And most of his leading ladies—among them, Ingrid Bergman, Jennifer Jones, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, and Ava Gardner—would not disagree. Irreverent, candid, refreshingly honest, Lynn Haney's carefully researched biography not only charts the remarkable career of the Oscar-winning star but also plumbs Peck's frequently troubling complexity in his off-screen roles as husband, father, lover, and son. About the tough times, Haney minces no words; but the misfortunes by no means eclipse the energy, intensity, and excitement that characterized Peck's five decades of moviemaking. This is a book filled with telling photographs, and a story cast with movie moguls from Louis B. Mayer to Darryl Zanuck, with directors from Hitchcock and Walsh to Huston and Wyler, with nearly every major luminary in Hollywood, and, starring for the first time in toto, Gregory Peck.

    From studio archives and other primary source material never before published or made known, emerges an engrossing portrait, not only of Gable but of the bygone Hollywood in which he worked.

    The real life and faith journey of Loretta Young -- her strong devotion to her Catholic faith and her passion for helping others in need.

    Despite his on-screen persona, Niven wasn’t always the perfect gentleman. He was insecure both privately and professionally and used people to get ahead. But he did, he said, ‘at least try to be a decent man.’ He knew he often failed, although it isn’t easy to find people who ever had a bad word to say about him. In this fascinating biography of the star, Munn looks at the funny stories and the sad underlying truth, from his outrageous days with Errol Flynn and their irrevocable split –‘You always know where you are with Flynn. He always lets you down’ – and numerous affairs with stars and prostitutes, to an attempted suicide, his horrific experiences in war-torn France and the breakdown and blame of his second marriage. This compelling text includes interviews with his second wife, Hjordis, John Huston, Rex Harrison, Laurence Olivier, Loretta Young (they discussed marriage once), Niven’s long-time friend Michael Trubshawe, Peter Ustinov, Ava Gardner and many more.

    Reprint. PW.

    Miss Crawford rose from being a telephone operator in Kansas City to glamour, glitter, romance and ultimate stardom.

    An Oscar-winning actress, she has lived her entire life in front of the spotlights, and her glamour and smouldering, sensual charisma are the stuff of legend. In Elizabeth, Alexander Walker presents the story of a life that was lived, on and off camera, with a passion rarely matched by even today's outspoken celebrities. From her privileged childhood, the influence of her strong-willed mother, and her rise to stardom in films like National Velvet, A Place in the Sun, and Cleopatra, to her husbands, her obsession with jewelry, and her amazing resilience in the face of public scandal and personal tragedy, Walker shows us the real Elizabeth--as an actress and as a person determined to live on her own terms.

    Beginning with his early days in Brooklyn and his college years in Texas, where he dreamed of becoming an actor, this book follows his career as one of the earliest members of the famed Actors Studio and as a Tony Award winner for his work on Broadway. Wallach has worked with such stars as Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Peck, and Henry Fonda, and his many movies include The Magnificent Seven, How the West Was Won, the iconic The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and, most recently, Mystic River. For more than fifty years Eli Wallach has held a special place in film and theater, and in a tale rich with anecdotes, wit, and remarkable insight he recounts his magical life in a world unlike any other.

    And he's still hot six decades later. Now, with crackling wisdom and great humor, Mickey takes us back and tells us about: The early days, the wild parties, and squandered fortunes . . . The dark days on the downside offame . . . The fabled friendships, torrid romances, and legendary marriages . . . The blockbuster films and head-busting moguls . . . Inside stories about Ava Gardner, Judy Garland, Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, Charlie Chaplin, Spencer Tracy, and a host of others.Mickey Rooney opens a wide window into an extraordinary life, one of startling adventure, tremendous excess, flagrant hedonism, heart-wrenching love, and an immense and giving talent that looms larger than life itself."LIFE IS TOO SHORT is a little masterpiece . . . . Fascinating." --Los Angeles Daily NewsFrom the Paperback edition.

