Donald Spoto

The Life of Audrey Hepburn

Enchantment

Documents the life and whirlwind career of the iconic Hollywood actress-turned-European princess, drawing on previously unpublished interviews to cover such topics as her conservative education, Oscar-winning film achievements and role as a mother to royal children.

The Life of Grace Kelly

High Society

A biography of the screen legend employs thirty-five thousand formerly sealed documents--letters, diaries, and other papers--to examine virtually every aspect of Monroe's life and death.

The Biography

Marilyn Monroe

This is the definitive life story of Alfred Hitchcock, the enigmatic and intensely private director of Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, The Birds, and more than forty other films. While setting forth every stage of Hitchcock's long life and brilliant career, Donald Spoto also explores the roots of the director's obsessions with blondes, food, murder, and idealized love—and he traces the incomparable, bizarre genius from Hitchcock's English childhood through the golden years of his career in America as one of the greatest directors in the history of filmmaking.

The Life Of Alfred Hitchcock

The Dark Side Of Genius

Elizabeth Taylor has been called the last great star of Hollywood's Golden Age. Her legendary beauty and luminous performances continue to enthral movie fans nearly seventy years after she made her screen debut, aged only ten. From the wide-eyed MGM ing�nue she became both a respected, double Oscar-winning actress and a larger-than-life, million-dollar movie star; a scandalous tabloid favourite and a dedicated activist. She was a wife, a widow, a lover and a mother; as multi-faceted as the diamonds she adored. Elizabeth Taylor's life - and loves - never failed to capture the imagination of the world. With comprehensive and perceptive insights into her iconic movie career and her fascinating relationships, including her passionate romance with Richard Burton, Donald Spoto's peerless biography offers a captivating portrait of a much-loved, and much-missed, Hollywood legend.

Elizabeth Taylor

A multi-faceted portrait of the acclaimed actress follows Audrey Hepburn from her youth in Nazi-occupied Europe, through her rise to stardom in some of the era's most popular films, to her dedication to UNICEF, drawing on studio archives and interviews with friends, family, and colleagues to provide a full-scale study of her extraordinary career and often turbulent private life. Reprint. 40,000 first printing.

Joan Crawford was one of the most incandescent film stars of all time, yet she was also one of the most misunderstood. In this brilliantlyresearched, thoughtful, and intimate biography, bestselling author Donald Spoto goes beyond the popular caricature—the abusive, unstable mother portrayed in her adopted daughter Christina Crawford’s memoir, Mommie Dearest—to give us a three-dimensional portrait of a very human woman, her dazzling career, and her extraordinarily dramatic life and times. Based on new archival information and exclusive interviews, and written with Spoto’s keen eye for detail, Possessed offers a fascinating portrait of a courageous, highly sexed, and ambitious womanwhose strength and drive made her a forerunner in the fledgling film business. From her hardscrabble childhood in Texas to her early days as a dancer in post–World War I New York to her rise to stardom,Spoto traces Crawford’s fifty years of memorable performances in classics like Rain, The Women, Mildred Pierce, and Sudden Fear, which are as startling and vivid today as when they were filmed. In Possessed, Spoto goes behind the myths to examine the rise and fall of the studio system; Crawford’s four marriages; her passionate thirty year, on-and-off-again affair with Clark Gable; her friendships and rivalries with other stars; her powerful desire to become a mother; the truth behind the scathing stories in her daughter Christina’s memoir; and her final years as a widow battling cancer. Spoto explores Crawford’s achievements as an actress, her work with Hollywood’s great directors (Frank Borzage, George Cukor, Otto Preminger) and actors (Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Spencer Tracy, John Barrymore), and later, her role as a highly effective executive on the board of directors of Pepsi-Cola. Illuminating and entertaining, Possessed is the definitive biography of this remarkable woman and true legend of film.

