Group Biographies

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.

501 Movie Stars
Edited by Stephen Jay Schneider
501 Movie Stars is a comprehensive guide to the brightest lights in cinema history. lavishly illustrated with portraits, film stills, and behind-the-scenes shots, and bursting with engrossing facts, this volume is indispensable to film students, moviegoers, and lovers of popular culture alike. Hardcover, 639 pp. $29.99.

Leading Ladies: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actresses of the Studio Era
Various authors
Produced by Turner Movie Classics, Leading Ladies celebrates the lives and careers of fifty great actresses of the studio era. Fresh and thoroughly researched, each actress profile includes an insightful career overview, annotated list of essential films, style notes, behind-the-scenes facts, Academy Award nominations and wins, and trivia, along with film stills, posters, and glamorous publicity shots. Softcover, 231 pp. $25.95.

Black Directors in Hollywood
Melvin Donaldson
This book provides the first comprehensive look at the work of black directors in Hollywood, from pioneers such as Gordon Parks, Melvin Van Peebles, and Ossie Davis to current talents including Spike Lee, John Singleton, Kasi Lemmons, and Carl Franklin. Assessing the meanings and messages in their films, Melvin Donaldson convincingly demonstrates that black directors are balancing Hollywood's demand for box office success with artistic achievement and responsability to ethnic, cultural, and gender issues. Softcover, 375 pp. $31.95.

Street Smart: The New York of Lumet, Allen, Scorsese, and Lee
Richard A. Blake
New York City's heterogeneous economic and ethnic districts -- where people live, work, shop, worship, and go to school -- often bear little relation to the image of the city created by the movies. In Street Smart, Richard A. Blake examines the cultural influences of New York's neighborhoods on the work of four quintessentially New York filmmakers: Sidney Lumet, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, and Spike Lee. Hardcover, 335 pp. $50.50.

Quinlan's Character Stars: Revised and Expanded New Edition
David Quinlan
A bountiful A-Z brimming with over 1200 representatives of the finest character actors from the British and American film industry. Each actor is given a full entry, complete with a brief biographical sketch, a photograph, and a definitive listing of all their movie performances. Film enthusiasts will not want to be without this indispensable guide. Hardcover, 471 pp. $52.95.

Honky Tonk Parade: New Yorker Profiles of Show PeopleJohn Lahr
Here is John Lahr at his trenchant best, reinventing the celebrity profile. His gift is his ability to get inside the art and the artist, to show how the work and the life intersect. Honky Tonk Parade illuminates some of the most compelling, elusive, and important artist of our time, who talk to Lahr with rare candor. Softcover, 308 pp. $28.00.

The Bennetts: An Acting Family
Brian Kellow
Through the story of a strong-willed father and his three daughters, this family biography captures the drama and excitement of living and working under the lights of Broadway. The Bennetts is a fascinating chronicle of the rise of this royal family of stage and screen. Hardcover, 530 pp. $65.95.

Legends 2: Women Who Have Changed the World
John Miller & Kristen Miller
In this stunning collection of photos and essays, women writers pay tribute to some of the most influencial women of our time. A follow-up to the popular photography book Legends, which profiled women of the twentieth century, Legends 2 moves into the twenty-first. These are the women who are changing our time. Hardcover, 124 pp. $41.95.

The New Biographical Dictionary of Film
David Thomson
Expanded and updated for 2004. More a bible than a dictionary, this revised edition of David Thomson's definitive classic is required reading for anyone with even a passing interest in film. With over 1300 concise yet astutely observed biographical sketches of the most significant personalities in film history, this book is as intelligent as it is comprehensive as it is entertaining. Essential. Softcover. $32.95.

Arts and Letters
Edmund White
In these 39 lively essays and profiles, best-selling novelist and biographer Edmund White draws on his wide reading and his sly good humour to illuminate some of the most influencial writer, artists and cultural icons of the past century, among them, Marcel Proust, Catherine Deneuve, George Eliot, Andy Warhol, Andre Gide, David Geffen, and Robert Mapplethorpe. Hardcover, 360 pp. $34.95.

Who the Hell's In It?Conversations with Hollywood's Legendary Actors
Peter Bogdonavich
In this companion piece to Who the Devil Made It?, Peter Bogdanovich draws upon a lifetime of experience, observation and understanding of acting, to write these portraits of the actors that he worked with, befriended, or simply admired from afar. James Cagney, Boris Karloff, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, River Phoenix, Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart, and Stella Adler are but a few of the subjects whom Bogdanovich spotlights in these 25 engaging tributes. Softcover, 528 pp. $23.95.

Back to top

Astaire and Rogers
Edward Gallafent
From Flying Down to Rio to The Barkleys of Broadway, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made ten films together, dancing their way into Hollywood history and the hearts of the American moviegoing public. This is the first book to pay tribute to the genuine cinematic contribution of these magnificent performers. Illustrated throughout with black & white photographs. Softcover, 256 pp. $26.95.

Beaton Portraits
Terrence Pepper
Photographer, designer, and reporter, Cecil Beaton was also a facile socialite who's circle of friends included some of the best and brightest names of the 20th century. His social skills coupled with his superlative artisty produced a rich body of portrait photography. This sumptuously illustrated book brings together many of his evocative portraits in celebration of his remarkable life and work. Hardcover, 240 pp. $75.00.

