This is classic Hollywood history as told through the life and career of one of its most iconic actresses. The book benefits tremendously from the author's meeting with Olivia de Havilland after he was assigned to handle her projected memoir at the Delacorte Press in 1973. Amburn also knew many of the key figures in her life and career, a veritable pantheon of Hollywood royalty from the 30s, 40s, and 50s: Jimmy Stewart, George Cukor, and David O. Selznick, and he was an editor at William Morrow when the company published the autobiography of de Havilland's difficult sister Joan Fontaine. Superbly researched and full of delicious anecdotes about Clark Gable, John Huston, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Montgomery Clift, Errol Flynn, David Niven, and Bette Davis--particularly the bloody, bone-crunching fistfight Flynn and Huston waged over Olivia--this book not only profiles one of the finest actresses of her time, but also the culture of the film industry's Golden Age. It details de Havilland's relationships with the men who sought her--Howard Hughes, Jimmy Stewart, Errol Flynn, John F. Kennedy, Burgess Meredith, and John Huston, as well as her friendships with Grace Kelly, British Prime Minister Edward Heath, Ronald Reagan, Victor Fleming, and Ingrid Bergman. Here, too, are the fabulous and often surprising back stories of her 49 films, including Gone With the Wind, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Snake Pit, Hush . . . Hush, Sweet Charlotte, and the two for which she won Oscars, The Heiress and To Each His Own. The account of the filming of Gone With the Wind is unique in that the author interviewed many of the people involved in the epic making of this masterpiece as Lois Dwight Cole, who discovered the novel, producer David O. Selznick, director George Cukor, agents Kay Brown and Annie Laurie Williams, Radie Harris, Vivien Leigh's closest friend in the press, and both Edie Goetz and Irene Mayer Selznick, daughters of Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM, the studio that funded, released, and ended up owning Gone With the Wind. Also included in this biography are Olivia's adventures with Bette Davis. They appeared together in four movies and Davis tried to destroy her, but Olivia stood up to Davis as no other actress had ever dared to do. She won Davis's respect, and by the time they made their biggest hit, Hush . . . Hush, Sweet Charlotte, a lasting friendship had blossomed. Undertaking a joint national publicity tour, they attracted mobs of boisterous fans and, in private, reminisced about the Golden Age of movies, evaluated the current crop of stars, and exchanged observations about love goddesses, nudity, and parenthood.

This book reveals how Fields became a character comedian while performing in Broadway's most illustrious revue, the Ziegfeld Follies. As the first biography to use the recently opened Fields Papers at the Motion Picture Academy, the book explores how Fields years as a Follies entertainer portraying a beleaguered husband and a captivating conman became a landmark turning point in his career, leading to his fame as a masterful film comedian. The book also untangles a web of mysteries about Fields's turbulent private life, from the heartrending stories about the tragic relationship with his calculating wife who refused to divorce him, to his estranged son controlled by his mother, to the seven-year extra-marital affair with a chorus girl that led to the birth of an unwanted child. This electrifying saga illuminates a complex dual personality, whirling from tenderness to brusqueness, who endured so much anguish in order to bring the gift of laughter to millions. Although vilified by Ziegfeld and assailed by demons, Fields survived the cutthroat rigors of Broadway show biz to become a legendary American iconoclast and cultural icon.

Though starring in only some twenty films and two engagements on Broadway, Audrey Hepburn earned her reputation through the quality of her work rather than the quantity of her performances. She was never driven by her career, and took years off between movies to spend with her family. As a child growing up in Arnhem when the Nazis invaded Holland, Hepburn witnessed the tragedy of war first-hand, and the impact of her experiences led her to a strong devotion to humanitarian causes. This book chronicles the career of Audrey Hepburn and sheds light on her private and enigmatic life. The brief biography included in the volume overviews her experiences and provides a context for her work as a performer. The entries that follow are devoted to her individual performances and include cast and credit information, plot synopses, excerpts from reviews, and critical commentary on her work. Entries are grouped in chapters devoted to her stage, film, radio, and television appearances, while appendices list her awards. An annotated bibliography lists and describes sources of additional information about this enchanting performer.

