Film Biographies

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Streep: A Life in Film
Iain Johnstone
Meryl Streep may not need an introduction, but as one of the most celbrated actresses of all time any insight into her life and work is certainly welcome. Here, in the first biography of Streep in 20 years, writer and journalist Iain Johnstone tracks her rise through the New York theatre scene to becoming one of Hollywood's greatest talents. Softcover, 240 pp. $24.95.

I Know Where I'm Going: Katharine Hepburn, A Personal Biography
Charlotte Chandler
By the time that she retired, Hepburn had won a record four Best Actress Academy Awards and had been nominated twelve times. Her acting career spanned six decades, and she was universally acknowledged as one of the finest -- if not the finest -- actors in film history. Drawing on a series of recordings made over many years, beginning in the mid-1970s, acclaimed biographer Charlotte Chandler has written the most intimate and personal biography ever published of this Hollywood legend. Hardcover, 349 pp. $34.00.

Hollywood Hellraisers
Robert Sellers
Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson: they're the baddest bad asses Hollywood has ever seen. These are men for whom rules did not apply, men for whom normal standards of behaviour were simply too wearisome to worry about. This book is a whistle-stop tour of jaw-dropping sexual activity, misbehaviour of an Olympic standard, all-out excess and genuine madness. Softcover, 322 pp. $21.95.

Try to Tell the Story
David Thomson
From one of the most celebrated film critics of this era, comes a fascinating autobiography about growing up as an only child in wartime England. In these difficult times, Thomson grew up without a father, and in these memoirs we see a boy finding solace in the cinema houses. Movies became his great escape, and the worlds revealed Red River, The Third Man, and Citizen Kane helped to alleviate his loneliness and bolster his rich imaginative life. Softcover, 214 pp. $18.95.

Robert Helpmann: A Servant of Art
Anna Bemrose
This is a fascinating account of this great man of the theatre. From original documents in public and private collections, and personal interviews with many of Helpmann's professional collaborators in Australia and the United Kingdom, Anna Bemrose has woven a rich tapestry that illuminates Sir Robert's enormous contribution to the performing arts both in Australia and overseas. Hardcover, 403 pp. $40.00.

Star
Peter Biskind
Equally successful as an actor, filmmaker, and playboy, Warren Beatty used his star power, commercial success, saavy, and charm to bend Hollywood moguls to his will, establishing an unprecedented level of independence while working within the studio system. In this compulsively readable and constantly surprising book, Peter Biskind, the author of the film classics Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and Down and Dirty Pictures, writes the most intimate, revealing, and balanced biography ever of Hollywood legend. Hardcover, 627 pp. $36.00.

Bruce Lee: Pocket Essentials
Simon B. Kenny
Bruce Lee was the most influential martial artist of the last century. Way ahead of his time in terms of his physical training, Lee went against the grain of traditional martial arts to develop his own unique martial art, Jeet Kune Do. Aside from being a world class martial artist, Bruce Lee was also a gifted filmmaker and accomplished actor. This book is an introduction to his films and some of the myths that surround them. It also serves as a great introduction to Bruce Lee's life, his martial art, his philosophy and his poetry. Softcover, 160 pp. $9.95.

Thank Heaven: A Memoir
Leslie Caron
Leslie Caron's appearance in An American in Paris opposite Gene Kelly made her an overnight star, but five decades of unparalleled performances on stage and screen have made her a legend. Thank Heaven is a wry, poignant and entertaining memomir of her life, love and truly remarkable career. Evident on every page are the same qualities that made her a star, most notably her singular ability to illuminate the emotional core of her subject. Hardcover, 275 pp. $32.50.

Audrey Hepburn: International Cover Girl
Scott Brizel
The latest must-have book for fans of the timeless star, Audrey Hepburn: International Cover Girl is a look at Hepburn through over 600 international magazine covers. This stunning volume includes a substantial biographical text, select magazine interiors and countless photos that have not been seen since they first graced the magazine racks and coffe tables of the world. Hardcover, 273 pp. $55.00.

Alan Moore
Lance Parkin
For nearly forty years, from his earliest work in underground Arts Lab projects to his latest work as author of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Lost Girls, Alan Moore has pushed the boundaries of comic books and graphic novels like few others. In this concise introduction, you will meet Moore the artist and Moore the pop icon. Also included is a comprehensive survey of his career, along with a complete list of his works. Softcover, 160 pp. $9.95.

