One of the most gifted actors of the 1930s and 1940s, John Garfield is too little remembered today. His gritty, true-to-life performances in 35 films, including Body and Soul, which was one of the first movies to raise the ugly specter of race relations in the United States, and in 16 Broadway productions were all highly acclaimed. Garfield is best recalled, by some, for having been targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee for his liberal political beliefs. Garfield was one of many Hollywood stars blacklisted by Senator Joseph McCarthy and his cronies. "Acting is my life," he said in a speech in 1939. Deprived of that opportunity, he died in 1952. This generously illustrated work examines the actor's personal and professional life, recounting a bygone era of Hollywood and American history.

"I believe the more successful an actor becomes, the more chances he should take. An actor never stops learning." John Garfield Before there was Brando and James Dean, there was John Garfield. The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, young Jacob Julius Garfinkle's talent and charisma carried him from membership in some of the Bronx's toughest street gangs to the boards of the prestigious American Laboratory Theater. As mercurial as he was talented, Garfield chafed at what he deemed "unfair" casting choices in New York and headed west to Hollywood, scoring an Academy Award nomination for his very first film role. Strong-willed, and with a gambler's bravado, Garfield was one of the first Hollywood stars to buck the studio system and start his own independent production company before being caught up in the career-jeopardizing web of McCarthyism.Author Larry Swindell tells the tortured tale of this cult movie icon, whose incredible talent and turbulent lifestyle made his tragically short life so compelling decades after his death.

"From James Dean to Jared Leto, only one acting style has entered the lexicon of the casual moviegoer: "Method acting." In this manuscript, Justin Rawlins offers the first reception-based analysis of acting, investigating how the concept of "the Method" entered popular film discourse and became part of the establishment of a "serious actor" brand--one reserved for white, male actors and yet associated with rebellion and marginalization. Drawing on extensive archival research, Rawlins traces the construction of mainstream understandings of Method acting, using well-known actors and Hollywood figures (e.g., Marlon Brando, Hedda Hopper, and James Dean) while also bringing forgotten names to the fore"--

For the classic movie fan and the die-hard film noir junkie, Noir is My Beat gives you hundreds of film noir brainteasers. Test your smarts with quotations, questions and little known facts about the movies, stars, writers and legends of film noir. Noir is My Beat is an enjoyable and revealing look at the world of classic film noir. In addition to oodles of trivia, this book provides a comprehensive listing of films from the era that introduced film noir to the world.

“An excellent new biography” of the influential songwriter that showcases his renowned humor and musical genius (The Telegraph). With a range that spans the lyrical, heartfelt songs “Angel from Montgomery,” “Sam Stone,” and “Paradise” to the classic country music parody “You Never Even Called Me by My Name,” John Prine is a songwriter’s songwriter. Across five decades, he’s created critically acclaimed albums—John Prine (one of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time), Bruised Orange, The Missing Years—and earned two Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting from the Americana Music Association, and induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. His songs have been covered by scores of artists, from Johnny Cash and Miranda Lambert to Bette Midler and 10,000 Maniacs, and influenced everyone from Roger McGuinn to Kacey Musgraves. Hailed in his early years as the “new Dylan,” Prine still counts Bob Dylan among his most enthusiastic fans. In John Prine, Eddie Huffman traces the long arc of Prine’s musical career, beginning with his early, seemingly effortless successes, which led paradoxically not to stardom but to a rich and varied career writing songs that other people have made famous. He recounts the stories, many of them humorous, behind Prine’s best-known songs and discusses all of Prine’s albums as he explores the brilliant records and the ill-advised side trips, the underappreciated gems and the hard-earned comebacks that led Prine to found his own successful record label, Oh Boy Records. This thorough, entertaining treatment gives John Prine his due as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation.

But soon, seduced by the myth of Hollywood and the reality of Warner Brothers, he made his movie debut, in 1938, in Four Daughters and immediately established himself as an earthy, rebellious and electrifying presence on the screen - in retrospect, the James Dean of the Depression era.