Search results for ""author robert sellers""
The History Press Ltd 1971: 100 Films from Cinema's Greatest Year
1971 was a great year for cinema. Woody Allen, Robert Altman, Dario Argento, Ingmar Bergman, Stanley Kubrick, Sergio Leone, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Roman Polanski, Nicolas Roeg and Steven Spielberg, among many others, were behind the camera, while the stars were also out in force. Warren Beatty, Marlon Brando, Michael Caine, Julie Christie, Sean Connery, Faye Dunaway, Clint Eastwood, Jane Fonda, Dustin Hoffman, Steve McQueen, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino and Vanessa Redgrave all featured in films released in 1971.The remarkable artistic flowering that came from the ‘New Hollywood’ of the ’70s was just beginning, while the old guard was fading away and the new guard was taking over. With a decline in box office attendances by the end of the ’60s, along with a genuine inability to come up with a reliable barometer of box office success, studio heads gave unprecedented freedom to young filmmakers to lead the way.Featuring interviews with cast and crew members, bestselling author Robert Sellers explores this landmark year in Hollywood and in Britain, when this new age was at its freshest, and where the transfer of power was felt most exhilaratingly.
£18.00
Globe Pequot Press When the British Musical Ruled the World
For decades, British stage musicals struggled to compete against the dazzling Broadway productions that came roaring in from across the pond. But that tide was turned at last in 1978, when Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production of Evita brought the West End back into contention with Broadway. It was just the first of several blockbuster productions that helped Britain dominate musical theater all over the world.In this revealing behind-the-scenes narrative, journalist and author Robert Sellers gives a definitive account of how Evita, Cats, Starlight Express, Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Chess, and Miss Saigon changed the business of musical theater in the 1980s. These mega productions of the were larger than life, colorful, and spectacular. Sellers collects insightful, personal stories from cast members, set designers, musical supervisors, dancers, lighting designers, production managers, singers, and choreographers from the shows that finally put Broadway on its back foot. He also describes the backstage drama, production nightmares, and financial woes that threatened to derail the shows at multiple points. Whatever obstacles they faced, though, these productions swept the world and transformed the face of musical theater in ways that still resound today.
£17.99
The History Press Ltd When Harry Met Cubby: The Story of the James Bond Producers
‘Enthralling . . . an essential read, particularly for fans of 007.’ - Cinema Retro‘When Harry Met Cubby is a fitting tribute to two extraordinary men. If you love behind the scenes stories about the making of movies, there’s plenty of drama to sate you here.’ - Entertainment FocusAlbert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli and Harry Saltzman remain the most successful producing partnership in movie history. Together they were responsible for the phenomenally successful James Bond series; separately they brought kitchen-sink drama to the screen, made a star out of Michael Caine in the Harry Palmer films and were responsible for the children’s classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But their relationship was fraught almost from the very beginning. With such contrasting personalities, their interactions often span out of control. They managed to drive away their coveted star, Sean Connery, and ultimately each other.Loved and hated in equal measure, respected and feared by their contemporaries, few people have loomed as large over the film industry as Broccoli and Saltzman, yet their lives went in very different directions. Broccoli was feted as Hollywood royalty, whereas Saltzman ended up a forgotten recluse. When Harry Met Cubby charts the changing fortunes and clashing personalities of two titans of the big screen.
£18.00
The History Press Ltd When Harry Met Cubby: The Story of the James Bond Producers
‘Enthralling . . . an essential read, particularly for fans of 007.’ - Cinema Retro‘When Harry Met Cubby is a fitting tribute to two extraordinary men. If you love behind the scenes stories about the making of movies, there’s plenty of drama to sate you here.’ - Entertainment FocusAlbert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli and Harry Saltzman remain the most successful producing partnership in movie history. Together they were responsible for the phenomenally successful James Bond series; separately they brought kitchen-sink drama to the screen, made a star out of Michael Caine in the Harry Palmer films and were responsible for the children’s classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But their relationship was fraught almost from the very beginning. With such contrasting personalities, their interactions often span out of control. They managed to drive away their coveted star, Sean Connery, and ultimately each other.Loved and hated in equal measure, respected and feared by their contemporaries, few people have loomed as large over the film industry as Broccoli and Saltzman, yet their lives went in very different directions. Broccoli was feted as Hollywood royalty, whereas Saltzman ended up a forgotten recluse. When Harry Met Cubby charts the changing fortunes and clashing personalities of two titans of the big screen.
£12.99
The History Press Ltd Raising Laughter: How the Sitcom Kept Britain Smiling in the ‘70s
The 1970s were the era of the three-day week, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the winter of discontent, trade union Bolshevism and wildcat strikes. Through sitcoms, Raising Laughter provides a fresh look at one of our most divisive and controversial decades. Aside from providing entertainment to millions of people, the sitcom is a window into the culture of the day.Many of these sitcoms tapped into the decade’s sense of cynicism, failure and alienation, providing much-needed laughter for the masses. Shows like Rising Damp and Fawlty Towers were classic encapsulations of worn-out, run-down Britain, while the likes of Dad’s Army looked back sentimentally at a romanticised English past.For the first time, the stories behind the making of every sitcom from the 1970s are told by the actors, writers, directors and producers who made them all happen. This is nostalgia with a capital N, an oral history, the last word, and an affectionate salute to the kind of comedy programme that just isn’t made anymore.
