In 'Pom-Poms Up , From Puberty to the Pythons and beyond, the British born, American raised and RADA trained actress reveals her life, loves and laughs as the 'Glamorous PYTHON GIRL' who famously kept her cool and a straight face in the heat of the humour generated by Cleese, Palin, Jones, Gilliam and the late Chapman, The 'MONTY' Pythons.

Stanley Baxter delighted over 20 million viewers at a time with his television specials. His pantos became legendary. His divas and dames were so good they were beyond description. Baxter was a most brilliant cowboy Coward, a smouldering Dietrich. He found immense laughs as Formby and Liberace. And his sex-starved Tarzan swung in a way Hollywood could never have imagined. But who is the real Stanley Baxter? The comedy actor's talents are matched only by his past reluctance to colour in the detail of his own character. Now, the man behind the mischievous grin, the twinkling eyes and the once- Brylcreemed coiffure is revealed. In a tale of triumphs and tragedies, of giant laughs and great falls from grace, we discover that while the enigmatic entertainer could play host to hundreds of different voices, the role he found most difficult to play was that of Stanley Baxter.

Danny Dyer is Britain's most popular young film star. Idolized by Harold Pinter and with his films having taken nearly $50 million at theUK box office, Dyer is the most bankable star in British independent films with one in 10 of the country's population owning one of his films on DVD. With iconic performances in such cult classicsas "The Business," "The Football Factory," "Dead Man Running," "Outlaw," and now "Vendetta," Dyer is oneof the most recognizable Englishmen in the world. For the first time, and with its subject's full cooperation, this book chronicles his film career in depth, combining production background with critical analysis to paint a fascinating picture of the contemporary British film industry and its brightest star. Packed with anecdotes from co-stars and colleagues, as well as contributions from the man himself, "The Films of Danny Dyer" is the ultimate companion to the work of Britain's grittiest star.

It-girl Betty White delivers a hilarious, slyly profound take on love, life, celebrity, and everything in between.
Drawing from a lifetime of lessons learned, seven-time Emmy winner Betty White's wit and wisdom take center stage as she tackles topics like friendship, romantic love, aging, television, fans, love for animals, and the brave new world of celebrity. "If You Ask Me" mixes her thoughtful observations with humorous stories from a seven- decade career in Hollywood. Longtime fans and new fans alike will relish Betty's candid take on everything from her rumored crush on Robert Redford (true) to her beauty regimen ("I have no idea what color my hair is and I never intend to find out") to the Facebook campaign that helped persuade her to host "Saturday Night Live" despite her having declined the hosting job three times already.
Featuring all-new material, with a focus on the past fifteen years of her life, "If You Ask Me" is funny, sweet, and to the point-just like Betty White.

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

Dwarstrekkers, nonkonformiste, buitestaanders, randeiers...Noem hulle wat jy wil, Suid Afrika het meer as sy deel eksentrieke karakters opgelewer wat mense van die vroegste tye af na hulle asem laat snak of verstom agter hulle hand laat fluister het.

Hierdie rare mense het met die jare hul merk gemaak op vele terreine.

Dis hulle wat Daniël Lotter aan 'n nuwe geslag lesers bekendstel.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "This extraordinary book is not only a chronicle of Ron's and Clint's early careers and their wild adventures, but also a primer on so many topics-how an actor prepares, how to survive as a kid working in Hollywood, and how to be the best parents in the world! The Boys will surprise every reader with its humanity." - Tom Hanks "I have read dozens of Hollywood memoirs. But The Boys stands alone. A delightful, warm and fascinating story of a good life in show business." - Malcolm Gladwell Happy Days, The Andy Griffith Show, Gentle Ben-these shows captivated millions of TV viewers in the '60s and '70s. Join award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard and audience-favorite actor Clint Howard as they frankly and fondly share their unusual family story of navigating and surviving life as sibling child actors. "What was it like to grow up on TV?" Ron Howard has been asked this question throughout his adult life. in The Boys, he and his younger brother, Clint, examine their childhoods in detail for the first time. For Ron, playing Opie on The Andy Griffith Show and Richie Cunningham on Happy Days offered fame, joy, and opportunity-but also invited stress and bullying. For Clint, a fast start on such programs as Gentle Ben and Star Trek petered out in adolescence, with some tough consequences and lessons. With the perspective of time and success-Ron as a filmmaker, producer, and Hollywood A-lister, Clint as a busy character actor-the Howard brothers delve deep into an upbringing that seemed normal to them yet was anything but. Their Midwestern parents, Rance and Jean, moved to California to pursue their own showbiz dreams. But it was their young sons who found steady employment as actors. Rance put aside his ego and ambition to become Ron and Clint's teacher, sage, and moral compass. Jean became their loving protector-sometimes over-protector-from the snares and traps of Hollywood. By turns confessional, nostalgic, heartwarming, and harrowing, THE BOYS is a dual narrative that lifts the lid on the Howard brothers' closely held lives. It's the journey of a tight four-person family unit that held fast in an unforgiving business and of two brothers who survived "child-actor syndrome" to become fulfilled adults.

