Individual actors Books

Book SynopsisAlex Clifton has worked as an assistant director at the Royal National Theatre; resident director at English National Opera; and freelance theatre and opera director. He is now an Acting Tutor at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), specialising in teaching Stanislavski's technique. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Higher Education and a trustee of the International Schools' Theatre Association. Alex is co-founder and Artistic Director of The Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, the UK's leading open air theatre outside London.Table of ContentsA beginning Part One: Play Chapter One - Release Chapter Two - Imagine Chapter Three - Listen Chapter Four - Pulse Chapter Five - Impulse Part Two: Inhabit Chapter One - Mapping a world Chapter Two - Mapping a role Chapter Three - Rehearsing a role Part Three: Devise Chapter One - Deconstruct Chapter Two - Construct An ending

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Book SynopsisEdward Braun is Emeritus Professor of Drama at the University of Bristol. He edited the pioneering English-language selection from Meyerhold's writings, Meyerhold on Theatre, in 1969, and in 1979 published his major critical assessment, The Theatre of Meyerhold. His The Director & the Stage was first published in 1982.Jonathan Pitches is Professor of Theatre and Performance and Director of Research in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries at Leeds University. He is the author and/or editor of four books, three of which relate to actor training and is the founding co-editor of the Routledge journal, Theatre Dance and Performance Training.Trade ReviewMeyerhold on Theatre is an important, many-faceted book. Meyerhold was a great director - the greatest in my experience as a playgoer . . . Braun has rendered the field of theatre knowledge an invaluable service. -- Harold Clurman * The Nation *It is rare that books can capture the spirit in which productions happen, but Edward Braun's anthology . . . does transmit not only the swiftly changing contexts in which Meyerhold worked, but the still-relevant impulses which his work embodied, and which have sown the seeds of so much that the modern theatre still grapples with. * Times Literary Supplement *... This fourth edition of a seminal work compiled by Edward Braun will present as good and wide a portrait of the great man as anyone could wish for. * British Theatre Guide *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review...one unforgettable voyage...under a captain whose words may echo in your mind and whose attitude may inform your spirit for the rest of your life. * The Times (UK) *An impressive writer. Like Fitzgerald, Hayden is a romantic. His writing about the sea evokes echoes of Conrad and McFee, of London and Galsworthy...Beautifully done. * Los Angeles Times *A superb piece of writing...Echoes from Poe and Melville to Steinbeck and Mailer. A work of fascination on every level. * New York Post *Hayden's wonderful autobiography Wanderer ...should be in every main salon aboard every boat. Hayden's life can't be emulated, but it is instructive * Ocean Navigator *Table of ContentsIntroduction to the 1977 Edition Book I: Man at Bay Book II: Outward Bound Book III: Exile from Oblivion Book IV: Ironed Wanderer Book V: Abysmal Voyage Book VI: Cold Star Blazing

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Book SynopsisOver the course of his career, legendary director Werner Herzog (b. 1942) has made almost sixty films and given more than eight hundred interviews. This collection features the best of these, focusing on all his major films. Together, these interviews offer an unprecedented look at Herzog's work, his career, and his public persona as it has developed and changed over time.

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Book SynopsisPresents interviews from across Otto Preminger's career, providing fascinating insights into the methods and mindset of a wildly polarizing filmmaker. With remarkable candour, Preminger discusses his filmmaking practices, his distinctive film style, his battles against censorship, his clashes with film critics, and his turbulent relationships.

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Book SynopsisThe famously private Sam Shepard gave a significant number of interviews over the course of his public life, and the interviewers who respected his boundaries found him to be forthcoming on a wide range of topics. The selected interviews here begin in 1969 when Shepard was twenty-six and end in 2016, eighteen months before his death.

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Book SynopsisThe first volume dedicated exclusively to Su Friedrich and her work. The interviews collected here highlight the historical, theoretical, political, and economic dimensions through which Friedrich’s films gain their unique and defiantly ambiguous identity.

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Book SynopsisCollects nineteen interviews with the celebrated playwright. In these interviews, one hears Terrence McNally reflect on theatre as the most collaborative of the arts, the economic pressures that drive the theatre industry, the unique values of music and dance, and the changes in American theatre over McNally’s fifty-plus year career.

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Book SynopsisThe conversations compiled in this volume mark the filmmaker’s progression from dismissed dilettante to acclaimed auteur of among the most visually arresting, melancholy, and wryly funny films of the twenty-first century.

