Download or read book The Tragic Secret Life of Jayne Mansfield written by Raymond Strait and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Here They Are Jayne Mansfield written by Raymond Strait and published by SP Books. This book was released on 1992 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is the truth behind the world's most powerful seductress--the legendary Jayne Mansfield--her influential, brutal lovers, her bizarre, erotic tastes, her vulnerability . . . and her untimely end. "Convincing and straightforward".--Los Angeles Times. Photographs.
Download or read book Did Success Spoil Jayne Mansfield written by Frank Ferruccio and published by Frank Ferruccio. This book was released on 2010 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ferruccio, film historian and personal friend of Jayne Mansfield's children, shares more of his behind-the-scenes stories from the late legend's life. This newest work fills in many of the missing pieces of her life and is a fascinating tribute to one of the greatest sex symbols of all time.
Download or read book Jayne Mansfield written by May Mann and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Tragic Secret Life of Jayne Mansfield written by Raymond Strait and published by Crossroad Press. This book was released on 2021-07-04 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Having spent ten years as Jayne Mansfield's press secretary, Raymond Strait knows intimately both the public image and the private person that were Jayne Mansfield. Sitting through hundreds of hours of interviews and private conversations -- not only with Jayne but also with her husbands, her lovers, and her children -- gave Ray the opportunity to present a revealing portrait of the woman. He records her drive for fame and success and her overpowering need to be loved and to love, needs that led her into numerous affairs with rich and powerful men -- including President John F Kennedy -- and with younger men from all walks of life. And he discusses frankly Jayne's ultimately successful plan to become pregnant by Nelson Sardelli because she wanted to have an Italian child. Know to millions as the consummate sex symbol who rivaled Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield received more press coverage than anyone else in Hollywood. The headlines were often sensational, causing society matrons and Baptist ministers to shake their heads and point their fingers. But under those sensational headlines there was a woman of greater complexity that any reporter could hope to understand. Strait goes below the surface to examine Jayne's emotions and motivations, revealing the truth about her many lovers, her three unsuccessful marriages, her love affair with Mickey Hargitay that lasted to the end and her battle against and her surrender to alcohol and drugs.
Download or read book Jayne Mansfield written by Eve Golden and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2021-06-29 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jayne Mansfield (1933−1967) was driven not just to be an actress but to be a star. One of the most influential sex symbols of her time, she was known for her platinum blonde hair, hourglass figure, outrageously low necklines, and flamboyant lifestyle. Hardworking and ambitious, Mansfield proved early in her career that she was adept in both comic and dramatic roles, but her tenacious search for the spotlight and her risqué promotional stunts caused her to be increasingly snubbed in Hollywood. In the first definitive biography of Mansfield, Eve Golden offers a joyful account of the star Andy Warhol called "the poet of publicity," revealing the smart, determined woman behind the persona. While she always had her sights set on the silver screen, Mansfield got her start as Rita Marlowe in the Broadway show Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. She made her film debut in the low-budget drama Female Jungle (1955) before landing the starring role in The Girl Can't Help It (1956). Mansfield followed this success with a dramatic role in The Wayward Bus (1957), winning a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year, and starred alongside Cary Grant in Kiss Them for Me (1957). Despite her popularity, her appearance as the first celebrity in Playboy and her nude scene in Promises! Promises! (1963) cemented her reputation as an outsider. By the 1960s, Mansfield's film career had declined, but she remained very popular with the public. She capitalized on that popularity through in-person and TV appearances, nightclub appearances, and stage productions. Her larger-than-life life ended sadly when she passed away at age thirty-four in a car accident. Golden looks beyond Mansfield's flashy public image and tragic death to fully explore her life and legacy. She discusses Mansfield's childhood, her many loves -- including her famous on-again, off-again relationship with Miklós "Mickey" Hargitay -- her struggles with alcohol, and her sometimes tumultuous family relationships. She also considers Mansfield's enduring contributions to American popular culture and celebrity culture. This funny, engaging biography offers a nuanced portrait of a fascinating woman who loved every minute of life and lived each one to the fullest.
Download or read book The Brief Madcap Life of Kay Kendall written by Eve Golden and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2021-06-29 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comedic film actress Kay Kendall, born to a theatrical family in Northern England, came of age in London during the Blitz. After starring in Britain's biggest cinematic disaster, she found stardom in 1953 with her brilliant performance in the film Genevieve. She scored success after success with her light comic style in movies such as Doctor in the House, The Reluctant Debutante, and the Gene Kelly musical Les Girls. Kendall's private life was even more colorful than the plots of her films as she embarked on a series of affairs with costars, directors, producers, and married men. In 1954 she fell in love with her married Constant Husband costar Rex Harrison and accompanied him to New York, where he was starring on Broadway in My Fair Lady. It was there that Kendall was diagnosed with myelocytic leukemia. Her life took a romantic and tragic turn as Harrison divorced his wife and married Kendall. He agreed with their doctor that she was never to know of her diagnosis, and for the next two years the couple lived a hectic, glamorous life together as Kendall's health failed. She died in London at the age of 32 with her husband by her side shortly after completing the filming of Once More with Feeling!. This book was written with the cooperation of Kendall's sister Kim and includes interviews with many of her costars, relatives, and friends. A complete filmography and rare photographs complete this first-ever biography of Britain's most glamorous comic star.
