The first detailed and in-depth researched biography of the acclaimed British actor Dennis Price, charting his rise to fame, his most famous roles, his battle with depression, alcohol and the tax man ... and how he outshone everything and everyone around him.
This is the story of the actress who became a Hollywood legend by winning the coveted role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, and whose circle included both theatrical and political celebrities, from Winston Churchill to Noel Coward, John Gielgud, and Marlon Brando. But behind the dazzling exterior lay the sinister shadow of another Vivien ......
Jack Hawkins was the living embodiment of British ruggedness, resilience, humour, uprightness, and compassion on and off the screen. 'The Cruel Sea', 'Bridge on the River Kwai', 'Lawrence of Arabia', 'Zulu', 'Mandy' and 'Ben-Hur' were just a few of the scores of films which made him a top star. He built his fame not only on his acting ability, but ......
The third and final volume of Kevin J. Last's books about Cotchford Farm, Hartfield, East Sussex in three different eras. Semi-Detached Suburban Mr Jones is set in the 1960s and tells the story of Brian Jones, the only middle class member of the Rolling Stones and how he came to purchase Cotchford Farm as a country retreat away from the Stones ......
A self-defined "seductress of beautiful women" and the by-product of an immense fortune, lesbian activist Mercedes de Acosta (born in 1892) was descended from Spain's Dukes of Alba and a beneficiary of the best education and best social skills that her parents' Gilded Age fortune could buy. From her perch within the aristocracy of the Belle ......
Maggie Mitchell, the First Musical Comedy Star of the American Stage
This, the first biography of the first American musical comedy star, Maggie Mitchell (1836-1918), elucidates her explosive talent, her manifold challenges, and her indomitable perseverance in delighting audiences for forty years. As an icon of respectability in a field often condemned by moralists, she left a legacy of unparalleled achievement.
How a Nude Centerfold Sex Symbol Seduced Hollywood
In the 1970s and '80s, Burt Reynolds represented a new breed of movie star: Charming and relentlessly macho, he was a good ol' Southern boy who made hearts throb and audiences laugh. He was Burt Reynolds, a football hero and a guy you might have shared some jokes with in a redneck bar. After an impressive but tormented career, rivers of negative ......
Of all the male stars of Golden Age Hollywood, Kirk Douglas became the final survivor, the last icon of a fabled era that the world will never see again. When he celebrated his birthday in 2016, a headline read - 'Legendary Hollywood horndog turns 100.' He was both a charismatic actor and a man of uncommon force and vigour. His restless and ......
Hefner, the Playboy of the Western World, was a visionary publisher, an empire-builder, an avatar of pleasure, and a pajama-clad pipe-smoker with a pre-coital grin. In 1953, he published his first edition of Playboy, with Marilyn Monroe on the cover and her nude calendar inside. He obtained the rights for $500 with money borrowed from his ......