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Harlow Robinson

A biography of the Oscar-winning director and a study of his acclaimed films, like All Quiet on the Western Front, The Front Page, and Of Mice and Men.

 This comprehensive biography is the first to present Lewis Milestone’s remarkable life—a classic rags-to-riches American narrative—in full and explores his many acclaimed films from the silent to the sound era. Creator of All Quiet on the Western Front, Of Mice and Men, the original Ocean’s Eleven and Mutiny on the Bounty, Lewis Milestone (1895-1980) was one of the most significant, prolific, and influential directors of our time. A serious artist who believed in film’s power not only to entertain, but also to convey messages of social importance, Milestone was known as a man of principle in an industry not always known for an abundance of virtue.

 Born in Ukraine, Milestone came to America as a tough, resourceful Russian-speaking teenager and learned about film by editing footage from the front as a member of the Signal Corps of the US Army during World War I. During the course of his film career, which spanned more than 40 years, Milestone developed intense personal and professional relationships with such major Hollywood figures as Howard Hughes, Kirk Douglas, Marlene Dietrich, and Marlon Brando. Addressed are Milestone’s successes?he garnered 28 Academy Award nominations?as well as his challenges. Using newly available archival material, this work also examines Milestone’s experience during the Hollywood Blacklist period, when he was one of the first prominent Hollywood figures to fall under suspicion for his alleged Communist sympathies.

Praise for Lewis Milestone

“This highly readable biography of Lewis Milestone delivers the definitive study of a leading Jewish émigré director in Hollywood from the 1920s to the 1960s who worked successfully across multiple genres. Robinson seamlessly layers the scholarly expertise of a noted film historian of Russia and the Soviet Union with a novelist’s gift for narrative power and dramatic flair, bringing long overdue attention to Milestone’s fascinating life and enduring artistic achievements.” —Catherine Portuges, University of Massachusetts Amherst

“A welcome biography of a man whose films remain better known than his name . . . . Robinson concentrates on the key aspects of Milestone’s life and career, never getting bogged down in plot synopses or other minor issues. Rather than shoveling up endless rubble, he offers us the milestones of Milestone. Robinson’s story is as tight as most classic Hollywood films, and that deserves to be heralded. This is a book equally as valuable to film buffs as to academic scholars, speaking to readers inside and outside the academy.” —LA Review of Books

The University Press of Kentucky

Screen Classics

Lewis Milestone: Life and Films

Terry Chester Shulman

“A fascinating [and] beautifully written portrait of a tempestuous family that played a pivotal role in the development of American film” (Vanda Krefft, author of The Man Who Made the Movies).
 
 Adultery, secret marriages, divorce, custody battles, suicide attempts, alcoholism—the trials and tribulations of the Costellos were as riveting as any Hollywood feature film. Written with unprecedented access to the family’s personal documents and artifacts, and interviews with several family members, this riveting study explores the dramatic history of the Costellos and their significance to the stage and screen.
 
 This eccentric, tragic, yet talented clan was one of the twentieth century’s most accomplished families of actors—second only to the Barrymores, with whom they intermarried and begat a film dynasty riddled with jealousy, resentment, and heartbreak. Inevitably, the Costellos’ brilliant achievements would be eclipsed by their own immutable penchant for self-destruction. Patriarch Maurice “Dimples” Costello was considered the first screen idol until his career, marked by accusations of spousal abuse, drunkenness, and physical assault, abruptly ended. His daughter Dolores married John Barrymore, arguably the most famous man in Hollywood at the time, and their son would carry on the Barrymore name to successive generations of actors. Costello’s other daughter, Helene, was the first actress to star in an all-talking picture, The Lights of New York. However, her career was wracked by scandal in 1932 during her very public divorce from actor-director Lowell Sherman, who testified that his wife was a drunk and an avid reader of pornography.
 The original members of this pioneering family may be gone, but the name and legacy of the Costellos will live on through their accomplishments, films, and descendants—most notably, actress Drew Barrymore—and through this sweeping biography with “enough juicy material to have filled several volumes” (Leonard Maltin).

