DescriptionBest selling author Bill Adler traces the career of one of America's favorite personalities, Bill Cosby, from his north Philadelphia origins to his successful career in stand-up comedy and television. Cosby is best known for his portrayal of the cartoon character Fat Albert and his role as Mr. Huxtable on the #1 TV program, The Cosby Show .
DescriptionUltimate insider Jeannette Walls gives us a cook's tour of the dangerously simmering cult of celebrity, from the birth of the National Enquirer to the rise of tabloid TV, from Walter Winchell to Matt Drudge, from the liaisons of Marilyn Monroe and JFK to the deaths of Elvis and Princess Diana. Here is a fascinating look at five decades of dish, a behind-the-scenes look at the personalities who control what we see, hear, and read, not to mention the personalities who wish to be seen, heard, and read about. Hear the inside stories you never knew about the trinity of celebrity, publicist, and reporter - the people who have stoked the American appetite for gossip from the salacious days of silver-screen magazines to the instantaneous communication of the Internet.
DescriptionFollowing his development from moody Oklahoma teenager to the method-trained star to the eccentric recluse of his later years, Patricia Bosworth offers a penetrating look at Marlon Brando's evolving persona: the volcanic Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire, the sensitive rebel in The Wild Ones, the iconic Don Corleone in The Godfather . Bosworth probes Brando's alcoholic parents' influence on his acting, his decades of psychoanalysis, and his tumultuous personal relationships. Here, from rebellious unknown to reluctant idol to falling star, is the complex charismatic genius who changed the face of acting.
DescriptionAs everybody's favorite "American in Paris, " now-famous columnist Art Buchwald was just starting out when he covered sidewalk cafes and weddings for the Paris Herald Tribune in 1948. He spent the next 14 years socializing and writing about the folkways and foibles of some of the most powerful people in the world. But it was also a time of personal development for Buchwald, as this foster-child from Queens married, adopted 3 children, and made a home for his family. Join Pulitzer Prize winner Buchwald as he employs his gift for witty storytelling to lead a stroll down the Champs Elysee of his memory.
DescriptionWhy couldn't Gilligan and his pals ever get off that island? Find out from the Professor himself, Russell Johnson, in this nostalgic, firsthand look at everyone's favorite castaways. This treasure trove for the Gilligan's Island fan offers trivia, behind-the-scenes gossip, and original interviews with the whole cast. Travel back to the day when 7 strangers got shipwrecked on an uncharted desert isle - and forever changed the face of American pop culture.
DescriptionIt was 1995 when the Fort Worth Star-Telegram assigned Tim Madigan to write a profile of children's television icon Fred Rogers. This fortuitous interview sparked a magnificent friendship between the two, one that would see both men through periods…
DescriptionThe current generation knows him as the serenity-seeking Frank Costanza from Seinfeld . An older generation knows him as one half of the comedy team Stiller and Meara. But as his memoir, Married to Laughter, reveals, Jerry Stiller has had a l…
DescriptionHe was a skinny kid from the Bronx. She was a pretty girl from Bayonne. It could have been any story of boy meets girl, except these were not ordinary people. He was Bobby Darin, and she was Sandra Dee - millions knew them for their movies and records, fewer knew the true story of their tragic, star-crossed lives. After a childhood illness, Bobby Darin was destined to die young. Sandra Dee, to many the ultimate embodiment of American girlhood, was in fact a victim of child abuse at the hands of her stepfather. In this emotional presentation, their son, Dodd Darin, shares the pain of growing up with his famous parents, including losing his father at age 12, and his mother's continuous battles with alcoholism, anorexia, and reclusiveness.
DescriptionFrank Lloyd Wright is widely regarded as the twentieth century's greatest architect - an unconventional genius who transformed both residential and commercial building design with his concept of "organic" architecture. During a long and productive life, Wright designed some 800 buildings, received scores of honors and awards, and left an indelible imprint on modern architectural theory and practice. In this charming memoir, Wright the architect and father comes to life through the vivid recollections and firsthand knowledge of his son. John Lloyd Wright characterizes his father as "a rebel, a jolt to civilization, whose romantic theme - purposive planning, and organic unity in inventing and combining forms - is an epoch in the architecture of the world." His unique view of that epoch will intrigue architects, students and all who admire the work of this visionary and uncompromising spirit.
DescriptionIn an adventure that would have played well in one of his own films, Schmuel Goldfisz left the Warsaw Ghetto in 1895 and walked 300 miles to the Oder River. There, he paid someone to row him across, smuggling him out of the Russian Empire into Germany. Border patrols couldn't deter him - he was off to America, "a far-away country, a vision of paradise." Once there, Schmuel Goldfisz became Samuel Goldwyn, one of the producers who created the Hollywood film industry and immortal movies including Wuthering Heights and The Best Years of Our Lives . Goldwyn was one of the most colorful and vivid personalities of his time. This biography - read by Roddy McDowall - captures the spirit of a legend.
