Gary Cooper, born Frank James Cooper on May 7th, 1901, Helena, Montana, U.S., was an actor, known for his natural, authentic, understated style and screen performances, whose career spanned 36 years, from 1925 to 1961, having included leading roles in 84 pictures. Cooper was a major movie star from the end of the silent film era until the end of the golden age of Classic Hollywood.
From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Searchers, the revelatory story behind the classic movie High Noon and the toxic political climate in which it was created. It's one of the most revered movies of Hollywood's golden era. Starring screen legend Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly in her first significant film role, High Noon was shot on a lean budget over just thirty-two days but achieved instant box-office and critical success. It won four Academy Awards in 1953, including a best actor win for Cooper. And it became a cultural touchstone, often cited by politicians as a favorite film, celebrating moral fortitude. Yet what has been often overlooked is that High Noon was made during the height of the Hollywood blacklist, a time of political inquisition and personal betrayal. In the middle of the film shoot, screenwriter Carl Foreman was forced to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities about his former membership in the Communist Party. Refusing to name names, he was eventually blacklisted and fled the United States. (His co-authored screenplay for another classic, The Bridge on the River Kwai, went uncredited in 1957.) Examined in light of Foreman's testimony, High Noon's emphasis on courage and loyalty takes on deeper meaning and importance. In this book, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Frankel tells the story of the making of a great American Western, exploring how Carl Foreman's concept of High Noon evolved from idea to first draft to final script, taking on allegorical weight. Both the classic film and its turbulent political times emerge newly illuminated.
Celebrity gossip meets history in this compulsively readable collection from Buzzfeed reporter Anne Helen Peterson. This guide to film stars and their deepest secrets is sure to top your list for movie gifts and appeal to fans of classic cinema and hollywood history alike. Believe it or not, America’s fascination with celebrity culture was thriving well before the days of TMZ, Cardi B, Kanye's tweets, and the #metoo allegations that have gripped Hollywood. And the stars of yesteryear? They weren’t always the saints that we make them out to be. BuzzFeed's Anne Helen Petersen, author of Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud, is here to set the record straight. Pulling little-known gems from the archives of film history, Petersen reveals eyebrow-raising information, including: • The smear campaign against the original It Girl, Clara Bow, started by her best friend • The heartbreaking story of Montgomery Clift’s rapid rise to fame, the car accident that destroyed his face, and the “long suicide” that followed • Fatty Arbuckle's descent from Hollywood royalty, fueled by allegations of a boozy orgy turned violent assault • Why Mae West was arrested and jailed for "indecency charges" • And much more Part biography, part cultural history, these stories cover the stuff that films are made of: love, sex, drugs, illegitimate children, illicit affairs, and botched cover-ups. But it's not all just tawdry gossip in the pages of this book. The stories are all contextualized within the boundaries of film, cultural, political, and gender history, making for a read that will inform as it entertains. Based on Petersen's beloved column on the Hairpin, but featuring 100% new content, Scandals of Classic Hollywood is sensationalism made smart.
Poised, cultured, and unforgettable, Grace Kelly had the aura of a princess, even before she was crowned. She exuded grace, polish, flair, and serenity as a fashion icon, actor, and humanitarian. Living with Grace is a captivating look at this elegant woman who has been an inspiration for many and whose legacy enlightens a new generation of fans. Seldom seen photos and outtakes are complemented by inspiring quotes from and about Grace and the famous roles she played. These words and images highlight what made her so iconic on film and in life.
The definitive visual biography of Grace Kelly’s unforgettable Hollywood career, chronicled in 400 extraordinary black-and white and color photographs, including many never-before-seen. "Mr. Hitchcock taught me everything about cinema. It was thanks to him that I understood that murder scenes should be shot like love scenes and love scenes like murder scenes."—Grace Kelly No movie star of the 1950s was more beautiful, sophisticated, or glamorous than Grace Kelly. The epitome of elegance, the patrician young blonde from Philadelphia conquered Hollywood and won an Academy Award for Best Actress in just six years, then married a prince in a storybook royal wedding. Today, more than thirty years after her death, Grace Kelly remains an inspiring fashion icon. Filled with a dazzling array of photographs, many from original negatives, Grace Kelly showcases the legend’s brief yet significant acting career as never before. Blending pictures and memorabilia, this breathtaking compendium traces every step of her artistic journey, including her early television appearances, her breakout role opposite Gary Cooper in High Noon (1952), her exceptional collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock on her most indelible films—Dial M for Murder with Ray Milland (1954), Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart (1954), and To Catch a Thief with Cary Grant (1955)—and her performance in the musical High Society (1956) alongside Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. A stunning gallery of more than 400 prized and rare photographs and illustrations—precious childhood snapshots, previously unpublished Edith Head and Helen Rose wardrobe sketches, original portraits, scene stills, on-set candids, wardrobe test shots, vintage magazine covers, and rare reproductions of exhibitor’s showmanship manuals showing how film studios marketed Grace Kelly as a star—Grace Kelly captures this beloved luminary’s eternal beauty as never before, and is a fresh, celebratory look at her remarkable career and her enduring cultural influence.