Film's First Family: The Untold Story of the Costellos

Ron Miller

James Bawden

“Insightful, often humorous, and always fascinating remembrances by some of the greatest names in entertainment history . . . a vibrant portrait of a bygone era.” —Brent Phillips, author of Charles Walters: The Director Who Made Hollywood Dance

During television's first fifty years—long before Hulu, Netflix, and the like—families would gather around their sets nightly to watch such shows as I Love Lucy, Gunsmoke, M*A*S*H, The Beverly Hillbillies, Fantasy Island, and The Rockford Files.

Seasoned journalists James Bawden and Ron Miller have captured provocative and entertaining interviews with beloved stars of shows like these, important figures from TV’s first half century. These thirty-nine interviews, selected from conversations conducted from 1971-1998, present a fascinating glimpse of some of television’s most influential performers. Featured are exclusive interviews with major stars (including Donna Reed, James Garner, and Ricardo Montalban), icons of comedy (including Lucille Ball, George Burns, and Milton Berle), TV hosts (including Dick Clark and Ed Sullivan), and notable musical entertainers (such as Glen Campbell, Mary Martin, and Lawrence Welk). Each chapter explores the subject’s television work—with detailed behind-the-scenes disclosures—and includes additional information about the subject’s performances in film and on stage.

Conversations with Legendary Television Stars: Interviews from the First Fifty Years

John Billheimer

Edgar Award Winner: This lively account of the director’s battles with the Code Office is “an essential addition to any Hitchcock shelf” (Mystery Scene Magazine).
 
 From 1934 to 1968, the Motion Picture Production Code Office controlled the content and final cut on all films made and distributed in the United States. Code officials protected sensitive ears from standard four-letter words, as well as a few five-letter words like tramp and six-letter words like cripes. They also scrubbed “excessively lustful” kissing from the screen and ensured that no criminal went unpunished. Thus, throughout his career, Alfred Hitchcock had to deal with a wide variety of censors attuned to the slightest suggestion of sexual innuendo, undue violence, toilet humor, religious disrespect, and all forms of indecency, real or imagined.
 
 During their review of Hitchcock’s films, the censors demanded an average of 22.5 changes, ranging from the mundane to the mind-boggling, on each of his American films. Code reviewers dictated the ending of Rebecca, absolved Cary Grant of guilt in Suspicion, edited Cole Porter’s lyrics in Stage Fright, decided which shades should be drawn in Rear Window, and shortened the shower scene in Psycho.
 
 In Hitchcock and the Censors, John Billheimer traces the forces that led to the Production Code and describes Hitchcock’s interactions with code officials on a film-by-film basis as he fought to protect his creations, bargaining with code reviewers and sidestepping censorship to produce a lifetime of memorable films. Despite the often-arbitrary decisions of the code board, Hitchcock still managed to push the boundaries of sex and violence permitted in films by charming—and occasionally tricking—the censors and by swapping off bits of dialogue, plot points, and individual shots (some of which had been deliberately inserted as trading chips) to protect cherished scenes and images. By examining Hitchcock’s priorities in dealing with the censors, this work highlights the director’s theories of suspense as well as his magician-like touch when negotiating with code officials.

Hitchcock and the Censors

Victoria Amador

“There is much more to de Havilland’s story than her role as Melanie Wilkes, and it’s all here . . . a treat for film fans” (Booklist).

Two-time Academy Award winner Olivia de Havilland is best known for her role as Melanie Wilkes in Gone with the Wind. She often inhabited characters who were delicate, elegant, and refined; yet at the same time, she was a survivor with a fierce desire to direct her own destiny on and off the screen. She fought and won a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over a contract dispute that changed the studio contract system forever. She is also noted for her long feud with her sister, fellow actress Joan Fontaine—a feud that lasted from 1975 until Fontaine’s death in 2013.