Margaret Rutherford: Dreadnought with Good Manners
Andy Merriman
Though primarily know as Miss Marple (in four films!), Margaret Rutherford also brought her idiosyncratic charms to such thoroughly English classics as Blithe Spirit, The Importance of Being Earnest, Passport to Pimlico and I'm All Right, Jack! Even though it was as a comic actress that she enjoyed her greatest success, this book reveals that she didn't set out to be funny and she would have loved to be cast in more serious dramatic fare. In all, this is an immensely compassionate and sometimes shocking portrait of an eccentric, vulnerable, naive, lovable woman, generous to a fault, who delighted audiences with some of the finest comic performances of any British actress. Hardcover, 296 pp. $41.95.

How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood
William Mann
Readers will be hooked on this page-turner of a biography which paints a vivid picture of Elizabeth Taylor's professional and private life. The mink-swathed woman who emerges in this book is reconciled with her fame and her grandiose lifestyle. Here is Elizabeth Taylor leading her epic life on her own terms, playing the game of stardom at which she remains, to this day, unmatched. Hardcover, 484 pp. $34.95.

High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly
Donald Spoto
After a whirlwind seven-year career in the movies, Grace Kelly retired from the stage and screen at the age of twenty-six to marry a European monarch and became a modern, working princess and mother. Following the request of the princess, famed biographer Donald Spoto waited twenty-five years after her death to write this biography. Now, with honesty and insight, High Society reveals the truth of Grace Kelly's personal life, the men she loved, the men she didn't, and what lay behind the facade of her fairy-tale life. Hardcover, 303 pp. $32.99.

American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood
Marc Eliot
In American Rebel, bestselling author and acclaimed film historian Marc Eliot examines the ever-exciting, often-tumultuous arc of Clint Eastwood's life and career. Unlike past biographers, Eliot writes with unflinching candor about Eastwood's highs and lows, his artistic successes and failures, and the fascinating, complex relationship between his life and his craft. Hardcover, 383 pp. $32.99.

Aim for the Heart: The Films of Clint Eastwood
Howard Hughes
Aim for the Heart covers all of Eastwood's movies in detail. The filmmaker's story is illustrated with film stills, glimpses behind the scenes and rare poster advertising material. This book also includes the most comprehensive credits filmography ever compiled on Eastwood's work, as a star and director. Hardcover, 252 pp. $32.00.

I Shudder
Paul Rudnick
Charming and touching, I Shudder is rendered in Paul Rudnick's gorgeous, zinger-laden prose and reminds us of our need to keep our tongues sharp in the midst of life's many obstacles and absurdities. Hardcover, 318 pp. $31.50.

What Ever Happened to Orson Welles
Joseph McBride
This fascinating book challenges the conventional wisdom that Welles's career after Citizen Kane was a long decline and that he spent his final years doing little but eating and making commercials while squandering his earlier promise. In this intimate and often surprising personal portrait, Joseph McBride shows instead how Welles never stopped directing radical, adventurous films and was always breaking new artistic ground as a filmmaker. Hardcover, 344 pp. $43.95.

In and Out of Hollywood
Charles Higham
As a best-selling biographer of numerous Hollywood greats -- Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Howard Hughes, and Cary Grant among them -- Charles Higham has been privy to the public and private joys, tragedies, scandals, and desires of many of the darlings of Hollywood's red carpet. In and Out of Hollywood is Higham's own life story, replete with a cast that includes stars from Marlene Dietrich to Clint Eastwood to Leonardo DiCaprio. Hardcover, 306 pp. $35.95.

Shootin' the Shit with Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
In freewheeling conversations with his friend and producer Scott Mosier, Kevin Smith rants about: how the final Harry Potter book should have ended, the possibility that Helen Keller was faking it, the horrifying tale of Kevin vs. steak tartare, and several other off-the-wall topics. This is Kevin Smith at his defiantly lewd and breathtakingly rude best. Softcover, 363 pp. $18.95.

Hollywood Monster
Robert Englund & Alan Goldsher
Meet Robert Englund, the award-winning actor best known for his role as Freddy Krueger, a horror-movie villian as unforgettable and enduring as Bela Lugosi's Dracula and Boris Karloff's Frankenstein. Now, for the first time, the man behind the latex mask tells his story in this captivating new memoir, published to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first A Nightmare on Elm Street film. Hardcover, 298 pp. $34.00.