    He send it to her, and she called to say it had made her laugh for the first time in two years. Ball invited Brochu to her house for backgammon and lemonade. And a close friendship, lovingly revealed here, was begun. Illustrated.

    Illustrated.

    Described by Richard Burton as "the most original actor to come out of Britain since the war", O'Toole regularly seemed to veer towards self-destruction.With the help of exclusive interviews with colleagues and close friends, Peter O'Toole: The Definitive Biography paints the first complete picture of this much loved man and reveals what drove him to extremes, why he drank to excess and hated authority. But it also describes a man who was fiercely intelligent, with a great sense of humour and huge energy. Always insightful, at times funny, at times deeply moving, this is a fitting tribute to an iconic actor who made a monumental contribution to theatre and cinema.

    Born the child of vaudevillians, she was on stage by age three. With her casual sex appeal, distinctive cello voice, megawatt smile, luminous saucer eyes, and flawless timing, she came into widespread fame in Warner Bros. musicals and comedies of the 1930s, including Blonde Crazy, Gold Diggers of 1933, and Footlight Parade.Frequent co-star to James Cagney, Clark Gable, Edward G. Robinson, and Humphrey Bogart, friend to Judy Garland, Barbara Stanwyck, and Bette Davis, and wife of Dick Powell and Mike Todd, Joan Blondell was a true Hollywood insider. By the time of her death, she had made nearly 100 films in a career that spanned over fifty years.Privately, she was unerringly loving and generous, while her life was touched by financial, medical, and emotional upheavals. Joan Blondell: A Life between Takes is meticulously researched, expertly weaving the public and private, and features numerous interviews with family, friends, and colleagues.

    Her childhood is still there to see in "Miracle on 34th Street. "Her adolescence in "Rebel Without a Cause. "Her coming of age? Still playing in "Splendor in the Grass "and "West Side Story" and countless other hit movies. From the moment Natalie Wood made her debut in 1946, playing Claudette Colbert and Orson Welles's ward in "Tomorrow Is Forever" at the age of seven, to her shocking, untimely death in 1981, the decades of her life are marked by movies that-for their moments-summed up America's dreams. Now the acclaimed novelist, biographer, critic and screenwriter Gavin Lambert, whose twenty-year friendship with Natalie Wood began when she wanted to star in the movie adaptation of his novel "Inside Daisy Clover," tells her extraordinary story. He writes about her parents, uncovering secrets that Natalie either didn't know or kept hidden from those closest to her. Here is the young Natalie, from her years as a child actress at the mercy of a driven, controlling stage mother ("Make Mr. Pichel love you," she whispered to the five-year-old Natalie before depositing her unexpectedly on the director's lap), to her awkward adolescence when, suddenly too old for kiddie roles, she was shunted aside, just another freshman at Van Nuys High. Lambert shows us the glamorous movie star in her twenties--"All the Fine Young Cannibals, Gypsy" and" Love with the Proper Stranger," He writes about her marriages, her divorces, her love affairs, her suicide attempt at twenty-six, the birth of her children, her friendships, her struggles as an actress and her tragic death by drowning (she was always terrified of water) at forty-three. For the first time, everyonewho knew Natalie Wood speaks freely-including her husbands Robert Wagner and Richard Gregson, famously private people like Warren Beatty, intimate friends such as playwright Mart Crowley, directors Robert Mulligan and Paul Mazursky, and Leslie Caron, each of whom told the author stories about this remarkable woman who was both life-loving and filled with despair. What we couldn't know-have never been told before-Lambert perceptively uncovers. His book provides the richest portrait we have had of Natalie Wood.

    Along the way, these inspiring people have blazed a trail through history. Anyone who has seen The Sound of Music knows how Maria von Trapp's life began--but what happened after the final scene? Discover what Maria's life was like after fleeing Nazi-occupied Austria for America. With intriguing facts about her life in the nunnery, her romance with Captain von Trapp, their ten children, and their singing careers, this inspiring story reaches beyond The Sound of Music--and reveals the courage and determination of a kind, energetic, and very real woman.