This book is a window into the world of Danny Dyer - and he's seen more of the world than most so he's got one or two things to say about it. Tackling such vital questions as 'Where have all the old school boozers gone?' 'Are there such things as ghosts?' and 'Am I middle class?' Danny shares his unique take on life with characteristic honesty and humour and reveals why it is that: * What goes around comes around - he learnt the hard way * You can take the boy out of the East End but you can't take the East End out of the boy * Harold Pinter is a diamond geezer * He told the media training expert to do one * Science can prove that West Ham are the best football club in the world * Him and Joanne are like a team - he's Paul Gascoigne, she's David Batty * The human race isn't evolved enough for Twitter So, hold on to your titfer, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!

In January 2012, one of EastEnders' longest-serving and best-loved characters breathed her last when Pat Butcher succumbed to cancer. Her departure from the show gave actress Pam St Clement time to reflect, not only on almost 26 years playing a role that she loved, but also on her whole life. Pam's mother died when she was a baby, leaving her with a father whose life didn't really have space for a child. What followed was an itinerant childhood, with various stepmothers and foster families, before an advertisement in The Lady took 11-year-old Pamela to the farm in Devon that was to become her true home, with the 'aunts' who became her surrogate parents. Time on the farm at Dartmoor, where she discovered her love of animals, alternated with life at The Warren boarding school in West Sussex, where she discovered her passion for acting. On leaving school, Pam was unsure of what direction to take but gradually realised that acting was what she wanted to do with her life. So, in 1966, Pam took up a place at drama school. Pam settled in London and worked on stage and television throughout the sixties and seventies, before her first appearance on EastEnders in 1986 and the offer of a permanent role a few months later. This memoir is far more than simply an actor's tale. Quite apart from her fascinating and unique childhood, Pam also recalls her involvement in the women's movement of the 1970s, her lifelong love of animals and the worries about her weight that have dogged her since her teenage years. It is also a tribute to Pat Butcher, for whom Pam retains a huge affection. This incredibly warm memoir reveals the woman behind the popular EastEnders' character, a woman who, apart perhaps from her earrings, couldn't be more different from Pat.

A smart health and fitness bible from inspirational actress Kate Hudson. A smart beautiful book from a smart inspirational actress and fitness icon. Kate Hudson will share her insights into how every woman can live healthy, strong and beautiful - from the inside out. For Kate Hudson the key to living healthfully is simplicity and positivity. The book includes lots of real-world ideas for eating better, making exercise enjoyable and for clearing the mind to leave space for positive thinking. Kate Hudson's subscription-based fitness clothing retailer, Fabletics, has been a massive success. Packed with information and inspiration, Kate Hudson's relatable beauty and dedication to wellness will come through on every page.

Adored by millions, Sammy Davis Jr. was considered an entertainment icon and a national treasure. But despite lifetime earnings that topped $50 million, Sammy died in 1990 near bankruptcy.

Years later his once-vivacious wife, Altovise, heir to one of the greatest entertainment legacies of the twentieth century, was living in poverty. With nowhere else to turn, she asked a former federal prosecutor, Albert "Sonny" Murray, to try to resolve Sammy's debts and restore his estate. For seven years Sonny probed Sammy's life and came to understand the tormented artist as a man of tragic complexity.

Deconstructing Sammy is the extraordinary story of an international celebrity whose outsize talent couldn't save him from himself.

The heroine of MARY POPPINS and THE SOUND OF MUSIC tells her life story from the music halls of London to Broadway stardom. Over the years Julie Andrews has been much interviewed in the press and on television, but she has never before revealed the true story of her childhood and upbringing. In HOME she vividly recreates the years before the movies. An idyllic early childhood in Surrey was cut short when her parents divorced and her mother remarried. The family moved to London, and there are vivid scenes of life during the Blitz. Her mother went into musical theatre with her stepfather, who encouraged Julie to have singing lessons which led to the discovery that her voice had phenomenal range and strength for someone her age. Before long she was appearing on stage with her parents. She soon realised how much she enjoyed looking out into the black auditorium with the spotlights on her. By the time she was a teenager, she was supporting her whole family with her singing. A London Palladium pantomime led to a leading role in THE BOYFRIEND on Broadway at 19. Parts in MY FAIR LADY opposite Rex Harrison and CAMELOT with Richard Burton soon followed, and there are wonderful anecdotes about the actors and actresses of her day. But this is far more than a collection of show stories (it's not until the last page of the book that Julie gets the call from Disney for MARY POPPINS), HOME is an honest, touching and revealing memoir of the early life of a true icon.