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Book SynopsisMoviegoers often assume Frank Capra's life resembled his beloved films (such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life). A man of the people faces tremendous odds and, by doing the right thing, triumphs! But as Joseph McBride reveals in this meticulously researched, definitive biography, the reality was far more complex, a true American tragedy. Using newly declassified U.S. government documents about Capra's response to being considered a possible ""subversive"" during the post-World War II Red Scare, McBride adds a final chapter to his unforgettable portrait of the man who gave us It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, and Meet John Doe.Trade Review"Masterly, comprehensive, and frequently surprising." (Barry Gewen, the New York Times Book Review)"

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Book SynopsisThe legendary Dennis Hopper (1936-2010) had many identities. He first broke into Hollywood as a fresh-faced young actor in the 1950s, redefined himself as a rebel director with Easy Rider in the late 1960s, and became a bad boy outcast for much of the 1970s. He returned in the 1980s with standout performances in films like Blue Velvet and Hoosiers, was one of the great blockbuster baddies of the 1990s, and ended his career as a ubiquitous actor in genre movies.Hopper, however, was much more than just an actor and director: he was also a photographer, a painter, and an art collector--not to mention a longtime hedonist who kicked his addiction to drugs and alcohol and became a poster boy for sobriety.Dennis Hopper: Interviews covers every decade of his career, featuring conversations from 1957 through to 2009, and not only captures him at the significant points of his tumultuous time in Hollywood but also focuses on the lesser-known aspects of the man. In this fascinating and highly entertaining volume--the first ever collection of Hopper's interviews--he talks in depth about film, photography, art, and his battles with substance abuse and, in one instance, even takes the role of interviewer as he talks with Quentin Tarantino.

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Book SynopsisFew European male actors have been as iconic and influential for generations of filmgoers as Alain Delon. Emblematic of a modern, European masculinity, Delon’s appeal spanned cultures and continents. From his breakthrough as the first on-screen Tom Ripley in Purple Noon in 1960, through two legendary performances in Rocco and His Brothers and The Leopard in the early 1960s, to his roles in some of Jean-Pierre Melville’s most celebrated films noirs, Delon came to embody the flair and stylishness of the European thriller as one of France’s most recognizable film stars. This collection examines the star’s career, image and persona. Not only focusing on his spectacular early performances, the book also considers less well documented aspects of Delon’s long career such as his time in Hollywood, his work as director, producer and screenwriter, his musical collaborations, his TV appearances, and his enduring role as a fashion icon in the 21st century. Whether the object of reverence or ridicule, of desire or disdain, Delon remains a unique figure who continues to court controversy and fascination more than five decades after he first achieved international fame.Trade ReviewIn ten essays from a respected pool of academic writers, [this] book teases out what made Delon such a success ... [A]n interesting read. * Media Education Journal *The book increases significantly the available scholarship on Delon ... and offer[s] unusual and stimulating premises ... which in the long run will prove to be useful take-off points for scholars wishing to further engage with the figure of Delon. * Celebrity Studies *Highly engrossing … The use of a wide range of cultural, geographical, and theoretical lenses is not only revolutionary for Delon scholarship, but also has broader implications for star studies and English-language publications on non-Anglo-American stars, further underscoring the importance of this collection’s fascinating exploration of Delon’s style, stardom, and masculinity. * Studies in European Cinema *[This collection] manages to cover the broad range of Delon’s career and persona in ways that are profoundly illuminating. There are excellent studies of his narcissism, his international profile and its relationship to French culture, his impact on fashion culture, his move into production and directing ... and two fascinating chapters on Delon dubbed in his Italian films, and Delon as singer. * French Studies *A bracing and wide-ranging set of essays on a vital French and international star celebrity. As these expert respondents consider Delon's career -- embodying culture, commerce and history -- they offer a richer understanding not only of this particular icon, but also the possibilities for star studies in general. * Tim Palmer, Professor of Film Studies, University of North Carolina Wilmington, USA, and author of Brutal Intimacy: Analyzing Contemporary French Cinema (2011) and Irreversible (2015) *At last, the best-looking, most charismatic French actor of the post-war period gets the sustained attention he deserves. In Alain Delon, Style, Stardom and Masculinity, Nick Rees-Roberts and Darren Waldron have gathered a splendid collection of texts that illuminate the star in his multifarious dimensions: his roles and career choices, performance, looks, voice, fashion sense and sexual attractiveness. Drawing on insights from a range of international scholars, the book also importantly examines and celebrates his presence not just in famous classics such as Rocco and his Brothers, The Leopard and Mr Klein, but also in popular French cinema, especially the thrillers of Henri Verneuil, Jacques Deray and Jean-Pierre Melville, of which he was a pillar for decades. Fans and students alike will relish a book that explains and documents the enduring appeal of one of the great stars of French and world cinema. * Ginette Vincendeau, Professor of Film Studies, King’s College London, UK *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Alain Delon, Then and Now Nick Rees-Roberts, University of Bristol, UK, and Darren Waldron, University of Manchester, UK On the Limits of Narcissism: Alain Delon, Masculinity and the Delusion of Agency Darren Waldron, University of Manchester, UK Delon and Performance: Emploi and the Interaction between Individual, Role and Character Laurent Jullier, Université Paris Sorbonne Nouvelle, France, and Jean-Marc Leveratto, Université de Lorraine, France France’s 'New Don Juan': The Representation of Delon’s Youth Gwénaëlle Le Gras, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France Dubbing Delon: Voice, Body and National Stardom in Rocco and his Brothers Catherine O’Rawe, University of Bristol, UK Delon/Gabin/Verneuil: Modernity within Tradition Leila Wimmer, London Metropolitan University, UK Alain Delon, International Man of Mystery Mark Gallagher, University of Nottingham, UK The Star’s Script: Delon as Director, Producer and Screenwriter Isabelle Vanderschelden, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK The Singing Actor: Delon on Record Barbara Lebrun, University of Manchester, UK Dressed to Kill: Delon as Style Icon Nick Rees-Roberts, University of Bristol, UK Toujours Delon: The Script of Ageing Sue Harris, Queen Mary University of London, UK

