Actors & Actresses Books - Page 12

Douglas Fairbanks

Jeffrey Vance

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This deft amalgam of biography, film history, and analysis is a superb portrait of a true pioneer who was critically important to the creation of cinema as the defining art form of the twentieth century. Douglas Fairbanks (1883-1939) was one of the first film superstars, a screenwriter, a major independent producer during the early studio era, a cofounder of United Artists, a founder and the first president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and much more. The optimism, energy, and huge success during the 1920s of his best-remembered films The Mark of Zorro, Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood, The Thief of Bagdad, and The Black Pirate made Fairbanks a popular hero throughout the world and showcased his talents as a creative producer whose work set the standard for excellence.
Douglas Fairbanks takes the full measure of Fairbanks's remarkable life. Jeffrey Vance, who had complete access to the star's personal and professional papers and scrapbooks, also incorporates 237 photographs, some unseen for more than seventy-five years. Extensively researched, engagingly written, and sumptuously designed, the book goes behind Fairbanks's public persona to thoroughly explore his art and his far-reaching influence.
Copub: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Joan Blondell: A Life between Takes (Hollywood Legends)

Matthew Kennedy

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Joan Blondell: A Life between Takes is the first major biography of the effervescent, scene-stealing actress (1906-1979) who conquered motion pictures, vaudeville, Broadway, summer stock, television, and radio. Born the child of vaudevillians, she was on stage by age three. With her casual sex appeal, distinctive cello voice, megawatt smile, luminous saucer eyes, and flawless timing, she came into widespread fame in Warner Bros. musicals and comedies of the 1930s, including Blonde Crazy, Gold Diggers of 1933, and Footlight Parade.

Frequent co-star to James Cagney, Clark Gable, Edward G. Robinson, and Humphrey Bogart, friend to Judy Garland, Barbara Stanwyck, and Bette Davis, and wife of Dick Powell and Mike Todd, Joan Blondell was a true Hollywood insider. By the time of her death, she had made nearly 100 films in a career that spanned over fifty years.

Privately, she was unerringly loving and generous, while her life was touched by financial, medical, and emotional upheavals. Joan Blondell: A Life between Takes is meticulously researched, expertly weaving the public and private, and features numerous interviews with family, friends, and colleagues.

Matthew Kennedy teaches anthropology at the City College of San Francisco and film history at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He is the author of Marie Dressler: A Biography and Edmund Goulding\'s Dark Victory: Hollywood\'s Genius Bad Boy. Read more about his work at http://www.matthewkennedybooks.com/

Hear Matthew Kennedy on WNYC!

Call Me Anna: The Autobiography of Patty Duke

Patty Duke

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Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Star--The public saw her as a gifted child  star: the youngest actor to win an Oscar for her role  as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker and the  youngest actor to have a prime-time television series  bearing her own name.

The Nightmare--What the  public did not see was Anna Marie Duke, a young girl  whose life changed forever at age seven when  tyrannical mangers stripped her of nearly all that was  familiar, beginning with her name. She was deprived  of family and friends. Her every word was  programmed, her every action monitored and criticized. She  was fed liquor and prescription drugs, taught to  lie to get work, and relentlessly drilled to win  roles.

The Legend--Out of this nightmare emerged  Patty Duke, a show business legend still searching  for the child, Anna. She won three Emmy Awards and  divorced three husbands. A starring role in  Valley of the Dolls nearly ruined her  career. She was notorious for wild spending sprees,  turbulent liaisons, and an uncontrollable temper.  Until a long hidden illness was diagnosed, and her  amazing recovery recovery began.

The Triumph--  Call Me Anna is an American success  story that grew out of a bizarre and desperate  struggle for survival. A harrowing, ultimately  triumphant story told by Patty Duke herself--wife,  mother, political activist, President of the Screen  Actors Guild, and at last, a happy, fulfilled woman  whose miracle is her own life.

Lucy & Desi: The Real Life Scrapbook of America's Favorite TV Couple

Elizabeth Edwards

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

lucy & desi the real -life scrapbook 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

The scrapebook was execellent. I enjoyed every little thing about it. It was great of all the document that were in there. This is a great book.

Editorial Review:

During their marriage, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz filled over 100 scrapbooks with all manner of memorabilia. Now fans can take a rare peek at the details of the famous TV couple’s lives with this fantastic replica composite. Lucy & Desi, our exclusive, real-life scrapbook of the couple’s lives, contains 25 interactive, three-dimensional paper-engineered replicas of actual items—from Desi’s report card to important telegrams—which have never been published before. Vintage snapshots of happy family moments, touching love letters, passports, and other precious minutiae, with more than 150 photographs, both black-and-white and color, fill this wonderful, engrossing look back at the golden years of television comedy, when Lucy and Desi charmed America with humor and song. This official scrapbook is a must-have for the millions of devoted fans.

A Book

Desi Arnaz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 37 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Wonderfully well-written! 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Throughout the pages of this book, one gets the impression that Desi really did love Lucy and she loved him, but they seemed to be one of those couples that could not live together. He was a philanderer and she had a hot temper and that (apparently) made for some rough living.