A heartwarming, in-depth portrait of the beloved star whose sensational performances in "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" seduced a generation, and whose courage in the face of illness captivated millions
For almost thirty years, Patrick Swayze has been an American icon of masculinity and sex appeal, strong but sensitive, romantic yet dangerous.
In this intimate and revealing biography, "New York Times" bestselling author Wendy Leigh shares the inspiring untold story of Patrick's incredible life: his show business childhood, his fairy-tale love affair with wife Lisa Niemi, his catapult into alcoholism after his father's untimely death, the daredevil exploits that almost killed him, and his courageous fight against pancreatic cancer, a fight that has off-ered hope and encouragement to others grap-pling with similar life-threatening illnesses.
Ever since the steamy low-budget film "Dirty Dancing" skyrocketed Patrick to fame and cemented his place in the hearts of audiences around the world, he has been one of our most cherished public figures. Based on interviews with countless sources who have never spoken about Patrick before -- from the Texas beauty who shared his first kiss, to the woman he almost married, to the manager who worked closely with him from his teen idol days until his romantic tour de force in "Ghost" -- and many more, Leigh unveils surprising details about the charismatic actor's life on- and off-screen. Beginning with his training as a dancer with his choreographer mother and spanning his remarkable -- and at times challenging -- career, this groundbreaking biography of the un-forgettable entertainer is the mesmerizing, enduring, and definitive story of a man who captured our hearts.

Determined, imperious, flighty, charming, Beryl McBurnie was born in Trinidad and went to New York in the early 1940s to study dance and drama. She also made a name for herself as a dancer and singer, Belle Rosette. But she turned her back on the bright lights to return to Trinidad. There she continued the work she had begun before World War II, researching and performing the dances of the Caribbean, especially those that drew on African traditions. She was part of an anticolonial movement that recognized the unique culture of the country and the region and eventually led Trinidad and Tobago to independence. Artistically, McBurnie's work influenced dancers throughout the region and beyond. She also devoted years to building the Little Carib Theatre. Intended as a home for folk dance, it also housed Derek Walcott's Theatre Workshop and became a crucible for the performing arts. This book portrays the woman, explores the influences that shaped McBurnie and those whom she influenced in turn, and tells of her struggle to realize a vision she nurtured for decades.

Meryl Streep is the most celebrated actress of our time. She's a chameleon who disappears fully into each character she plays. She never tackles the same role twice. Instead, she leverages her rarified platform to channel a range of tough, complicated women--Margaret Thatcher, Karen Silkwood, the Anna Wintour avatar Miranda Priestly--rather than limit herself to marginal roles for which other actresses must settle: Supportive Wife. Supportive Mother. Supportive Yet Utterly Disposable Love Interest to the Leading Man. Streep will have none of that. The once-awkward, frizzy-haired suburban teen blossomed into a rising ingenue who quickly made a name on stage at Vassar College and the Yale School of Drama, where she pursued prestigious theater degrees. She came of age during the women's movement of the Sixties and Seventies, and has worn her activism on her sleeve even when it was unfashionable. When she reached 40, the age when many leading ladies in Hollywood fully transition to those "supportive" roles, Streep plunged forward, taking her pick of parts that interested her and winning a pile of awards along the way. She's broken records with 21 Oscar nominations, winning Best Actress twice for Sophie's Choice and The Iron Lady and Best Supporting Actress for Kramer vs. Kramer. Meanwhile, she remained an unlikely box-office draw, her clout even managing to grow with age: The Devil Wears Prada, starring Streep as a brilliant and sadistic magazine editrix, scored $125 million worldwide. Her next film, Mary Poppins Returns, with Emily Blunt and Lin Manuel Miranda, is poised for bigger success. Queen Meryl will pay tribute to the fearless icon, documenting all of her accents, Oscars, highs, lows, friendships, and feuds. It will also explore her "off-brand" forays into action-adventure (The River Wild) and musicals (Mamma Mia!), and how she managed to do a lot with a little, and sneak her feminism into each character. In the spirit of Notorious RBG and The Tao of Bill Murray, two bestsellers as nontraditional as Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Bill Murray, Queen Merylwill transmit joy in homage to its allegedly serious subject.