The Life of Joan Crawford

Possessed

During the tumultuous Hundred Years' War between England and France, a teenage peasant girl followed her heart and helped save a nation. A vision from God, received in her parents' garden, instructed her to take up arms and help restore the kingdom of France. Without consulting her family, Joan left home on one of the most remarkable personal quests in history. As a young girl in a world of men, she faced unimaginable odds, yet her belief in her mission propelled her forward. Within months Joan was directing soldiers and bravely fighting for her nation. Before long she had become a national hero and was the guest of honor at her king's coronation. Yet fame ultimately became her undoing. The English shrewdly realized that Joan's demise and defamation would disgrace France and provide a more direct route to victory. Captured in war, Joan became a pawn in one of the longest and bloodiest wars in history. Since her death at the age of nineteen in 1431, Joan of Arc has maintained a remarkable hold on our collective imagination. She was a teenager of astonishing common sense and a national heroine who led men in battle as a courageous warrior. Yet she was also abandoned by the king whose coronation she secured, betrayed by her countrymen, and sold to the enemy. In this meticulously researched landmark biography, Donald Spoto expertly captures this astonishing life and the times in which she lived. Neither wife nor nun, neither queen nor noblewoman, neither philosopher nor stateswoman, Joan of Arc demonstrates that anyone who follows their heart has the power to change history.

The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint

Joan

Donald Spoto, M.A., Ph.D.

This completely revised and updated edition of the classic text describes and analyzes every movie made by master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock.

Fifty Years of His Motion Pictures

The Art of Alfred Hitchcock

Chronicles the life of the much admired international screen legend, from her childhood in Sweden to her role as the star of such films as Casablanca, The Bell's of St. Mary's, and Notorious. 60,000 first printing. $40,000 ad/promo. Tour.

The Life of Ingrid Bergman

Notorious

This authoritative biography of film icon James Dean offers a clear-eyed look at the actor who crossed America's cinematic landscape with the brilliance and brevity of a meteor.

The Life and Legend of James Dean

Rebel

Marlene Dietrich's story spans Germany's cabarets, Hollywood's silver screen and beyond.

The Life of Marlene Dietrich

Blue Angel

Full scale biography of motion picture actress Marilyn Monroe exploring in detail every aspect of her life and overturning many falsehoods.

The life of Ingrid Bergman (1915–1982) is as compelling as that of any of the women she portrayed in dozens of unforgettable movies and plays—a list that includes Casablanca, Intermezzo, Gaslight, The Bells of St. Mary's, Notorious, Anastasia, and Hedda Gabler. Hers is a story that begins with a tragic childhood in Sweden, then moves on to the nightmare of Germany under the Nazis and later to Hollywood in its golden age. From her position as America's most beautiful, admired, and loved actress, she was plunged into national disgrace and branded "an apostle of degradation" for her adulterous love affair with Roberto Rosellini in the late 1940s. But her independent spirit triumphed in the end, winning her honors and accolades even as she fought an eight-year battle with cancer. Donald Spoto, who knew Ingrid Bergman and had unprecedented access to her husbands, friends, lovers, directors, and costars, as well as to her papers, letters, and diaries, has written a biography that the San Francisco Chronicle called "mesmerizing" and "deeply moving"—the definitive account of a consummate actress who dared to live the truth.

The Life Of Ingrid Bergman

Audrey Hepburnün Hayati

Zarafet

An account of the life of one of the great Catholic saints delves into his own unpublished letters to offer a portrait of this complicated man and the movement he spawned.

The Life of Francis of Assisi

Reluctant Saint

Joan Crawford was one of the most incandescent film stars of all time, yet she was also one of the most misunderstood. In this brilliantly researched, thoughtful, and intimate biography, bestselling author Donald Spoto goes beyond the popular caricature—the abusive, unstable mother of her adopted daughter Christina Crawfords memoir, Mommie Dearest—to give us a three-dimensional portrait of a very human woman, her dazzling career, and her extraordinarily dramatic life and times. Illuminating and entertaining, Possessed is the definitive biography of this remarkable woman and true legend of film.

Donald Spoto

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