Victoria Amador draws on extensive interviews and forty years of personal correspondence with de Havilland to present an in-depth look at her life and career.Amador begins with de Havilland’s childhood—she was born in Japan in 1916 to affluent British parents who had aspirations of success and fortune in faraway countries—and her theatrical ambitions at a young age. The book then follows her career as she skyrocketed to star status, becoming one of the most well-known starlets in Tinseltown. Readers are given an inside look at her love affairs with iconic cinema figures such as James Stewart and John Huston, and her onscreen partnership with Errol Flynn, with whom she starred in The Adventures of Robin Hood and Dodge City. After she moved to Europe, de Havilland became the first woman to serve as the president of the Cannes Film Festival in 1965, and remained active in film and television for another two decades.

Olivia de Havilland: Lady Triumphant is a tribute to one of Hollywood’s greatest legends, tracing her evolution from a gentle heroine to a strong-willed, respected, and admired artist.

Olivia de Havilland: Lady Triumphant

Vincent LoBrutto

A study of the iconic and influential film director’s life and work, from the author of Stanley Kubrick: A Biography.

With celebrated works such as Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, and Gladiator, Ridley Scott has secured his place in Hollywood. This legendary director and filmmaker has had an undeniable influence on art and the culture of filmmaking, but is also a respected media businessman.

In Ridley Scott: A Biography, Vincent LoBrutto delves into Ridley Scott’s oeuvre in a way that allows readers to understand the yin and yang of his exceptional career, offering a unique crosscut between the biographical facts of Scott’s personal life—his birth and early days in northeast England, his life in New York City—and his career in Hollywood as a director and producer of television commercials, TV series, miniseries, and feature films.

Every film is presented, analyzed, and probed for a greater understanding of the visionary, his personality, and his thought process, for a deeper perception of his astounding work and accomplishments. The voices of cast and crew who have worked with Ridley Scott, as well as the words of the man himself, are woven throughout this book for a fully realized, critical biography, revealing the depth of the artist and his achievements.

Ridley Scott: A Biography

Kevin Brianton

“Brianton’s well-documented study of a Hollywood controversy delves into one example of the post-WWII Red Scare” (Publishers Weekly).

On October 22, 1950, the Screen Directors Guild (SDG) gathered for a meeting at the opulent Beverly Hills Hotel. Among the group’s leaders were some of the most powerful men in Hollywood—John Ford, Cecil B. DeMille, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, John Huston, Frank Capra, William Wyler, and Rouben Mamoulian—and the issue on the table was nothing less than a vote to dismiss Mankiewicz as the guild’s president after he opposed an anticommunist loyalty oath that could have expanded the blacklist. The dramatic events of that evening have become mythic, and the legend has overshadowed the more complex realities of this crucial moment in Hollywood history.

In Hollywood Divided, Kevin Brianton explores the myths associated with the famous meeting and the real events that they often obscure. He analyzes the lead-up to that fateful summit, examining the pressure exerted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Brianton reveals the internal politics of the SDG, its initial hostile response to the HUAC investigations, the conservative reprisal, and the influence of the oath on the guild and the film industry as a whole. Hollywood Divided also assesses the impact of the historical coverage of the meeting on the reputation of the three key players in the drama.

Brianton’s study is a provocative and revealing revisionist history of the SDG’s 1950 meeting and its lasting repercussions on the film industry as well as the careers of those who participated. Hollywood Divided illuminates how both the press's and the public's penchant for the “exciting story” have perpetuated fabrications and inaccurate representations of a turning point for the film industry.

Huffington Post Best Film Books of 2016

Praise for Hollywood Divided

“An authoritative reassessment of the meetings held by the Screen Directors Guild in 1950 to consider the adoption of a loyalty oath. Brianton traces the implications for the film industry and the reputations of key filmmakers, including Cecil DeMille and John Ford. He also offers sharp and illuminating reflections on the making of Hollywood history and myth.” —Brian Neve, author of The Many Lives of Cy Endfield: Film Noir, the Blacklist and Zulu

“A breakthrough book on a topic that historians, for the most part, have considered settled. Brianton’s landmark study is fresh, thorough, and balanced, a model of Hollywood historiography. In clear prose, he takes the reader through the detailed twists and turns that created both the myth and the subsequent legend of the fateful Directors Guild Meeting that occurred during a critical time in American history.” —James D’Arc, Curator, Cecil B. DeMille Papers, Brigham Young University