(Applause Books). Bill Marx is the last living person to have worked professionally with the three Marx Brothers, his uncles Chico and Groucho and his father, Harpo Marx. Because Chico and Groucho had siblings that had written about them, Bill Marx wanted to complete the Marx Brothers' literary trifecta by authoring a book about the personal and professional relationships that he had with his father. Son of Harpo Speaks , in addition to offering a unique perspective of a very special man and revealing many stories never before in print, is also a book about a "too-Hollywood-to-believe" life-altering quirk of fate that ultimately brought him together with his parents. The background for this remarkable revelation unfolded unassumingly over a glass of wine and some conversation in the famous 1960s nightclub, Dino's Lodge, on Hollywood's Sunset Strip. It would subsequently lead the author to explore the complex life task of dealing with his emotional scars of rejection and the secure feelings of acceptance, the latter due to his overwhelmingly good fortune of having been adopted by two loving parents. Plenty of "show-biz" and "sizzle" are also sprinkled throughout to make for a very enjoyable read.

Actress, singer, indie icon and embodiment of Parisian cool, Charlotte Gainsbourg is one of the most intriguing yet understated stars of our time. This book, the first detailed study of Gainsbourg, charts the trajectory of her star persona across four decades, from her early work with her father and ground-breaking collaboration with Claude Miller to her more recent collaborations with Lars von Trier and music producers like Beck and Air. The book combines textual analysis of performance, costume, place, characterisation and narrative with archival research and extra-cinematic materials to interrogate the construction of Gainsbourg's persona. As well as providing a comprehensive overview of her career to date, it examines her circulation in a transnational context and across a range of media platforms, exploring notions of gender, beauty and nationality in relation to her embodiment of femininity, Frenchness and transnationality. -- .

With her striking looks, the raven-haired, dark eyed Ruth Roman had an air of sophistication that made her seem sexy yet wholesome. She had to strive harder than most to establish herself as a leading actress in Hollywood during its glory years and finally broke through in 1949 with her role in Champion. As one of the last Warner Bros. contract players, she appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's classic Strangers on a Train. Seen at her best in strong parts, such as the ambitious Ronda Castle in Anthony Mann's The Far Country or as a modern-day Lady Macbeth, she enjoyed a varied career as a freelancer before re-inventing herself as a character actress of note on television. A remarkable return to the screen in the bizarre psycho-horror The Baby (1973) assured her of cult status. This is the first book dedicated to a committed but often undervalued actress who is fondly remembered by fans of classic film. More than a biography, it seeks to contextualize the actress within her own time, illuminate her Hollywood experience and celebrate her extensive career.

Always in competition with her older, more famous sister, Olivia de Havilland, Joan Fontaine had a varied and successful career of her own. She eventually attained stardom for her work in the film Rebecca, which won the 1940 Academy Award for best picture. The following year, she won the Academy Award for best actress in Suspicion, beating out her sister for the coveted prize. This book tells the story of her fascinating career and provides full information for her many performances. A short biography of Fontaine begins the book and overviews the rivalry between Fontaine and her sister, her disappointing marriages, her illnesses, and her productive and rewarding career as an entertainer. Chapters then provide detailed information for her films, radio and television shows, and stage appearances. Each chapter contains individual entries for her productions, with entries providing cast and credit information, a plot summary, a critical analysis, and excerpts from reviews. An annotated bibliography provides information about books and articles related to every aspect of Joan Fontaine's life and work.

""I didn't decide to become anorexic. It snuck up on me disguised as a healthy diet, a professional attitude. Being as thin as possible was a way to make the job of being an actress easier . . ." "

Portia de Rossi weighed only 82 pounds when she collapsed on the set of the Hollywood film in which she was playing her first leading role. This should have been the culmination of all her years of hard work--first as a child model in Australia, then as a cast member of one of the hottest shows on American television. On the outside she was thin and blond, glamorous and successful. On the inside, she was literally dying.

In this searing, unflinchingly honest book, Portia de Rossi captures the complex emotional truth of what it is like when food, weight, and body image take priority over every other human impulse or action. She recounts the elaborate rituals around eating that came to dominate hours of every day, from keeping her daily calorie intake below 300 to eating precisely measured amounts of food out of specific bowls and only with certain utensils. When this wasn't enough, she resorted to purging and compulsive physical exercise, driving her body and spirit to the breaking point.

Even as she rose to fame as a cast member of the hit television shows "Ally McBeal "and "Arrested Development, "Portia alternately starved herself and binged, all the while terrified that the truth of her sexuality would be exposed in the tabloids. She reveals the heartache and fear that accompany a life lived in the closet, a sense of isolation that was only magnified by her unrelenting desire to be ever thinner. With the storytelling skills of a great novelist and the eye for detail of a poet, Portia makes transparent as never before the behaviors and emotions of someone living with an eating disorder.

From her lowest point, Portia began the painful climb back to a life of health and honesty, falling in love with and eventually marrying Ellen DeGeneres, and emerging as an outspoken and articulate advocate for gay rights and women's health issues.

