Individual actors Books

Book Synopsis'Michael Jackson: The Man behind the Mask' is the INSIDE STORY of the truth behind the rumors, ugliness and mystery surrounding Michael Jackson.Is Jackson just a confused person who got too much fame too soon or is he a cold and calculating villain who will stop at nothing to have his bizarre appetites satisfied? Now you can read about it for the first time from the man who knows everything!The author, Bob Jones, is not a journalist conducting interviews but somebody who has known and been with Jackson for 34 years as his chief of Public Relations; by his side since Michael was 11 years old. Bob Jones is the one person with this unique inside view of Michael Jackson's world. To a certain degree, Bob Jones CREATED Michael Jackson. He created his image. For example, Bob Jones created Michael Jackson's famous nickname The King of Pop.This book is explosive and will make any other book about Michael Jackson instantly forgotten. You won't find this inside information anywhere else.

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Book SynopsisThundering across the screen, Judah Ben-Hur’s iconic chariot race against his former friend turned bitter foe remains an indelible part of cinematic history and established Charlton Heston as an international superstar. In many ways the race was a metaphor for the actor’s dynamic life, symbolizing his struggle to establish himself in his profession. Brian Steel Wills captures for the first time a comprehensive view of the actor’s climb to fame, his search for the perfect performance, and the meaningful roles he played in support of the causes he embraced.The actor was born and raised in the Michigan woodlands and suburbs of Chicago, where he found his love of acting in the books he read and the movies he saw. 'Chuck' Heston’s introduction to the craft that would become his life’s work began at New Trier High School and spilled over into Northwestern University. The Second World War interrupted his journey when he served his country, after which he and his wife Lydia headed to Asheville, North Carolina, where they both acted and directed in theatre.The lights of New York City and Broadway beckoned, and live television offered an important platform, but Hollywood and feature films were his destiny. His roles were as varied as they were powerful, and included stints as Moses, Ben-Hur, El Cid, Michelangelo, Mike Vargas, and Charles 'Chinese' Gordon under legendary directors like Cecil B. DeMille, William Wyler, Franklin Schaffner, and Orson Welles. He shifted to science fiction in Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green, a wide range of action and disaster films, and more nuanced roles such as Will Penny.Over his decades of performance Heston defined and redefined his 'public face' in a constant quest for an audience for his work. He undertook wide-ranging public service roles for the government, the arts, and other causes. His leadership in the Screen Actors Guild and American Film Institute carried him from Hollywood to the halls of Congress. He became an outspoken advocate of the arts and other public and charitable causes, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Washington, and supported Second Amendment rights with the National Rifle Association. He did so even when his positions often clashed with other actors on issues ranging from nuclear arms, national security, and gun rights. The proud independent shifted decidedly to the Republican Party and appeared at political rallies and conventions, but rebuffed calls to run for office in favour of assuming similar roles on the big screen.Award-winning historian Brian Steel Wills digs deep to paint a rich portrait of Heston’s extraordinary life – a mix of complications and complexities that touched film, television, theatre, politics, and society. His carefully crafted 'public face' was impactful in more ways than the ordinarily shy and private family man could have ever imagined.

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Book SynopsisThe third of Judy Garland's five husbands, Sid Luft was the one man in her life who stuck around. He was chiefly responsible for the final act of Judy’s meteoric comeback after she was unceremoniously booted off the MGM lot: he produced her iconic, Oscar-nominated vehicle A Star Is Born and expertly shaped her concert career. Previously unpublished, Sid Luft’s intimate autobiography tells his and Judy’s story in hard-boiled yet elegant prose. It begins on a fateful night in New York City when the not quite divorced Judy Garland and the not quite divorced Sid Luft meet at Billy Reed’s Little Club and fall for each other. The romance lasted Judy’s lifetime, despite the separations, the reconciliations, and the divorce. Under Luft’s management, Judy came back bigger than ever, building a singing career that rivaled Sinatra’s. However, her drug dependencies and suicidal tendencies put a tremendous strain on the relationship. Sid did not complete his memoir; it ended in 1960 after Judy hired David Begelman and Freddie Fields to manage her career. But Randy L. Schmidt, acclaimed editor of Judy Garland on Judy Garland and author of Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter, seamlessly pieced together the final section of the book from extensive interviews with Sid, most previously unpublished. Despite everything, Sid never stopped loving Judy and never forgave himself for not being able to ultimately save her from the demons that drove her to an early death at age forty-seven in 1969. Sid served as chief conservator of the Garland legacy until his death at the age of eighty-nine in 2005. This is his testament to the love of his life.Trade Review"More than the love of his life, Judy Garland was Sid Luft's passion, and their tempestuous relationship was one of the great untold stories of the twentieth century. Garland left him, returned, and left him again, but Luft thought of Garland every day from when they met until the day he died, and it shows in this riveting page-turner of a memoir." Lawrence Schulman, music producer, critic, and translator"Sid Luft's long-awaited autobiography is finally here and doesn't disappoint. Judy Garland fans and fans of Hollywood's Golden Age will enjoy Luft's honesty and insight from his very unique vantage point. A definite must-read!" Scott Brogan, founder and webmaster of TheJudyRoom.com"Luft writes with neither sensation nor sentiment. Much like himself, his writing is masculine and unflinching. Imagine Hemingway writing about the girl from Oz. It makes for a pretty fascinating book." The Bay Area Reporter"Garland fanatics will gobble up [Luft's] detailed, insightful backstage accounts of Garland's classic late productions and gossipy tidbits about their social circle." Kirkus Reviews"In prose so brassy that it bruises the sensibilities, Luft, who died in 2005, illuminates the dark side of life in the spotlight and dispels any sentimental illusions about the glories of show business in Hollywood's classic age." The New Yorker"A rare glimpse into old Hollywood that you don't get to see these days..." Red Carpet Crash"[Luft's] writing is gutsy, honest and blunt." EDGE Media Network