Regarded as the best radio and TV comic of his era, Tony Hancock was a man whose star burned brightly in the eyes and ears of millions before his untimely death in 1968. Now, forty years on, critically acclaimed biographer John Fisher brings the first fully authorised account of his life. Tony Hancock was one of post-war Britain's most popular comedians - his radio show 'Hancock's Half Hour' would clear the streets as whole families tuned in to listen. His peerless timing and subtle changes in intonation marked Hancock out as a comic genius. His character 'Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock' was an amplification of his own persona, a pompous prat whose dreams of success are constantly thwarted. The original British loser that we recognise in Victor Meldrew and Alan Partridge. Wonderfully supported by a cast including Sid James, Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams, and working with scripts from Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Hancock became a huge star. The show was commisioned for TV, showcasing his talent for hilarious facial expression, and he became the first British comedian to earn a thousand pounds a week. Behind Tony Hancock's success however hid the self-destructive behaviour that plagued him all his life. Prone to self-doubt, and wanting to be the star of his own show, he got rid of James, and finally dismissed Galton and Simpson who had created the platform for his success. His private life was wracked by his ever increasing alcoholism and bouts of depression, and his relationships shattered by his capacity for violence. His ratings fell and, feeling washed up and alone after divorcing his second wife, he committed suicide in an Australian hotel room in 1968. Now, forty years after his death John Fisher explores the turbulent life of a man regarded by his peers as one of the greatest British comics to have ever lived.

Author, essayist, playwright, and screenwriter, David Mamet is often referred to as the quintessential American writer. His works are known for their clever and terse dialogue and have earned him a Pulitzer Prize for Glengarry Glen Ross and Oscar nominations for House of Games as well as The Spanish Prisoner, Wag the Dog, and The Verdict. This comprehensive biography uses extensive theater and film archives to reveal in detail his ideas on writing - including the genesis for many of his plays - acting, and directing. Beginning with his Chicago origins, the work goes on to cover his relationship to Judaism, his reputation for machismo, as well as discussions of and excerpts from early plays and stories that have never before been referenced in print. Also included are interviews with key actors and directors such as William H. Macy, Mike Nussbaum, Robert Brustein, and Neil Pepe.

This book engages with the relationship between ruins, dilapidation, and abandonment and cultural events performed within such spaces. Following the author's fieldwork in the UK, Bosnia Herzegovina, Poland, Germany, Greece, and Sicily, chapters describe, investigate, and reflect upon live performance events which have taken place in sites of decay and abandonment. The book's main focus is upon modern economic ruins and ruins of warfare. Each chapter provides several case studies based upon the author's own site visits and interviews with actors, directors, producers, curators, writers, and other artists. The book contextualises these events within the wider framework of Ruin Studies and provides brief summaries of how we might understand the ruin in terms of time, politics, culture, and atmospheres. The book is particularly preoccupied with artists' reasons and motivations for placing performance events in ruined spaces and how these work dramaturgically.