Download or read book Random Family written by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-10-23 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Selected as One of the Best Books of the 21st Century by The New York Times Set amid the havoc of the War on Drugs, this New York Times bestseller is an "astonishingly intimate" (New York magazine) chronicle of one family’s triumphs and trials in the South Bronx of the 1990s. “Unmatched in depth and power and grace. A profound, achingly beautiful work of narrative nonfiction…The standard-bearer of embedded reportage.” —Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted In her classic bestseller, journalist Adrian Nicole LeBlanc immerses readers in the world of one family with roots in the Bronx, New York. In 1989, LeBlanc approached Jessica, a young mother whose encounter with the carceral state is about to forever change the direction of her life. This meeting redirected LeBlanc’s reporting, taking her past the perennial stories of crime and violence into the community of women and children who bear the brunt of the insidious violence of poverty. Her book bears witness to the teetering highs and devastating lows in the daily lives of Jessica, her family, and her expanding circle of friends. Set at the height of the War on Drugs, Random Family is a love story—an ode to the families that form us and the families we create for ourselves. Charting the tumultuous struggle of hope against deprivation over three generations, LeBlanc slips behind the statistics and comes back with a riveting, haunting, and distinctly American true story.
Download or read book Dusty Springfield Dancing with Demons written by Penny Valentine and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2014-08-12 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dusty Springfield led a tragic yet inspiring life, battling her way to the top of the charts and into the hearts of music fans world-wide. Her signature voice made songs such as "I Only Want to Be with You," "Son of a Preacher Man," and "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me," international hits. In Dancing with Demons, two of her closest friends, Valentine and Wickham, capture, with vivid memories and personal anecdotes, a Dusty most people never glimpsed in this no-holds-barred yet touching portrait of one of the world's true grand dames of popular music.
Download or read book My Way of Life written by Joan Crawford and published by Graymalkin Media. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From “Grand Hotel” to “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?,” Joan Crawford played some of the finest parts Hollywood had to offer, establishing a reputation as the most spectacular diva on the silver screen. Even when the cameras quit rolling, her life never stopped being over-the-top. In My Way of Life, a cult classic since it was first published in the early 1970’s, Crawford shares her secrets. Part memoir, part self-help book, part guide to being fabulous, My Way of Life advises the reader on everything from throwing a small dinner party for eighteen to getting the most out of a marriage. Featuring tips on fashion, makeup, etiquette and everything in between, it is an irresistible look at a bygone era, when movie stars were pure class, and Crawford was at the top of the heap.
Download or read book California Infernal written by and published by . This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Satanism and the silver screen: the bizarre friendship of Anton LaVey and Jayne Mansfield Movie star Jayne Mansfield and notorious Satanist Anton LaVey met in 1966. Both were publicity conscious and made the most of the meetings, which evolved into a friendship. Almost always present was German paparazzo Walter Fischer, stationed in Hollywood and catering to image- and scandal-hungry photo magazines all over the world. Fischer's unique collection of photos takes us straight into the ritual chamber of the Church of Satan in LaVey's infamous "black house" in San Francisco, as well as into Mansfield's Hollywood "pink palace." We also get to follow LaVey on excursions to his friend Forrest "Famous Monsters of Filmland" Ackerman, to Marilyn Monroe's grave, to TV studios and back, to Satanic weddings and Zeena's baptism at the Church of Satan HQ. These were wild and narcissistic times in America. Few understood the power of media exposure better than Jayne Mansfield and Anton LaVey. Captured alone or together by master paparazzo Fischer, this devilishly handsome couple made headlines that still resonate today. The book contains an introduction by legendary filmmaker Kenneth Anger, and forewords by writer Carl Abrahamsson and collector Alf Wahlgren.
Download or read book John Gilbert written by Eve Golden and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2013-04-12 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This revealing biography of the legendary silent film star chronicles his meteoric rise, famous romances, and tragic descent into obscurity. Known as “The Great Lover,” John Gilbert was among the world's most recognizable actors during the silent era. A swashbuckling figure on screen and off, he is best known today for his high-profile romances with Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, his legendary conflicts with Louis B. Mayer, his four tumultuous marriages, and his swift decline after the introduction of talkies. Many myths have developed around the larger-than-life star in the eighty years since his untimely death, but this definitive biography sets the record straight. Eve Golden separates fact from fiction in John Gilbert, tracing the actor's life from his youth spent traveling with his mother in acting troupes to the peak of fame at MGM, where he starred opposite Mae Murray, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and others in popular films such as The Merry Widow, The Big Parade, Flesh and the Devil, and Love. Golden debunks some of the most pernicious rumors about Gilbert, including the oft-repeated myth that he had a high-pitched, squeaky voice that ruined his career. Meticulous, comprehensive, and generously illustrated, this book provides a behind-the-scenes look at one of the silent era's greatest stars and the glamorous yet brutal world in which he lived.