Hollywood Divided: The 1950 Screen Directors Guild Meeting and the Impact of the Blacklist

Mollie Gregory

“Gives voice to the women who have risked their lives for a few (perilous) moments on the big screen. A fascinating look at a risky profession.” —The Washington Post

They’ve traded punches in knockdown brawls, crashed biplanes through barns, and raced to the rescue in fast cars. They add suspense and drama to the story, portraying the swimmer stalked by the menacing shark, the heroine dangling twenty feet below a soaring hot air balloon, or the woman leaping nine feet over a wall to escape a dog attack. Only an expert can make such feats of daring look easy, and stuntwomen with the skills to perform—and survive—great moments of action in movies have been hitting their mark in Hollywood since the beginning of film.

Here, Mollie Gregory presents the first history of stuntwomen in the film industry from the silent era to the twenty-first century. In the early years of motion pictures, women were highly involved in all aspects of film production, but they were marginalized as movies became popular, and more important, profitable. Capable stuntwomen were replaced by men in wigs, and very few worked between the 1930s and 1960s. As late as the 1990s, men wore wigs and women’s clothes to double as actresses, and were even “painted down” for some performances, while men and women of color were regularly denied stunt work.

For decades, stuntwomen have faced institutional discrimination, unequal pay, and sexual harassment even as they jumped from speeding trains and raced horse-drawn carriages away from burning buildings. Featuring sixty-five interviews, Stuntwomen showcases the absorbing stories and uncommon courage of women who make their living planning and performing action-packed sequences that keep viewers’ hearts racing.

Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story

Brian Taves

An “illuminating” look at how filmmakers have taken us around the world, under the sea, and to the center of the earth over the course of a century (Milwaukee Express).

 Even for those who have never read Jules Verne, the author’s very name conjures visions of the submarine in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the epic race in Around the World in Eighty Days, the spacecraft in From the Earth to the Moon, and the daring descent in Journey to the Center of the Earth. One of the most widely translated authors of all time, Verne has inspired filmmakers since the early silent period and continues to fascinate audiences more than a century after his works were first published. His riveting plots and vivid descriptions easily transform into compelling scripts and dramatic visual compositions.

 In Hollywood Presents Jules Verne, Brian Taves investigates the indelible mark that the author has left on English-language cinema. Adaptations of Verne’s tales have taken many forms—early movie shorts, serials, feature films, miniseries, and television shows—and have been produced as both animated and live-action films. Taves illuminates how, as these stories have been made and remade over the years, each new adaptation looks back not only to Verne’s words but also to previous screen incarnations. He also examines how generations of actors have portrayed iconic characters such as Phileas Fogg and Captain Nemo, and how these figures are treated in pastiches such as Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Investigating the biggest box-office hits as well as lower-budget productions, this comprehensive study will appeal not only to fans of the writer's work but also to readers interested in the ever-changing relationship between literature, theater, and film.

Hollywood Presents Jules Verne: The Father of Science Fiction on Screen

Alain Kerzoncuf

Charles Barr

“It seems there is still plenty to discover and to say about Alfred Hitchcock . . . a host of impressive new research.” —Journal of Film Preservation
 
 Audiences worldwide know him for Psycho, The Birds, Vertigo, and other classics—but in Hitchcock Lost and Found, fans and film students alike can explore forgotten, incomplete, lost, and recovered productions from all stages of Alfred Hitchcock’s career, including his early years in Britain.

 Alain Kerzoncuf and Charles Barr highlight Hitchcock’s neglected works, including various films and television productions that supplement the critical attention already conferred on his feature films. They also explore the director’s career during World War II, when he continued making high-profile features while also committing himself to a number of short war-effort projects on both sides of the Atlantic. Focusing on a range of forgotten but fascinating projects spanning five decades, Hitchcock Lost and Found offers a new, fuller perspective on the incomparable filmmaker’s career and achievements.
 