Now in paperback, the acclaimed biography of the magician's magician, Howard Thurston. "There is no greater expert on the history of stage magicians than Jim Steinmeyer. His deep knowledge of the subject, combined with a remarkable mastery of magical know-how, makes this book a smart, fantastic read. I can't recommend it enough "--Neil Patrick Harris "Steinmeyer produces an engaging full-length biography of the man Orson Welles called 'the master'...Steinmeyer recovers, from the shadows of his greatest rival, a figure whose grandiose productions were an American institution for almost 30 years."--Publishers Weekly "Magician and author Jim Steinmeyer rescues a forgotten American icon from Houdini's shadow."
--AARP: The Magazine "Thurston may have been forgotten, but The Last Greatest Magician In The World ably resurrects his legend and his awe-inspiring magic."
--The Onion A.V. Club "An erudite, challenging text full of difficult questions"
--Kirkus Reviews
Here is the seminal biography of the magician's magician, Howard Thurston, a man who surpassed Houdini in the eyes of showmen and fans and set the standard fro how stage magic is performed today. Everyone knows Houdini-but who was Thurston? In this rich, vivid biography of the "greatest magician in the world," celebrated historian of stage magic Jim Steinmeyer captures the career and controversies of the wonder-worker extraordinaire, Howard Thurston. The public's fickleness over magicians has left Thurston all but forgotten today. Yet Steinmeyer shows how his story is one of the most remarkable in show business. During his life, from 1869 to 1936, Thurston successfully navigated the most dramatic changes in entertainment-from street performances to sideshows to wagon tours through America's still-Wild West to stage magic amid the glitter of grand theaters. Thurston became one of America's most renowned vaudeville stars, boldly performing an act with just a handful of playing cards, and then had the foresight to leave vaudeville, expanding his show into an extravaganza with more than forty tons of apparatus and costumes. His touring production was an American institution for nearly thirty years, and Thurston earned a brand name equal to Ziegfeld or Ringling Brothers. Steinmeyer explores the stage and psychological rivalry between Thurston and Houdini during the first decades of the twentieth century-a contest that Thurston won. He won with a bigger show, a more successful reputation, and the title of America's greatest magician. In The Last Greatest Magician in the World, Thurston's magic show is revealed as the one that animates our collective memories.

Dancing in Blackness is a professional dancer's personal journey over four decades, across three continents and 23 countries, and through defining moments in the story of black dance in America. In this memoir, Halifu Osumare reflects on what blackness and dance have meant to her life and international career. Osumare's story begins in 1960s San Francisco amid the Black Arts Movement, black militancy, and hippie counterculture. It was there, she says, that she chose dance as her own revolutionary statement. Osumare describes her experiences as a young black dancer in Europe teaching ""jazz ballet"" and establishing her own dance company in Copenhagen. Moving to New York City, she danced with the Rod Rodgers Dance Company and took part in integrating the programs at the Lincoln Center. After doing dance fieldwork in Ghana, Osumare returned to California and helped develop Oakland's black dance scene. Osumare introduces readers to some of the major artistic movers and shakers she collaborated with throughout her career, including Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, Jean-Leon Destine, Alvin Ailey, and Donald McKayle. Now a black studies scholar, Osumare uses her extraordinary experiences to reveal the overlooked ways that dance has been a vital tool in the black struggle for recognition, justice, and self-empowerment. Her memoir is the inspiring story of an accomplished dance artist who has boldly developed and proclaimed her identity as a black woman.

Julie Andrews is, quite simply, a phenomenon. She has probably brought more joy to more people than any other star of her generation' - Richard Attenborough. Julie Andrews is the last of the great Hollywood musical stars - her extraordinary career spans more than forty years. Her first film, Mary Poppins, was Disney's most successful film, and in 1965 The Sound of Music rescued Twentieth Century Fox from bankruptcy. Three years later, Star! almost put the studio back under, and the leading lady of both films fell as spectacularly as she had risen.But Julie Andrews is nothing if not a survivor; and despite many setbacks - including the tragedy of losing her singing voice in 1997 after a botched operation - she's still a performer, recently starring in Shrek and The Princess Diaries. Richard Stirling's deeply researched biography - based on many years of contact with Julie - is a frank but affectionate portrait of an enduring icon of stage and screen.