Ingrid Bergman
David Thomson
Adored by millions for her luminous beauty and elegance, Ingrid Bergman commanded a love that has hardly ever been matched at the height of her career, until her marriage fell apart and created an international scandal. Here renowned film writer David Thomson gives his own unique and original take on a woman who was constantly driven by her passions and by her need to act, even if it meant sacrificing everything. Softcover, 116 pp. $18.00.

Bette Davis
David Thomson
Bette Davis was the commanding figure of the great era of hollywood stardom, with a drive and energy that put her contemporaries in the shade. She played queens, jezebels and bitches, she could out-talk any male co-star, she warred with her studio, worked like a demon, got through four husbands, and was nominated for seven Oscars. This is her story told as never before by legendary film critic David Thomson. Softcover, 123 pp. $18.00.


Humphrey Bogart
David Thomson
He became a legend as 'Bogie,' the world-weary, wise-cracking outsider, but in reality Humphrey Bogart was plagued by doubts and demons. Here David Thomson, one of film's most provocative writers, reveals the man behind cinema's greatest icon. Softcover, 124 pp. $18.00.

Gary Cooper
David Thomson
On screen he was the ultimate all-American hero: lean, laconic and masculine, a lone sheriff battling his enemies in High Noon, or a tough individualist in The Fountainhead. Acclaimed film writer David Thomson explores the career and the contradictions of 'Coop', the star who lived the dream in the golden age of Hollywood. Softcover, 124 pp. $18.00.

Wishful Drinking
Carrie Fisher
An honest and hilarious memoir which chronicles the highs of celebrity and success, and the lows of alcoholism, drug addiction, and mental breakdown. Carrie Fisher's insights are fresh and her writing is compulsively readable. Softcover, $17.99.

Horton Foote: America's Storyteller
Wilborne Hampton
Long regarded by other playwrights and screenwriters, actors, and cognoscenti of the theatre and cinema as a master of American storytelling, Horton Foote is a writer whose rich life remains largely unknown to the general public. His is the story of an artist who refused to compromise his talents for the sake of fame or money, or just to keep working. The whole story is told here in the first comprehensive biography of this remarkable writer. Hardcover, $36.00.

Warren Oates: A Wild Life
Susan Compo
Though he never reached the lead actor status he laboured so relentlessly to achieve, Warren Oates (1928-1982) has made a lasting impression as one of the most memorable character actors of the 1970s. In Warren Oates: A Wild Life, author Susan Compo skillfully captures the story of Oates's eventful life, indulgent lifestyle, and influential career. Hardcover, $48.95.

Katharine Hepburn: A Life in Pictures
Pierre-Henri Verlhac
This dazzling collection offers an intimate view into the life of a Hollywood giant -- from her early years in the studio system through the famed Spencer Tracy period to her later life as the grand dame of cinema -- and sheds new light on the woman honoured by the American Film Institute as the greatest female movie star in the history of American cinema. Hardcover, 192 pp. $55.95.

Chaplin: The Tramp's Odyssey
Simon Louvish
An Everyman who expressed the defiant spirit of freedom, Charlie Chaplin was first lauded and later reviled in the America that made him Hollywood's richest man. He was a figure of multiple paradoxes, and many studies have sought to unveil the man behind the mask. Simon Louvish's new book -- following his five major biographies of comedy's classic stars -- sheds new light on the life and career of the cinema's favourite Tramp. Hardcover, 412 pp. $39.00.

Richard Attenborough: Entirely Up to You, Darling
Richard Attenborough & Diana Hawkins
This readable and entertaining memoir details not only the nail-biting moments, such as the desperate struggle to finance Gandhi, or the occasion when Attenborough was attacked by thugs while visiting South Africa to research Cry Freedom. The memoir also encompasses moving recollections about Attenborough's family. Softcover, 318 pp. $21.95.

Marilyn Revealed
Ted Schwartz
The first comprattehensive look at the life of Marilyn Monroe to appear in years, this biography benefits from interviews with many of the actress's friends and acquantances who have remained silent until now, as well as access to the FBI files of such figures as Clark Gable, Sam Giancana, Frank Sinatra, and Monroe herself. Hardcover, 675 pp. $29.95.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Movies
Dave Saunders
This is the first comprehensive, in-depth study to examine one of modern cinema's most celebrated yet divisive screen presences. Tracing Schwarzenegger's entire film career and life from teenage bodybuilder to Governor of California, Dave Saunders blends close textual readings of the major films with salient historical context and biographical detail, demonstrating continually the importance of broader social and political factors in defining Arnold's unique significance. Softcover, 245 pp. $20.95.

