Movie & TV Biography Books

700 SUNDAYS (Large Print)
by Billy Crystal. B&W photos throughout with color family photos decorate the end pages. Condition: NEW 2005 Warner Books large print hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing/large print. Content: Actor and comedian Billy Crystal has forged a highly successful career by portraying other people in movies. This book is a memoir based on his one-man Broadway play of the same name. Crystal tells his own story, dissecting an often complex relationship with his father and how that relationship resonated in other aspects of his life. His father, Jack Crystal was an influential jazz concert promoter and operated an influential jazz record label, affording his son an opportunity to tell stories of being taken to his first movie by Billie Holliday and seeing his grandmother suggest that Louis Armstrong simply "try coughing it up." But Jack died when his son was fifteen years old, soon after a forever-unresolved argument between the two, leaving Billy to cope with crushing grief while simultaneously and perhaps ironically trying to launch a career in comedy. This lends 700 Sundays much needed gravity in a volume that is packed with zingy one-liners and whimsical observations that serve to illustrate the comedy career Crystal forged, while also providing some decent laughs. Interestingly, there is very little reference to the better known accomplishments of Crystal’s Hollywood career as the author chooses to focus instead on the seemingly mundane but highly entertaining aspects of his Long Island roots. Though 700 Sundays (the name comes from Crystal’s estimation of how many Sundays he got to spend with his father) is packaged here in book form, it reads like a piece of theater and, more specifically, like a selection of memories about a father, lovingly and touchingly re-told by his loving son. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 5.00 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG: The Offstage Story of Satchmo
by Michael Cogswell. B&W, color and sepia-tone photos illustrate. Condition: Gently pre-read, IF AT ALL, 2003 Collector's Press large hard cover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Decorated end pages. Content: This is the "official book" of the Louis Armstrong House and Archives, marking its October 15, 2003, grand opening as a national historic museum. That is to say, it is a souvenir book. But what a souvenir book! One culmination of Cogswell's 12-year labor of ordering and cataloging the great jazzman's belongings, it is loaded with some 300 previously unpublished photographs of the trumpeter and his associates; of the house, inside and out; and of letters, other writings, and the collages of photos and clippings that Armstrong created in his spare time. Cogswell presents these in chapters devoted to Armstrong's career, the house, the archives, and "Discoveries"--that is, things that record forgotten and underdocumented aspects of Armstrong's life. Sections within each chapter home in on particular topics, making for an exceptionally browsable book, for which Cogswell's plain writing is pretty much ideal. An invaluable, keenly lovable treasure-trove about a great American. [1 copy available]
$ 6.79 + $ 3.59 media shipping.

BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE
by Alec Guinness. B&W photo section which includes some of the author's cartoons. Condition: UNREAD 1987 Warner Books Trade Paperback, first printing. Content: Guinness's memoir is less autobiography than fond recollections of the many friends ("blessings") he has accumulated in his long theatrical career. In loosely organized chapters, most centered around one of the major influences in his life (e.g., Sybil Thorndike, John Gielgud), Guinness wanders back and forth through time. The threads of Guinness's own career, marriage, and religious searching wind through these chapters in an amusingly self-deprecatory way. He describes his career as a naval officer during World War II as "the best performance I have given," in a chapter full of hilarious and hair-raising episodes. Sharp imagery and marvelous word portraits make this a charming book of English theatrical lore. [1 copy available]
$ 4.59 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

CANCER SCHMANCER
by Fran Drescher. Condition: Very Good+ 2002 Warner Books hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, first printing. Has been gently pre-read and is near-fine. Content: Part inspirational cancer-survival story, part memoir-as-laugh-riot, this book picks up where Drescher's last book, "Enter Whining, " left off. With her trademark humor, Drescher tells of her indefatigable search for answers and the cancer diagnosis that she ultimately beat. [1 copy available]
$ 6.59 + $ 3.19 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

A CAST OF FRIENDS
by Bill Hanna with Tom Ito. Foreword by Joe Barbera. B&W and color photo sections. Condition: NEW 1999 Da Capo Press Trade Paperback, first printing. Tiny edge wear. Content: Hanna was born in New Mexico in 1910 and as a child moved to Southern California. During the Depression, when he was forced to drop out of college and look for work, the only thing that came his way was a job as a janitor for a studio that made Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. Moving through the ranks quickly, he learned the skills of writing, animating and timing and went on to create his own projects. When the studio folded, he moved to MGM as a director. There he met Barbera and they conceived the famous cat-and-mouse cartoon team of Tom and Jerry. Writing with freelancer Ito, Hanna tells wonderful stories about the industry, about how he hooked up with Gene Kelly to create the acclaimed animated dancing sequence in Anchors Aweigh and then about winning his first Academy Award in 1943 for Yankee Doodle Mouse. In 1957, MGM closed its animated studio, and Hanna and Barbera formed their own business and were soon producing such classical cartoon shows for TV as Ruff and Reddy, Huckleberry Hound and The Flintstones, the last of which Hanna says was inspired by The Honeymooners TV series. He goes on to reminisce about his family, how the industry has changed and his long association with the Boy Scouts. Those who grew up with Yogi Bear and Fred Flintstone will love this book. [1 copy available]
$ 4.00 + $ 3.19 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

CHAPLIN (Charlie Chaplin)
by Roger Manvell. B&W photo section. Condition: UNREAD 1974 Litttle, Brown Trade Paperback edition, first printing. Tiny edge wear. Content: Manvell's thoughtful account of Chaplin's rise from a London slum to the summit of cinema artistry complements our appreciation of the character graven in celluloid. [1 copy available]
$ 3.39 + $ 3.09 media shipping. Priority shipping available.