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Book SynopsisLou Reed made it his mission to rub people the wrong way, whether it was with the noise rock he produced with the Velvet Underground in the late 1960s or his polarizing work with Metallica that would prove to be his swan song. On a personal level, too, he seemed to take pleasure in insulting everyone who crossed his path. How did this Jewish boy from Long Island, an adolescent doo-wop singer, rise to the status of Godfather of Punk? And how did he maintain that status for decades?Dirty Blvd.—the first new biography of Reed since his death in 2013—digs deep to answer those questions. And along the way it shows us the tender side of his prickly personality.Born in Brooklyn, Reed was the son of an accountant and a former beauty queen, but he took the road less traveled, trading literary promise for an entry-level job as a budget-label songwriter and founding the Velvet Underground under the aegis of Andy Warhol. The cult of personality surrounding his transformation from downtown agent provocateur to Phantom of Rock and finally to patron saint of the avant-garde was legendary, but there was more to his artistic evolution than his abrasive public persona. The lives of many American rock stars have had no second act, but Reed’s did.Dirty Blvd. not only covers the highlights of Reed’s career but also explores lesser-known facets of his work, such as his first recordings with doo-wop group the Jades, his key literary influences and the impact of Judaism upon his work, and his engagement with the LGBT movement. Drawing from new interviews with many of his artistic collaborators, friends, and romantic partners, as well as from archival material, concert footage, and unreleased bootlegs of live performances, author Aidan Levy paints an intimate portrait of the notoriously uncompromising rock poet who wrote “Heroin,” “Sweet Jane,” “Walk on the Wild Side,” and “Street Hassle”—songs that transcended their genre and established Lou Reed as one of the most influential and enigmatic American artists of the past half-century.Trade Review"Reading Aidan Levy's Dirty Blvd. is like rolling down lower Broadway after a tickertape parade, a nocturne for Lou Reed piled high with twinkling treasures, dark skeins of insight, and drifts of American excess. It's a night of a thousand eyes, a book of deep focus, peering with the rapt intent of a biography and the empathy of a memoir. Born of Jewish parents who hoped to assimilate, Lou was a man who could not. From shock treatment he lunged into shock-rock, singing and living like a rat poet caught in a trap. Levy finds it all on this boulevard, searching for Lou's art with his own heart where it clearly still lives and breathes. And if, as Lou's life-mate said with his parting, we die a final death the last time someone utters our name, then Levy has done his part to keep that name forever on our lips. A startling, beautiful and defiant literary debut. Rock this book!" Stephen Molton, screenwriter, producer, professor and author, Brave Talk and Brothers in Arms: The Kennedys, the Castros, and the Politics of Murder , co-written with Gus Russo"Lou Reed was much more than 'Walk on the Wild Side' and glam rock. He was the voice of the disaffected and the disenchanted, the scourge of comfort and convention, the enfant terrible of literary rock, and, very often, one of the great tender-hearted poets of New York City. Aidan Levy shines a light into unexamined corners of this singular life and enlarges our sense of his subject's spiky unforgettable character." Peter Blauner, bestselling author, Slipping into Darkness and Slow Motion Riot"A valuable study of Reed, further cementing his totemic influence as the high priest of art rock." Kirkus Reviews"This skillfully written and respectful biography takes us through Reed's life and career . . . . Levy has produced an informative and insightful look at a rock star and songwriter whose work always cut a little deeper than that of his peers." Booklist"Levy does a splendid job debunking the myths surrounding the musician . . . . this study is about as close to a must-read book on Reed as one can get." Library Journal"In the first major biography of Reed since his 2013 death and subsequent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Levy throws a literary lasso on the many facets of his career." Houston Press

