Download or read book Charles Laughton written by Simon Callow and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Charles Laughton written by Charles Higham and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book My Life in Pieces written by Simon Callow and published by Nick Hern Books. This book was released on 2012-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Sheridan Morley Prize for theatre biography and Theatre book of the Year, 2010-The Times.
Download or read book Charles Laughton written by Charles Higham and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Tis Herself written by Maureen O'Hara and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-10-25 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A first-ever revealing and candid look at the life and career of one of Hollywood’s brightest and most beloved stars, Maureen O’Hara. In an acting career of more than seventy years, Hollywood legend Maureen O’Hara came to be known as “the queen of Technicolor” for her fiery red hair and piercing green eyes. She had a reputation as a fiercely independent thinker and champion of causes, particularly those of her beloved homeland, Ireland. In ‘Tis Herself, O’Hara recounts her extraordinary life and proves to be just as strong, sharp, and captivating as any character she played on-screen. O’Hara was brought to Hollywood as a teenager in 1939 by the great Charles Laughton, to whom she was under contract, to costar with him in the classic film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. She has appeared in many other classics, including How Green Was My Valley, Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, and Miracle on 34th Street. She recalls intimate memories of working with the actors and directors of Hollywood’s Golden Age, including Laughton, Alfred Hitchcock, Tyrone Power, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, and John Candy. With characteristic frankness, she describes her tense relationship with the mercurial director John Ford, with whom she made five films, and her close lifelong friendship with her frequent costar John Wayne. Successful in her career, O’Hara was less lucky in love until she met aviation pioneer Brigadier General Charles F. Blair, the great love of her life, who died in a mysterious plane crash ten years after their marriage. Candid and revealing, ‘Tis Herself is an autobiography as witty and spirited as its author.
Download or read book Oscar Wilde and His Circle written by Simon Callow and published by National Portrait Gallery Companions. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: .Includes entertaining, thumbnail biographies of the key figures at the forefront of the theme or movement, or who were closely connected to the personality in question .Updated from the highly successful seriesCharacter SketchesandInsights, and refreshed with a contemporary design and accessible format One of literature's most witty personalities, Oscar Wilde captivated London society. In this perceptive appraisal of Wilde and those around him - including Aubrey Beardsley, Sir Max Beerbohm and Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie) - Simon Callow captures the spirit of one of Britain's most feted, but ultimately tragic literary figures.
Download or read book Being an Actor written by Simon Callow and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2007-04-01 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new edition of the classic book for actors starting their careers, with new material Few actors have ever been more eloquent, more honest, or more entertaining about their life and their profession than Simon Callow, one of the finest actors of his time and increasingly one of the most admired writers about the theater. Beginning with the letter to Laurence Olivier that produced his first theatrical job to his triumph as Mozart in the original production of Amadeus, Callow takes us with him on his progress through England's rich and demanding theater: his training at London's famed Drama Centre, his grim and glorious apprenticeship in the provincial theater, his breakthrough at the Joint Stock Company, and then success at Olivier's National Theatre are among the way stations. Callow provides a guide not only to the actor's profession but also to the intricacies of his art, from unemployment—"the primeval slime from which all actors emerge and to which, inevitably, they return"—to the last night of a long run.
Download or read book Female Brando written by Jon Krampner and published by Backstage Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first major biography of the great actress draws on personal interviews with friends, family, and colleagues to offer a revealing study of Kim Stanley's extraordinary career and her acclaim as the finest stage actress of her generation, as well as her turbulent, self-destructive personal life, from her childhood and early training to her rise to stardom and the demons that destroyed her life.
Download or read book Full Service written by Scotty Bowers and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A World War II veteran and Hollywood gas station attendant describes how his good looks and open bisexuality culminated in liaisons with numerous celebrities, providing a chronicle of Hollywood's sexual underground in the 1940s and 1950s.
