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Books > Arts & Architecture > Performing arts > Individual actors & performers
'The book is filled with that most distinctive of all her qualities: her voice' The Times Home Work, the second instalment of Julie Andrews' internationally bestselling memoirs, begins with her arrival in Hollywood to make her screen debut in Walt Disney's Mary Poppins. It was closely followed by The Sound of Music, and the beginning of a movie career that would make her an icon to millions all over the world. With her trademark charm and candour, Julie reveals behind-the-scenes details and reflections on her impressive body of work - from the incredible highs to the challenging lows. She shares her professional experiences and collaborations with giants of cinema and television, and also unveils her personal story of adjusting to a new and often daunting world. This included dealing with unimaginable public scrutiny, being a new mother, embracing two stepchildren, adopting two more children, and falling in love with the brilliant and mercurial Blake Edwards. The pair worked together in numerous films, including 10, S.O.B and Victor/Victoria. Home Work takes us on a rare and intimate journey into a remarkable life that is funny, heart-breaking and inspiring.
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.
Animated by a singularly subversive spirit, the fiendishly intelligent works of Stuart Gordon (1947-2020) are distinguished by their arrant boldness and scab-picking wit. Provocative gems such as Re-Animator, From Beyond, Dolls, The Pit and the Pendulum, and Dagon consolidated his fearsome reputation as one of the masters of the contemporary horror film, bringing an unfamiliar archness, political complexity, and critical respect to a genre so often bereft of these virtues. A versatile filmmaker, one who resolutely refused to mellow with age, Gordon proved equally adept at crafting pointed science fiction (Robot Jox, Fortress, Space Truckers), sweet-tempered fantasy (The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit), and nihilistic thrillers (King of the Ants, Edmond, Stuck), customarily scrubbing the sharply drawn lines between exploitation and arthouse cinema. The first collection of interviews ever to be published on the director, Stuart Gordon: Interviews contains thirty-six articles spanning a period of fifty years. Bountiful in anecdote and information, these candid conversations chronicle the trajectory of a fascinating career-one that courted controversy from its very beginning. Among the topics Gordon discusses are his youth and early influences, his founding of Chicago's legendary Organic Theatre (where he collaborated with such luminaries as Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, and David Mamet), and his transition into filmmaking where he created a body of work that injected fresh blood into several ailing staples of American cinema. He also reveals details of his working methods, his steadfast relationships with frequent collaborators, his great love for the works of Lovecraft and Poe, and how horror stories can masquerade as sociopolitical commentaries.
ABOUT THE BOOK This unusual book is more than just the memoir of a distinguished career. It is a history of the twentieth century reflected in the life and work of one individual. It begins in 1938 with a year in the life of an eight year old Viennese Jewish boy as he experiences the worst and best of humanity, from Nazi persecution to rescue by strangers through the Kindertransports. It tells of his encounters with an English schooling system at its worst and best and of his formative years as a 'History Boy' and Cambridge undergraduate. But this is not a story of one person's liberation. That little refugee boy grew up to contribute to the liberation of hundreds of thousands of people world-wide. Influenced by his own early experiences, Peter Mittler has spent a lifetime committed to the human rights of people with intellectual disabilities. From their liberation from the big institutions left over from the nineteenth century, to their inclusion in shaping the 2008 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, this book tells the story of a dynamic and powerful human rights movement. It is perhaps the last great untold story, the story of how persons with intellectual disabilities finally gained the right to respect, value and autonomy and of the long struggle for schooling, access to work and their own front door key. This memoir weaves professional memories and accounts of collaboration across the global village with anecdotes and travellers' tales to reflect a global perspective from someone who was there at every twist and turn, working with families, teachers, researchers, governments and self-advocates for over 60 years to influence legislation and drive lasting reform.