The singular most interesting fact from this book that I will probably never EVER forget is this: After Desi and Lucy were divorced, he called her every night for the rest of his life. They were more than lovers, they were best friends and it seems that the relationship continued, even after the marriage ended.

This book is really a manuscript-length tribute to Lucille Ball. Desi's love and admiration for her shines through its many pages. He is kind to her in this memoir and unlike the poison-pen style of today's celebs, it seems that Desi just wanted the world to know that Lucy really was the amazing, interesting and gifted soul she appeared to be.

It also has some fascinating insights and background about the program and its sequels. Plus, if you want to know the scoop about William Frawley and Vivian Vance (Fred and Ethel), it's all in these pages. Those two really did NOT like each other.

I bought this book (used, cheap) and my little paperback copy arrived tattered and worn , but I couldn't stop reading it. Very well written, very interesting and a real tribute to the star of "I Love Lucy."

The Complete Poetic Works of Michael Madsen, Vol. I: 1995-2005

Michael Madsen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Do not let the word "poetry" keep you from experiencing this great book... 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

This is not your ordinary "roses are red, violets are blue..." type poetry. Michael's work is great. Take this from me, a person who really dislikes reading, this book is a must have!!!!!!!!!!! I started reading Michael's book and I could not put it down. His writings can make you rethink things, laugh, and even cry at times. He is honest and raw, a true mans man with a soft side. A father, a family man, an actor, a poet; Michael is so great at all he does and it is truly a shame that most people only see him as Mr. Blonde.

Mirna's take on poet M.M. 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

No words can truly describe the poetry by M.M. Except you really must experience it for yourself and in doing so gain new admiration and respect for a MAN who can express he's own opinions thru writing about his own life however personal these experiences are you live thru it all the funny, bad, good,
painful, cruel, just, inquisitive, and shrewd.

Definitely a poetry original must read from a talented writer.
Although not recommended for the sensitive or easily offended type since M.M.'s writing is strong, straightforward, graphic and raw. Which by the way is what makes it magnetically good.

Editorial Review:

This 10 year Anniversary Special Edition of Michael Madsen's poetry is six books in one: The Complete Works includes previously unavailable books: "Beer, Blood & Ashes," "Eat the Worm," and "Burning in Paradise"--plus, now out of print "A Blessing of the Hounds" and "46 Down: A Book of Dreams & Other Ramblings," in addition to new selections from "When Pets Kill," with over 50 photos.

Not the Girl Next Door: Joan Crawford, a Personal Biography

Charlotte Chandler

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

A 5-Star Joan Crawford Experience 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Charlotte Chandler, whose writing is positively magic, has given us in this compelling new personal biography, "Not the Girl Next Door", something far beyond very important new information on this complex Oscar winning star. She has given us an actual "personal experience" of Joan Crawford herself.

Often times there is far more to be learned from how individuals "see themselves", and also "want to be seen", than from only the cold hard facts of their lives. If all you want to know about Joan Crawford is dates, people, and "hearsay" gossip, then looking her up in an encyclopedia of film history and reading all the slander that was written specifically to hurt her and to damage her reputation will suffice. However, if what you want is the extraordinary opportunity of sitting and listening to Joan Crawford tell you about her life, as it personally impacted her, then ""Not the Girl Next Door" is absolutely the book for you!

Perfectly set with carefully observed background description, and skillfully crafted from first-hand personal interviews with Ms Chandler, this book reads with the reality of a face-to-face encounter with Joan Crawford and those who knew her well. And because the author, mercifully, has NOT burdened her audience with endless speculative and psychological analyses of the star, readers themselves are closely drawn into active participation with the narrative and can come to their own conclusions, based upon their own understanding of Joan Crawford as she and her contemporaries speak directly to them.

Joan Crawford, whose devotion to her fans is legendary, was the quintessential "Movie Star". No one has ever worked harder to perfect her talents and her physical self, or to please her studio and moviegoers. At its core, "Not the Girl Next Door" refocuses our attention on Crawford's justly earned film career fame along with her many often unmentioned kindnesses to others, while at the same time balancing these accomplishments with the fears, insecurities, and childhood demons that we begin to perceive she always had to struggle against. Having read other books on and interviews of Miss Crawford I believe that she has revealed herself, in these largely "end of life" sessions with Ms. Chandler, in a way that we have never seen her before.

Also, importantly, in a stroke of sheer creative genius, Ms Chandler has set her own ego aside, and almost never reveals herself as "present" in the rooms where she sat and so carefully listened to those who told her their stories. It is, in fact, as if she has graciously gotten up and given her seat to her readers, and stepped out of the way so that they alone may be spoken to. In addition to what you will learn, it is the mystery of Ms Chandler's skill as a listener, and the magic of her writing as an author, that will leave you unable to put this book down.

My suggestion to you is to sit in a comfortable chair, turn out all the lights save the one you are reading with, pick up your copy of "Not the Girl Next Door" and listen quietly as Joan Crawford personally tells you her story. Thanks to the keenly perceptive talent of Charlotte Chandler, I guarantee that you will not be disappointed!!

