Ray Milland

Ray Milland
Author: James McKay
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2020-02-21
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1476678871

With no formal training as an actor, Welsh-born Ray Milland (1907-1986), a former trooper in the British Army's Household Cavalry, enjoyed a half-century career working alongside some of the great directors and stars from the Golden Age of cinema. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as the alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend (1945), a defining moment that enabled him to break free from romantic leads and explore darker shades of his debonair demeanor, such as the veiled menace of his scheming husband in Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder (1954). A consummate professional with wide range, Milland took the directorial reins in several of his starring vehicles in the 1950s, most notably in the intelligent Western A Man Alone (1955). He comfortably slipped into most genres, from romantic comedy to adventure to film noir. Later he turned to science fiction and horror movies, including two with cult filmmaker Roger Corman. This first complete filmography covers the actor's screen career, with a concise introductory biography and an appendix listing his extensive radio and television credits.

John Wayne

John Wayne
Author: Randy Roberts
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 780
Release: 1997-01-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780803289703

"John Wayne remains a constant in American popular culture. Middle America grew up with him in the late 1920s and 1930s, went to war with him in the 1940s, matured with him in the 1950s, and kept the faith with him in the 1960s and 1970s. . . . In his person and in the persona he so carefully constructed, middle America saw itself, its past, and its future. John Wayne was his country’s alter ego." Thus begins John Wayne: American, a biography bursting with vitality and revealing the changing scene in Hollywood and America from the Great Depression through the Vietnam War. During a long movie career, John Wayne defined the role of the cowboy and soldier, the gruff man of decency, the hero who prevailed when the chips were down. But who was he, really? Here is the first substantive, serious view of a contradictory private and public figure.

Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics

Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics
Author: John Reid
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2005-09
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1411650670

Few people would argue with the films selected for detailed notices and reviews in this book. Many of the movies are award-winners, and most chalked up impressive figures at the box-office. Who would dispute the inclusion of Citizen Kane or Rebecca or The Best Years of Our Lives? However, along with The Yearling and Reap the Wild Wind and Hello, Frisco, Hello, I've also included a few surprises. A magnificent publication. -- Rodney Bourke in International Movie Making (April 2006).

True Grace

True Grace
Author: Wendy Leigh
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2008-06-10
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780312381943

Beautiful, elegant, and mysterious, Grace Kelly captivated the world. But as Leigh records, Grace's life had more than its share of loss and unhappiness. After years and hundreds of interviews, Leigh approaches the princess's life with compassion and care.

Lost Laughs of '50s and '60s Television

Lost Laughs of '50s and '60s Television
Author: David C. Tucker
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2010-04-19
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0786455829

Originally broadcast on American television between 1952 and 1969, the 30 situation comedies in this work are seldom seen today and receive only brief and often incomplete and inaccurate mentions in most reference sources. Yet these sitcoms (including Angel, The Governor and J.J., It's a Great Life, I'm Dickens ... He's Fenster and Wendy and Me), and the stories of the talented people who made them, are an integral part of television history. With a complete list of production credits and rare publicity stills, this volume, based on multiple screenings of episodes, corrects other sources and expand our knowledge of television history.

I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie

I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie
Author: Roger Ebert
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2013-07-30
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0740792482

The Pulitzer Prize–winning film critics offers up more reviews of horrible films. Roger Ebert awards at least two out of four stars to most of the more than 150 movies he reviews each year. But when the noted film critic does pan a movie, the result is a humorous, scathing critique far more entertaining than the movie itself. I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie is a collection of more than 200 of Ebert’s most biting and entertaining reviews of films receiving a mere star or less from the only film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize. Ebert has no patience for these atrocious movies and minces no words in skewering the offenders. Witness: Armageddon * (1998)—The movie is an assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain, common sense, and the human desire to be entertained. No matter what they’re charging to get in, it’s worth more to get out. The Beverly Hillbillies * (1993)—Imagine the dumbest half-hour sitcom you’ve ever seen, spin it out to ninety-three minutes by making it even more thin and shallow, and you have this movie. It’s appalling. North no stars (1994)—I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it. Police Academy no stars (1984)—It’s so bad, maybe you should pool your money and draw straws and send one of the guys off to rent it so that in the future, whenever you think you’re sitting through a bad comedy, he could shake his head, chuckle tolerantly, and explain that you don't know what bad is. Dear God * (1996)—Dear God is the kind of movie where you walk out repeating the title, but not with a smile. The movies reviewed within I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie are motion pictures you’ll want to distance yourself from, but Roger Ebert’s creative and comical musings on those films make for a book no movie fan should miss.

The Dream Merchants

The Dream Merchants
Author: Harold Robbins
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 546
Release: 2010
Genre: Erotic stories
ISBN: 145204547X

Return to a time when Hollywood was young and the movie industry was just starting out. In Harold Robbins' second novel, he captures a bygone era of entertainment pioneers turning cinematic dreams into reality. The Dream Merchants is a story of powerful men and passionate women, doing whatever they have to in order to succeed. Johnny Edge is a former carny hustler, filled with schemes and ambition. Peter Kessler trades in a life of being stuck in the hardware business for the fortunes of moviemaking. Actress Dulcie Warren isn't afraid to use her sexuality to fulfill her ambitions. And if she has to take someone down to get to the top? That's show business. Their worlds collide on the studio back lots at Magnum Pictures in moments of intrigue and entanglement. Robbins' own experiences at Universal Studios laid the foundation for The Dream Merchants, the novel that would later be made into an all-star miniseries featuring Mark Harmon, Morgan Fairchild, Eve Arden, Robert Culp, Jose Ferrer, Robert Goulet, and Fernando Lamas.