Performing Arts category: 25753 books

This biography of the legendary actor “offers a fascinating look into his charismatic genius” (Library Journal).   In 1948 Marlon Brando stunned audiences and critics alike with his revolutionary, raw, and improvisational approach to acting. He became a symbol of a new, rebellious generation...

Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Catherine Deneuve... Feted, adored and desired, successful movie actresses are icons of modern culture. But what was it that made them true stars? Was it looks, talent, drive, personality – or just plain luck? What was the first captivating image or unforgettable...

Want to make it big on Broadway-as a techie? Or how about working in smaller regional theater? Careers in Technical Theater explains more than twenty different careers from the perspective of successful theater artists. Included are specialties that have been around for decades, as well as those still...

Movie stars establish themselves as brands--and Taylor's brand , in its most memorable outings, has repeatedly introduced a broad audience to feminist ideas. In her breakout film, "National Velvet" (1944), Taylor's character challenges gender discrimination,: Forbidden as a girl to ride her beloved...

Late in Claude Rains's distinguished career, a reverent film journalist wrote that Rains "was as much a cinematic institution as the medium itself." Given his childhood speech impediments and his origins in a destitute London neighborhood, the ascent of Claude Rains (1889--1967) to the stage...

An important figure during the golden age of Broadway, John C. Wilson staged such famous productions as Kiss Me, Kate and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. He also worked with many of the greatest actors, playwrights, producers, and other artists from the 1920s through the 1950s, including Alfred Lunt, Lynn...

To many people, Lucia Chase (1897-1986) was the American Ballet Theatre, and her reign as the queen of American ballet lasted for more than four decades. It was Chase who brought Nureyev, Bujones, Kirkland, and eventually Baryshnikov to ABT. Under her leadership, the company worked with such...

“A warm and intelligent biography . . . that successfully and lovingly evokes the world of one of the cinema’s true giants” (Kirkus Reviews). Hailed by Orson Welles as “the greatest of all directors,” Jean Renoir had a career that spanned five decades, and more than forty films—from...

The life of Hollywood’s number one movie actor, the elusive Robert De Niro, who shuns the limelight and rarely gives interviews, written by the leading film critic and biographer of Spielberg, Kubrick, Woody Allen and George Lucas. Robert De Niro is the pre-eminent Hollywood character performer...

The first major biography (since 1983) of the great movie mogul George Lucas, whose marketing techniques have transformed the film business. His fourth Star Wars film, The Phantom Menace, released in 1999, was perhaps the most eagerly awaited cinematic event of all time. George Lucas is one of the...

Belligerent and evasive, Josef von Sternberg chose to ignore his illegitimate birth in Austria, deprived New York childhood, abusive father, and lack of education. The director who strutted onto the set in a turban, riding breeches, or a silk robe embraced his new persona as a world traveller, collected...

The world continues to be fascinated with Marilyn Monroe who dazzled with her beauty and captivated the hearts of millions, worldwide, with her innocence, charm, generosity, and kindness, and yet, who died tragically at the age of only 36. Hollywood columnist, film critic, and author of `The Fifty...

In the 1950s, Lucille Ball couldn't even say the word “pregnant” on TV. But by the 1990s, Carrie Bradshaw and her posse could say everything there is to say about sex-and demonstrate most of it. How have broadcast standards changed from the dawn of television till today? Through interviews with...

A provocative memoir from Luis Buñuel, the Academy Award winning creator of some of modern cinema's most important films, from Un Chien Andalou to The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. Luis Buñuel’s films have the power to shock, inspire, and reinvent our world. Now, in a memoir that carries...