Movie Star Homes
Judy Artunian & Mike Oldham
Take a guided tour of the mansions and manors where movie stars have hung their hats with this well illustrated guide to movie star homes. From Gloria Swanson's 1918 Hollywood bungalow to Brad Pitt's Beverly Hills estate, Movie Star Homes profiles the extravagant, lavish and eccentric residences of the rich and famous. Softcover, 309 pp. $25.95.

The Pythons: The Autobiography
Here in their own words and personal diary extracts, the men who made Monty Python reveal their childhood lusts and longings, the stories of the formative years at some of the most privileged universities in the world, and, finally, their break into television and movies. No Monty Python fan will want to be without this definitive saga. Softcover, 359 pp. $26.95.

Back to top

The Angry Young Men
Humphrey Carpenter
Ostensibly the "Angry Young Men" were a group of heedless mavericks; however, they were in reality a wildly diverse group of varying talents -- from jazz loving lothario Kingsley Amis to rebel John Osborne, from skillful self-publicist Colin Wilson to upwardly mobile John Braine. This is the story of how they boozed and brawled their way to notoriety, how the media fuelled the myth and how, all too quickly, it fell apart. Softcover, 243 pp. $20.00.

The 20th Century Muse
Annette and Luc Vezin
The artist's Muse -- whether a spouse, lover, model, tormentor, patron, or fictional character -- has been a source of inspiration throughout history. This captivating volume explores the impact of these charismatic characters through a close examination of some of the most fruitful creative relationships of all time. Softcover, 320 pp. $55.00.

Life in Hollywood
Robert Sullivan
Ever since the golden age of Hollywood, the photographers at Life Magazine have been the pre-eminent documentarians of the lives of the stars of the silver screen. This exquisite volume collects the very best of these photos (both colour and black & white) and provides a marvelous behind-the-scenes journey into Hollywood's past and present. Hardcover, 128 pp. $34.95.

Women of Vision: Histories in Feminist Film & Video
Alexandra Juhasz
Alexandra Juhasz asked twenty women to tell their stories -- women whose names make up a who's who in independent and experimental film & video. What emerged is a compelling (and previously undocumented) history of feminism and feminist film & video, from its orgins in the fifties and sixties to its apex in the seventies to today. Softcover, 343 pp. $32.95.

Celebrity Tantrums! The Official Dirt
Lisa Brandt
Celebrities: we like them when they're being good, but we love them when they're being bad. Jealous rages, whiny outbursts, embarassing felonies -- Celebrity Tantrums! brings together the world's most famous people caught in the most outrageous acts of bad behavior. Softcover, 191 pp. $17.95.

Silent Players
Anthony Slide
100 of the best, brightest, and most unusual silent film actors and actresses are profiled in this illuminating collection of biographical and autobiographical sketches. Silent Players also offers fascinating insight into silent film performance, from makeup to acting techniques and pantomine to the role of the director. A remarkable resource for fans of the silent cinema. Hardcover, 439 pp. $65.95.

Stage and Screen Lives:
Intimate Biographies of the Famous by the Famous
Michael Billington
Full of insight and wit, these delightful portraits, selected from the highly acclaimed Dictionary of National Biography by drama critic Michael Billington, create in one single volume a lively and entertaining anthology of theatrical biographies. Softcover, 359 pp. $29.50.

The Three Stooges: : An Illustrated History
Michael Fleming
From the Stooges' humble origins to movie stardom to comedy legends, there's something here for every level of fan. Featuring over 200 photographs -- many rare, interviews with Stooge friends and family members, and a complete filmography. Softcover, $29.95.

Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy
Simon Louvish
"Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy have remained, from 1927 to the present day, the screen's most famous and popular comedy double act, celebrated by legions of fans. But despite many books about their films and individual lives, there has never been a fully researched, definitive narrative biography of the duo, from birth to death - from soup to nuts. This is that book." Hardcover, $42.00.

The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood
Diana McLellan
Yes, Virginia, there were these girls...Nazimova, Garbo, Dietrich, Garbo and Dietrich (despite the denials), Bankhead, de Acosta, Cornell, la Gallienne, la Valentino (not one of the girls, but certainly close)...they're all players in McLellan's exhaustive, gossipy tale of life around the sapphic stars of the golden era of Hollywood and New York. "Risque scandals, sizzling secrets...sex, politics, secrets and lies...McLellan connects the dots. " The Washington Post. $24.95.

Surviving Hollywood
Jerry Rannow
Anyone pursuing a show business career will find the secrets to enduring the Hollywood life in this all-encompassing resource. Through the anecdotes, musings, and cautionary tales of people who have been there -- actors, writers, directors, casting directors, producers, agents, managers, and studio executives -- this comprehensive guide provides the tools for maintaining one's personal well-being while building a film career in Los Angeles. Softcover, 192 pp. $27.50.

The Score: Interviews with Film Composers
Michael Schelle
A unique collection of lively, indepth musically savvy conversations with contemporary film composers of every style, background and position in the Hollywood hierarchy, The Score brings together a broad cross section of current thoughts about the process of film composing, styles of film music and working within today's entertainment industry. $30.95.

Hollywoodland
David Wallace
David Wallace, author of "Lost Hollywood", has unearthed new stories and fresh details about some of the era's biggest names and how they lived, worked and played. Presenting both the splendor and the squalor of old Hollywood, this informal history is certain to surprise even the most knowledgeable film buff. Hardcover, 236 pp. $36.95.

Back to top

Last modified March 8, 2009
Please note that all prices are in Canadian dollars. All prices are subject to change without notice.