ROGER CORMAN: An Unauthorized Biography of the Godfather of Indie Filmmaking
by Beverly Gray. B&W photo section. Condition: NEW 2001 Renaissance Books hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Tiny remainder dot top edges. Content: Pioneering film director Roger Corman is a fascinating study in contrasts. A flamboyant artist, the original king of the exploitative film has filled his movies with images of blood-sucking vampires, rampaging biker gangs, vigilante strippers, and abducting aliens. A coldly efficient businessman, Corman has produced 400 to 500 films on shoestring budgets, all on his own terms, and has seen nearly every one of his projects make money. In the process, Corman has become the role model for today's independent filmmaker, laying the groundwork for the success of directors like Quentin Tarantino. On close inspection, The list of Corman proteges reads like a who's who of motion pictures - John Sayles, James Cameron, Dennis Hopper, Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, Francis Ford Coppola, and Jonathan Demme to name just a few. Author Beverly Gray, Roger Corman's story editor and development executive for nearly a decade, takes you behind the cameras and into the heart of Cormanville for a first-hand, insider's look at the man and the mogul. From his humble beginnings in Detroit to present day, Gray traces the career of her legendary former boss. Interviews with eighty friends and associates of Roger Corman's provide a comprehensive private and public perspective on this soft-spoken giant of the cinema. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 5.79 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

DALE: My Personal Picture Album
by Dale Evans Rogers. Packed with B&W photos. Condition: UNREAD c. 1971 Revell soft cover, no printing given. Light edge wear. Content: As the title states, this is a photo album (with text) of Dale Evans' life - beginning with ther childhood to her grandchildren. A special book, IMHO. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 18.79 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

CECIL B. DeMILLE: A Life in Art
by Simon Louvish. B&W movie stills & photos throughout (58 of them, I believe). Condition: NEW 2008 St. Martin's hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first thus, first printing. Content: Cecil B. DeMille is Hollywood’s most enduring legend, remembered, and often reviled, for his grandiose biblical sagas, such as Samson and Delilah and his 1956 version of The Ten Commandments, with its cast of tens of thousands before computer graphics made the modern epic mundane. Many judged DeMille a dinosaur both for his movies and his ultraconservative politics. But in his vision of the Bible as an American frontier narrative he recast this old trend in American culture as a cinematic precursor of the “neoconservatism” of our own times. The paradox of DeMille goes deeper, as despite his fame, most of his seventy films, of which fifty were silent pictures, remain unknown even to avid film fans, though his first 1923 version of The Ten Commandments and his 1927 tale of Jesus Christ, King of Kings, linger in the imagination. A founder-pioneer of Hollywood as an industry, DeMille was an unsung auteur, a master of increasingly bizarre narratives, with tales of adultery and divorce, hedonism and sin, in an age in which modernity, the consumer society, and the pursuit of money made America a battlefield of clashing values and temptations. Simon Louvish tells the tale of Cecil B. DeMille through his work: a major reexamination of Hollywood’s most monumental founder. Savant or sinner, artist or hack, defender of freedom or a hypocritical opportunist who embraced the golden calf of sheer commercialism, DeMille is a pervasive puzzle---a mirror of the larger puzzle and contradictions of America itself. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 6.79 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

DUKE, WE'RE GLAD WE KNEW YOU: John Wayne's Friends and Colleagues Remember His Remarkable Life
by Herb Fagen. Foreword by Ronald Reagan. Loaded with B&W personal and movie stills photos. Condition: NEW 1998 Citadel Trade Paperback, 3rd printing. Remainder mark bottom edges. Content: Drawing on hundreds of sources, this oral biography of John Wayne combines anecdotes and observations by those who knew, loved, and worked with him throughout his career, and reveals Duke at his noblest and most vulnerable. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 8.79 + $ 3.19 media shipping. International shipping available by agreement - email us.

SERGEI EISENSTEIN: Autobiography (VHS tape)
by Sergei Eisenstein (based on his book) and directed by Oleg Kovalov. 92 minutes run time. Condition: NEW (still shrink-wrapped) 1996 Image VHS movie in color and B&W. Content: This is a film dedicated to the 100th anniversary of cinema and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sergei Eisenstein, one of film's greatest pioneers. The first screen version of Eisenstein's memoirs, Autobiography includes clips from his and some of his contemporaries' films, rare archival footage of Eisenstein himself and personal reminiscences. All this reflects the inner world of the great film director as he struggled through two Russian revolutions and Stalin's terror. The greatest of Eisenstein's movies, IMHO, is Potemkin, an historical event. There is nothing like it - not even today with all of the fancy special effects. The other two films for which he is most remembered are Alexander Nevsky, and Ivan the Terrible. If you can find a copy of any of his films, you will forever be changed. [1 copy available]
$ 3.89 + $ 3.09 media shipping.