 “For the Hitchcock completist, Hitchcock Lost and Found is an essential resource.” —Philadelphia Inquirer
 
Includes photos and illustrations

Hitchcock Lost & Found: The Forgotten Films

Christopher Trumbo

Larry Ceplair

“Trumbo emerges from this well-rounded biography as a larger-than-life figure, not unlike the characters he scripted for the screen.” —Publishers Weekly
 
 James Dalton Trumbo is widely recognized as a screenwriter, playwright, and author, but he is also remembered as one of the Hollywood Ten who opposed the House Un-American Activities Committee. Refusing to answer questions about his prior involvement with the Communist Party, Trumbo sacrificed a successful career in Hollywood to stand up for his rights and defend political freedom.
 
 In Dalton Trumbo, Larry Ceplair and Christopher Trumbo present their extensive research on the famed writer, detailing his work; his membership in the Communist Party; his long campaign against censorship during the domestic cold war; his ten-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress; and his thirteen-year struggle to break the blacklist.
 
 The blacklist ended for Trumbo in 1960, when he received screen credits for Exodus and Spartacus. Just before his death, he received a long-delayed Academy Award for The Brave One, and in 1993, he was posthumously given another for Roman Holiday. This comprehensive biography, which includes excerpts of Trumbo’s letters, notes, and other writings, also provides insights into the notable people with whom Trumbo worked, including Stanley Kubrick, Otto Preminger, and Kirk Douglas, and a fascinating look at the life of one of Hollywood’s most prominent screenwriters and his battle against persecution.

Dalton Trumbo: Blacklisted Hollywood Radical

Brent Phillips

A “lively biography” of the director who choreographed Fred Astaire, Debbie Reynolds and more: “a real backstager” on the making of Hollywood musicals (Wall Street Journal).

 From the trolley scene in Meet Me in St. Louis to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers's last dance on the silver screen to Judy Garland's tuxedo-clad performance of "Get Happy", Charles Walters staged the iconic musical sequences of Hollywood's golden age. The Academy Award-nominated director and choreographer showcased the talents of stars such as Gene Kelly, Doris Day, and Frank Sinatra—yet Walters's name often goes unrecognized today.

 In the first full-length biography of Walters, Brent Phillips chronicles the artist's career from his days as a Broadway performer to his successes at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Phillips takes readers behind the scenes of beloved musicals including Easter Parade, Lili, and High Society. He also examines the director's uncredited work on films like Gigi, and discusses his contributions to musical theater and American popular culture.

 This revealing book also considers Walters's personal life and explores how he navigated the industry as an openly gay man. Drawing on unpublished oral histories, correspondence, and new interviews, this biography offers an entertaining and important new look at an exciting era in Hollywood history.

Charles Walters: The Director Who Made Hollywood Dance

Robert Crane

Christopher Fryer

Bruce Dern

This memoir by the Academy Award nominee “proves that Dern off-screen is every bit as unpredictable, compelling and explosively honest as he is onscreen” (Newsday).

One of Hollywood’s biggest personalities, Bruce Dern is not afraid to say what he thinks. He has left an indelible mark on numerous projects, from critically acclaimed films to made-for-TV movies and television series. His notable credits include The Great Gatsby, The 'Burbs, Monster, Django Unchained, and Nebraska, for which he won the Best Actor award at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. He also earned Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor in Coming Home and for Best Actor in Nebraska.

In Bruce Dern: A Memoir, Christopher Fryer and Robert Crane help the outspoken star frame the fascinating tale of his life in Hollywood. Dern details the challenges he faced as an artist in a cutthroat business, his struggle against typecasting, and his thoughts on and relationships with other famous figures, including Elia Kazan, Alfred Hitchcock, Jack Nicholson, Paul Newman, Bob Dylan, Matt Damon, Jane Fonda, John Wayne, and Tom Hanks. He also explores the impact of his fame on his family and discusses his unique relationship with his daughter, actress Laura Dern.

Edgy and uncensored, this memoir—filled with “amusing, illuminating, and occasionally heartrending anecdotes” (Philadelphia Inquirer)—is a wild ride and an insider’s view of fifty years in the film industry.