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Book Synopsis'I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD' That was the cry from Leonardo DiCaprio as he stood astride the bow in Titanic - the movie that would go on to smash all records, raking in a whopping GBP1.1 billion worldwide. Now, few Hollywood movers and shakers would dispute that statement as Leo has rocketed to become one of the highest paid actors in the world. And his position looks set to be secure after an incredible 2013 which saw Hollywood's hottest talent appearing as the eponymous Jay Gatsy in the Great Gatsby, following swiftly on the heels of the great success of Quentin Tarantino's blockbuster, Django Unchained. Yet, although he's spent over 15 years at the top of his profession, Leonardo remains something of an enigma - his often daring movie choices suggest an actor still striving for perfection.

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Book SynopsisFrom playing the school joker as a young boy to shake off the trauma of his parents' divorce to becoming one of the world's most bankable movie stars, Will Ferrell has always used comedy as a way to bring happiness to others. He doesn't care if you laugh at him or with him - if you're laughing at all, then he's done his job. This comprehensive biography of Will Ferrell explores his early days on famed US variety show Saturday Night Live, and also charts Will's transition from quirky support character to being one of the world's most bankable movie stars - thanks to films like Elf, The Other Guys and, of course, a certain little-known anchorman from San Diego. Read Will Ferrell: The Biography if you want to stay classy!

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Book Synopsis"Simon Usher is one of the most clear headed thinkers about theatre in this country. He taps onto a well of experience spanning four decades with grace and ferocious honesty. He writes with precision and wit and insight. There is no more essential book for anybody working in or hoping to work in theatre." Simon Stephens ‘Only direct if you can do nothing else.’ ‘Directors: People with incurable cases of writer’s block.’ ‘Direct plays whose authors know more than you do.’ Not so much a how-to-direct book but reflections on a long career directing plays. Presented in the form of aphorisms, apercu, questions, maxims, dialogues and miniature essays aimed at the vocational rather than the career director. Usher emphasizes the reality of life as a theatre director. Directing vocationally is a state of mind, an attitude to life, a philosophical adventure. Directing: A Miscellany is about survival: how to remain creative in good times and bad; how to remain alive as a director in any circumstance. Commenting extensively on the process of acting, Shakespeare and the classics, working with writers and designers, directing techniques, the trials and tribulations of working with others, the book is an aid to reflection for readers.

