"An engrossing new page turner" about one of old Hollywood's royal families: "theater people don't get more interesting, and it's a true tale well told" ( Hollywood Reporter).In the early 1930s, Constance Bennett was the highest paid star in Hollywood, famous for dramatic roles before reinventing herself in the classic comedy Topper, starring opposite Cary Grant. Her sister Joan played the femme fatale in films like Scarlet Street and als...

**“To call Sue Mengers a ‘character’ is an understatement, unless the word is written in all-caps, followed by an exclamation point and modified by an expletive. And based on Brian Kellow’s assessment in his thoroughly researched Can I Go Now? even that description may be playing down her personality a bit.” —Jen Chaney, The Washington Post• A NY Times Culture Bestseller • An Entertainment Weekly Best Pop Culture Book of 2015*•*...

“Kellow’s chronology is dishy and seamless; he understands the dynamics of the theater world and makes you feel the exhilaration of an evolving hit and the frustrations inherent in working with a performer like Merman.”—The New York Times Book Review“[Kellow] has painted a vivid portrait of a Broadway diva who shone brighter and sang louder than anyone else.”—The Washington Post BookWorldMore than twenty years after her de...

**“A smart and eminently readable examination of the life and career of one of the twentieth century’s most influential movie critics.”—Los Angeles Times“Engrossing and thoroughly researched.”—Entertainment Weekly• A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2011 •The first major biography of the most influential, powerful, and controversial film critic of the twentieth century**Pauline Kael was, in the words of Entertainment ...

“To call Sue Mengers a ‘character’ is an understatement, unless the word is written in all-caps, followed by an exclamation point and modified by an expletive. And based on Brian Kellow’s assessment in his thoroughly researched Can I Go Now? even that description may be playing down her personality a bit.”—Jen Chaney, The Washington Post• A NY...

A legendary beauty, hailed as one of the greatest singing actors of her time, Jarmila Novotná (1907–1994) was an internationally known opera soprano from the former Czechoslovakia. Best known for her performances in Der Rosenkavalier, The Marriage of Figaro, and La Traviata, she was a celebrated performer at the Metropolitan Opera and other theaters across Europe and the United States. A "natural screen actress," Novotná also appeared in Hollywood hits such as The Sea...

Academy Award-winning actress Anjelica Huston’s “tireless fascination with the world is thrilling” (Elle), and Watch Me is an “elegant and entertaining” (Chicago Tribune) account of her seventeen-year love affair with Jack Nicholson, her rise to stardom, and her mastery of the craft of acting.Picking up where her first memoir A Story Lately Told leaves off, Watch Me is a chronicle of Anjelica Huston’s glamorous and event...

Violet-eyed siren Elizabeth Taylor and classically handsome Montgomery Clift were the most gorgeous screen couple of their time. Over two decades of friendship they made, separately and together, some of the era’s defining movies—including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Misfits, Suddenly, Last Summer, and Cleopatra. Yet the relationship between these two figures—one a dazzling, larger-than-life star, the other hugely talented yet fatally troubled—has...

'A wonderful account of a life filled with far more ups and downs than its subject's languid demeanour ever suggested.' -Miles JuppEven if the name doesn't ring a bell, you'd recognise David Tomlinson's face – genial and continually perplexed, he was Mr Banks in Mary Poppins, Professor Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Peter Thorndyke in The Love Bug. To many, he's the epitome of post-war British comedy....

The definitive and "utterly absorbing" biography of America's first news media baron based on newly released private and business documents ( Vanity Fair).William Randolph Hearst, known to his staff as the Chief, was a brilliant business strategist and a man of prodigious appetites. By the 1930s, he controlled the largest publishing empire in the United States, including twenty-eight newspapers, the Cosmopolitan Picture Studio, radio stations, and thirteen...

Winner of the 2020 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non- FictionA distinctive portrait of the Fab Four by one of the sharpest and wittiest writers of our time"If you want to know what it was like to live those extraordinary Beatles years in real time, read this book." —Alan Johnson, The SpectatorThough fifty years have passed since the breakup of...

Thirteen sensational tales of sex, lies, violence, and murder from the early decades of Hollywood.The dawning of the nineteenth century brought with it a new era for entertainment. Vaudeville was the preferred form of entertainment, until the popularization of the silent film. This new medium proved to be a draw for many of the stars of the Vaudevillian stage and soon they migrated to the exciting possibilities that the movies had to offer. Audiences were instantly ...