“Perfect for fans of Grace Kelly, royal-watchers, and fans of biographical fiction alike."—PopSugar A Library Reads Pick and Historical Novel Society Editor’s Choice! A life in snapshots… Grace knows what people see. She’s the Cinderella story. An icon of glamor and elegance frozen in dazzling Technicolor. The picture of perfection. The girl in white gloves. A woman in living color… But behind the lens, beyond the panoramic views of glistening Mediterranean azure, she knows the truth. The sacrifices it takes for an unappreciated girl from Philadelphia to defy her family and become the reigning queen of the screen. The heartbreaking reasons she trades Hollywood for a crown. The loneliness of being a princess in a fairy tale kingdom that is all too real. Hardest of all for her adoring fans and loyal subjects to comprehend, is the harsh reality that to be the most envied woman in the world does not mean she is the happiest. Starved for affection and purpose, facing a labyrinth of romantic and social expectations with more twists and turns than Monaco’s infamous winding roads, Grace must find her own way to fulfillment. But what she risks--her art, her family, her marriage—she may never get back.
As a script supervisor, second unit director, producer, and director, Herbert Coleman's film career spanned seven decades. Active in Hollywood from 1926 through 1988, he enjoyed a lengthy and illustrious career, highlighted by an impressive string of commercial and critical successes with one of the greats of cinema, Alfred Hitchcock. In this memoir, Coleman describes working on such classics as The Big Clock, Carrie, Five Graves to Cairo, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Roman Holiday. Coleman also provides vivid portraits of the many celebrated stars he worked with, including Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Alan Ladd, Ray Milland, Shirley MacLaine, Steve McQueen, and Jimmy Stewart, as well as some of the greatest directors of the era, including Cecil B. DeMille, Erich von Stroheim, Billy Wilder, and William Wyler. Above all, Coleman discusses for the first time his long working relationship with Hitchcock during the director's most creatively fertile period. Coleman provides fresh insights into the making of some of Hitchcock's most celebrated films including Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, The Trouble with Harry, Vertigo, and North By Northwest. He also discusses his work on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the director's long running television series. Not only an historical record of several important and dynamic periods in Hollywood, this memoir offers intimate insight about Hitchcock and other legendary filmmaking notables. Featuring many stories that would have been lost were it not for this book, The Man Who Knew Hitchcock: A Hollywood Memoir is sure to be of interest to film students, film buffs, and in particular to anyone fascinated by the master of suspense. Illustrated with photos. Published in hardcover as The Hollywood I Knew: A Memoir, 1916-1988 (0-8108-4120-7)
"Oh Grace, we hardly knew you," wrote The Chicago Tribune about this book. "Spada presents us with a living, breathing Grace Kelly whose real life surpassed every male fantasy." "A compassionate, well-balanced account," wrote Variety. "A fine biography of a complicated woman." "Sexy, gripping," wrote Kirkus Reviews. "A well-crafted, rich read." "Fascinating," wrote London Today. "A cast of characters far richer than anything Jackie Collins or Judith Krantz could dream up." Grace Kelly was the incredibly beautiful, talented and elegant American movie star who became a real-life princess. In six short Hollywood years she starred in eleven films, eight of which are revered movie classics (like "Dial M for Murder," "Rear Window" and "It Takes a Thief"). She won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in "The Country Girl" and ALSO won the amorous attentions of legendary movie stars Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, William Holden and Ray Milland. At the age of 26, she married the dashing Prince Ranier III and became Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, an international figure whose generosity and kindness became synonymous with her name. The ground-breaking biography and New York Times bestseller by James Spada, "Grace Kelly" has been revised and updated and is reissued in electronic form. This illustrated biography was a bestseller in 6 countries. "This is a well-crafted, rich read," wrote Kirkus Reviews. "Sexy, gripping, and sure to be in demand." This edition also includes interactive source notes. Previously published under the title of "Grace".