Mickey Rooney is a cinematic icon whose career lasted from the silent era into the twenty-first century. From the shorts he made as Mickey McGuire to supporting roles in such films as Night at the Museum, Rooney had more than 300 film appearances to his credit. Mickey Rooney was not just a movie star, he was the most popular film performer for several years in a row in the 1930s. In addition to his four Academy Award nominations, Rooney received two special Oscars, including an honorary award for his variety of memorable performances spanning several decades. In The Essential Mickey Rooney, James L. Neibaur examines more than sixty feature films in which the actor appeared, from starring roles in Boys Town, Babes in Arms, and The Human Comedy to acclaimed supporting performances in The Bold and the Brave and The Black Stallion. In addition to familiar works like the Andy Hardy comedies or musicals opposite Judy Garland, lesser known films like Quicksand and Drive a Crooked Road are discussed as examples of the masterful performances he offered again and again. An actor of rare talent and unrestrained exuberance, Rooney appeared so often on film that it probably is impossible to view every performance of his career-one that lasted longer than any other actor in Hollywood. While minor roles are not discussed here, all of his vintage works are, making The Essential Mickey Rooney an indispensable resource for anyone wanting to learn more about the best work of this film icon.
This book presents the research journey involved in sensitively unearthing and re-presenting the lived experience of women casual academics. The author weaves the as yet unvoiced stories of women casual academics with a reflective account of a narrative inquiry process. In doing so, she both critiques and offers an alternative to masculine and traditional academic discourse, and demonstrates the power of imagistic and theatrical communication. The book situates the felt human and post-human experience/s of narrative research alongside the philosophical and theoretical research practices encountered in an arts-informed narrative research project. Thus, the author establishes valuable frameworks for planning, undertaking and evaluating arts-informed narrative research; a growing and vibrant area of education research. This innovative work will be of interest to feminist researchers, teachers and supervisors, as well as students and scholars of women casual academics.
Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner first crossed paths as actors on the set of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Little did they know that their next roles, in a new science-fiction television series called Star Trek, would shape their lives in ways no one could have anticipated. In seventy-nine television episodes and six feature films, they grew to know each other more than most friends could ever imagine. Over the course of half a century, Shatner and Nimoy saw each other through personal and professional highs and lows. In this powerfully emotional book, Shatner tells the story of a man who was his friend for five decades, recounting anecdotes and untold stories of their lives on and off set, as well as gathering stories from others who knew Nimoy well, to present a full picture of a rich life. As much a biography of Nimoy as a story of their friendship, Leonard is a uniquely heartfelt book written by one legendary actor in celebration of another.
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.
If you thought you knew Buster Keaton's silent features, think again. By keying on 1920 period texts one sees how a popular but yet cult star (yes cult star ) is now on a par with Charlie Chaplin. Why? Because his dark comedy anticipation of the Theater of the Absurd speaks to a modern audience like no other silent comedian. Only one Jazz Age critic, Robert Sherwood, seemed to understand why he was ahead of his time: "...he can impress a weary world with the vitally important fact that life, after all, is a foolishly inconsequential affair." Take a look at why The General was a groundbreaking dark comedy but not Keaton's greatest film. Plus, discover why this inspired film really failed in the nineteen twenties. Amazing new period discoveries are also showcased about Sherlock, Jr. Read the revisionist case for The Navigator being the Keaton film. Plus, discover why James Agee's groundbreaking "Comedies Greatest Era" should really have keyed on Chaplin and Keaton. Explore why one of Keaton's period nicknames was "Zero," or why Go West can be seriously mentioned in the same sentence with Krazy Kat and and Edward Albee. If you love silent comedy-if you thought you knew silent comedy-here is the text to reconfigure your understanding of Keaton and nineteen twenties comedy. Don't miss out.
This book focuses on Romeo Castellucci's theatrical project, exploring the ethical and aesthetic framework determined by his reflection on the nature of the image. But why does a director whose fundamental artistic tool is the image deny this key conceptual notion? Rooted in his conscious distancing from iconoclasm in the 1980s, Castellucci frequently replaces this notion with the words 'symbol', 'form' and 'idea'. As the first publication on the international market which presents Castellucci's work from both historical and theoretical perspectives, this book systematically confronts the director's discourse with other concepts related to his artistic project. Capturing the evolution of his theatre from icon to iconoclasm, word to image and symbol to allegory, the book explores experimental notions of staging alongside an 'emotional wave', which serves as an animating principle of Castellucci's revolutionary theatre.