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Book SynopsisTelling the full story of the head Stooge, this work reveals the life-long career of a legendary funnyman. Born into a working-class family in Brooklyn, Moe Howard transformed his real-life experiences of getting into mischief with his brother Shemp into the plots that would have millions rolling in the aisles. From childhood, Moe’s ambition was to perform—whether it was plucking a ukulele on the beach, or playing a halfwit on a Mississippi showboat. But he only found success when he joined with Shemp and Larry Fine to play, as the New York Times put it, “three of the frowziest numskulls ever assembled.” As the brains behind the Three Stooges, he went on to act in hundreds of their movies, introducing his little brother Curly into the act when Shemp departed, and, after Curly’s death, partnering with Joe Besser and finally Joe de Rita. This is Moe Howard’s self-penned, no-holds-barred story of the ups and downs of his life, ranging from personal family tragedies to tidbits about career mishaps and triumphs. It overflows with the easygoing charm, generosity, and inspired lunacy of the “wise guy” behind America’s most successful comedy trio.

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Book SynopsisThe movie audience respects talent but revels in charisma, and is always ready to elevate a star who is as much as character off the screen as on it. Ever since he came to the attention of the American public in the 1960s, Jack Nicholson has been the whole package. But who among us really knows the man who smiles that wicked grin from behind the darkest of shades? His generation's Mr. Hollywood, a fixture next to the Los Angeles Lakers bench, is in fact a native New Yorker: the son of a showgirl, born in the city in 1937 and raised largely by his grandmother so that Jack's mum could continue her career as a hoofer. Starting out, he appeared in B movies directed by Roger Corman, then burst through in the counter-culture classic Easy Rider. Immediately, his abilities were recognized in dramas, comedies, anything - and the awards and nominations began to pile up (he's been nominated for a dozen Academy Awards and has won three). Meantime, his rascal's persona and happily loose social life provided another kind of delicious entertainment; he has, down the decades, spent as much of his career in front of still cameras (often LIFE's) as he has on the set. If you want to know Jack, and enjoy his colourful life in all its ever-blazing glory, this latest, lavishly illustrated edition in LIFE's new Icons series is the book for you. LIFE Icons celebrates the larger-than-life figures among us, and none is larger than Jack Nicholson.

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Book Synopsis“John Winters offers a master class in literary sleuthing, untangling the many lives and unearthing the origin story of America’s foremost Renaissance man of letters.” —Kelly Horan, coauthor of Devotion and DefianceWith more than fifty-five plays to his credit—including the 1979 Pulitzer Prize-winning Buried Child, an Oscar nod for his portrayal of Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff, and an onscreen persona that’s been aptly summed up as “Gary Cooper in denim”—Sam Shepard’s impact on American theater and film ranks with the greatest playwrights and actors of the past half-century.Sam Shepard: A Life gets to the heart of Sam Shepard, presenting a compelling and comprehensive account of his life and work.In a new epilogue, added by the author after Shepard’s untimely death in July of 2017, John J. Winters offers a glimpse into the enigmatic author’s last days, when very few k

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Book SynopsisWhen he left Hollywood in March 1941, Jimmy Stewart was America's boy next door movie star and a recent Academy Award winner. He left all that behind to join the United States Army Air Corps and fulfill his family mission to serve his country—only to face obstacle after obstacle from both Hollywood and Washington. Finally he made his way to the European Theater, where several near-death experiences and the loss of men under his command took away his youthful good looks. The war finally won, he returned home with millions of other veterans to face an uncertain future, suffering what we now know as PTSD. For the next half century, Stewart refused to discuss his combat experiences and took the story of his service to the grave. Mission presents the first in-depth look at Stewart's life as a Squadron Commander in the skies over Germany, from takeoff to landing and every key moment in between. Author Robert Matzen sifted through thousands of Air Force combat reports and the Stewart pe

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Book SynopsisCharming, erudite, and the very personification of the English gentleman, Dennis Price was without doubt also one of the most promising and talented newcomers to the world of theatre and film in the late 1930s, and he arguably reached his screen best in the classic Ealing comedy 'Kind Hearts and Coronets'. Huge praise was lavished upon him and he was compared alongside theatrical contemporaries Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson as being destined for great things. Scene-stealing performances followed over the next few decades in such differing films as 'The Dancing Years', 'The Intruder', 'Private's Progress', 'The Naked Truth', 'Tunes of Glory', 'Tamahine' and 'Theatre of Blood', to name but a few. Though whilst his career was blossoming his private life was going through turmoil when, after one of his several affairs was discovered by his wife, he faced the shame of divorce, separation from his two children and when coupled with significant tax bills, it all proved too much and the actor attempted suicide. Eventually bouncing back, he reinvented himself as a character actor and appeared in scores of notable films—and was often the best thing in them!