Download or read book I Am Spartacus written by Kirk Douglas and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2012-06-12 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “lively” memoir by the Hollywood legend about the making of Spartacus, with a foreword by George Clooney (Los Angeles Times). One of the world’s most iconic movie stars, Kirk Douglas has distinguished himself as a producer, philanthropist, and author of ten works of fiction and memoir. Now, more than fifty years after the release of his enduring epic Spartacus, Douglas reveals the riveting drama behind the making of the legendary gladiator film. Douglas began producing the movie in the midst of the politically charged era when Hollywood’s moguls refused to hire anyone accused of Communist sympathies. In a risky move, Douglas chose Dalton Trumbo, a blacklisted screenwriter, to write Spartacus. Trumbo was one of the “Unfriendly Ten,” men who had gone to prison rather than testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee about their political affiliations. Douglas’s source material was already a hot property, as the novel Spartacus was written by Howard Fast while he was in jail for defying HUAC. With the financial future of his young family at stake, Douglas plunged into a tumultuous production both on- and off-screen. As both producer and star of the film, he faced explosive moments with young director Stanley Kubrick, struggles with a leading lady, and negotiations with giant personalities, including Sir Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, and Lew Wasserman. Writing from his heart and from his own meticulously researched archives, Kirk Douglas, at ninety-five, looks back at his audacious decisions. He made the most expensive film of its era—but more importantly, his moral courage in giving public credit to Trumbo effectively ended the notorious Hollywood blacklist. A master storyteller, Douglas paints a vivid and often humorous portrait in I Am Spartacus! The book is enhanced by newly discovered period photography of the stars and filmmakers both on and off the set.
Download or read book Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World written by Simon Callow and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A short biography of Charles Dickens by acclaimed actor and writer Simon Callow that offers a fresh perspective on one of the greatest novelists in the English language in a lively, highly readable account. "It has all the gusto that a popular biography of Dickens—a man who “could do nothing by halves”—should possess. . . . The best biography for Dickens newcomers and a wonderful read for all."—Library Journal Dickens was one of the first true celebrity authors. Thousands of fans in Britain and America eagerly awaited each new installment of his stories and flocked to see him on his legendary speaking tours. Not only did he create an incredible cast of characters on the page, but he was also a dazzling mimic and storyteller, and he wrote, stage-managed, and acted in plays for the public. Throughout his life, from his childhood performances in pubs to his legendarily powerful reading tours, Dickens was fanatical about the stage. Callow reveals Dickens’s genius on and off the page and offers a compelling insight into a life that was driven as much by performance and showmanship as by literature.
Download or read book I Claudius written by Robert Graves and published by Rosetta Books. This book was released on 2014-03-06 with total page 606 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “One of the really remarkable books of our day”—the story of the Roman emperor on which the award-winning BBC TV series was based (The New York Times). Once a rather bookish young man with a limp and a stammer, a man who spent most of his time trying to stay away from the danger and risk of the line of ascension, Claudius seemed an unlikely candidate for emperor. Yet, on the death of Caligula, Claudius finds himself next in line for the throne, and must stay alive as well as keep control. Drawing on the histories of Plutarch, Suetonius, and Tacitus, noted historian and classicist Robert Graves tells the story of the much-maligned Emperor Claudius with both skill and compassion. Weaving important themes throughout about the nature of freedom and safety possible in a monarchy, Graves’s Claudius is both more effective and more tragic than history typically remembers him. A bestselling novel and one of Graves’ most successful, I, Claudius has been adapted to television, film, theatre, and audio. “[A] legendary tale of Claudius . . . [A] gem of modern literature.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Download or read book Elsa Lanchester Herself written by Elsa Lanchester and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Being known as "The Bride of Frankenstein" is an unusual form of fame, but for Elsa Lanchester the unusual came naturally. Born to radical socialist parents, Elsa attended an all-boys school and later "studied" in Paris with dance pioneer Isadora Duncan. At 17, she opened her own theater, which was frequented by writers such as H. G. Wells, Aldous Huxley, and Evelyn Waugh. She began performing with and then fell in love with a brilliant young actor named Charles Laughton. Soon after their marriage he revealed his homosexuality. Though it made their union shaky at times, it did not overshadow their common love of art, music, and nature, and their marriage endured for 36 years until Laughton's death. Elsa Lanchester, Herself presents the story of a woman ahead of her time: independent, iconoclastic, liberated. It is the chronicle of a life filled with famous people (from Bertolt Brecht to Henry Fonda), and of a career that spanned almost seven decades. It is also a warm, truthful account of a very special marriage. Witty and wise, Elsa Lanchester's account of her life and times is a delight."