For ten years Jack Nicholson toiled in low-budget films and guest spots in such television shows as Dr. Kildare and The Andy Griffith Show before his breakout performance in Easy Rider. Despite "retiring" in 2010, Nicholson remains one of the most revered actors of the last half century. Nominated for twelve Academy Awards-the most of any male actor-Nicholson has received three Oscars and countless other honors. The Essential Jack Nicholson looks at the key films in the career of one of Hollywood's biggest stars. After a brief profile of the actor, James L. Neibaur highlights each of Nicholson's most important works, explaining why his performances are essential viewing. In addition to Easy Rider, the films discussed include Five Easy Pieces, The Last Detail, Chinatown, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining, Reds, Terms of Endearment, Prizzi's Honor, Ironweed, Batman, A Few Good Men, As Good as It Gets, About Schmidt, and The Departed. Neibaur also provides details about each film's production, critical reaction, commercial reception, major nominations, and awards. A filmography of all of Nicholson's movie roles (and select television performances) is also included. The Essential Jack Nicholson is a valuable source of information for fans of this iconic star and his films.
"Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?" These famous lines from The Graduate (1967) would forever link Anne Bancroft (1931 - 2005) to the groundbreaking film and confirm her status as a movie icon. Along with her portrayal of Annie Sullivan in the stage and film drama The Miracle Worker, this role was a highlight of a career that spanned a half-century and brought Bancroft an Oscar, two Tonys, and two Emmy awards. In the first biography to cover the entire scope of Bancroft's life and career, Douglass K. Daniel brings together interviews with dozens of her friends and colleagues, never-before-published family photos, and material from film and theater archives to present a portrait of an artist who raised the standards of acting for all those who followed. Daniel reveals how, from a young age, Bancroft was committed to challenging herself and strengthening her craft. Her talent (and good timing) led to a breakthrough role in Two for the Seesaw, which made her a Broadway star overnight. The role of Helen Keller's devoted teacher in the stage version of The Miracle Worker would follow, and Bancroft also starred in the movie adaption of the play, which earned her an Academy Award. She went on to appear in dozens of film, theater, and television productions, including several movies directed or produced by her husband, Mel Brooks. Anne Bancroft: A Life offers new insights into the life and career of a determined actress who left an indelible mark on the film industry while remaining true to her art.
Many important Broadway stars appeared in the cinema from its very earliest days. Many were 19th century stage idols who reprised their most famous roles as early as 1894, and who might have no other depiction of their work extant. One was born as early as 1829; another was appearing in the play at which Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. One took her stage name from her native state. There are many other fascinating stories. Some contemporary stars began their careers on Broadway as well; some are still appearing in the cinema today. This book discusses the careers of 300 performers in all theater and screen genres from tragedy to farce to musical comedy-and from one-reelers to epics. A few made only a single film, others hundreds. They all came from the Great White Way and eventually brought their talents to the screen. Each entry includes highlights of the performer's career and a selected stageography and filmography.
Fred Rogers was an international celebrity. He was a pioneer in children's television, an advocate for families, and a multimedia artist and performer. He wrote the television scripts and music, performed puppetry, sang, hosted, and directed Mister Rogers' Neighborhood for more than thirty years. In his almost nine-hundred episodes, Rogers pursued dramatic topics: divorce, death, war, sibling rivalry, disabilities, racism. Rogers' direct, slow, gentle, and empathic approach is supported by his superior emotional strength, his intellectual and creative courage, and his joyful spiritual confidence. The Green Mister Rogers: Environmentalism in "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" centers on the show's environmentalism, primarily expressed through his themed week "Caring for the Environment," produced in 1990 in coordination with the twentieth anniversary of Earth Day. Unfolding against a trash catastrophe in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, Rogers advances an environmentalism for children that secures children in their family homes while extending their perspective to faraway places, from the local recycling center to Florida's coral reef. Rogers depicts animal wisdom and uses puppets to voice anxiety and hope and shows an interconnected world where each part of creation is valued, and love is circulated in networks of care. Ultimately, Rogers cultivates a practical wisdom that provides a way for children to confront the environmental crisis through action and hope and, in doing so, develop into adults who possess greater care for the environment and a capacious imagination for solving the ecological problems we face.