It was his most electric and influential time as a live performer. The young and hungry Elvis, the rising star, burst onto stages large and small-sexy, controversial, brimming with talent and ambition. One lightning-hot year in Florida fueled his rise from novelty act to headlining megastar. Elvis Ignited follows the immensely talented musician through his tour of Florida in 1955-1956, where he played more concerts than in any other state in the country and where he first became the object of worship, scorn, and controversy. Bob Kealing interviews people who saw the King up close in high school gymnasiums, nightclubs, radio stations, and shopping centers, recalling the time-stands-still memories of hearing his hit songs for the first time and the shrieks of young fans at the sight of the young rockabilly god. Struck by a new kind of music and performances so different from anything they had known before, Floridians saw how special Elvis was before the rest of the world caught on. Kealing continues the story through Elvis's years in the army and the filming of Follow that Dream in Florida in 1961. Elvis's rise to fame in the Sunshine State was a turning point in American music history. It was the arrival of rock and roll.

Scotland's greatest export. The world's first super spy. Voted the sexiest man on the planet. Sir Sean Connery was a titanic figure on screen and off for over half a century. Behind the son of a factory worker, growing up in near-poverty on the harsh streets of pre-war Edinburgh, lay a timeless array of motion pictures that spanned multiple decades and saw Connery work across the globe with directors as diverse as Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay. And amongst them his greatest role, whether he liked it or not - Bond, James Bond. Author A. J. Black delves into Connery's life for more than mere biography, exploring not just the enormously varied pictures he made including crowd pleasing blockbusters such as The Untouchables or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, serious-minded fare in The Hill or The Offence, and his strange sojourns into eclectic fantasy with Zardoz or Time Bandits, but also the sweep of a career that crossed movie eras as well as decades. From skirmishes with the angry young men of the British New Wave, via becoming the cinematic icon of the 1960s as 007, through to a challenging reinvention as a unique older actor of stature in the 1980s, this exploration of the Cinematic Connery shows just how much his work reflected the changing movie-going tastes, political realities and cultural trends of the 20th century, and beyond . . .

The authoritative Beethoven biography, endorsed by and produced in close collaboration with the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, is timed for the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth. With unprecedented access to the archives at the Beethoven House in Bonn, renowned Beethoven conductor and scholar Jan Caeyers expertly weaves together a deeply human and complex image of Beethoven-his troubled youth, his unpredictable mood swings, his desires, relationships, and conflicts with family and friends, the mysteries surrounding his affair with the "immortal beloved," and the dramatic tale of his deafness. Caeyers also offers new insights into Beethoven's music and its gradual transformation from the work of a skilled craftsman into that of a consummate artist. Demonstrating an impressive command of the vast scholarship on this iconic composer, Caeyers brings Beethoven's world alive with elegant prose, memorable musical descriptions, and vivid depictions of Bonn and Vienna-the cities where Beethoven produced and performed his works. Caeyers explores how Beethoven's career was impacted by the historical and philosophical shifts taking place in the music world, and conversely, how his own trajectory changed the course of the music industry. Equal parts absorbing cultural history and lively biography, Beethoven, A Life paints a complex portrait of the musical genius who redefined the musical style of his day and went on to become one of the great pillars of Western art music.

The first authorised biography of eternal legend Elizabeth Taylor. Known for her glamorous beauty, soap-opera personal life and magnetic screen presence, Elizabeth Taylor was the twentieth century's most famous film star. Including unseen photographs and unread private reflections, this authorised biography is a fascinating and complete portrait worthy of the legend and her legacy. Elizabeth Taylor captures this intelligent, empathetic, tenacious, volatile and complex woman as never before, from her rise to massive fame at the age of twelve in National Velvet to becoming the first actor to negotiate a million-dollar salary for a film, from her eight marriages and enduring love affair with Richard Burton to her lifelong battle with addiction and her courageous efforts as an AIDS activist. Using Elizabeth's unpublished letters, diary entries and off-the-record interview transcripts as well as interviews with 250 of her closest friends and family, Kate Andersen Brower tells the full, unvarnished story of the classic Hollywood star who continues to captivate audiences the world over.

Now available as an ebook for the first time
No one knows the writer's Hollywood more intimately than William Goldman. Two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter and the bestselling author of Marathon Man, Tinsel, Boys and Girls Together, and other novels, Goldman now takes you into Hollywood's inner sanctums...on and behind the scenes for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and other films...into the plush offices of Hollywood producers...into the working lives of acting greats such as Redford, Olivier, Newman, and Hoffman...and into his own professional experiences and creative thought processes in the crafting of screenplays. You get a firsthand look at why and how films get made and what elements make a good screenplay. Says columnist Liz Smith, "You'll be fascinated.