GET HAPPY: The Life of Judy Garland
by Gerald Clarke (Capote). B&W photos. Condition: UNREAD 2000 Random House hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition. Content: Judy Garland's life was plagued by emotional agony, dependency on drugs and alcohol, exploitative relationships, suicide attempts and physical violence. This exhaustively researched and illuminating biography by Clarke, whose bestselling 1988 life of Truman Capote won critical praise, is as compassionate as it is wrenching. It follows the basic themes established by the best of the more than 20 biographies and memoirs of Garland that have appeared since her 1969 death. But while most portray Garland as tormented by inexorable and sometimes inexplicable inner demons, Clarke brings to his work a far harsher evaluation of how the singer was treated by her employers, family and lovers: her mother gave her amphetamines at the age of four; producers at MGM sexually harassed her as a young teen; husband Vincente Minnelli cheated on her with men soon after their marriage; husband Sid Luft stole millions from her; fourth husband Mark Herron had an affair with Garland's son-in-law, Peter Allen (then married to Liza Minnelli). Many of Clarke's revelations are of a sexual nature--he mentions affairs with Sinatra, Glenn Ford, Yul Brynner and Tyrone Power as well as with women. Other revelations, such as of Garland attacking her young son, Joey, with a butcher's knife, are simply shocking. Yet Clarke never exploits this volatile material as cheap gossip; instead, he deftly weaves it into a detailed, respectful and haunting portrait. [1 copy available]
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GOLDIE: A Lotus Grows In The Mud
by Goldie Hawn. With Wendy Holden. 2 photo sections: one B&W and one color. Other photos througout. Condition: Gently pre-read, IF at all, 2004 Putnams hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Content: Looking for the lowdown on lover Kurt Russell? Hot for Hollywood dish? Forget about it. Hawn, the goofy blonde of TV's Laugh-In and the star of Cactus Flower, Private Benjamin and other films, isn't too interested in discussing her career or her love life, although she does chat about her girlhood years. She was slow in school, but her loving parents nurtured her other talents, especially her dancing. Breaking into show business in the 1960s, when women still had to deal with the casting couch, was tough-Hawn gives graphic detail on cartoonist Al Capp's lechery. But she loves men anyway, feeling sorry that they have all those "hormones raging through their blood like a drug." What she really wants to share with readers is her attitude toward life, which boils down to flower power minus the drugs. A spiritual traveler (tourist, some would say), Hawn embraces all people of faith and makes a point of finding a "spiritual teacher" whenever she visits a "holy city." India is a special love: "People live their lives on the street.... Everybody shares." Hawn's a big supporter of Operation Smile, which offers reconstructive surgery to youngsters in less-developed counties. Indeed, readers learn more about the various orphan boys (Hopi, Asian, Peruvian) Hawn has looked after than about her own children. Her handsomely produced volume, including two photo inserts, positively overflows with spiritual enlightenment. [1 copy available]
$ 3.59 + $ 3.49 media shipping. Priority shipping available.

SUSAN HAYWARD: Portrait of a Survivor.
by Beverly Linet. B&W photo section. Condition: Gently pre-read 1983 Berkley paperback, second printing. Light edge wear with 3-4 very pale "scratches" front cover. Interior clean & tight with light taning to page edges. Content: For over three decades she dazzled audiences with her portrayals of tragic, stormy women. Her own life was even more dramatic - overcoming poverty and a childhood accident that left her handicapped, winning the Oscar she deserved after four agaonizing failures, finally finding love after the most heartbreaking divorce in Hollywood history. Because Susan Hayward never stopped fighting for happiness in her own life, she portrayed a woman's suffering as no other star before or since. Here is her story. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 4.00 + $ 3.09 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

A. HEPBURN (Movie Icons series)
by F.X. Feeney. Color and B&W photos and movie stills illustrate. Condition: NEW 2006 Taschen Trade Paperback, no printing readable. Content: Her beauty has proved timeless—should we be surprised? Equally graceful whether moving or standing still, blessed with a balletic poise, luminous dark eyes, and an exquisite profile a queen might envy, Audrey Hepburn would no doubt have become famous in her youth even of the movies hadn’t found her—simply because no self-respecting camera could resist her. What sets her iconic beauty apart now, for us, more than a decade after she’s quit the stage of this life, is that her physicality is oddly secondary. Her extraordinary good looks merely halo a still-living smile. [1 copy available]
$ 3.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping. International shipping available.

KATHARINE HEPBURN: A Remarkable Woman
by Anne Edwards. B&W photo section. Condition: NEW 2000 St. Martin's Griffin Trade Paperback, first thus, first printing. Small shelfwear to bottom front cover corner. Content: The woman behind the legend emerges in this sympathetic yet clear-eyed portrait of Hepburn's exceptional life and loves, including Spencer Tracy and Howard Hughes. An Epilogue updates the actress's story. of photos. [1 copy available]
$ 3.50 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

THE HUSTONS: The Life & Times of a Hollywood Dynasty (Updated Edition)
by Lawrence Grobel. B&W photo section. Condition: NEW 2000 Cooper Square very fat (830 pages) Trade Paperback, updated edition. Content: Starting with Walter (1884-1960), peaking with John (1906-1987) and continuing with Anjelica (born 1951), three generations of Oscar-winning Hustons have enriched American theater and films. In this anecdotal composite biography, based on talks with family members, friends and associates, Grobel ( Conversations with Capote ) follows the careers of all the Hustons but focuses on John. His research is the most impressive aspect of this massive volume, and he is even-handed, if undiscriminating. No detail is too insignificant for inclusion; no single reaction to an event or version of a story will do if many are available. Thus, the reader comes away with myriad impressions of John's parents, five wives, numerous mistresses, several children, in-laws and paramours. But as Edna O'Brien observes here, although he was a man "whom women had been in love with all his life," he was anxious and sadistic and felt that "the biggest unhappiness in his life had been caused by women." John Huston bestrides this book like a colossus, but after 812 pages he remains a mystery. [2 copies available]
$ 7.99 + $ 3.39 media shipping. Internaitonal shipping by arrangement - email us.