Delmer Daves (1904-1977) was an American screenwriter, director, and producer known for his dramas and Western adventures, most notably Broken Arrow and 3:10 to Yuma. Despite the popularity of his films, there has been little serious examination of Daves's work. Filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier has called Daves the most forgotten of American directors, and to date no scholarly monograph has focused on his work. In The Films of Delmer Daves: Visions of Progress in Mid-Twentieth-Century America, author Douglas Horlock contends that the director's work warrants sustained scholarly attention. Examining all of Daves's films, as well as his screenplays, scripts that were not filmed, and personal papers, Horlock argues that Daves was a serious, distinctive, and enlightened filmmaker whose work confronts the general conservatism of Hollywood in the mid-twentieth century. Horlock considers Daves's films through the lenses of political and social values, race and civil rights, and gender and sexuality. Ultimately, Horlock suggests that Daves's work-through its examination of bigotry and irrational fear and depiction of institutional and personal morality and freedom-presents a consistent, innovative, and progressive vision of America.
Show-business legend Dick Van Dyke is living proof that life does get better the longer you live it. Who better to offer instruction, advice, and humour than someone who's entering his ninth decade with a jaunty two-step? Van Dyke isn't just a born song-and-dance man his irrepressible belief in embracing the moment and unleashing his inner child has proved to be the ultimate elixir of youth. When he was injured during the filming of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang , his doctor warned him he'd be using a walker within seven years, but Dick performed a soft shoe right there and never looked back.In Keep Moving , Dick Van Dyke offers his own playful anecdotes and advice, as well as insights from his brother, actor Jerry Van Dyke his friend and creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show , Carl Reiner and other spirited friends and family. Whether he's describing the pleasure he takes in his habitual visits to the grocery store how he met his late-in-life-love Arlene or how he sprung back, livelier than ever, from a near-death experience, Dick's optimistic outlook is an invigorating tonic for anyone who needs a reminder that life should be lived with enthusiasm despite what the calendar says. You don't have to act your age. You don't even have to feel it. And if it does attempt to elbow its way into your life, you do not have to pay attention. If I am out shopping and hear music playing in a store, I start to dance. If I want to sing, I sing. I read books and get excited about new ideas. I enjoy myself. I don't think about the way I am supposed to act at my age - or at any age. As far as I know, there is no manual for old age. There is no test you have to pass. There is no way you have to behave. There is no such thing as'age appropriate.'When people ask my secret to staying youthful at an age when getting up and down from your chair on your own is considered an accomplishment, you know what I tell them?'Keep moving.'"- Dick Van Dyke
Milton H. Greene (1922-1985), famous for his fashion photography and celebrity portraits from the golden age of Hollywood, met Marilyn Monroe on a photo shoot for Look magazine in 1953. The pair developed an instant rapport, quickly becoming close friends and ultimately business partners. In 1954, after helping her get out of her studio contract with 20th Century Fox, they created Marilyn Monroe Productions, Inc. Milton and Marilyn were much more then business partners, Marilyn became a part of the Greene family. By the time their relationship had ended in 1957, the pair had produced two feature films, in addition to more than 5,000 photographs of the iconic beauty. There was magic in Milton and Marilyn's working relationship. The trust and confidence they had in each other's capabilities was on full display in each photo. Greene passed in 1985, thinking his life's work was succumbing to the ravages of time. His eldest son, Joshua, began a journey to meticulously restore his father's legacy. A photographer himself, Joshua spent years researching ways to restore his father's photographs as well as cataloguing and promoting Milton's vast body of work all over the world. After spending nearly two decades restoring his father's archive, Joshua Greene and his company are widely regarded as one of the leaders in photographic restoration and have been at the forefront of the digital imaging and large-format printing revolution. Now Joshua Greene, in conjunction with Iconic Images, presents The Essential Marilyn Monroe: Milton H. Greene, 50 Sessions. With 280 photographs, including many never-before published and unseen images, newly scanned and restored classics, as well as images that have appeared only once in publication, Greene's Marilyn Monroe archive can finally be viewed as it was originally intended when these pictures were first produced more than 60 years ago. These classic sessions - 50 in all - cover Monroe at the height of her astonishing beauty and meteoric fame. From film-sets to the bedroom, at home and at play, Joshua has curated a lasting tribute to the work of a great photographer and his greatest muse. Poignant and powerful, joyful and stunning - these breath-taking images of an icon stand above all the rest. The Essential Marilyn Monroe: Milton H. Greene, 50 Sessions is sure to be a book that will become the platinum standard in photography monographs. Numbered to only 250 copies, this deluxe edition will be produced with the highest quality paper and cloth binding, packaged in a stunning cloth clamshell presentation case. Each book will come with a limited edition estate-stamped print, measuring 355 x 279mm, from Marilyn's 'Negligee Sitting', which will be hand numbered, and a letter of authenticity from the Milton Greene estate.
