Search results for ""Author Kevin Brownlow""

The magic of the silent screen, illuminated by the recollections of those who created it.

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Greta Garbo proclaimed him as her favorite director. Actors, actresses, and even child stars were so at ease under his direction that they were able to deliver inspired and powerful performances. Academy–Award–nominated director Clarence Brown (1890–1987) worked with some of Hollywood's greatest stars, such as Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Mickey Rooney, Katharine Hepburn, and Spencer Tracy. Known as the "star maker," he helped guide the acting career of child sensation Elizabeth Taylor (of whom he once said, "she has a face that is an act of God") and discovered Academy–Award–winning child star Claude Jarman Jr. for The Yearling (1946). He directed more than fifty films, including Possessed (1931), Anna Karenina (1935), National Velvet (1944), and Intruder in the Dust (1949), winning his audiences over with glamorous star vehicles, tales of families, communities, and slices of Americana, as well as hard-hitting dramas. Although Brown was admired by peers like Jean Renoir, Frank Capra, and John Ford, his illuminating work and contributions to classic cinema are rarely mentioned in the same breath as those of Hollywood's great directors.In this first full-length account of the life and career of the pioneering filmmaker, Gwenda Young discusses Brown's background to show how his hardworking parents and resilient grandparents inspired his entrepreneurial spirit. She reveals how the one–time engineer and World War I aviator established a thriving car dealership, the Brown Motor Car Company, in Alabama - only to give it all up to follow his dream of making movies. He would not only become a brilliant director but also a craftsman who was known for his innovative use of lighting and composition.In a career spanning five decades, Brown was nominated for five Academy Awards and directed ten different actors in Oscar-nominated performances. Despite his achievements and influence, however, Brown has been largely overlooked by film scholars. Clarence Brown: Hollywood's Forgotten Master explores the forces that shaped a complex man - part–dreamer, part–pragmatist - who left an indelible mark on cinema.

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Greta Garbo proclaimed him as her favorite director. Actors, actresses, and even child stars were so at ease under his direction that they were able to deliver inspired and powerful performances. Academy--Award--nominated director Clarence Brown (1890--1987) worked with some of Hollywood's greatest stars, such as Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Mickey Rooney, Katharine Hepburn, and Spencer Tracy. Known as the "star maker," he helped guide the acting career of child sensation Elizabeth Taylor (of whom he once said, "she has a face that is an act of God") and discovered Academy--Award--winning child star Claude Jarman Jr. for The Yearling (1946). He directed more than fifty films, including Possessed (1931), Anna Karenina (1935), National Velvet (1944), and Intruder in the Dust (1949), winning his audiences over with glamorous star vehicles, tales of families, communities, and slices of Americana, as well as hard-hitting dramas. Although Brown was admired by peers like Jean Renoir, Frank Capra, and John Ford, his illuminating work and contributions to classic cinema are rarely mentioned in the same breath as those of Hollywood's great directors.In this first full-length account of the life and career of the pioneering filmmaker, Gwenda Young discusses Brown's background to show how his hardworking parents and resilient grandparents inspired his entrepreneurial spirit. She reveals how the one--time engineer and World War I aviator established a thriving car dealership, the Brown Motor Car Company, in Alabama -- only to give it all up to follow his dream of making movies. He would not only become a brilliant director but also a craftsman who was known for his innovative use of lighting and composition.In a career spanning five decades, Brown was nominated for five Academy Awards and directed ten different actors in Oscar-nominated performances. Despite his achievements and influence, however, Brown has been largely overlooked by film scholars. Clarence Brown: Hollywood's Forgotten Master explores the forces that shaped a complex man -- part--dreamer, part--pragmatist -- who left an indelible mark on cinema.

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The life of Karl Dane was a Cinderella story gone horribly wrong. The immigrant from Copenhagen was rapidly transformed from a machinist to a Hollywood star after his turn as the tobacco-chewing Slim in ""The Big Parade"" in 1925. After that, Dane appeared in more than 40 films with such luminaries as Lillian Gish, John Gilbert and William Haines until development of talkies virtually ruined his career. The most famous casualty of the transition from silent to sound film, Dane reportedly lost his career because of his accent, finding himself broke at the height of the Depression. He reportedly operated a hot dog stand outside the studio where he earned his fame, then committed suicide in 1934. This biography tells the tale of a daring yet tragic man who aimed for his wildest dreams and succeeded, if only for a short time.

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Although there are encyclopedias and biographical dictionaries of contemporary British film and theatre actors, most lack the intimacy of face-to-face interviews. Typically drawn from secondary sources, collections of interviews often repeat tired anecdotes about an actor’s film or stage roles, with very little nuance or fresh insights. Great Britons of Stage and Screen: In Conversation features interviews with some of the leading actors of the last fifty years and more. In this collection, Barbara Roisman Cooper presents interviews she personally conducted with more than twenty stars of film, television, and theatre. Held in intimate surroundings—including the actors’ private homes and theatre dressing rooms between performances—these interviews provide readers with a rounded understanding of the creative process and the dedication required to develop a performance. Including many well-known Oscar, Tony, Olivier, and BAFTA winners, each interview is preceded by a short introduction and followed by the performer’s most significant credits, both on the stage and screen. The actors and actresses who shared their stories in this volume include ·Dame Eileen Atkins ·Isla Blair ·Simon Callow ·Dame Joan Collins ·Peggy Cummins ·Sinéad Cusack ·Samantha Eggar ·Stephen Fry ·Julian Glover ·Stephen Greif ·Jeremy Irons ·Sir Derek Jacobi ·Felicity Kendal ·Sir Ben Kingsley ·Dame Angela Lansbury ·Sir John Mills ·Alfred Molina ·Lynn Redgrave ·Jean Simmons ·David Suchet ·Richard Todd ·Michael York Designed to serve as a resource for those studying or writing about the worlds of theatre and film in general—and the art and craft of acting, specifically—Great Britons of Stage and Screen will also appeal to the many fans of the artists who have entertained audiences for decades.

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