--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book Empire of Dreams written by Scott Eyman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-09-07 with total page 625 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: BEST KNOWN AS THE DIRECTOR of such spectacular films as The Ten Commandments and King of Kings, Cecil B. DeMille lived a life as epic as any of his cinematic masterpieces. As a child DeMille learned the Bible from his father, a theology student and playwright who introduced Cecil and his older brother, William, to the theater. Tutored by impresario David Belasco, DeMille discovered how audiences responded to showmanship: sets, lights, costumes, etc. He took this knowledge with him to Los Angeles in 1913, where he became one of the movie pioneers, in partnership with Jesse Lasky and Lasky’s brother-in-law Samuel Goldfish (later Goldwyn). Working out of a barn on streets fragrant with orange blossom and pepper trees, the Lasky company turned out a string of successful silents, most of them directed by DeMille, who became one of the biggest names of the silent era. With films such as The Squaw Man, Brewster’s Millions, Joan the Woman, and Don’t Change Your Husband, he was the creative backbone of what would become Paramount Studios. In 1923 he filmed his first version of The Ten Commandments and later a second biblical epic, King of Kings, both enormous box-office successes. Although his reputation rests largely on the biblical epics he made, DeMille’s personal life was no morality tale. He remained married to his wife, Constance, for more than fifty years, but for most of the marriage he had three mistresses simultaneously, all of whom worked for him. He showed great loyalty to a small group of actors who knew his style, but he also discovered some major stars, among them Gloria Swanson, Claudette Colbert, and later, Charlton Heston. DeMille was one of the few silent-era directors who made a completely successful transition to sound. In 1952 he won the Academy Award for Best Picture with The Greatest Show on Earth. When he remade The Ten Commandments in 1956, it was an even bigger hit than the silent version. He could act, too: in Billy Wilder’s classic film Sunset Boulevard, DeMille memorably played himself. In the 1930s and 1940s DeMille became a household name thanks to the Lux Radio Theater, which he hosted. But after falling out with a union, he gave up the program, and his politics shifted to the right as he championed loyalty oaths and Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s anticommunist witch hunts. As Scott Eyman brilliantly demonstrates in this superbly researched biography, which draws on a massive cache of DeMille family papers not available to previous biographers, DeMille was much more than his clichéd image. A gifted director who worked in many genres; a devoted family man and loyal friend with a highly unconventional personal life; a pioneering filmmaker: DeMille comes alive in these pages, a legend whose spectacular career defined an era.
Download or read book Being Wagner The Triumph of the Will written by Simon Callow and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2017-01-26 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The perfect introduction to the Master.
Download or read book The Hunchback of Notre Dame written by Victor Hugo and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This historically significant novel of love and betrayal led to a renewed interest in preserving the grand architecture of Paris. Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame was written in 1831, at a time when the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was falling into disrepair. This epic novel helped spark a preservationist movement that led to the cathedral being restored to its full glory. Set in 1482, the story tells of how four men—the hunchbacked bell-ringer, Quasimodo; the archdeacon of Notre Dame, Claude Frollo; the dashing soldier Phoebus de Chateaupers; and the poet Pierre Gringoire—vie for the love of Esmeralda, a young Romani woman. As the story unfolds, readers come to realize that the focus of the story is not only on the human characters but on the grand cathedral itself.
Download or read book Mr Bligh s Bad Language written by Greg Dening and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1994-03-25 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Captain Bligh and the mutiny on the Bounty have become proverbial in their capacity to evoke the extravagant and violent abuse of power. But William Bligh was one of the least violent disciplinarians in the British navy. It is this paradox which inspired Greg Dening to ask why the mutiny took place. His book explores the theatrical nature of what was enacted in the power-play on deck, on the beaches at Tahiti and in the murderous settlement at Pitcairn, on the altar stones and temples of sacrifice, and on the catheads from which men were hanged. Part of the key lies in the curious puzzle of Mr Bligh's bad language.