The ultimate Eighties heart-throb Jason Donovan came close to destroying his body, mind, soul and career with drugs. Never one to shy away from the truth, Jason writes candidly about Kylie and winning the battle with his demons in the paperback of his bestselling bombshell autobiography. Jason Donovan burst onto our TVs in the 80s as Scott Robinson from Neighbours, one half of TV couple Scott and Charlene with Kylie Minogue. Kylie and Jason became the celebrity couple of the eighties and released the number one Stock, Aitken and Waterman hit Especially For You in 1988. But behind the squeaky-clean popstar image was a man increasingly addicted to recreational drugs and on a spiralling downwards path until the love of a good woman pulled him through. His pop career launched, Jason went on to sell over 30 million records worldwide and appeared in West End musicals such as Joseph and His Technicolour Dreamcoat and, more recently, The Rocky Horror Show. But just as Jason reached the pinnacle of his career, everything collapsed around him. When Jason sued style magazine The Face for calling him gay, the press tore him apart. Years of binge drug taking and partying to excess followed. In his frank and honest account of his life, Jason talks candidly about the drugs that nearly saw the end of his career, about his relationship with the princess of pop, Kylie Minogue, and how he finally got his own very happy ending with the woman who saved him, his partner Angela and their two children.

Bill S. Preston Esquire and Theodore 'Ted' Logan (Alex Winter & Keanu Reeves) were the stars of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. The hotly anticipated Bill & Ted Face the Music releases August 2020 and stars Winter and Reeves as well as Samara Weaving (Ready or Not), Brigette Lundy-Paine (Atypical), William Sadler, Kid Cudi, Hal Landon Jr., Beck Bennett (Saturday Night Live), Anthony Carrigan (Barry), Amy Stoch, Jayma Mays, Erinn Hayes and more...

With a foreword by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon - the creators of Bill & Ted - this bodacious companion to all three movies features photographs, quotes and interviews: a most excellent publication.

Deirdre McFeely presents the first book-length critical study of Dion Boucicault, placing his Irish plays in the context of his overall career. The book undertakes a detailed examination of the reception of the plays in the New York-London-Dublin theatre triangle which Boucicault inhabited. Interpreting theatre history as a sociocultural phenomenon that closely approximates social history, McFeely examines the different social and political worlds in which the plays were produced, demonstrating that the complex politics of reception of the plays cannot be separated from the social and political implications of colonialism at that time. The study argues for a shift in focus from the politics of the plays, and their author, to the politics of the auditorium and the press, or the politics of reception. It is within that complex and shifting field of stage, theatre and public media that Boucicault's performance as playwright, actor and publicist is interpreted.

Terry Bradshaw made a name for himself as the star quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, winning four Super Bowls and twice earning the MVP award. Beyond his athletic success, Bradshaw has established himself as a true cultural icon through his ventures into television, movies, and music. In Terry Bradshaw: From Super Bowl Champion to Television Personality, Brett L. Abrams details the many personas of this larger-than-life entertainer. Not satisfied with "just" being a star quarterback, Bradshaw became an actor, commercial pitchman, country western and gospel singer, color commentator, and NFL pregame co-host. In addition to covering Bradshaw's life and career, Abrams discusses the stereotypes Bradshaw faced and his ability to turn those preconceived notions into a positive, likeable, "down home" image that enabled him to find success across the entertainment industries. Ultimately, Bradshaw has become not only an iconic sports figure, but a cultural icon, as well. Terry Bradshaw delivers a new and refreshing look at one of football's most-recognized athletes. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with coaches, friends, coworkers, and football fans, this book illuminates Bradshaw's celebrity status in the context of nearly 50 years of interacting with football fans and the larger American pop culture.