In this remarkable and beautifully written work, Portia shines a bright light on a dark subject. A crucial book for all those who might sometimes feel at war with themselves or their bodies, "Unbearable Lightness "is a story that inspires hope and nourishes the spirit.

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.

Frank Sinatra is an iconic figure in music, but his film career is often overlooked. His innate talent as an actor is proven in many serious dramatic roles, including films like Man with the Golden Arm, The Manchurian Candidate, and From Here to Eternity, for which he received an Oscar. From romantic musical comedies to Rat Pack films, Frank Sinatra achieved a great deal of success in motion pictures. He even took a stab at directing. This book examines each of Frank Sinatra's movies, from his early years as a bobby soxer idol, to more serious roles that exhibited the depth of his talent. Provided are background stories, production information, critical assessments, and an explanation of how his career as a recording artist connected to the movie. Discover through 60 photographs, interviews, and more, this underappreciated aspect of Sinatra's career.

Born into an upper-crust family in New Orleans, Cora Bell Witherspoon (1890-1957) was an orphan by the age of 10 and a professional actress by 15. She was seen on Broadway from 1910 till 1946 in 36 productions and was a popular character actress in Hollywood between 1931 and 1954. On stage she played roles like Sallie McBride in Daddy Long Legs, Josephine Trent in The Awful Truth, Martha Culver in The Constant Wife, Prudence in Camille, and Mrs. Grant in The Front Page. Like many Hollywood supporting players, her screen time was limited. She made the most of it, whether as W.C. Fields's shrewish wife in The Bank Dick, Bette Davis's fair weather friend Carrie in Dark Victory, the earthy, amorous maid Patty in Quality Street, or the overbearing dowager Mrs. Williamson in The Mating Season. On both stage and screen, Witherspoon portrayed a range of stereotypes of older women. In the end, though, she created her own type, incarnating the fashionable, frivolous, flighty, and fawning society woman, often with a thinly veiled libidinous quality. In addition to a detailed account of Witherspoon's theater and film career, this groundbreaking biography reveals her upbringing and family background and discusses her struggle with substance abuse, which resulted in two highly publicized arrests and one conviction.

Maverick Slovenian cultural theorist, philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Zizek has made his name elaborating the complexities of psychoanalytic and Marxist theory through the exotic use of examples from film and popular culture. But what if we were to take Zizek's pretensions to cinephilia and film criticism seriously? In this book, adopting Zizek's own tactic of counterintuitive observation, we shall read the corpus of Alfred Hitchcock's films ('one of the great achievements of Western civilization') and Zizek's idiosyncratic citation of them in order to arrive at a position where we can identify the core commitments that inform Zizek's own work. From the practice of Hitchcock we shall (hopefully) arrive at a theory of Zizek (just as Zizek in his collection Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Lacan (But Were Afraid to Ask Hitchcock) (Verso, 1992) arrives at a theory of Lacan from the practice of Hitchcock). To achieve this goal each chapter looks at a specific film by Hitchcock and explores a specific key concept crucial to the elaboration and core of Zizek's ideas.

This book focuses on the re-invigoration of Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp persona in America from the point at which Chaplin reached the acme of his disfavor in the States, promoted by the media, through his departure from America forever in 1952, and ending with his death in Switzerland in 1977. By considering factions of America as diverse as 8mm film collectors, Beat poets and writers and readers of Chaplin biographies, this cultural study determines conclusively that Chaplin's Little Tramp never died, but in fact experienced a resurgence, which began slowly even before 1950 and was wholly in effect by 1965 and then confirmed by 1972, the year in which Chaplin returned to the United States for the final time, to receive accolades in both New York and Los Angeles, where he received an Oscar for a lifetime of achievement in film.

This book explores how comedian Stephen Colbert's satiric views of American life have captured the imagination of viewers around the world-and sharpened these individuals' own critical interpretations and opinions on current events. Stephen Colbert may be "just a comedian"-one not all audiences find funny, especially among those who have been mercilessly lampooned by him-but there is no arguing that the condescending, bombastic, and largely ignorant pundit he plays on Comedy Central has brought awareness of current events and political happenings to a substantially larger portion of the American population. The only available biography on Stephen Colbert, this book examines his life story and details how he became one of the most influential people on current American culture. Beginning with coverage of Colbert's childhood, the chapters discuss his education, highlighting his interest in drama; describe his introduction to the world of comedy; review his contributions as a "correspondent" on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart; and focus on Colbert's accomplishments and antics as the star of his faux news program that debuted in the fall of 2005, The Colbert Report. Photographs depicting Stephen Colbert liven the text A bibliography supplies additional resources, such as websites and magazine and journal articles

Printed on high-quality card material, and packaged in a handy un-bendable box, this tarot deck celebrates the legacy of Meryl Streep. With more credits to her name than cards in tarot, and 21 Academy Awards to boot, she's a guiding beacon for us all to follow when times are unclear. This deck is based on the structure of the classic Rider-Waite, with each card featuring a Meryl from her career's many highlights. And hey: if your future, as ordained by these cards, ain't looking so bright - just turn on one of your favorite movies she's been in and lose yourself in her RAW talent. Meryl, we're not worthy.