INTERMISSION: A True Story
by Anne Baxter. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1978 Ballantine paperback, first printing. Pale vertical crease front cover close to center. Short hinge crease caused by previous owner putting a label inside front cover. Binder's glue strings down spine. Tanning to page edges. Actually, better than it sounds. Content: In these candid and insightful pages, brilliant actress, granddaughter of Frank Lloyd Wright, and now master storyteller, relates the personal drama of a woman torn between to passions - her careet as an Academy Award-winning acress and life as the wife of an American rancher in the wilds of the Australian bush. [1 copy available]
$ 2.19 + $ 2.94 media shipping.

JODIE: A Biography (Jodie Foster)
by Louis Chunovic. B&W photo section. Condition: Pre-read 1995 Contemporary Books hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. No problems, just gently pre-read. Content: A recurrent theme in the tortured annals of Hollywood is the difficulty encountered by child stars becoming adults. But Jodie Foster made an admirable transition to adult roles and seems neither bent on self-destruction nor possessed of a talent too meager to sustain an adult acting career. Chunovic's biography, though generally positive and supportive, is no puff job -- at least, by Hollywood-bio standards. It emphasizes the business side of Foster, dishing what dirt there is sympathetically. We are not led into the tortured recesses of Foster's psyche but given a fairly comprehensive overview of her life and career in a bright, informative, readable manner. [1 copy available]
$ 2.50 + $ 3.19 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

KNOCK WOOD
by Candice Bergen. Loads of B&W photos throughout. Condition: Very Good 1985 Ballantine MMPB first printing. Pale spine crease with small edgewear. Inerior clean & tight. Content: One of the best celebrity autobiographies. She was born blonde and beautiful, raised like a princess in the magical world of Hollywood, an instant star. But such easy victories weren't enough for Candy Bergen. With great wit, style, and exceptional honesty, the daughter of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the "sister" of famed talking dummy Charlie McCarthy tells the story of her struggle to come to terms with herself. "Murphy Brown Raw." [1 copy available]
$ 3.50 + $ 2.94 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

LANA: The Memories, the Myths, the Movies
by Cheryl Crane (Ms. Turner's daughter) and Cindy De La Hoz. All four cover corner tips are bumped - probably in shipping as the rest of the book is perfect. Loaded with B&W and color photos and movie stills. Even the end pages are large B&W photos. Condition: NEW 2008 Running Press HUGE hardcover (pictorial boards - no DJ issued), first printing. The book weighs over 5 lbs. Content: Crane, only child to legendary movie star Lana Turner, here delivers an illustrated biography of the Hollywood luminary that belongs at the top of fans' wish lists. The book has the charm of a treasured, well-thumbed scrapbook; it begins with the charming story of Turner's "discovery" at 15, sipping a Coke at the Hollywood Schwab's soda fountain. In short order, she had set off the "sweater girl" trend and was dubbed a "sex symbol" at 16. Turner survived a long career on waves of excess and scandal, entertaining countless suitors and seven husbands ("When she fell in love, she married"). The most prominent of those scandals, which would dominate headlines for months and follow mother and daughter throughout their lives, involves Crane herself: in 1958, at the age of 14, Cheryl stabbed and killed her mother's abusive boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato, a story she relates with humility and grace. The book's greatest draw is the photos-publicity stills, candids and behind-the-scenes shots- that adorn nearly every page; a section on "Lanamours" features page after page of boyfriends (Ronald Reagan, Errol Flynn, Howard Hughes, etc.), and the "Friends" section highlights contemporary actresses, each one more beautiful than the last. As much filmography as biography. Wonderful! Essential. [1 copy available]
$ 15.50 + $ 5.19 media shipping.

SPIKE LEE (An Unauthorized Biography)
by Alex Patterson. Condition:Good+. 1992 Avon PB original first edition, first printing. Pale spine crease with edgewear and rubbing along hinge; strange slight roll; B&W photos illustrate. Interior clean & tight. Content: A look at the life of one of America's premier movie directors - and one of it's most private and controversial. [1 copy available]
$ 2.79 + $ 2.94 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

LIFE IS A BANQUET
by Rosalind Russell and Chris Chase. Two B&W photo sections. Condition: Gently pre-read 1979 Ace paperback, first printing. Pale spine crease with small edgewear bottom spine. Interior clean with moderate tanning to page edges. Content: This book remains one of the most entertaining books I've ever read, one to which I return time and time again. In telling her story, Miss Russell brings her delightful sense of fun to the fore. From the opening anecdote about winning a prize in a horse riding contest, to the way she got out of her first movie contract when a better one offer came her way, to her ploy to get over the title billing in "The Women", Miss Russell spices her life story with wonderful humour that makes this book irresistable. She also includes some of the more tragic events of her life without remorse or self pity but with the strength of character that saw her battle breast cancer and crippling arthritis. It's all presented here in an endearing portrait of a true Hollywood survivor. [1 copy available]
$ 4.49 + $ 2.94 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

LIFE IS A BANQUET
by Rosalind Russell and Chris Chase. Two B&W photo sections. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1977 Random House hardcover & DJ (iin mylar jacket), Book Club Edition. DJ shows some shelfwear to edges. Content: This book remains one of the most entertaining books I've ever read, one to which I return time and time again. In telling her story, Miss Russell brings her delightful sense of fun to the fore. From the opening anecdote about winning a prize in a horse riding contest, to the way she got out of her first movie contract when a better one offer came her way, to her ploy to get over the title billing in "The Women", Miss Russell spices her life story with wonderful humour that makes this book irresistable. She also includes some of the more tragic events of her life without remorse or self pity but with the strength of character that saw her battle breast cancer and crippling arthritis. It's all presented here in an endearing portrait of a true Hollywood survivor. [1 copy available]
$ 7.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