Editorial Review:

She was beautiful, talented, irascible, ruthless, vulnerable, and a true Hollywood legend. From abused child to dance hall entertainer to silent film actress, she went on to become one of Hollywood's screen goddesses with films such as Possessed (opposite Clark Gable, with whom she began a torrid off-screen affair), Grand Hotel, and Mildred Pierce, her Academy Award-winning film. Joan Crawford succeeded--and survived--through sheer determination, talent, invention and re-invention. Now, Charlotte Chandler, the acclaimed biographer of Ingrid Bergman (Ingrid), Bette Davis (The Girl Who Walked Home Alone), and Groucho Marx (Hello, I Must Be Going), gives us a revealing and often surprising portrait of Joan Crawford, much of it in her own words.

Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood

Suzanne Finstad

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Total reviews: 90 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Natalie Wood was always a star; her mother made sure this was true. A superstitious Russian immigrant who claimed to be royalty, Maria had been told by a gypsy, long before little Natasha Zakharenko's birth, that her second child would be famous throughout the world. When the beautiful child with the hypnotic eyes was first placed in Maria's arms, she knew the prophecy would become true and proceeded to do everything in her power — everything — to make sure of it.

Natasha is the haunting story of a vulnerable and talented actress whom many of us felt we knew. We watched her mature on the movie screen before our eyes — in Miracle on 34th Street, Rebel Without a Cause, West Side Story, Splendor in the Grass, and on and on. She has been hailed — along with Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor — as one of the top three female movie stars in the history of film, making her a legend in her own lifetime and beyond. But the story of what Natalie endured, of what her life was like when the doors of the soundstages closed, has long been obscured.

Natasha is based on years of exhaustive research into Natalie's turbulent life and mysterious drowning in the dark water that was her greatest fear. Author Suzanne Finstad, a former lawyer, conducted nearly four hundred interviews with Natalie's family, close friends, legendary costars, lovers, film crews, and virtually everyone connected with the investigation of her strange death. Through these firsthand accounts from many who have never spoken publicly before, Finstad has reconstructed a life of emotional abuse and exploitation, of almost unprecedented fame, great loneliness, poignancy, and loss. She sheds an unwavering light on Natalie's complex relationships with James Dean, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Raymond Burr, Warren Beatty, and Robert Wagner and reveals the two lost loves of Natalie's life, whom her controlling mother prevented her from marrying. Finstad tells this beauty's heartbreaking story with sensitivity and grace, revealing a complex and conflicting mix of fragility and strength in a woman who was swept along by forces few could have resisted. Natasha is impossible to put down — it is the definitive biography of Natalie Wood that we've long been waiting for.

Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on My Life, Love, and Leading Roles

Kathleen Turner

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Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

From her film debut as the sultry schemer in Body Heat to her award-winning role as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, actress Kathleen Turner's unique blend of beauty, intelligence, and raw sexuality has driven her personal and professional life. Now, in this gutsy memoir, the screen icon tells us of the risks she's taken and the lessons she's learned-sometimes the hard way.


For the first time, Turner shares her childhood challenges-a life lived in countries around the world until her father, a State Department official whom she so admired, died suddenly when she was a teenager. She talks about her twenty year marriage, and why she and her husband recently separated, her close relationship with her daughter, her commitment to service, and how activism in controversial causes has bolstered her beliefs. And Turner reveals the pain and heartbreak of her struggle with rheumatoid arthritis, and how, in spite of it, she made a daring decision: to take a break from the movies and relaunch her stage career.


Along the way, Turner describes what it's like to work with legends like Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas, William Hurt, Steve Martin, Francis Ford Coppola, John Huston, John Waters, Edward Albee...and, with characteristic irreverent humor, shares her behind-the-screen stories of dealing with all types of creative, intimidating, and inspiring characters.


Kathleen Turner has always known that she would play the lead in the story of her life. It's impossible not to take her lessons on living, love, and leading roles to heart. And it won't be long until you'll be sending yourself roses!

Street Justice

Chuck Zito, Joe Layden

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Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From the streets of Brooklyn to the set of Oz. From Hells Angel to celebrity bodyguard. The revealing autobiography of an American man.

Chuck Zito comes by his reputation honestly as one of the toughest, most uncompromising men ever to sit astride a Harley. Now, with tales both hilarious and chilling, violent and truthful, Zito tell his life story in his own words.

From growing up on the mean streets of Brooklyn and the Bronx, where fighting was a way of life, to becoming president of the New York chapter of the Hells Angels, the wild and crazy life of protecting some of the world's biggest celebrities, Zito might be seen as a latter-day outlaw, the last of a dying breed of men. But throughout his tempestuous days, one thing defined him: his unfailing sense of justice, of what's really right and what's really wrong. That's how Zito found himself facing his biggest challenge: refusing to cooperate with a federal investigation into his brothers, the Hells Angels, and in the process losing the very thing he cherished most-his freedom.

Zito's astonishing recovery from this experience, and the unique kind of stardom he forged based on hard work and sheer will, is a testament to his courage, his ambition, and his indomitable heart-a testament now recorded unflinchingly in Street Justice.