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Paul Newman: A Life
Shawn Levy
In Paul Newman: A Life, film critic and pop culture historian Shawn Levy gives readers the ultimate behind-the-scenes examination of the actor's life, from his merry pranks on the set to his lasting romance with Joanne Woodward to the devastating impact of his son's death from a drug overdose. Hardcover, 490 pp. $37.99.

Conversations with Marlon Brando
Lawrence Grobel
In this penetrating conversation, the master of entertainment interviews, Lawrence Grobel, goes head-to-head with Marlon Brando. The resulting portrait is of a complex, passionate, and brilliant artist. A fascinating read. Softcover, 195 pp. $32.95.

Charmed by Audrey: Life on the set of Sabrina
Mark Shaw
Few actresses have been as admired and loved as Audrey Hepburn, and we know why! After looking at these delightful photos we can't help but fall under Audrey's spell. She makes everything from getting her haid done to reading a script look positively glamorous. Let Audrey charm you! Hardcover, 127 pp. $26.50.

Love Child
Allegra Huston
When the author was four years old, her mother was killed in a car crash. Soon afterward, she was introduced to an intimidating man wreathed in cigar smoke -- the legendary film director John Huston -- with the words "this is your father". So began an extraordinary odyssey: from the magical Huston estate in Ireland to the Long Island suburbs to a hidden paradise in Mexico -- and, at the side of her older sister, Anjelica, into the hilltop retreats of Jack Nicholson, Ryan O'Neal, and Marlon Brando. Love Child is a seductive insight into one of Hollywood's great dynasties and the story of how, in a family that defied convention, one woman found her balance on the shifting sands of conflicting loyalties. Hardcover, 289 pp. $34.99.

Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist
Michael J. Fox
In Always Looking Up, Michael J. Fox writes about the hard-won perspective that helped him see challenges as opportunities. Instead of building walls around himself, he developed a personal policy of engagement and discovery. Hardcover, 279 pp. $33.99.

She Always Knew How
Charlotte Chandler
In She Always Knew How, her wonderful new biography of legendary actress Mae West, acclaimed biographer Charlotte Chandler draws on a series of interviews she conducted with the star just months before her death in 1980. From their first meeting, where West held out a diamond-covered hand in greeting and lamented her interviewer's lack of jewels, to their farewell, where the star was still gamely offering advice on how to attract men, Mae West and Charlotte Chandler developed a warm rapport that glows on every page of this biography. Hardcover, 317 pp. $34.00.

Letters of Noel Coward
Edited by Barry Day
Lavishly illustrated and annotated, this first and definitive collection of letters to and from Coward provides a divine portrait of an age, from the Blitz to the Ritz and beyond. Along with 191 rare photographs, these letters bring to life the people and events that shaped the twentieth century--and a remarkable man who made his own indelible mark at the heart of it. Softcover, 780 pp. $22.95.

Gypsy: The Art of the Tease
Rachel Shteir
The best introductory book on the magnificent Gypsy Rose Lee, a woman whose name come to connote the importance of the sexual gimmick and the eroticism of the undelivered promise. Hardcover, 222 pp. $30.00.

Artists in Exile
Joseph Horowitz
Decades of war and revolution in Europe forced an intellectual migration during the last century, relocating thousands of artists and thinkers to the United States. For many if Europe's premier performing artists, America proved to be a destination both strange and opportune. Artists in Exile explores the impact that these newcomers had on American cukturem and that America had on them. Softcover, 458 pp. $22.99.

Kander and Ebb
James Leve
John Kander and Fred Ebb, one of the greatest and longest lasting composer-lyricist partnerships in Broadway history, created some of the most memorable musicals of all time, including Chicago, Cabaret, and Zorba. This book examines their artistic accomplishments as individuals and as a team. Kander and Ebb is essential reading for students of Musical theatre and lovers of Kander and Ebb's songs and shows. Hardcover, 365 pp. $49.99.

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Last modified March 21, 2010.
Please note that all prices are in Canadian dollars. All prices are subject to change without notice.