LITTLE GIRL LOST
by Drew Barrymore with Todd Gold. B&W photo section. Condition: Near-Fine 1990 Pocket Books hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, first printing. Read to page 9 and abandoned. Interior clean & tight. Content: She was a modern-day Shirley Temple, but at the age of nine Drew Barrymore was drinking alcohol. At ten she took up marijuana, and by twelve she began snorting cocaine. Here is her gripping, heart-wrenching story -- a story of a childhood gone awry and a young woman battling to restore order to her chaotic life. One of the best Hollywood Bios ever. [1 copy available]
$ 14.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

LOST IN THE FUNHOUSE: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman
by Bill Zehme. Two B&W photo sections. Condition: Gently pre-read 1999 Delacorte Press hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), fourth printing. No problems - just pre-read. Content: Bill Zehme's biography of comic actor/performance artist Andy Kaufman is a meticulously researched, eminently readable, and very strange book -- this last being perhaps no surprise given its subject. Written over a six-year period, this book is crammed with details gleaned from interviews with the actor's family, friends, teachers, coworkers, and unwitting participants in Kaufman's pranks. In particular, the book provides great insight into Kaufman's early life in Great Neck, NY, his relationship with transcendental meditation, and his first forays into nightclubs in the early '70s. Zehme weaves together multiple narratives from varying perspectives, including passages in which the author appears to have entered his subject's brain. Zehme did have access to unpublished letters and manuscripts. Kaurman died of lung cancer in 1984 at only 35. 1999 movie about Kaufman (Man on the Moon) was directed by Milos Forman and starred Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Paul Giamatti, Marilu Henner, and Gerry Becker. Don't think Carrey can act? Take a look at this movie (as well as Truman, Majestic, and Sunshine. (Yes, the titles are shortened.) [1 copy available]
$ 3.89 + $ 3.39 media shipping. Priority shipping available.

THE MEASURE OF A MAN: A spiritual autobiography
by Sidney Poitier. B&W photo section. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 2007 HarperSanFrancisco Trade Paperback, first printing. Problem - light edge wear bottom front cover bottom edge. Interior perfect. Content: In his second memoir Poitier talks about his childhood in the Caribbean, where he was terribly poor by American standards, but quite happy, swimming and climbing all he could. One of eight kids, Poitier was sent to live with an older brother in Miami when he started to get into difficulties as a teen. But frustrated by his inability to earn a living and by the disparaging way whites treated him, Poitier left Miami for New York. There he worked as a dishwasher, started a drama class and launched a celebrated acting career that led to starring roles in such classics as To Sir, with Love and Raisin in the Sun. [1 copy available]
$ 2.89 + $ 3.09 media shipping.

THE MEMORY OF ALL THAT: Love And Politics in New York, Hollywood and Paris
by Betsy Blair. Loaded with B&W photos and movie stills. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 2003 Knopf hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), assumed first printing. Very small "dent" bottom back board edge - most likely binding error. Interior clean & tight. Content: Blair has unquestionably led an exciting life, but her autobiography is likely only to engage dedicated Hollywood historians. Now 79 and living in London, the author was on Broadway at 15, married to Gene Kelly at 17, a mother at 19, an actress and political activist throughout her 20s and a movie star by her early 30s. Aside from her famous husband, she's probably best known in America for starring opposite Ernest Borgnine in 1955's Marty, but after decamping to Paris she distinguished herself in a string of European films. She spends two-thirds of the book describing life in Hollywood with Kelly in terms of nearly constant delight. She meets everyone: Greta Garbo, Bertolt Brecht, Orson Welles and the pope. The result is a shopping list of fame, and Blair's paeans to all she encounters, from "the beautiful, the brilliant, the funny and charming Lenny Bernstein" to Kelly's "gently spoken, loving, and loyal" secretary are monotonous. She recounts movie gossip dutifully and the unpleasantness of McCarthyism righteously-a proud leftist, she found herself blacklisted-but the book becomes more compelling as she moves past Rodeo Drive. "I broke out of the cocoon," she writes, reflecting on escaping her marital idyll and feeling independent for the first time. Once this turmoil is over, the writing returns to list-making: Picasso makes a cameo; Blair hangs out with the Chaplins; and Marlene Dietrich lends her a lipstick. Blair's years in Paris come through most vividly; eventually, she settles down in London with director Karel Reisz. 96 photos. What a life! [1 copy available]
$ 5.50 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

