The term 'cult film star' has been employed in popular journalistic writing for the last 25 years, but what makes cult stars distinct from other film stars has rarely been addressed. This collection explores the processes through which film stars/actors become associated with the cult label, from Bill Murray to Ruth Gordon and Ingrid Pitt.

The term 'cult film star' has been employed in popular journalistic writing for the last 25 years, but what makes cult stars distinct from other film stars has rarely been addressed. This collection explores the processes through which film stars/actors become associated with the cult label, from Bill Murray to Ruth Gordon and Ingrid Pitt.

Profiles over 850 cult stars who built their careers on the fringes of movie stardom, playing roles in B-movies ranging from action, horror, kung-fu, mysteries, science-fiction, serials, slashers and westerns.

In the last 50 years, the social importance of stars has steadily grown, to the point that stars have now become key role models who strongly influence people’s behaviours. This book considers the connections between the three main media (cinema, television and the web) and each of the three phases into which the history of stardom can be divided. The first phase can largely be credited with the creation and codification of contemporary stardom, while the second is linked to the spread of television, which weakened the Hollywood stardom model and gradually transformed the figure of the star, making it more intimate and familiar. In the last of these phases, we have many ‘outsiders’ (personalities from a variety of professional domains and experiences) who are able to achieve considerable social visibility thanks to their skilful use of the web.

Challenges traditional Hollywood-derived models of star studiesIs classical Hollywood stardom the last word on film stars? How do film stars function in non-Hollywood contexts, such as Bollywood, East Asia and Latin America, and what new developments has screen stardom undergone in recent years, both in Hollywood and elsewhere? Gathering together the most important new research on star studies, with case studies of stars from many different cultures, this diverse and dynamic collection looks at film stardom from new angles, challenging the received wisdom on the subject and raising important questions about image, performance, bodies, voices and fans in cultures across the globe. From Hollywood to Bollywood, from China to Italy, and from Poland to Mexico, this collection revisits the definitions and origins of star studies, and points the way forward to new ways of approaching the field.Key featuresFeatures cutting-edge research on stardom and fandom from a range of different cultures, contributed by a diverse and international range of scholarsGenerates new critical models that address non-Hollywood forms of stardom, as well as under-researched areas of stardom in Hollywood itselfRevisits the definitions of stars and star studies that are previously defined by the study of Hollywood stardom, then points the way forward to new ways of approaching the fieldLooks at stars/stardom within a new local/translocal model, to overcome the Hollywood-centrism inherent to the existing national/transnational modelBrings into light various types of previously unacknowledged star textsEmploys a dynamic inter-disciplinary approachContributorsGuy Austin, Newcastle UniversityLinda Berkvens, University of Sussex Pam Cook, University of Southampton Elisabetta Girelli, University of St Andrews Sarah Harman, Brunel UniversityStella Hockenhull, University of WolverhamptonLeon Hunt, Brunel University Kiranmayi Indraganti, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and TechnologyJaap Kooijman, University of AmsterdamMichael Lawrence, University of SussexAnna Malinowska, University of SilesiaLisa Purse, University of ReadingClarissa Smith, University of SunderlandNiamh Thornton, University of Liverpool Yiman Wang, University of California-Santa CruzSabrina Qiong Yu, Newcastle UniversityYingjin Zhang, University of California-San Diego

Peter Lorre described himself as merely a ‘face maker’. His own negative attitude also characterizes traditional perspectives which position Lorre as a tragic figure within film history: the promising European artist reduced to a Hollywood gimmick, unable to escape the murderous image of his role in Fritz Lang’s M. This book shows that the life of Peter Lorre cannot be reduced to a series of simplistic oppositions. It reveals that, despite the limitations of his macabre star image, Lorre’s screen performances were highly ambitious, and the terms of his employment were rarely restrictive. Lorre’s career was a complex negotiation between transnational identity, Hollywood filmmaking practices, the ownership of star images and the mechanics of screen performance.