A Star is Found 2006, Harcourt Inc. 307 pages. $25.00 Janet Hirshenson and Jane Jenkins, with Rachel Kranz Many different aspects of filmmaking have been documented in books but this is the first one I’ve seen that focuses primarily on […]
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The View from the Bridge (2009)
The View from the Bridge 2009, Viking Press. 263 pages. $25.95 Nicholas Meyer This book intrigued me for many reasons, some having to do with the Star Trek movies written and directed by author Nicholas Meyer (the best of the […]
Continue reading »My Extraordinary Ordinary Life (2012)
My Extraordinary Ordinary Life 2012, Hyperion. 271 pages. $26.99 Sissy Spacek, with Maryanne Vollers. As the studio system crumbled in the 1960s movies became more democratic, telling a wider variety of stories and featuring actors who probably wouldn’t have […]
Continue reading »Starlit (2010)
Starlit 2010, Gallery Books. 243 pages. $24.99 Lisa Rinna Soap opera actress and television personality Lisa Rinna has written a breezy novel that follows three young actresses looking for their big breaks in Hollywood. It’s called Starlit, and it […]
Continue reading »Shirley Jones: A Memoir (2013)
Shirley Jones: A Memoir 2013, Gallery Books. 291 pages. $27.00 Shirley Jones, with Wendy Leigh. Singer and actress Shirley Jones has written, in collaboration with Wendy Leigh, a candid memoir regarding her life and career. It is, by turns, […]
Continue reading »Ernie: The Autobiography (2008)
Ernie: The Autobiography 2008, Citadel Press. 256 pages, $24.95 Ernest Borgnine Ernest Borgnine recounts the highlights and important episodes in his long career in his new autobiography titled, simply, Ernie. It is an easy read, for Borgnine is a […]
Continue reading »The Dream Factory (2002)
The Dream Factory 2002, Mira Books. 384 pages. $22.95 Janet Leigh Leigh’s final work, published just two years before her death, is another fictional exploration of Hollywood. This time her protagonist is a woman, young Eve Handel (formerly Handelstein), […]
Continue reading »House of Destiny (1995)
House of Destiny 1995, Mira Books. 544 pages (paperback only). $5.99 Janet Leigh Janet Leigh’s first novel covers familiar territory for her: it concerns a resident of Sun Valley, Idaho, who finds his way to Hollywood and gradually rises […]
Continue reading »Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller (1995)
Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller 1995, Harmony Books. 208 pages. $22.00 1995, Pavilion Books (UK). 208 pages. £12.99 Janet Leigh with Christopher Nickens. Having received her only Academy Award nomination for Psycho, which was Alfred Hitchcock’s […]
Continue reading »There Really Was a Hollywood (1984)
There Really Was a Hollywood 1984, Doubleday & Company. 324 pages. $15.95 Janet Leigh Janet Leigh’s autobiography mainly covers her first sixteen years in Tinseltown, 1947 – 1962. The early part of her life is also discussed, somewhat uncomfortably, […]
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