THE MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID: An Autobiography
by Esther Williams with Digby Diehl. Large B&W photo section. Condition: Good+, pre-read 2000 Harvest large Trade Paperback, first pritning. Edge wear with a pale diagonal crease tp back cover corner. Pale spine crease. Content: MGM swim-femme Williams delighted millions in choreographed aqua-movie-musicals during the 1940s and '50s: her unbuttoned autobiography examines both her splashy, sunny public image and the murky waters of her private life. Williams and Diehl (Tales from the Crypt) backstroke through a flood of memories, giving a fluid treatment to "hundreds of hours of conversations that are the basis for this book." Williams opens by describing the LSD trip she took in 1959 (Cary Grant helped her score the acid), then dives into her traumatic early life: a brother died at 16, and a boy the same age raped the young Williams repeatedly. Competing in swim meets at 15, Williams became a national champion in 1939, costarred in Billy Rose's Aquacade with the drunken, exhibitionistic Johnny Weissmuller and signed with MGM in 1944. Williams's movie years constitute the colorful core of the book, displaying life inside a major studio during Hollywood's Golden Age and showing screen legends with their pants down - sometimes literally. Williams had to deal with disastrous marriages, manipulative moguls and life-threatening water stunts. Her sparkling anecdotes alternate the scandalous, the charming and the ridiculous. When, during the rain-drenched filming of Pagan Love Song, Williams cables from Kauai to tell her studio head she's pregnant, the announcement reaches all the ham radio operators in California. Later chapters cover Williams's work for TV, her swimsuit licensing and her years with jet-setting, tyrannical third husband Fernando Lamas. Williams speaks of her own "zest for life"; she and collaborator Diehl demonstrate it many times over in this tremendously entertaining life story. [1 copy available]
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MY SIDE OF THE ROAD
by Dorothy Lamour as told to Dick McInnes. Large B&W photo section and other photos throughout. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1980 Prentice-Hall hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacaket), first printing. DJ spine has tanned and the edges have small nics. Interior perfect. Content: Reviewer: "By the time she got there, Dorothy Lamour's Paramount was no longer the haven for risque artistes it had been in the 1930s, when Travis Banton was dressing his female stars with as much abandon as the laws would allow. No more Mae West, Lubitsch, Jeannette MacDonald. But she helped raise morale considerably with her beautiful face and huge deep eyes, and that crazy sarong she "wore" to placate the boys. Often enough she was co-starred with Paramount's two leading stars, king crooner Bing Crosby and British-born lovable twit Bob Hope, so that gave her a huge break as she readily admits in this lovely autobiography. Her evocations of Hollywood gone by make this a book to remember, and it is surprisingly heartfelt. I liked her account of the many different women in her life named Dorothy, and how the death of one of them, the Ziegfield beauty Dorothy Dell, really affected her in a dramatic way. And her story of acting in the neglected A Medal for Benny written by none other than John Steinbeck makes you wish this picture was more often seen today, instead of existing in that gray-list waste land. She is often very funny, and she provides a humorous list of the names of the "native" Polynesian or other characters she was assigned to play--Luma, Uma, Tamara, Moana, and many more--that's a work of art as well as a rueful commentary on the typecasting practices of the studio system. Lamour also claims to be the first star to go out selling War Bonds in WWII, selling $30 million dollars worth in 4 days. She was intensely patriotic too. I liked her picture of "Pappy," John Ford, who starred her in The Hurricane and years later in Donovan's Reef. She made him seem less threatening than did Maureen O'Hara in her recent memoir--not to say that one actress is correct and the other wrong, because Ford was a complex man with many sides to his personality. The pictures are wonderful as well. If you get a chance, you might try to buy a copy of this book and read it right through. You won't forget it." [1 copy available]
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NEWMAN'S OWN COOKBOOK
compiled by the later, great humanitarian Paul Newman, Ursula Hotchner & Nell Newman with Trenchant Observations & Diversions by A.E. Hotchner. Paul Newman cover. B&W photos & decorations. Condition: UNREAD 1986 Contemporary Books Trade Paperback, no printing given. Content: Paul Newman is a man of many talents. Besides being an actor and an amateur racing car driver, he is a proficient cook with his own line of bottled dressings and sauces, Newman's Own. In this compilation of recipes from the Newman home, there are dishes of his own invention, as well as those concocted by daughter Nell, wife Joanne Woodward, and friends (Ursula Hotchner's veau marengo, Martha Stewart's Victorian savouries, Joan Rivers's shrimp salad). While many of the recipes are standard (and some even dull: Newmanburgers are simply hamburgers served with pickles, tomatoes and onion; Caroline Murphy's tuna salad is made with mustard, sweet pickle, mayonnaise and scallions), and quite a few call for Newman's various bottled goods as ingredients, nevertheless, fans will enjoy eating like their idol. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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GREGORY PECK: A Biography
by Gary Fishgall. B&W photo section. Condition: Gently pre-read 2002 Scribner hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. The jacket has a "metallic" finish and shows shelf wear rubbings both front and back panels. (Why, oh, why do publishers use this finish?) Content: Fishgall reveals the star of Cape Fear, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and To Kill a Mockingbird as "the consummate professional" probably to no one's great shock. Born in La Jolla, Calif., in 1916, Peck worked as a truck driver before attending the University of California at Berkeley, where he first began acting. He moved to New York after graduation, became a barker at the 1939 World's Fair, worked as a photographer's model and apprenticed at Virginia's Barter Theatre before his 1942 Broadway debut. He soon signed a contract with Fox, and his role as a Roman Catholic priest in The Keys of the Kingdom (1944 - and my favorite Peck movie) brought him an Oscar nomination. It was the beginning of six decades of stardom and critical acclaim as Peck "forged a celluloid gallery of heroes writers, lawyers, military men, political figures, corporate executives, and rugged archetypes of the Old West." Fishgall looks at Peck's personal tragedies (his rocky first marriage, the suicide of his son) and his philanthropy, but much of the narrative moves predictably from one film to another. Peck cooperated with Fishgall. [1 copy available]
