post
Praise for The Last Mogul: Lew Wasserman, MCA and the Hidden History of Hollywood
"Real glamour needs a dark side. That is part of the fascination of Dennis McDougal's wonderful book."
--The Economist
"Thoroughly reported and engrossing . . . the most noteworthy trait of MCA was how it hid its power."
--The New York Times Book Review
"Over the years, I've read hundreds of books on Hollywood and the movie business, and this one is right at the top."
-- Michael Blowen, The Boston Globe

'The book is great: moving but also properly funny.' Hadley Freeman, The Guardian 'A memoir with an unusual sense of purpose. . . pithy, highly readable' The Times The entire world knows Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, the teenage sidekick of Doc Brown in Back to the Future. His two previous bestselling memoirs, Lucky Man and Always Looking Up, dealt with how he came to terms with the illness, all the while exhibiting his iconic optimism. In No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality, Michael shares personal stories and observations about illness and health, ageing, the strength of family and friends, and how our perceptions about time affect the way we approach mortality. Thoughtful and moving, but with Fox's trademark sense of humour, his book provides a vehicle for reflection about our lives, our loves, and our losses. Running through the narrative is the drama of the medical madness Fox recently experienced, that included his daily negotiations with the Parkinson's disease he's had since 1991, and a spinal cord issue that necessitated immediate surgery. His challenge to learn how to walk again, only to suffer a devastating fall, nearly caused him to ditch his trademark optimism and "get out of the lemonade business altogether." Does he make it all of the way back? Read the book.

He has been one of the brightest stars in Hollywood, a hard-charging actor whose intensity on the screen has been mirrored in his personal life. As Kirk Douglas has grown older - he turned ninety in December 2006 - he has become less impetuous and more reflective. In this poignant and inspiring new memoir, Douglas contemplates what life is all about, weighing current events from his present frame of mind while summoning the passions of his younger days.

Kirk Douglas is a born storyteller, and throughout "Let's Face It" he tells wonderful tales and shares favorite jokes and hard-won insights. In the book, he explores the mixed blessings of growing older and looks back at his childhood, his young adulthood, and his storied, glamorous, and colorful life and career in Hollywood. He tells delightful stories of the making of such films as Spartacus, Lust for Life, Champion, The Bad and the Beautiful, and many others. He includes anecdotes about his friends Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster, Lauren Bacall, Ronald Reagan, Ava Gardner, Henry Kissinger, Fred Astaire, Yul Brynner, John Wayne, and Johnny Cash. He reveals the secrets that have kept him and his wife, Anne, happily married for more than five decades, and talks fondly and movingly of times spent with his sons, Michael, Peter, Eric, and Joel, and his grandchildren.

Douglas's life has been filled with pain as well as joy. In "Let's Face It," he writes frankly for the first time about the tragic death of his son Eric from a drug overdose at age forty-five. Douglas tells what it was like to recover from several near-death episodes, including a helicopter crash, a stroke, and a cardiac event. He writes of his sadness that many of his closest friends are no longer with us; the book includes many moving stories such as one about a regular poker game at Frank Sinatra's house at which he and Anne have been fixtures along with Gregory Peck, Jack Lemmon, and their wives. Though many of the players are gone, the game continues to this day.

In "Let's Face It," Douglas reflects on how his Jewish faith has become more and more important to him over the years. He offers strong opinions on everything from anti-Semitism to corporate greed, from racism to Hurricane Katrina, and from the war in Iraq to the situation in Israel. He writes about the importance in his life of the need to improve education for all children and about how we need to care more about the world and less about ourselves.

A must-read for every fan, this engrossing memoir provides an indelible self-portrait of a great star - while sharing the wit and wisdom Kirk Douglas has accumulated over a lifetime.

For over three decades, renowned Japanese voice actress Megumi Hayashibara has breathed life into countless iconic characters-including Ranma Saotome (Ranma 9;), Rei Ayanami (Neon Genesis Evangelion), Lina Inverse (Slayers), Jessie (Pokemon), Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop), and Paprika (Paprika)! In this new autobiographical memoir, Megumi provides an in-depth look at her illustrious career, and how the very characters she has portrayed have impacted her life on both personal and professional levels.

A shop girl wins a newspaper competition and is transformed overnight into a transatlantic celebrity. An aristocrat swaps high society for the film studio when she 'consents' to perform in a series of films, thus legitimising acting for what some might have considered a 'low' art. Stories like these were the stuff of newspaper headlines in 1920s and reflected a 'craze' for the cinema. They also demonstrated radical changes in attitudes and values within society in the wake of World War I. Chris O'Rourke investigates the myths and material practices that grew up around film actors during the silent era. The book sheds light on issues such as the social and cultural reception of cinema, the participatory film culture expressed through fan magazines, instructional booklets and movie star competitions, and the working conditions encountered by actors behind-the-scenes of silent films. Drawing on extensive research and a wealth of archival materials, O'Rourke examines how dreams of stardom were fuelled and exploited in the interwar period, and reconstructs the personal narratives and experiences of the first generation to imagine making a living on screen.In doing so, he reveals a missing - and much sought after - piece of cinematic history to bring to life the developing industries, social attitudes and norms of a period of enormous change.

In Do You Remember? Celebrating Fifty Years of Earth, Wind & Fire, Trenton Bailey traces the humble beginning of Maurice White, his development as a musician, and his formation of Earth, Wind & Fire, a band that became a global phenomenon during the 1970s. By the early 1980s, the music industry was changing, and White had grown weary after working constantly for more than a decade. He decided to put the band on hiatus for more than three years. The band made a comeback in 1987, but White's health crisis soon forced them to tour without him. During the twenty-first century, the band has received numerous accolades and lifetime achievement and hall of fame awards. The band remains relevant today, collaborating with younger artists and maintaining their classic sound. Earth, Wind & Fire stood apart from other soul bands with their philosophical lyrics and extravagant visual art, much of which is studied in the book, including album covers, concerts, and music videos. The lyrics of hit songs are examined alongside an analysis of the band's chart success. Earth, Wind & Fire has produced twenty-one studio albums and several compilation albums. Each album is analyzed for content and quality. Earth, Wind & Fire is also known for using ancient Egyptian symbols, and Bailey thoroughly details those symbols and Maurice White's fascination with Egyptology. After enduring many personnel changes, Earth, Wind & Fire continues to perform around the world and captivate diverse audiences.