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Book SynopsisThe Twilight Saga may have made 'R-Patz' a household name - and earned him a spot on the bedroom walls of teenage girls around the world - but long gone are the days when he was just seen as a (very) pretty face. Named amongst TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People, and drawing critical acclaim for recent screen performances, he is carving a formidable reputation as a serious actor, artist and ambassador as well as a sex symbol. Hailed as 'the next Jude Law' when the supporting role of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire fell to him, it was only a matter of time before other major productions joined the hunt. But after accepting the offer to play Edward Cullen in the first Twilight movie, Robert couldn't have dreamt just how far into the spotlight he would be catapulted. The series went on to gross over GBP2billion worldwide, and for the heartthrob star of the story, opportunity knocked from every direction. From supporting charities against child trafficking through selling his own artwork, to campaigning to raise awareness of cancer, it's clear he has a heart of gold to match a jawline of iron. And with critically acclaimed performances in more mature movies like futuristic western The Rover, and an Oscar-bait role as T.E. Lawrence in Queen of the Desert on the horizon, there can be no doubt that Robert Pattinson is set to be the modern-day matinee idol of the decade.

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Book SynopsisIn February 2015, when Eddie Redmayne won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of the scientist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, it was the ultimate accolade for an actor who has thrilled audiences since bursting out on to the scene a decade earlier. Eddie Redmayne is simply one of the most exciting actors around today: from indie stage productions to Hollywood blockbusters, he has shown himself capable of tackling a huge variety of roles while cultivating a huge and devoted fan following known as 'Redmayniacs'. Now a new book delves into the past of this hugely popular star. From his wealthy and privileged origins, including an education at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, to a tentative entry into the London theatre scene to the heights of an international film career, Eddie has led a fascinating life. Now married to his childhood sweetheart Hannah Bagshawe, Eddie has also been linked to a string of beautiful women before settling down. Delving into every aspect of his background, the new book unearths little known facts about Eddie, such as his acting debut as a teenager in Animal Ark, his stage work in London while still at university, when he was discovered by Mark Rylance, with whom he has often been compared, and his groundbreaking work in films that confront some of society's most explicit taboos. An outstanding member of a hugely exciting new generation of actors, Eddie looks set to dominate the entertainment industry for decades to come.

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Book SynopsisA long overdue, illustrated celebration of Grace Kelly, one of Hollywoods brightest stars. Following on from the popular full-sized edition, this gift-sized version was published to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Grace Kelly's death and is now reissued to coincide with the release of the film Grace of Monaco, starring Nicole Kidman.

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

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Book SynopsisHOLLYWOOD From Below the Line: A Prop Master's Perspective Steven M. Levine, a veteran Hollywood property master, through both humorous recollections and poignant stories, not only takes the reader onto a Hollywood set as aTrade Review"Steven clearly shows how vitally important props are to an actor--and to a film. His book is full of amazing information, anecdotes, and details only an insider would know. This is a wonderful, personal view of an often-overlooked, rarely written about, fascinating part of show business. My personal favorite is the chapter on Pee-wee's Big Adventure!" -- Paul "Pee-wee Herman" Reubens, Actor

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Book SynopsisThe first full-length, authoritative, and detailed story of the iconic actor's life to go beyond the Hollywood scandal-sheet reporting of earlier books, this account offers an appreciation for the man and his acting career and the classic films he starred in, painting a portrait of an individual who took great risks in his acting and career. Although Lee Marvin is best known for his icy tough guy roles--such as his chilling titular villain in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance or the paternal yet brutally realistic platoon leader in The Big Red One --very little is known of his personal life; his family background; his experiences in WWII; his relationship with his father, family, friends, wives; and his ongoing battles with alcoholism, rage, and depression, occasioned by his postwar PTSD. Now, after years of researching and compiling interviews with family members, friends, and colleagues; rare photographs; and illustrative material, Hollywood writer Dwayne Epstein provides a full understanding and appreciation of this acting titan's place in the Hollywood pantheon in spite of his very real and human struggles.

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