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“A spellbinding portrait” of the tumultuous life and artistic career of one of the most creative photographers of the 1960s (New York magazine). Diane Arbus became famous for her intimate and unconventional portraits of twins, dwarfs, sideshow performers, eccentrics, and everyday “freaks.” Condemned by some for voyeurism, praised by others for compassion, she was nonetheless a transformative figure in twentieth-century photography and hailed by all for her undeniable genius. Her life was cut short when she committed suicide in 1971 at the peak of her career. In the first complete biography of Arbus, author Patricia Bosworth traces the arc of Arbus’s remarkable life: her sheltered upper-class childhood and passionate, all-consuming marriage to Allan Arbus; her roles as wife and devoted mother; and her evolution from fashion photographer to critically acclaimed artist—one who forever altered the boundaries of photography.
“The definitive work on the gifted, haunted actor” (Los Angeles Times) and “the best film star biography in years” (Newsweek). From the moment he leapt to stardom with the films Red River and A Place in the Sun, Montgomery Clift was acclaimed by critics and loved by fans. Elegant, moody, and strikingly handsome, he became one of the most definitive actors of the 1950s, the first of Hollywood’s “loner heroes,” a group that includes Marlon Brando and James Dean. In this affecting biography, Patricia Bosworth explores the complex inner life and desires of the renowned actor. She traces a poignant trajectory: Clift’s childhood was dominated by a controlling, class-obsessed mother who never left him alone. He developed passionate friendships with Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor in spite of his closeted homosexuality. Then his face was destroyed after a traumatic car crash outside Taylor’s house. He continued to make films, but the loss of his beauty and subsequent addictions finally brought the curtain down on his career. Stunning and heartrending, Montgomery Clift is a remarkable tribute to one of Hollywood’s most gifted—and tormented—actors.
In the hands of a seasoned, tenacious biographer, the evolution of one of the century's most controversial and successful women becomes nothing less than the enthralling saga of a mythic American life.
A memoir by the daughter of famous attorney Bartley C. Crum: “A gripping account not only of Crum but of McCarthyism and its devastating effects” (SFGate). The FBI kept a secret dossier on him. He was a confidante to stars; adviser to politicians; and lawyer to the likes of William Randolph Hearst, Rita Hayworth, and the blacklisted Hollywood Ten, whom he defended during the House Un-American Activities Committee trials of 1947. Bartley C. Crum was also Patricia Bosworth’s father—a frequently absent, unrelentingly principled, and stubbornly self-destructive one. Anything Your Little Heart Desires is Bosworth’s memoir of life with him, and of the momentous events that shaped his lifetime, from the New Deal to the Cold War and the anti-Communist fervor that jolted American life. Using interviews, journals, letters, and her father’s own files, Bosworth delivers a profoundly personal portrait of the father she never fully knew, and the political forces that shaped a nation.
Diane Arbus's unsettling photographs of dwarves, twins, transvestites, and giants both polarized and inspired, and her work had already become legendary when she committed suicide in 1971. This groundbreaking biography examines the private life behind Arbus's controversial art.
"He was one of a kind, my Tomaso. Bursting with energy, he was always trying to satisfy his curiosity by attempting something new. Like flying a plane, or baking bread. He once biked from New York City to Montauk - that's over a hundred miles - just to see if he could do it. Afterward he collapsed on the dunes, took out his Leica, and began clicking away, first at the sunset and then at two mysterious figures in raincoats embracing on a hill. He wanted to take photographs nobody else had ever taken - to prove that he could. So it wasn't surprising that when we got together, he would talk off and on about doing a book of some of these photographs: 'a book about my life in pictures.'" -Patrici...
“The definitive portrait of a woman conflicted, torn between ferocious ambition, family, and feminist causes” (Gail Sheehy, author of Passages). Jane Fonda emerged from a heartbreaking Hollywood family drama to become a ’60s onscreen ingénue and then an Oscar-winning actress. At the top of her game she risked it all, speaking out against the Vietnam War and shocking the world with a trip to Hanoi. One of Hollywood’s most committed feminists, she financed her husband Tom Hayden’s political career in the ’80s with a series of exercise videos that sparked a nationwide fitness craze. Even more surprising was Fonda’s next turn, as a Stepford Wife of the Gulfstream set, marrying Ted...
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 that was sick of conventions and committed to genuine emotion and unvarnished truth. From his breakout role as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire to his mesmerizing portrayal of Don Corleone in The Godfather, he created some of the most memorable characters in American cinematic history. Brando was a paradox—intensely private but using his fame to promote worthy causes, a womanizer who clung to his childhood friends and animals. He was one of the most fiercely independent stars ever. In this book, acclaimed biographer Patricia Bosworth peels away Brando’s many layers, revealing the struggles, triumphs, and relentless ambition that transformed the irrepressible farm boy from Nebraska into a legend of American cinema.
What might we dare to expect from an actor's autobiography, even one from a star as personable as George Sanders? In the case of Memoirs of a Professional Cad, we possibly get more than we deserve. George Sanders undoubtedly led a colourful, glamorous and even action-packed life, spanning the peak years of Hollywood's golden age. But the greatest joy of his memoirs is how funny they are, and how penetrating their author's wit. Endlessly quotable, every chapter shows that the sardonic charm and intelligence he lent to the silver screen were not merely implied. George's early childhood was spent in Tsarist Russia, before he was obliged to flee with his family to England on the eve of the Russi...
Actress and model Cynthia O'Neal was living her dream life—married to the famous stage and screen actor Patrick O’Neal, the mother of two young sons, resident of the Dakota downstairs from John Lennon, owner of the successful Ginger Man restaurant, and frequent guest at dinner parties with Leonard Bernstein and Rudolf Nureyev. And then she changed course suddenly, surprisingly, and completely. The AIDS epidemic hit the arts community hard, and after seeing the multitude of people facing an unfamiliar and stigmatized disease completely alone, Cynthia walked into the fray. With the support of longtime friend Mike Nichols, she founded Friends in Deed and soon found herself spending her days in hospitals, cramped rooms, and dirty apartments, anywhere a patient needed a hug, a hand held, or confidence boosted. And when Patrick became ill and passed away in 1994, Cynthia had to work through her own grief instead of someone else’s and found her life transformed again. Talk Softly is the story of a life well-lived—with passion and compassion, in celebration of the joy of each moment, and with the ability to surprise yourself when you least expect to.