Bruce Dern: A Memoir

The colorful life and creative career of the writer behind six of Hitchcock’s thrillers: “An intriguing and revealing story.” —Times Literary Supplement
 
 With a career that spanned from the silent era to the 1990s, British screenwriter Charles Bennett lived an extraordinary life. His experiences as an actor, director, playwright, film and television writer, and novelist in both England and Hollywood left him with many amusing anecdotes, opinions about his craft, and impressions of the many famous people he knew. Among other things, Bennett was a decorated WWI hero, an eminent Shakespearean actor, and an Allied spy and propagandist during WWII, but he is best remembered for his commercially and critically acclaimed collaborations with directors Sir Alfred Hitchcock and Cecil B. DeMille.
 
 The fruitful partnership with Hitchcock began after the director adapted Bennett’s 1929 play Blackmail as the first British sound film. Their partnership produced six thrillers: The Man Who Knew Too Much, The 39 Steps, Sabotage, Secret Agent, Young and Innocent, and Foreign Correspondent. In this witty and intriguing book, Bennett discusses how their collaboration created such famous motifs as the “wrong man accused” device and the MacGuffin. He also takes readers behind the scenes with the Master of Suspense, offering his thoughts on the director’s work, sense of humor, and personal life.
 
 Featuring an introduction and additional biographical material from Bennett’s son, editor John Charles Bennett, Hitchcock’s Partner in Suspense is a richly detailed narrative of a remarkable yet often-overlooked figure in film history.

Hitchcock's Partner in Suspense: The Life of Screenwriter Charles Bennett

Joseph McBride

A portrait of the renowned film director based on seven years of interviews: “I am very happy that this book exists.” —François Truffaut

Howard Hawks is often credited as the most versatile of the great American directors, having worked with equal ease in screwball comedies, westerns, gangster movies, musicals, and adventure films. He directed an impressive number of Hollywood’s greatest stars—including Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Rosalind Russell, and Marilyn Monroe—and some of his most celebrated films include Scarface, Bringing Up Baby, The Big Sleep, Red River, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Rio Bravo.

Hawks on Hawks draws on interviews that author Joseph McBride conducted with the director over the course of seven years, giving rare insight into Hawks’s artistic philosophy, his relationships with the stars, and his position in an industry that was rapidly changing. In its new edition, this classic book is both an account of the film legend’s life and work and a guidebook on how to make movies.

“There are going to be many biographies of Howard Hawks, but they will all lean heavily on this book; the pioneer so honestly reveals himself and the people with whom he worked.” —Los Angeles Times

Hawks on Hawks

Christina Rice

The forgotten screen legend who made Hollywood history by challenging the all-powerful studio system is revealed in this first full-length biography.

Seemingly destined for A-list fame, Ann Dvorak was touted as “Hollywood’s New Cinderella” after film mogul Howard Hughes cast her in the 1932 gangster film Scarface. But Dvorak’s journey to superstardom was derailed when she walked out on her contractual obligations to Warner Bros. for an extended honeymoon. Ann Dvorak: Hollywood’s Forgotten Rebel explores the life and career of one of the first individuals who dared to challenge the studio system.

Dvorak reached her pinnacle during the early 1930s, when the film industry was relatively uncensored and free to produce movies with more daring storylines. She played several female leads in films including The Strange Love of Molly Louvain, Three on a Match, and Heat Lightning, but after her walk-out, Warner Bros retaliated by casting her in less significant roles.

Following the casting conflicts and illness, Dvorak filed a lawsuit against the Warner Bros. studio, setting a precedent for other stars who eventually followed suit. In this insightful memoir, Christina Rice explores the spirited rebellion of a talented actress whose promising career fell victim to the studio empire.

Ann Dvorak: Hollywood's Forgotten Rebel

Eve Golden

This revealing biography of the legendary silent film star chronicles his meteoric rise, famous romances, and tragic descent into obscurity.