Download or read book Alan Alda The 1983 Biography written by Raymond Strait and published by Crossroad Press. This book was released on 2016-03-06 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: **This biography was originally published in 1983 and has not been updated. Any events after 1983 are not included.** Best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce on the award-winning TV series M*A*S*H, Alan Alda has made his way into Hollywood’s spotlight while keeping remarkably free of its whirlwind parties and endless gossip. He remains a private man—an actor whose personal life and politics are far different from the character of the womanizing, side-cracking army doctor that brought him international fame. In Alan Alda: The 1983 Biography, biographer Raymond Strait succeeds in presenting Alda’s life and career with illuminating, and sometimes surprising, details. Tracing Alda’s theater credits, from his early experience as a struggling New York actor to his starring roles in films like Same Time Next Year, The Seduction of Joe Tynan, and The Four Seasons, Strait also reports on Alda’s work as a screenwriter and director. A comprehensive look at Alda’s immense popularity, this biography contains revealing insights from friends, childhood sweethearts, and fellow actors. But this is not a sugar-coated star portrait, and Strait gives us Alda’s traumas as well as his triumphs: his childhood battle with polio, his parents’ divorce, and the tense moments that Alda's personal convictions have caused, both on the set and off. With unexpected revelations about Alda's views on women, his work, and the future, this fascinating biography promises to show new dimensions of this talented enigmatic man.
Download or read book Confessions of a Prairie Bitch written by Alison Arngrim and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2010-06-15 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Confessions of a Prairie Bitch is Alison Arngrim’s comic memoir of growing up as one of television’s most memorable characters—the devious Nellie Oleson on the hit television show Little House on the Prairie. With behind-the-scenes stories from the set, as well as tales from her bohemian upbringing in West Hollywood and her headline-making advocacy work on behalf of HIV awareness and abused children, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch is a must for fans of everything Little House: the classic television series and its many stars like Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert; Gilbert’s bestselling memoir Prairie Tale... and, of course, the beloved series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder that started it all.
Download or read book Jayne Mansfield written by Jocelyn Faris and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1994-11-30 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: People today remember Jayne Mansfield as a famous Hollywood movie star. However, she starred in only three American movies before moving to low-budget European films. She was a master of publicity who appeared in newspapers across the nation almost daily. The media focused on her figure and her stormy love life. Through her constant exposure in the press, she gave the public the false impression that she was a major movie star. This book charts the captivating life and career of Jayne Mansfield. A biography overviews her rise to fame, her three marriages and five children, and her death in a grisly automobile accident at an early age. The chapters that follow are each devoted to her performances in a particular genre, such as film, stage, and television. Each chapter contains annotated entries for her work in that media, providing cast and credit listings, plot summaries, review excerpts, and commentary. Appendices list her appearances on magazine and record covers, and an annotated bibliography discusses additional sources of information.
Download or read book Googies Coffee Shop to the Stars written by Steve Hayes and published by Bearmanor Media. This book was released on 2008-08 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 1940s and 1950s, the author was a fledgling actor, part-time house painter, parking attendant, "snoop" for the Fred Otash Detective Agency, and manager of Googie's, a celebrated coffee shop next to Schwab's drug store. He was privy to all the gossip, brawls, and excitement that took place at the Mocambo, Ciro's, The Players, Crescendo, Villa Nova, and other glamorous night spots along the Strip.
Download or read book Dark Sparkler written by Amber Tamblyn and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2015-04-07 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The lives of more than twenty-five actresses lost before their time—from Marilyn Monroe to Brittany Murphy—explored in a haunting, provocative new work by an acclaimed poet and actress. Amber Tamblyn is both an award-winning film and television actress and an acclaimed poet. As such she is deeply fascinated—and intimately familiar—with the toll exacted from young women whose lives are offered in sacrifice as starlets. The stories of these actresses, both famous and obscure-tragic stories of suicide, murder, obscurity, and other forms of death—inspired this empathic and emotionally charged collection of new poetic work. Featuring subjects from Marilyn Monroe and Frances Farmer to Dana Plato and Brittany Murphy—and paired with original artwork commissioned for the book by luminaries including David Lynch, Adrian Tomine, Marilyn Manson, and Marcel Dzama—Dark Sparkler is a surprising and provocative collection from a young artist of wide-ranging talent, culminating in an extended, confessional epilogue of astonishing candor and poetic command.