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PIECES OF TIME: The Life of James STewart
by Gary Fishgall. B&W photo section. Condition: UNREAD 1998 Scribner hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket0, second printing. Content: One of the most endearing actors of our time, Jimmy Stewart appeared in over 70 films and led one of the most successful careers in Hollywood. Fishgall's well-written biography portrays Stewart as a man very much like the one he portrayed on screen?dedicated to work, family, and country. After playing small roles in minor Broadway productions, he secured an MGM contract. In looks and manner, he was not the typical Hollywood male star, but his all-American characteristics appealed to audiences, and in only five years he became a leading man. He served as a bomber pilot in World War II but in 1946 resumed a career that would span a half century. The main focus of this biography is Stewart's work; each film, television appearance, and stage production is covered in detail with reminiscences from co-workers as well as critical and public evaluations. [1 copy available]
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SPLIT IMAGE: The Life of Anthony Perkins
by Charles Winecoff. B&W photo section. Condition: UNREAD 1996 Dutton hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, first printing. Small "dot" top fore edges. Content: Though Anthony Perkins played roles as diverse as a lawman of the old West in The Tin Star and Eugene Grant in the play Look Homeward Angel, he is best remembered for his performance as the maniacal s on of a monstrous mother in Psycho. Charles Winecoff explains how Psycho pigeon-holed Perkins into similar roles and stagnated his professional life. His private life was equally vexatious--his father died when he was 5 and his mother controlled his finances until she died. He was married for 19 years but remained an active homosexual and ultimately died from AIDS in 1992. [1 copy available]
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THE ROCK SAYS. . .
by The Rock with Joe Layden. B&W and color photos illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 2000 ReganBooks hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), 5th printing. Tiny edgewear to DJ. Content: Do I like pro wrestling (WWF)? Heck no. Would I ever watch it? Heck no! Do I like The Rock? Absolutely! He appears to be a charming, thoughtful, self-effacing, humorous, multi-talented young man who loves his mother. So what else do we need to know? Probably not much, but he does come from an interesting family and all of that history is here in this book, plus his football days (college and Canadian League), and the times he was so poor he couldn't afford to eat. Great writing? No. Interesting autiobiography of an interesting man? Yes. If you like The Rock or The Scorpion King, read it. You'll like it. [Note: Wish he would update this bio to include his movie work.] Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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ROSEBUD: The Story of Orson Welles
by David Thomson. B&W era photos illustrate. Condition: NEW 2005 Abacus (London) Trade Paperback, reprint. Content: Thomson does not pretend to have done vast scholarship or delved extensively into original sources. As a boy in England, he says, he fell under Welles's spell, and his book is a sort of vast, almost novelistic examination of the showman's rich and ultimately deeply frustrating life; it is an attempt to come to terms with the fascination Welles continues to exert, although it is generally agreed that his last 40 years were an anticlimax. Determined to be compulsively readable, Thomson indulges in highly tendentious asides, interrupts himself with questions he imagines his publisher asking and works in chunks of scenes from Welles's movies and snippets from the interviews the star tirelessly gave all his life. The result is a vivid patchwork, a swift, impressionistic take on Welles that is also an often moving tribute to his oblique mix of genius and charlatanism. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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THE SECRET POWER WITHIN: Zen Solutions to Real Problems
by Chuck Norris. Condition: UNREAD 1996 Little Brown hard cover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, first printing. Small shelf wear to DJ front fold. Content: Chuck Norris, martial-arts movie hero and television star, offers his thoughts on martial-arts training and the Zen philosophy behind the kicks and punches. In his own life, Norris has found that applying Zen helped him succeed in both business and acting. The discipline and structure of martial-arts training, he argues, can provide one with focus, self-confidence, and determination. Norris peppers his discourse with illustrative anecdotes, such as the story of the wounded marine who--despite the loss of both legs--studied martial arts under a visionary master and learned to use his wheelchair as a weapon. Norris also champions Zen as a path to self-awareness whereby followers learn how to reward, motivate, and respect themselves. One could easily dismiss this book as a superficial presentation of a complex philosophy by a pretentious showbiz dilettante, but that would be an error. View it rather as a primer presented sincerely by a famous practitioner. Norris' fame may help him connect with younger readers, who are often most in need of his message. [1 copy availaable]
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JIMMY STEWART AND HIS POEMS
by Jimmy Stewart. Cover art & interior illustrations by Cheryl Gross. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1990 Crown hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), third printing. The DJ has been price-clipped and there is a gift inscription on the loose endpage. Content: "I'm sure I never said to myself: 'Now, Jim--why don't you sit down and write a poem.' It's still a mystery to me, but I think probably it's something that happened by accident--like a lot of things have happened in my life." So begins this delightful collection of poetry by America's best-loved actor, Jimmy Stewart. Interspersed with vivid recollections and charming illustrations, the poems document a life that isn't too different from yours or mine. Jimmy Stewart won the hearts of generations of movie viewers with a confused innocence and stammering delivery that made his acting seem genuine and effortless. Somehow he managed to make the boy next door into a national hero. Now the consummate Everyman shares tales from his everyday life. From fishing trips and dog stories to a hilarious account of a photo safari where the camera was lost to a hungry hyena, the poems are related in Jimmy Stewart's inimitable voice and are enlivened with charming illustrations. The book confirms what we all expected--that the real Jimmy Stewart is every bit as endearing as the film characters he's portrayed. [1 copy available]
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THIS IS ORSON WELLES