Baroness Floella Benjamin is an inspiration, an actress and much-loved children's television presenter who is a member of the House of Lords. But how did the girl from Trinidad end up lunching with the Queen? In What Are You Doing Here? Floella describes arriving in London as a child, part of the Windrush generation, and the pain caused by the racism she encountered every day. It was offset by the love of her parents, who gave her the pride in her heritage, self-belief and confidence that have carried her through life. From winning a role in groundbreaking musical Hair (while clearly stating she would not take her clothes off) to breaking down barriers on Play School, from refusing to be typecast in roles to speaking out for diversity at the BBC and BAFTA, she has remained true to herself. She also reveals how she met husband Keith, became a mother of two, was befriended by Kenneth Williams, hugged President Obama, and found a purpose that would underpin everything she did - campaigning for the needs of children. Sharing the lessons she has learned, imbued with her joy and positivity, this autobiography is the moving testimony of a remarkable woman.

Say 'Eh-oh!' to Nikky Smedley and Laa-Laa Over the Hills and Far Away follows Nikky through the Teletubbies years, from her role as a bistro table during her audition to the show's international success and the accompanying hounding by the press. In this warm, funny, affectionate look back at life on the Teletubbies set, Nikky reveals all, including tales about dogs and asthma, raging arguments about fruit, and the games the cast and crew played to amuse themselves during long shoots in their massive costumes. Join Nikky and Laa-Laa on their extraordinary journey from the very beginning to handing the torch to another performer for the next generation.

An unrivalled icon of grace and femininity, Audrey Hepburn is perhaps the most beloved star in the history of cinema. She enchanted millions of people with the sweetness of her smile and her inimitable style and was able to renew her image throughout the decades, anticipating fashion trends and establishing a new ideal of beauty. This volume retraces Hepburn's incredible rise, from the early years to her worldwide fame. The book is divided into four sections: 'A Star is Born', which follows Audrey's first steps into the spotlight as a doe-eyed dancer; 'The Golden Age', how Audrey became the muse of Hubert de Givenchy and gave Hollywood a new ideal of elegance; 'A Diva's Style', which touches on Breakfast at Tiffany's, where Holly Golighty went down in the history of cinema with her sunglasses and little black dress, along with many others of Audrey's later film work; and 'Saving the Children'. This final section of the book puts great emphasis on her humanitarian work as UNICEF ambassador, on the side of all the children of the world. Both on screen and in real life, Audrey has remained faithful to the elegance of understatement and kindness, hidden behind her unforgettable smile.

Few American phenomena are more evocative of time, place, and culture than the drive-in theater. From its origins in the Great Depression, through its peak in the 1950s and 1960s and ultimately its slow demise in the 1980s, the drive-in holds a unique place in the country's collective past. Michigan's drive-ins were a reflection of this time and place, ranging from tiny rural 200-car "ozoners" to sprawling 2,500-car behemoths that were masterpieces of showmanship, boasting not only movies and food, but playgrounds, pony rides, merry-go-rounds, and even roving window washers.

No woman in the three-hundred-year history of the karyukai has ever come forward in public to tell her story -- until now.

"Many say I was the best geisha of my generation," writes Mineko Iwasaki. "And yet, it was a life that I found too constricting to continue. And one that I ultimately had to leave." Trained to become a geisha from the age of five, Iwasaki would live among the other "women of art" in Kyoto's Gion Kobu district and practice the ancient customs of Japanese entertainment. She was loved by kings, princes, military heroes, and wealthy statesmen alike. But even though she became one of the most prized geishas in Japan's history, Iwasaki wanted more: her own life. And by the time she retired at age twenty-nine, Iwasaki was finally on her way toward a new beginning.

Geisha, a Life is her story -- at times heartbreaking, always awe-inspiring, and totally true.

'I adored this book. It's so Geena and so inspiring and such a wonderful read' Emma Thompson A Times Film and Theatre Book of the Year 2022 From two-time Academy Award winner and screen icon Geena Davis, Dying of Politeness is the candid, surprising tale of her journey from her epically polite childhood to the roles that put her in the spotlight and gave her the strength to become a powerhouse in Hollywood. At three years old, Geena announced she was going to be in movies. Now, with a slew of iconic roles and awards under her belt, she has surpassed her childhood dream, but her journey has been one of fits and starts, with a pothole or two along the way. In this hilarious memoir, Geena regales us with tales of a career playing everything from an amnesiac assassin to the parent of a rodent in Stuart Little; a soap star in her underwear to a housewife turned road warrior in Thelma & Louise; a baseball phenomenon in A League of Their Own to the first female President of the United States in Commander in Chief, and more. She is frank about her eccentric childhood; her many relationships, including her spontaneous Las Vegas wedding to Jeff Goldblum; her archery exploits which led her to the Olympic trials; and how she became a tireless advocate for women and girls, founding her own institute which engages film and TV creators to better represent women and actors from diverse backgrounds. Dying of Politeness is a touching account of one woman's journey to fight for herself, and ultimately fighting for women all around the globe.