Wilfrid Brambell was one of Britain's most loved and complex character actors. As Albert Ladysmith Steptoe, the unscrupulous rag-and-bone man with questionable habits in Ray Galton and Alan Simpson's long-running Steptoe & Son, he quickly became a household name with co-star Harry H. Corbett. But despite scores of other successes in roles on stage, TV and film, Brambell died a sad and lonely man. Alongside fame and fortune, 'You Dirty Old Man!' reveals how Brambell suffered unbelievable personal heartache, battling an inner turmoil that eventually drove him to drink as his marriage collapsed in the most deceitful circumstances imaginable. His torment led to a secretive life off camera where he did everything possible to stay out of the public eye. Featuring original interviews with film directors Richard Lester, Terence Davies and Tony Palmer, as well as recollections from his own family members, the family of Harry H. Corbett and those who worked alongside him, author David Clayton seeks to re-examine the legacy of a man whose loyal fanbase remains undiminished sixty years on from his heyday.

Abraham Polonsky (1910-1999), screenwriter and filmmaker of the mid-twentieth-century Left, recognized his writerly mission to reveal the aspirations of his characters in a material society structured to undermine their hopes. In the process, he ennobled their struggle. His auspicious beginning in Hollywood reached a zenith with his Oscar-nominated screenplay for Robert Rossen's boxing noir, Body and Soul (1947), and his inaugural film as writer and director, Force of Evil (1948), before he was blacklisted during the McCarthy witch hunt. Polonsky envisioned cinema as a modern artist. His aesthetic appreciation for each technical component of the screen aroused him to create voiceovers of urban cadences--poetic monologues spoken by the city's everyman, embodied by the actor who played his heroes best, John Garfield. His use of David Raksin's score in Force of Evil, against the backdrop of the grandeur of New York City's landscape and the conflict between the brothers Joe and Leo Morse, elevated film noir into classical family tragedy. Like Garfield, Polonsky faced persecution and an aborted career during the blacklist. But unlike Garfield, Polonsky survived to resume his career in Hollywood during the ferment of the late sixties. Then his vision of a changing society found allegorical expression in Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here, his impressive anti-Western showing the destruction of the Paiute rebel outsider, Willie Boy, and cementing Polonsky as a moral voice in cinema. Andrew Dickos, New York, New York, is the author of Street with No Name: A History of the Classic American Film Noir and Intrepid Laughter: Preston Sturges and the Movies. He is a commentator on Paramount Home Entertainment's DVD of Preston Sturges's The Miracle of Morgan's Creek and the contributor on film noir to the Columbia World of Quotations.

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

Claude Chabrol (1930-2010) was a founding member of the French New Wave, the group of filmmakers that revolutionized French filmmaking in the late 1950s and early 1960s. One of the most prolific directors of his generation, Chabrol averaged more than one film per year from 1958 until his death in 2010. Among his most influential films, Le Beau Serge, Les Cousins, and Les Bonnes Femmes established his central place within the New Wave canon. In contrast to other filmmakers of the New Wave such as Jean-Luc Godard and Eric Rohmer, Chabrol exhibited simultaneously a desire to create films as works of art and an impulse to produce work that would be commercially successful and accessible to a popular Audience. The seventeen interviews in this volume, most of which have been translated into English for the first time, offer new insights into Chabrol's remarkably wide-ranging filmography, providing a sense of his attitudes and ideas about a number of Subjects. Chabrol shares anecdotes about his work with such actors as Isabelle Huppert, Gerard Depardieu, and Jean Yanne, and offers fresh perspectives on other directors including Jean-Luc Godard, Fritz Lang, and Alfred Hitchcock. His mistrust of conventional wisdom often leads him to make pronouncements intended as much to shock as to elucidate, and he frequently questions established ideas and normative attitudes toward moral, ethical, and social behaviors. Chabrol's intelligence is far-reaching, moving freely between philosophy, politics, psychology, literature, and history, and his iconoclastic spirit, combined with his blend of sarcasm and self-deprecating humor, give his interviews a tone that hovers between a high moral seriousness and a cynical sense of hilarity in the face of the world's complexities.