"Every weekday for decades, a kind man named Mister Rogers stepped through a door in his TV house, spoke directly into the camera while he changed from street clothes into a cardigan and sneakers, and sang, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood." Offering unconditional love, this soft-spoken icon was a household name for tens of millions of children, as well as their parents who grew up with this friendly neighbor themselves. Fred Rogers (1928-2003)...

When Herb Kent was a straight-A college student in the 1940s, his white professor told him, "You have the best voice in class, but you'll never make it in radio because you're a Negro." This did not deter the poor kid from the Chicago housing projects who had decided on a radio career at age five. It was just one more obstacle to face head on and overcome.

           

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The third of Judy Garland's five husbands, Sid Luft was the one man in her life who stuck around. He was chiefly responsible for the final act of Judy's meteoric comeback after she was unceremoniously booted off the MGM lot: he produced her iconic, Oscar-nominated vehicle A Star Is Born and expertly shaped her concert career. Previously unpublished, Sid Luft's intimate autobiography tells his and Judy's story. The romance lasted Judy's lifetime,...

"There I Go Again is a celebrity memoir like no other, revealing the life of a man whose acting career has been so rich that millions of Americans know his face even while they might not recognize his name. William Daniels is an enigma--a rare chameleon who has enjoyed massive success both in Hollywood and on Broadway and been embraced by fans of successive generations. Few of his peers inspire the fervor with which buffs celebrate his most iconic...

"This authoritative biography traces the life of beloved film comedienne Thelma Todd, who worked alongside the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, and dozens of others, and offers fresh evidence regarding Todd's mysterious death at age twenty-nine, arguing what many people have long suspected: that Thelma was murdered"--

"Jayne Mansfield (1933-1967) was driven not just to be an actress but to be a star. One of the most iconic sex symbols of her time, she was known for her platinum blonde hair, hourglass figure, outrageously low necklines, and flamboyant lifestyle. Hardworking and ambitious, Mansfield proved early in her career that she was adept in both comic and dramatic roles, but her tenacious search for the spotlight and her risqué promotional stunts caused her...

In the first full biography of actor Sidney Poitier, Aram Goudsouzian analyzes the life and career of a Hollywood legend, from his childhood in the Bahamas to his 2002 Oscar for lifetime achievement. Poitier is a gifted actor, a great American success story, an intriguing personality, and a political symbol; his life and career illuminate America's racial history. In such films as Lilies of the Field, In the Heat of the Night, and Guess Who's Coming...

Now a Netflix original film starring Will Forte, Domhnall Gleeson, and Emmy Rossum.
Comic genius Doug Kenney cofounded National Lampoon, cowrote Animal House and Caddyshack, and changed the face of American comedy before mysteriously falling to his death at the age of 33. This is the first-ever biography of Kenney—the heart and soul of National Lampoon—reconstructing the history of that magazine as it redefined...

"Examines the life and career of Japanese director Ishiro Honda, including analysis of his films"--

This is the book that restarted the James Dean cult by celebrating him as the cool, defiant visionary of pop culture who made adolescence seem heroic instead of awkward and who defined the style of rock 'n' roll's politics of delinquency. The only book to fully show how deliberately and carefully Dean crafted his own image and performances, and the product of still unequalled research, vivid writing, intimate photographs, and profound meditation,...