Entertainment Performing Arts category: 25367 books

“I have never, ever wanted to write an autobiography. The number of times I have been approached and every time I said no, no, it’s a wank” Miriam Karlin is that rare creature: a pillar of the British acting establishment who is at the same time a thoroughgoing maverick. During sixty...

The “important . . . meticulously researched” prize-winning biography of the pre-eminent Polish star of the nineteenth century global stage (CosmopolinReview.com).   In reintroducing “a little-remembered actress to a new American audience” biographer Beth Holgram delivers a revelatory...

Ever since Dame Thora Hird breathed life into the role of Deric Longden’s mother in @Wide Eyed and Legless’. She had been on at him to write a play based on the sequel, ‘Lost For Words’. ‘And don’t hang about, I’m eighty – three, you know.’ But life doesn’t run in straight lines...

Carl Zuckmayers illustrious career as one of Central Europes most prolific and popular playwrights during the years of the Weimar Republic after 1918 was cut short by the Nazi seizure of power in Germany in 1933. His plays were banned during the following twelve years, and he was forced to flee into...

The definitive history of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth saga, Anything You Can Imagine takes us on a cinematic journey across all six films, featuring brand-new interviews with Peter, his cast & crew. From the early days of daring to dream it could be done, through the highs and lows of making the...

B&W photos throughout

Jeff Corey (1914--2002) made a name for himself in the 1940s as a character actor in films like Superman and the Mole Men (1951), Joan of Arc (1948), and The Killers (1946). Everything changed in 1951, when he was summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Corey refused to name names...

Dancer, actress, mountaineer, and director Leni Riefenstahl's uncompromising will and audacious talent for self-promotion appeared unmatched—until 1932, when she introduced herself to her future protector and patron: Adolf Hitler. Known internationally for two of the films she made for him, Triumph...

The incomparable Simone Signoret (1921-1985), one of the grand actresses of the twentieth century and one of France's most notable stars, considered herself the "oldest discovery" in Hollywood. After years of blacklisting during the McCarthy era, she was thirty-eight years old when she entered Hollywood...

An unusually brilliant generation of film-makers emerged from British television drama in the 1960-70s - none more formidable than Alan Clarke. Yet Clarke enjoyed only a vague renown among the public, even though some of his most incendiary productions - Scum, The Firm, Made in Britain - attracted...

In John Dahl and Neo-Noir: Examining Auteurism and Genre, Paul Monaco provides a focused inquiry into the first three feature films that director John Dahl made for theatrical release: Kill Me Again (1989), Red Rock West (1993), and The Last Seduction (1994). Subsequent to their releases, these three...

"JFK, Nixon, Oliver Stone and Me is the funny, thoughtful memoir of an accomplished former Congressional staffer who left D.C. for Hollywood and a job with Oliver Stone, hoping to help make politically"

In 1957, WHO-TV asked staff performer Duane Ellett to come up with an idea to help teach children how to better care for their pets. Ellett created Floppy, a high-voiced beagle dog puppet that became his sidekick for the next 30 years. Together, the iconic duo made 200 personal appearances every year...

In John Wayne: My Father, Aissa Wayne delves into her father's childhood, his film career, and his life off the screen. The result is an affecting portrait that offers a new perspective on one of America's most enduring hero's humanity.