Including over 1800 entries, this guide provides a short biography for each star, with a complete filmography of all film, television, voice-overs and guest appearances. Those featured include Jim Carrey, Uma Thurman and Brad Pitt, and there is also updated information on all stars with re-assessments of career turnarounds, such as John Travolta and Tommy Lee Jones.
Musical accompaniment were jazzed up renditions that basically fit the art form like a glove with a stylish beat that usually pounded out the action as the story unfolded. The music set the mood and the audiences followed. Most of these films would never reach America during the era, even though they were generally aimed at the American film goers. The Actors who went to Italy and got involved in these lucrative new genre spinoffs all enjoyed star status, recognition and glow of the limelight that came with it. These are the Actors were talking about here.
This balanced examination looks at America's pervasive celebrity culture, concentrating on the period from 1950 to the present day. Star Struck: An Encyclopedia of Celebrity Culture is neither a stern critic nor an apologist for celebrity infatuation, a phenomenon that sometimes supplants more weighty matters yet constitutes one of our nation's biggest exports. This encyclopedia covers American celebrity culture from 1950 to 2008, examining its various aspects—and its impact—through 86 entries by 30 expert contributors. Demonstrating that all celebrities are famous, but not all famous people are celebrities, the book cuts across the various entertainment medias and their legions of individual "stars." It looks at sports celebrities and examines the role of celebrity in more serious pursuits and institutions such as the news media, corporations, politics, the arts, medicine, and the law. Also included are entries devoted to such topics as paranoia and celebrity, one-name celebrities, celebrity nicknames, family unit celebrity, sidekick celebrities, and even criminal celebrities.
While Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are more famously known for their straight comedy routines, they did make a number of films in which horror played a crucial role. The first part of this critical reference examines the Abbott and Costello "Meet the Monsters" spoof films (Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Mummy). The second sections deals with Abbott and Costello's films with horror elements that do not follow this formula: Hold That Ghost, The Time of Their Lives and Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff. The plot of each film is examined in detail with special attention paid to the comedians' styles of comedy, the effect of the horror scenes, and the place of the film in the Abbott and Costello canon. The reactions of critics (then and now) and the influences the films have had on the horror and comedy genres and on pop culture are also discussed. A lengthy introduction provides background on the lives of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello and the development of Universal Studios as the premier horror factory.
Latinos have been part of the Hollywood film industry for more than 100 years, yet beyond the remarkable success of a few, their visibility and clout have generally not reflected their significance in American society. Worse, the Latino image has suffered from widespread stereotyping in film, and performers face unjustified constraints in the kinds of roles available to them. Decade by decade from 1960 onward, this book analyzes important films made by or about Latinos, details the careers of Latino performers and filmmakers of the time, and analyzes how film portrayals of Latino characters and subjects connect with political and social trends of each decade. It discusses the role of gender, social class, and ethnicity in film portrayals and provides an overview of the diverse and dynamic Latino community in the United States, while celebrating a substantial and enduring contribution to Hollywood film history.
This reference guide looks at the career histories of nearly 300 comedy stars, some of whom have a prodigious reputation resting only on one or two outstanding films. The author examines their methds and their sense of physical comedy with background stories as to how comic effects were achieved. Over 350 photographs illustrate entries for nearly 300 comedy stars, including John Cleese, Steve Martin and Danny De Vito and older favourites, the Marx Brothers, Mae West and Danny Kaye. Each entry is accompanied by a complete filmography, including film, TV and guest appearances, plus voice-over narrations and films directed.
From the time that the infant colonies broke away from the parent country to the present day, narratives of U.S. national identity are persistently configured in the language of childhood and family. In The American Child: A Cultural Studies Reader, contributors address matters of race, gender, and family to chart the ways that representations of the child typify historical periods and conflicting ideas. They build on the recent critical renaissance in childhood studies by bringing to their essays a wide range of critical practices and methodologies. Although the volume is grounded heavily in the literary, it draws on other disciplines, revealing that representations of children and childhood are not isolated artifacts but cultural productions that in turn affect the social climates around them. Essayists look at games, pets, adolescent sexuality, death, family relations, and key texts such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the movie Pocahontas; they reveal the ways in which the figure of the child operates as a rich vehicle for writers to consider evolving ideas of nation and the diverse role of citizens within it.
Profiles key figures in the motion picture industry who have died prior to August 31, 1994, detailing their profession, names, birth information, education, marriages, and career summary.