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Book SynopsisHe was known as The Golden Torso, the underwear model who famously dated Keira Knightley. But Jamie Dornan has always dreamed of being an actor - and as star of the hotly-anticipated Fifty Shades of Grey movie he has finally sealed his position in Hollywood. From his role as S&M hero Christian Grey in the adaptation of EL James' hit novel to playing a serial killer in BBC series The Fall and Abe Goffe in New Worlds, Jamie is carving a name for himself playing characters with a serious passionate side. But the path to success has been far from easy for the Northern Irish actor. His personal life has had as many twists and turns, highs and devastating lows as the shows that are making him famous. Son of a doctor, Jamie and his two sisters had what looked like a charmed childhood growing up in a sprawling family home in an affluent area of Belfast, attending a top boarding school with dreams of treading the boards like his legendary great aunt Greer Garson. But looks can be deceiving and behind the sports trophies and amateur acting triumphs, there was a series of personal tragedies, the burden of which Jamie still carries with him today. He later struggled to cope with life in the limelight as an internationally famous model in his twenties dating an actress and winning hordes of female fans the world over posing alongside Kate Moss and Eva Mendes. Now married and father to a baby daughter, the Bafta-nominated star has a new set of challenges on his hands. In this, his first biography, Louise Ford, reveals Jamie's successes and struggles both on and off screen and explores what the future holds for the model turned actor who once doubted he could ever have it all.

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Book SynopsisCHRIS PRATT is now one of the world's most sought-after actors. As the breakout star of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and The Lego Movie (two of 2014's biggest box-office hits), as well as landing the lead role in the 2015 Jurassic Park franchise re-boot, Jurassic World, his meteoric rise to fame is proof that anything is possible in Hollywood. Chris's journey to the movie-star A-list may just make him the ultimate 'zero to hero', but it certainly wasn't an overnight success story. A chance encounter transformed Chris's life from living in a van and waiting tables to make enough money to survive, to the bright lights of Los Angeles and his first tentative steps into the acting world. After years as a supporting player in both comedy and dramatic roles, on television (Everwood, Parks and Recreation) and in movies (The Five-Year Engagement, Delivery Man), Chris finally started to attract superstar buzz after appearing in three Best Picture Oscar-nominated films between 2011 and 2013. Along the way he's shown that nice guys don't always finish last, juggling a successful movie career and life as a devoted family man, and somehow finding time to develop killer abs along the way.

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Book SynopsisHugh was born in Oxford, and his father, WGRM 'Ran' Laurie, was a doctor who won a gold medal in the coxless pairs at the 1948 Olympics. Hugh followed in his father's footsteps as a rower at Cambridge, but when he was forced to hang up his oars he joined the famous Cambridge Footlights and there began a career in comedy. It was at university that he met Stephen Fry, and the pair forged a hilarious partnership that continued through the 1980s and 1990s. Hugh has also enjoyed great success on the big screen; starring in Sense and Sensibility, 101 Dalmatians, Monsters vs Aliens and the three Stuart Little films. But it is the character of irascible doctor Gregory House, in the US TV drama House, that has brought global fame. He has won two Golden Globes for the role and received a prestigious Emmy nominations in 2005, and continues to receive critical acclaim for his performance in the show - especially for his near-perfect American accent. With worldwide fame and an OBE to his name, Hugh Laurie is undoubtedly one of Britain's best-loved actors.

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Book SynopsisJessie Kesson is forever associated with her first novel, the fictionalised autobiography of her early years, The White Bird Passes. Born illegitimate in a Workhouse and raised in an Elgin slum, she was removed from her beloved but neglectful mother and sent to an orphanage in Kirkton of Skene. There she throve and shone, but was refused any chance of higher education, and ended up a year in a mental hospital. After marriage, she became a cottar wife around North East Scotland, before moving to London, where she combined writing novels and radio plays with jobs from cleaning a cinema to producing Woman's Hour. The first edition of her authorised biography won the National Library of Scotland/Saltire Research Book of the Year in 2000. It revealed an extraordinary woman making her life and art out of all life threw at her, overcoming and transforming it all. This second edition at last reveals the truth about her ever-absent father, here named.

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Book SynopsisFor the first time, author Sophie Johnson reveals the story behind Miranda's rise to fame. The comedian was born in Torquay in 1972, yet despite graduating with a degree in politics, she always wanted to be a comedian. In 2002 she performed at the Edinburgh Festival, and her early career was followed by Jennifer Saunders, who cast Miranda in an Ab Fab Christmas special. TV roles such as The Vicar of Dibley, Nighty Night, Hyperdrive and Not Going Out followed - before Miranda Hart's Joke Shop was commissioned by BBC Radio 2 in 2008, leading to the development of the smash hit series Miranda, which made her a household name. Since then, Miranda has branched out into straight acting, with a highly-acclaimed role in BBC drama Call the Midwife. She is the newest comedy legend to capture the imagination of the public - this is her full story.

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