The candid and heartbreakingly honest memoir of Sylvia Kristel, the cinema icon of the 1970s who played the lead role in the worldwide sensation erotic Emmanuelle films. 1974: After a year of wrangling with the censors, the erotic film, Emmanuelle, is a blockbuster sensation on release in France and a box office triumph around the world from Japan to the States. The image that adorned cinemas across the world was of an unknown 20 year old posing naked, innocent and vulnerable on a wicker chair. Overnight Sylvia Kristel was propelled into international superstardom (at the height of her fame she was invited to address the Brazilian parliament) and turned into an icon of sexual liberation. Sylvia Kristel was born of a dysfunctional family and an impossibly strict religious education. But having won the Miss TV Europe competition in 1973 she was driven by her own ambition to be an actress on the world stage and auditioned for the part of the innocent seductress in Emmanuelle. Through the phenomenal success of the three Emmanuelle films she starred in, she became the darling of Hollywood, as she seduced and was seduced by the rich and the beautiful of the golden age of cinema. But she found herself typecast as Emmanuelle and often played roles that capitalized upon that image, most notably starring in an adaptation of 'Lady Chatterly's Lover', and a nudity-filled biopic of World War I spy, Mata Hari, in which she played the title role. Almost inevitably she became the victim of her own innocence as it was Emmanuelle people wanted, not Sylvia. The price that she paid for her meteoric rise was an equally rapid descent into an excess of alcohol and drugs as her tempestuous family life threatened to fall apart all together. Naked, candid and heart-breakingly honest, 'Undressing Emmanuelle' tells the story of one of Europe's most celebrated cinema icons and the price she paid for her beauty and innocence.

From the very beginning, she was a radical. At age nineteen, Charlotte Cushman, America's beloved actress and the country's first true celebrity, left her life-and countless suitors-behind to make it as a Shakespearean actress. After revolutionizing the role of Lady Macbeth in front of many adoring fans, she went on the road, performing in cities across a dividing America and building her fame. She was everywhere. And yet, her name has faded in the shadows of history. Now, for the first time in decades, Cushman's story comes to full and brilliant life in this definitive, exhilarating, and enlightening biography of the 19th-century icon. With rarely seen letters, Wojczuk reconstructs the formative years of Cushman's life, set against the excitement and drama of New York City in the 1800s, featuring a cast of luminaries and revolutionaries that changed the cultural landscape. A vivid portrait of an astonishing and unique life, Lady Romeo reveals one of the most remarkable women, and restores her to the centre stage where she belongs.

This definitive portrayal of Tina Modotti brings to life the iconic artist who throughout her life vacillated between the purity of inspired creativity and the struggle for social justice. Incorporating extensive archival material, interviews with Modotti's contemporaries and many rare photographs, this illustrated biography magnificently portrays Tina Modotti, her contemporaries and their tumultous times. Shortlisted for the prestigious Infinity Award.

Award-winning songwriter Linda Thompson breaks her silence, sharing the extraordinary story of her life, career, and epic romances with two of the most celebrated, yet enigmatic, modern American superstars-Elvis Presley and Bruce Jenner For the last forty years, award-winning songwriter Linda Thompson has quietly led one of the most remarkable lives in show business. The longtime live-in love of Elvis Presley, Linda first emerged into the limelight during the 1970s when the former beauty pageant queen caught the eye of the King. Their chance late-night encounter at a movie theater was the stuff of legend, and it marked the beginning of a whirlwind that would stretch across decades, leading to a marriage with Bruce Jenner, motherhood, and more drama than she ever could have imagined. Now, for the first time, Linda opens up about it all, telling the full story of her life, loves, and everything in between. From her humble beginnings in Memphis to her nearly five-year relationship with Elvis, she offers an intimate window into their life together, describing how their Southern roots fueled and sustained Graceland's greatest romance. Going inside their wild stories and tender moments, she paints a portrait of life with the King, as raucous as it is refreshing. But despite the joy they shared, life with Elvis also had darkness, and her account also presents an unsparing look at Elvis's twin demons-drug abuse and infidelity-forces he battled throughout their time together that would eventually end their relationship just eight months before his untimely death. It was in the difficult aftermath of Elvis's death that Linda found what she believed was her true home: the arms of Olympic gold medal-winner Bruce Jenner. Detailing her marriage to Bruce, Linda reveals the seemingly perfect life that they built with their two young sons-Brandon and Brody-before Bruce changed everything with a secret he'd been carrying his entire life, a secret that Linda herself kept for nearly thirty years, a secret that Bruce's transition to Caitlyn Jenner has finally laid bare for the world. Providing a candid look inside one of the most challenging moments of her life, Linda uncovers the struggles she went through as a woman and a mother, coming to terms with the reality of Bruce's identity and resolving to embrace him completely no matter what, even as it meant they could no longer be together. And yet, despite her marriage unraveling, her search for love was not over, eventually leading her to the legendary music producer and musician David Foster-a relationship that lasted for nineteen tumultuous years, resulting in a bond that spurred her songwriting career to new heights but also tested her like never before. Filled with compelling and poignant stories and sixteen pages of photographs, A Little Thing Called Life lovingly recounts Linda's incredible journey through the years, bringing unparalleled insight into three legendary figures.