 Known as “The Great Lover,” John Gilbert was among the world's most recognizable actors during the silent era. A swashbuckling figure on screen and off, he is best known today for his high-profile romances with Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, his legendary conflicts with Louis B. Mayer, his four tumultuous marriages, and his swift decline after the introduction of talkies. Many myths have developed around the larger-than-life star in the eighty years since his untimely death, but this definitive biography sets the record straight.

 Eve Golden separates fact from fiction in John Gilbert, tracing the actor's life from his youth spent traveling with his mother in acting troupes to the peak of fame at MGM, where he starred opposite Mae Murray, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and others in popular films such as The Merry Widow, The Big Parade, Flesh and the Devil, and Love.

 Golden debunks some of the most pernicious rumors about Gilbert, including the oft-repeated myth that he had a high-pitched, squeaky voice that ruined his career. Meticulous, comprehensive, and generously illustrated, this book provides a behind-the-scenes look at one of the silent era's greatest stars and the glamorous yet brutal world in which he lived.

John Gilbert: The Last of the Silent Film Stars

Andrew Dickos

The life and career of the pioneering writer-director whose name is synonymous with sophisticated screwball comedies.

Preston Sturges was known for bringing sophistication and wit to the genre of comedy, establishing himself as one of the most valuable writer-directors in 1940s Hollywood. Today, more than a half century after they were originally produced, his films have lost little of their edge and remain extremely popular.

Intrepid Laughter is an essential guide to the life and work of this luminary of the stage and screen, following Sturges from his unusual childhood, to his early success as a Broadway playwright, to his whirlwind career in Hollywood.

Intrepid Laughter: Preston Sturges and the Movies

Michael G. Ankerich

This story of a silent-film star’s rise and fall offers “a lesson about those heady days of early Hollywood and the transience of fame” (Library Journal).
 
 Renowned for her classic beauty and charismatic presence, Mae Murray rocketed to stardom as a dancer in the Ziegfeld Follies, moving across the country to star in her first film, To Have and to Hold, in 1916. An instant hit with audiences, Murray soon became one of the most famous names in Tinseltown.
 
 But Murray’s moment in the spotlight was fleeting. The introduction of talkies, a string of failed marriages, a serious career blunder, and a number of bitter legal battles left the former star in a state of poverty and mental instability that she would never overcome.
 
 In this intriguing biography, Michael G. Ankerich traces Murray’s career from the footlights of Broadway to the klieg lights of Hollywood, recounting her impressive body of work on the stage and screen and charting her rapid ascent to fame and decline into obscurity. Featuring exclusive interviews with Murray’s only son, Daniel, and with actor George Hamilton, whom the actress closely befriended at the end of her life, Ankerich restores this important figure in early film to the limelight.
 
 “If Billy Wilder hasn’t made the definitive movie about the delusions of stardom in Sunset Boulevard, Murray’s story, a blend of absurdity and pathos, would make a terrific one.” —TheWashington Post
 
Includes photos

Mae Murray: The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips

A biography based on personal interviews with the actor as well as his friends and fellow filmmakers: “Entertaining . . . A must for cinema students.” ―Hollywood Reporter
 
 In 1975, Jack Nicholson was just becoming a household name after starring in, writing, or producing twenty-five films including Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Last Detail, and Chinatown. At the time, Robert Crane and Christopher Fryer interviewed Nicholson for what began as a thesis for a University of Southern California film class—but quickly morphed into a larger portrait of Nicholson’s unique craft. It would become the first book about the icon, and the only one done with his participation.
 
 Crane and Fryer conducted their interviews with Nicholson with the intent of showcasing the young star as he saw himself, while also interviewing many of Nicholson’s close friends and fellow filmmakers, including Dennis Hopper, Roger Corman, Hal Ashby, Ann-Margret, Robert Evans, and Bruce Dern, providing a comprehensive profile of the actor's early years in the industry. The result is a unique portrait of the life and career of a man who has to date earned three Academy Awards and twelve nominations, seven Golden Globes, and the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award.
 “A true insider’s look at Nicholson not only as a writer, director, and actor, but also as a private man who desires a private life.” ―Los Angeles Daily News
 
Includes photographs
 
 Originally published as Jack Nicholson: Face to Face

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