Description
Book SynopsisFrom her memorable role in Gone With the Wind to her last big screen appearance opposite Harrison Ford in The Mosquito Coast, the details of McQueen's life are captured in this book.
Trade ReviewAn intimate portrait of McQueen's life and career. * Library Journal, 11/1/2007 *
Stephen Bourne's memoir of this great performer is well researched and beautifully written - as one would expect from this biographer. It's also a chilling tale of how Hollywood destroys its own and one that deserves to be read by actors and fans of McQueen alike. -- Patrick Newley, The Stage, 2008
Bourne pulls all into perspective and reveals a talented but unfulfilled actor who was frustrated and denied by larger systems and institutions; an altruistic survivor who later became an anti-poverty activist. All Black actors working in Hollywood should read Bourne's biographies on McQueen and Ethel Waters (2007). Film historians and anti-racist educators should place these works as staples on Black History booklists. It is a solidly crafted work on an enigmatic Black woman. * Black and Asian Studies Association Newsletter, July 2009 *
Bourne's Butterfly McQueen Remembered is a much-needed entry in the history of American and black American culture and artistic production . . . The chronicle of McQueen's journey as a performing artist will be valuable in stimulating new scholarship in the history of black theater and is a rich resource for those looking at the history of black creativity in Hollywood. It is likely to inspire further inquiry into the early twentieth-century work of lesser known black theater artists and into the complex climate endured by black actors in Hollywood. * Black Camera: An International Film Journal, Winter 2009 *
Stephen Bourne's portrait of this remarkable woman is not just a study of her life, work and beliefs. It is also a more general account of the plight of African American actors in the Hollywood studio system and a re-examination of the nature and meaning of their performances. * Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal, October 2008 *
Table of ContentsPart 1 Foreword Chapter 2 Acknowledgments Part 3 Introduction Chapter 4 1. Before Butterfly Became Prissy Chapter 5 2. Gone With the Wind Chapter 6 3. Black Resistance to Gone With the Wind Chapter 7 4. Hattie McDaniel: More Than a Mammy Chapter 8 5. Swingin' the Dream Chapter 9 6. Butterfly in Hollywood Chapter 10 7. Mildred Pierce Chapter 11 8. Making a Stand Chapter 12 9. What Ever Happened to Butterfly McQueen? Chapter 13 10. The Fiftieth Anniversary of Gone With the Wind Part 14 Afterword Part 15 Appendix A: Butterfly McQueen's Credits Part 16 Appendix B: Gone With the Wind: Awards, Statistics, and Movie Lists Part 17 Appendix C: Butterfly's "Essays" and "Booklets" Part 18 Appendix D: International Security Corporation of Virginia v. McQueen Part 19 Bibliography Part 20 Index Part 21 About the Author