The most intimate portrait of Peter Cook to date, Cook's first wife writes of her life with Britain's most ingenious and innovative comedian, and offering a side of him few have ever seen. To his many fans, Peter Cook was quite simply the funniest man they never met. Over a decade since his untimely death, his reputation as one of Britain's greatest comics shows no sign of shrinking. Wendy Cook was a teenage art student when she first met the handsome Cambridge undergraduate in the early Sixties. They married soon after and together founded the Establishment clubs in London and New York, and financed the satirical magazine Private Eye. Wendy bore Peter his only children and they lived together during the most explosive time in Peter's amazing career. But the price of this stratospheric rise was high. 'I felt eventually I had to go my own way rather than stay with somebody who was that nihilistic. Alcohol stokes up the demons and a completely different person starts to emerge. He did know how to behave well, but it rotted into something else. At a certain point I thought, "This will be the end of me if I don't leave now."' Finally Wendy took her daughters to Majorca to live on a farm and the couple eventually divorced a few years later in 1971. Putting aside 30 years of discretion about her life with the comedian, Wendy decided to break her long silence to set down her memories. Comprised of personal anecdote, musings of intimate friends, from Alan Bennett to Jonathan Miller to Paul McCartney, and exclusive photography.

Most Hollywood biographies are little more than 500-page musings on the ' when-I-met... ' theme, filled with famous names, love affairs and cliche s of a ' meteoric rise' or ' tragic fall' . Bruce Campbell' s If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor is the boisterous antidote to such convention. Campbell is the ultimate ' B' Movie actor. Star of the cult Evil Dead trilogy, with a CV that ranges from buddy Sam Raimi' s Spider-Man, through The X-Files and Xena: Warrior Princess, to the less-than-glamorous Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, you' ve probably never heard of him. But his is one heck of a story! The popularity of Bruce, the cult hero of cable TV and Hollywood' s second rung, is burning brighter than ever, his legion of fans undiminished after over thirty years. Insightful, encouraging and brilliantly funny, If Chins Could Kill! is a brilliant place to start for those unfamiliar with his work. For everyone else, it acts as a wonderful reminder for just why they fell in love with him in the first place.

"Audrey in Rome" offers a revealing portrait of the star's life in the Eternal City as she truly lived it for more than two decades. This collection is a rare treat for Audrey fans, for thumbing through its pages is like having Hepburn's family scrapbook in hand. Here's Audrey strolling with a good friend on the city streets, shopping for flowers or stationery, eating breakfast on the Piazza Navona, or walking her Yorkie, Mr. Famous. Throughout the book, commentary by stylist Sciascia Gambaccini sheds light on her glamorous clothes and accessories - from the little black dress and straw handbag to the ballet flats - that comprised Audrey's distinctive, elegant, and still much-imitated look. Candid on-set photographs taken during the filming of movies made during that era, such as "Roman Holiday", "War and Peace", "The Nun's Story", and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" are included as well. With candid imagery and text, "Audrey in Rome" provides a wholly new perspective on one of the world's most enduring and beloved film and fashion icons - making it a unique collector's item for Audrey fans worldwide.