501 Movie Stars

Description

(back cover)
Includes: Isabelle Adjani • Lauren Bacall • Warren Beatty • Ingrid Bergman • Cate Blanchett • Humphrey Bogart • Clara Bow • Marlon Brando • Richard Burton • Michael Caine • George Clooney • Sean Connery • Tom Cruise • Tony Curtis • Matt Damon • Bette Davis • Robert De Niro • James Dean • Judi Dench • Catherine Deneuve • G©rard Depardieu • Johnny Depp • Leonardo DeCaprio • Marlene Dietrich • Michael Douglas • Mia Farrow • Henry Fonda • Harrison Ford • Jodie Foster • Jean Gabin • Clark Gable • Greta Garbo • Lillian Gish • Cary Grant • Katharine Hepburn • Anthony Hopkins • Isabelle Huppert • William Hurt • Grace Kelly • Charles Laughton • Vivien Leigh • Sophia Loren • Peter Lorre • John Malkovich • Marcello Mastroianni • Steve McQueen • Marilyn Monroe • Paul Newman • Jack Nicholson • Laurence Olivier • Al Pacion • Gwyneth Paltrow • Gregory Peck • Michelle Pfeiffer • Brad Pitt • Sidney Poitier • Robert Redford • Vanessa Redgrave • Jean Seberg • Barbara Stanwyck • Rod Steiger • James Stewart • Meryl Streep • Donald Sutherland • Jessica Tandy • Elizabeth Taylor • Spencer Tracy • John Travolta • Lana Turner • Peter Ustinov • Rudolph Valentino • Christopher Walken • Denzel Washington • John Wayne • Sigourney Weaver • Mae West • Gene Wilder • Robin Williams • Kate Winslett • Natalie Wood

(front flap)
From Marilyn Monroe to Meryl Streep, from Charlie Chaplin to Clint Eastwood, this book celebrates the larger-than-life movie stars who have captured the collective imagination, inspired millions of fans across the world, and gained immortality through their performances both on and off the screen.

From the team behind the best-selling 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 501 Movie Stars is a comprehensive guide to the brightest lights in cinema history. Lavishly illustrated with portraits, film stills, and behind-the-scenes shots, and bursting with engrossing facts, this volume is indispensable to film students, moviegoers, and lovers of popular culture alike. Each star receives at least a full-page entry, complete with a critical selection of Top Takes, trademarks, and all the off-screen action.

Meet the members of the original “Rat Pack,” a drinking club founded by hell-raiser and Oscar winner Humphrey Bogart. Who was the mystery woman dressed in black who laid flowers on silent-screen icon Rudolph Valentino’s grave every year on the anniversary of his death? Read about Elizabeth Taylor’s eight marriages and River Phoenix’s tragic early demise, together with a plethora of fascinating off-screen romances that have been fueled by on-screen chemistry. Screen legends of time gone by rub shoulder with emerging talent, Hollywood meets Bollywood, and the stars of blockbusters collide with theater actors.

Written by an international team of film critics, film historians, and journalists, this is a complete biography of the last century’s stars of the silver screen. Whether you read it from cover to cover or dip into it from time to time, 501 Move Stars will inspire, intrigue, and amuse . . . and continue to do so for many years to come.

(back flap)
Steven Jay Schneider is a film critic, scholar, and producer, with M.A. degrees in Philosophy and Cinema Studies from Harvard University and New York University, respectively. He is the general editor of the best-selling 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and 501 Movie Directors, both also available from Barron’s. Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, Meryl Streep, James Dean, Anna Magnani, Tom Hanks, Nicole Kidman, Cary Grant, Marcello Mastroianni, Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Angelina Jolie, and hundreds more larger-than-life film stars have captured the collective imagination of millions of movie fans around the world. Now, 501 Movie Stars pays homage to these pop culture idols with absorbing essays that describe each star’s work, influences, and legacy. Each entry also includes the actor’s filmography to date, descriptions of productive alliances with directors and other actors, famous cameos, stylistic innovations, and the many other details that contributed to making these actors unforgettable stars. Entries are listed chronologically by birth date, with movie stills and portrait photos accompanying each star’s entry. The entries vary in length, with the most influential stars receiving up to six pages. Collected here in succinct, information-packed biographical sketches are the lives and careers behind the most widely recognized faces of the past hundred years. “These hefty, valuable volumes are stuffed with tons of information about all your favorite filmmakers.”
—Scene, January 29, 2008
From the article "Some of the stars’ best lines are scripted
Funny, clever, philosophicalƒ‚‚–the oldes celebs sait it bestƒ‚‚”
ƒ‚‚”501 Movie Stars puts together quite a collection of quotes from stars off-camera with nary a screenwriter in sight."
‚–Hamilton Spectator, October 29, 2007 From the article ‚”Some of the stars‚’ best lines are scripted
Funny, clever, philosophical‚–the oldes celebs sait it best‚”
‚”The history of Hollywood film is littered with great catchphrases. A while back, the American Film Institute came out with its list of the top movie quotes of all time, and they ranged from Gone with the Wind‚’s ‚”Frankly, my dear, I don‚’t give a damn‚” at No. 1 to Titanic‚’s ‚”I‚’m the king of the world! at No. 100. It doesn‚’t take a move maestro to know Clark Gable spoke No. 1 and Leonardo DiCaprio No. 100. But while Gable and Leo will long be identified with the quotes, they only spoke words someone else wrote."
"Writers are the unsung heroes of Hollywood, but a new book shows that Tinseltown‚’s biggest stars did have a lot to say on their own. 501 Movie Stars puts together quite a collection of quotes from stars off-camera with nary a screenwriter in sight. The book is also filled with bios and filmographies. And the best quotes come from the oldest stars, adding strength to another old movie phrase, ‚”They don‚’t make ‚’em like they used to‚’‚”.
—Hamilton Spectator, October 29, 2007