Hollywood Stars

This book takes as its focus film stars from the past and present, from Hollywood, its margins and beyond and analyzes them through a close consideration of their films and the variety of contexts in which they worked. Essays spread the net wide, looking at past stars from Rosalind Russell and Charlton Heston to present-day stars including Sandra Bullock, Jackie Chan and Jim Carrey, as well as those figures who have earned a certain film star cachet such as Prince, and the martial artist Cynthia Rothrock.

From Oprah Winfrey to Angelina Jolie, George Clooney to Leonardo DiCaprio, Americans have come to expect that Hollywood celebrities will be outspoken advocates for social and political causes. However, that wasn’t always the case. As Emilie Raymond shows, during the civil rights movement the Stars for Freedom - a handful of celebrities both black and white - risked their careers by crusading for racial equality, and forged the role of celebrity in American political culture. Focusing on the “Leading Six” trailblazers - Harry Belafonte, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dick Gregory, and Sidney Poitier - Raymond reveals how they not only advanced the civil rights movement in front of the cameras, but also worked tirelessly behind the scenes, raising money for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legal defense, leading membership drives for the NAACP, and personally engaging with workaday activists to boost morale. Through meticulous research, engaging writing, and new interviews with key players, Raymond traces the careers of the Leading Six against the backdrop of the movement. Perhaps most revealing is the new light she sheds on Sammy Davis, Jr., exploring how his controversial public image allowed him to raise more money for the movement than any other celebrity. The result is an entertaining and informative book that will appeal to film buffs and civil rights historians alike, as well as to anyone interested in the rise of celebrity power in American society. A Capell Family Book A V Ethel Willis White Book

Many stars from China, Japan and Korea are the most popular and instantly recognizable in the world. East Asian Film Stars brings together some of the world's leading cinema scholars to offer their insights into the work of regional and transnational screen legends, contemporary superstars and mysterious cult personas.

Johnny Depp. Marilyn Monroe. Marlon Brando. Leonardo DiCaprio. Woody Allen. Shanron Stone. What do all of these actors have in common? They're outrageous, receive huge salaries, have enormous egos, and have way too much spare time. Their out-of-control lifestyles prove that, as one Hollywood observer noted, "Hollywood is a trip through a sewer in a glass-bottomed boat." You'll learn which director was furious when he was misquoted as saying, "Actors are cattle." He claimed he had really said, "Actors should be treated as cattle." You'll discover that Bruce Wilis ordered the final scenes in Striking Distance to be re-shot at a cost of over $750,000 because the original shots exposed his toupee. You'll find that Melanie Griffith explained her ignorance of the Nazi holocaust by saying, "I don't know why I didn't know. Maybe I missed school that day...I'm not stupid." Whether you're a fan of Hugh Grant, Dennis Hopper, or Whoopi Goldberg, you'll learn about all of the embarrassing moments in your favorite star's life. From actors like Ben Affleck and Cameron Diaz to screen legends like Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland, Movie Stars Do the Dumbest Things is proof that actors are more childish and impulsive than you've ever imagined.

Bette Davis as a madam. Orson Welles hosting The Twilight Zone. Mae West voicing a cartoon character. Shirley Temple playing a social worker. While Hollywood stars like Lucille Ball, Loretta Young and Donna Reed successfully transitioned to television in its early days, many others tried and failed to become TV regulars. Drawing on contemporary interviews and other sources, this book profiles more than 50 actors--including Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper, Alan Ladd and Buster Keaton--and their unsuccessful pilots and short-lived series roles.

For years people said someone should write a book about Bö Roos, but nobody will believe it. Now his daughter Carolyn has written the book, and it is believeable as it captures Hollywood's Golden Age and Bö Roos's unique part in it as one of Hollywood's most powerful and successful business managers. It's an amazing piece of Hollywood history that hasn't been covered before. Ben Newman, Attorney (Bö Roos) virtually founded the profession of business manager and personal manager (to Hollywood's stars). Daily Variety Because of his flamboyant, high powered and hectic way of life, Bö (pronounced Boo) Roos could have been the model for the movie sterotype of the Hollywood business manager. The New York Times Bö Roos' life story is a saga that would top the Horatio Alger novels of yesteryear. The Foreign Friends of Acapulco newsletter Bö Roos was a man of outsize personality and zest. Ballerina Margot Fonteyn Bö Roos not only keeps (his clients) on an allowance - he eats, drinks, and even weeps with them. Saturday Evening Post Bö invested and took risks right alongside his clients claiming more conservative managers were 'guys going through life with nothing on their chests.' Working with him was always full of excitement and the unexpected. Carolyn's captured his story well. Al Marsella, CPA