by Orson Welles & Peter Bogdanovich. Loads of B&W photos and movie stills. Condition: UNREAD 1993 HarperPerennial large Trade Paperback (533 pages), first printing. Tiny edge wear with pale tanning to page edges. Content: This title is a potpourri of material by and about Welles (1915-1985), who wrote, directed and starred in the classic Citizen Kane, played a masterful Harry Lime in The Third Man and wrote, directed and acted in other films that have garnered a devoted if relatively small following. The bulk of the book consists of a series of interviews conducted by director/author Bogdanovich with Welles (interspersed with letters, memos and telegrams), as well as a chronology of Welles's life and career, a description of the scenes and dialogue cut by studio bosses from Welles's The Magnificent Ambersons and notes by film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum (which often correct Welles's entertaining but sometimes inaccurate stories). Welles and Bogdanovich's conversation develops interestingly--like the conversation in Louis Malle's My Dinner with Andre --and is sprinkled with discussions of Welles's radio career, movies and observations on film and other directors. For example, about Alfred Hitchcock, Welles says: "There's a certain icy calculation in a lot of Hitch's work that puts me off. He says he doesn't like actors, and sometimes it looks as though he doesn't like people ." [1 copy available]
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TRUE: The Autobiography of Martin Kemp
by Martin Kemp. Color photo sections. Condition: Very good 2000 Orion (London) hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket) - appears to be a first printing. Problem: bookstore browsing has caused some wear at the photo sections - I guess people just wanted a really good look - but the rest of the book is tight. This is the best description I can give you. Content: Writing his own story Martin Kemp talks frankly about his upbringing in working-class Islington, stardom and success with Spandau Ballet and the break up of the band. He writes openly about his film career, the huge success of The Krays, his tremendous fight against brain cancer and on to today with fame again in EastEnders. This is a stunningly written account of a fascinating life written with candour and wit. [1 copy available]
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LANA TURNER - 2 books: ALWAYS LANA and LANA: The Lady, The Legend, The Truth
B&W photos illustrate. Condition: Always, Lana - written by Taylor Pero and Jeff Rovin - gently pre-read 1982 Bantam paperback, first printing - has small edgewear with pale hinge crease. The interior is clean & tight. Lana: The Lady, The Legend, The Truth - an autobiography by Lana Turner - gently pre-read 1983 Pocket paperback, first printing. It has light edgewear with a pale hinge crease. The interior is clean & tight with light tanning to page edges. Two B&W photo sections. Content: Always, Lana: From the author: I want to impart some knowledge about the publication of this saga. It was written without the consent of Lana Turner after our ten year personal and professional relationship ended badly. Bantam was extremely cautious in making sure that every detail of the story could be authenticated. They made me prove every word I wrote through both their 'in-house' attorneys as well as my own attorneys. Jeff Rovin pointed out to me upon publication that 80% of this book was printed exactly as it came off my typewriter. Lana Turner was the only person who did not like what I wrote (because it was all true). It was to take the spotlight off of Always, Lana that she conspired to dictate her 'Autobiography', which many found lacking in truth and detail." And then we have Lana, The Lady, The Legend, the Truth: "Lana Turner was one of the most beautiful and talented actresses of her time, with unforgettable performances in classics like "The Postman Always Rings Twice", "Homecoming", "Johnny Eager", and "The Bad and the Beautiful". This autobiography is very gripping and provides a very entertaining look at Hollywood as experienced by Lana during her long and impressive career. There are three sections of great photos which show how timeless her beauty was. [She tells] of her failed marriages and not-so-perfect relationship with her daughter, but after all, a Hollywood legend like Lana had to defend and preserve her character. She's very candid about many events and scandals, and her writing style makes the book impossible to put down. For a "no-spin" account of Lana Turner I recommend searching for a biography, but unfortunately there are not many. This book is a definite must for all Lana Turner fans!" Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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THE UNDISCOVERED PAUL ROBESON: An Artist's Journey, 1898 - 1939
by Paul Robeson, Jr. Wonderful selection of B&W era photos in 2 sections and on chapter pages. Condition: NEW 2001 John Wiley hard cover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Tiny tiny edge wear to top DJ edge. Content: The long-awaited, untold, inside story of the rise of the legendary actor, singer, scholar, and activist. The first volume of this major biography breaks new ground. The greatest scholar-athlete-performing artist in U.S. history, Paul Robeson was one of the most compelling figures of the twentieth century. Now his son, Paul Robeson Jr., traces the dramatic arc of his rise to fame, painting a definitive picture of Paul Robeson's formative years. His father was an escaped slave; his mother, a descendent of freedmen; and his wife, the brilliant and ambitious Eslanda Cardozo Goode. With a law degree from Columbia University; a professional football career; title roles in Eugene O'Neill's plays and in Shakespeare's Othello; and a concert career in America and Europe, Robeson dominated his era. This unprecedented biography reveals the depth of Robeson's cultural scholarship, explores the contradictions he bridged in his personal and political life, and describes his emergence as a symbol of the anticolonial and antifascist struggles. Filled with previously unpublished photographs and source materials from the private diaries and letters of Paul and Eslanda Robeson, this is the epic story of a forerunner who now stands as one of America's greatest heroes. [1 copy available]
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JOHN WAYNE, MY FATHER
by Aissa Wayne with Steve Delsohn. Two B&W photo sections. Condition: UNREAD 1991 Random House hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, no printing given. Blank bookplate loose end page. Content: Born in 1956 to John Wayne and his third wife, Pilar, the author witnessed the passing of her father from movie star to American icon. Not surprisingly, he was a stern father--harder on his sons than his little girl. Unlike Christina Crawford's book about her mother, Joan, this is no Duke Dearest; Wayne comes off as a fully rounded person, ultimately held in a sympathetic light. There's little here that hasn't already been suggested in many Wayne bios, although the author does contest the claims made by her father's last personal secretary, Pat Stacy, that the two were open lovers. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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