Since its founding in 1923, the Walt Disney Company has become an American institution and one of the most successful businesses in history. This book takes an in-depth look at the evolution of this iconic and sometimes controversial corporation. It's hard to imagine a childhood without the ubiquitous presence of Disney. From classics like Cinderella and Bambi to such modern blockbusters as Mulan and Frozen, Disney's animated features have captivated audiences for decades. Visiting CaliforniA's Disneyland or FloridA's Disney World has become the quintessential family vacation. Children dress as their favorite Disney characters for Halloween, while young-at-heart adults collect all manner of Disney memorabilia. But how much do you really know about this integral piece of Americana? Part of Greenwood's Corporations That Changed the World series, this book provides readers with a richly detailed history of a company that has become synonymous with what it means to grow up as an American. It chronicles Walt Disney's early years and the evolution of the Walt Disney Company from animation studio to entertainment powerhouse. It also explores how Disney changed the landscape of animation and movie making forever. An unbiased look at the controversies that have surrounded Disney over the years will help readers better understand these contentious issues and how the company has responded. Provides readers with a better understanding of the impact of Disney on American life, from movie making techniques to how modern-day Florida is governed Explores Walt Disney's early life and career, helping readers understand how they influenced his later success Traces Disney's enduring influence on animation and how the art form has evolved over the decades Examines the many controversies that have emerged over the years, from accusations that Walt Disney was anti-Semitic to concerns about sexist portrayals of women and girls
"The author has a sophisticated command of the material and the book is balanced, judicious and very thorough. In particular, the author explores aspects of Lorre's career that have been neglected or misunderstood: his "Mr. Moto" roles; his extensive work on radio and television; and the final phase of his film career working at AIP." Andrew Spicer, University of the West of England " This book] makes a significant contribution to the existing literature on stardom and acting, with not only a useful reappraisal of Lorre's work and reputation but also with some valuable insights into the nature of "extra cinematic person," the interrelationship between radio and cinema during the studio era, and the significance of actor collaborations. This is a fascinating study of how misconceptions arise over time regarding an actor's persona and reputation." Martin Shingler, University of Sunderland Peter Lorre described himself as merely a 'face maker'. His own negative attitude also characterizes traditional perspectives which position Lorre as a tragic figure within film history: the promising European artist reduced to a Hollywood gimmick, unable to escape the murderous image of his role in Fritz Lang's "M." This book shows that the life of Peter Lorre cannot be reduced to a series of simplistic oppositions. It reveals that, despite the limitations of his macabre star image, Lorre's screen performances were highly ambitious, and the terms of his employment were rarely restrictive. Lorre's career was a complex negotiation between transnational identity, Hollywood filmmaking practices, the ownership of star images and the mechanics of screen performance. Sarah Thomas is Lecturer in Film Studies at Aberystwyth University.
"Tell the truth," her friend the director Lindsay Anderson urged Eleanor Fazan. "It's seldom heard." Nor is it easy to tell. But that's what "Fiz" has done: delivering frank and intimate accounts of her not-always-peaceful collaborations with the brilliant figures she has worked with over the decades - on stage in London's West End, on screen, and in opera. It's an amazing line-up: among performers, from Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge and George Formby to Barry Humphries, Alec Guinness, Laurence Olivier; among directors, Tony Richardson, John Schlesinger, and Stephen Frears; among writers, John Osborne and the legendary Beyond the Fringe team - Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore. Along the way we get musicians too: her husband Stanley Myers, composer of "Cavatina," the haunting theme from The Deerhunter, and the god-like maestro Herbert von Karajan. Fiz's memoir offers a modest, frank, and often startlingly perceptive account of the delights and difficulties of working with some of the most brilliant - and utterly impossible - writers, directors, and performers of the last sixty years. Her true stories of professional relationships are funny, affectionate, sometimes searing; always enlightening about the agonies and ecstasies of what goes on behind the scenes. |
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