£18.00
The History Press Ltd Raising Laughter: How the Sitcom Kept Britain Smiling in the ‘70s
The 1970s were the era of the three-day week, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the winter of discontent, trade union Bolshevism and wildcat strikes. Through sitcoms, Raising Laughter provides a fresh look at one of our most divisive and controversial decades. Aside from providing entertainment to millions of people, the sitcom is a window into the culture of the day.Many of these sitcoms tapped into the decade’s sense of cynicism, failure and alienation, providing much-needed laughter for the masses. Shows like Rising Damp and Fawlty Towers were classic encapsulations of worn-out, run-down Britain, while the likes of Dad’s Army looked back sentimentally at a romanticised English past.For the first time, the stories behind the making of every sitcom from the 1970s are told by the actors, writers, directors and producers who made them all happen. This is nostalgia with a capital N, an oral history, the last word, and an affectionate salute to the kind of comedy programme that just isn’t made anymore.
£12.99
Cornerstone Hellraisers: The Life and Inebriated Times of Burton, Harris, O'Toole and Reed
'God put me on this earth to raise sheer hell.' Richard Burton'I was a sinner. I slugged some people. I hurt many people. And it's true, I never looked back to see the casualties.' Richard Harris'Booze is the most outrageous of all drugs, which is why I chose it.' Peter O'Toole'I don't have a drink problem. But if that was the case and doctors told me I had to stop I'd like to think I would be brave enough to drink myself into the grave.' Oliver ReedThis is the story of four of the greatest thespian boozers who ever walked - or staggered - off a film set into a pub. It's a story of drunken binges of near biblical proportions, parties and orgies, broken marriages, drugs, riots and wanton sexual conquests. They got away with it because of their extraordinary acting talent and because the public loved them. They were truly the last of a breed, the last of the movie hellraisers.
£10.99
Omnibus Press The Remarkable Tale of Radio 1: The History of the Nation's Favourite Station, 1967-95
For most people in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s, Radio 1 provided the soundtrack to their lives. Commanding up to 24 million listeners a week, it was the most popular radio station in the world. An iconic institution and one of the UK's most famous brands, its history and socio-cultural impact is explored in full here for the first time. Robert Sellers draws on archive material and first-hand interviews with DJs and key personnel to capture the extraordinary story of Radio 1, from its beginnings in 1967 through to its controversial reorganisation in the early nineties.
£18.00
The History Press Ltd The Search for Bond
There are so many insights even hardcore Bond fans will be surprised. Indispensable.' David Lowbridge-Ellis MBEOnly six men can lay claim to wearing the famous Savile Row tuxedo of James Bond; more people have stepped on the Moon. Yet, hundreds more came within an inch of winning the coveted 007 role the pinnacle for so many actors.For the first time, The Search for Bond tells the extraordinary story of how cinema's most famous secret agent was cast, featuring exclusive interviews with many of the actors who were at one time considered to play Bond, interviewed for the role, or went as far as to be screen tested. From Ranulph Fiennes to Colin Firth, their memories and stories give a fascinating insiders' glimpse into the process of how the Bond producers, Broccoli and Saltzman, came up with the right man to play their famous spy.
£18.00
Little, Brown Book Group What Fresh Lunacy is This?: The Authorized Biography of Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed may not have been Britain's biggest film star - for a period in the early 70s he came within a hairsbreadth of replacing Sean Connery as James Bond - but he is an august member of that small band of people, like George Best and Eric Morecambe, who transcended their chosen medium, became too big for it even, and grew into cultural icons.For the first time Reed's close family has agreed to collaborate on a project about the man himself. The result is a fascinating new insight into a man seen by many as merely a brawling, boozing hellraiser. And yet he was so much more than this. For behind that image, which all too often he played up to in public, was a vastly complex individual, a man of deep passions and loyalty but also deep-rooted vulnerability and insecurities. Why was a proud, patriotic, intelligent, successful and erudite man so obsessed about proving himself to others, time and time again?Although the Reed myth is of Homeric proportions, he remains a national treasure and somewhat peculiar icon.Praise for other books by Robert Sellers:Hellraisers: The Life and Inebriated Times of Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole, and Oliver Reed: 'So wonderfully captures the wanton belligerence of both binging and stardom you almost feel the guys themselves are telling the tales.' GQ.Vic Armstrong: The True Adventures of the World's Greatest Stuntman:'This is the best and most original behind-the-scenes book I have read in years, gripping and revealing.' Roger Lewis, Daily Mail.Don't Let the Bastards Grind You Down: '...a rollicking good read... Sellers has done well to capture a vivid snapshot of this exciting time.' Lynn Barber, Sunday Times.
£12.99
SelfMadeHero Hellraisers
Hellraisers tells the story of four of the greatest boozers of all time: Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole and Oliver Reed. Robert Sellers and Jake cleverly weave the four biographies seamlessly into one fast-paced adventure of drunken binges, orgies, parties and fun. Told through the eyes of Martin, a wannabe Hellraiser, the story begins in a typical London pub at Christmas time. One by one, each of the four Hellraisers take this disillusioned soul on a personal tour of their childhoods, rise to stardom and chaotic personal lives.
£13.49
Cornerstone An A-Z of Hellraisers: A Comprehensive Compendium of Outrageous Insobriety
An A-Z of Hellraisers is the last word on inebriated misbehaviour, and the miscreant mob in this whopper of a book constitute the most amazing grouping to see print: from Alexander the Great, whose drunken revelries once ended with the destruction of an entire city; to W. C. Fields, who passed critical judgement on a brass band by urinating over them from a hotel balcony; Dylan Thomas, who drove a sports car onto Charlie Chaplin's private tennis court; to Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, suffocating on his own vomit after consuming forty measures of vodka - what a night out that was!This hilarious volume makes for an ideal bedside companion or pub reading fodder, as it scrutinises and salutes these glorious individuals, from Winston Churchill to Keith Moon, George Best to Ernest Hemingway, Wild Bill Hickok to Sam Peckinpah, Ozzy Osbourne to Errol Flynn. Just thank God we didn't have to live next door to any of them.
£9.99
