Donald Spoto

It's been years since Swenson, a professor in a New England creative writing program, has published a novel.It's been even longer since any of his students have shown promise. Enter Angela Argo, a pierced, tattooed student with a rare talent for writing. Angela is just the thing Swenson needs. And, better yet, she wants his help. But, as we all know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions...Deliciously risque, Blue Angel is a withering take on today's academic mores and a scathing tale that vividly shows what can happen when academic politics collides with political correctness.

"An illustrated cultural history of drug use from its roots in animal intoxication to its future in designer neurochemicals"--Provided by publisher.

The monumental scope of Hitchcock's work remains unsurpassed by any other movie director, past or present. Psycho, Rear Window, The Birds and Vertigo are only a few of his classics.d his superb analysis--still the Hitchcockian commentary after 15 years in print. Photographs throughout.

"The trouble today is that we don't torture women enough."--Alfred HitchcockIt is remarkable how infrequently, over a period of more than fifty years, Alfred Hitchcock spoke about the beautiful, legendary and talented actresses he directed. And when he did, his remarks were mostly indifferent and often hostile. But his leading ladies greatly enriched his films, even as many of them achieved international stardom precisely because of their work for Hitchcock--among the dozens of women were Madeleine Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Grace Kelly and Tippi Hedren. Yet he maintained a stony, insistent silence about the quality of their performances and their contributions to his art. Spellbound by Beauty--the final volume in master biographer Donald Spoto's Hitchcock trilogy that began with The Art of Alfred Hitchcock and continued with The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock--is the fascinating, complex and finally tragic story of the great moviemaker and his female stars, the unusual ideas of sex and romance that inform his films and the Hollywood dreams that often became nightmares. Rich with fresh revelations based on previously undisclosed tapes, new interviews, private correspondence and personal papers made available only to the author, this thoughtful, compassionate yet explosive portrait details Hitchcock's outbursts of cruelty, the shocking humor and the odd amalgam of adoration and contempt that time and again characterized Hitchcock's obsessive relationships with women--and that also, paradoxically, fed his genius.He insisted, for example, that Madeleine Carroll submit herself to painful physical demands during the making of The 39 Steps. He harbored a poignantly unrequited love for Ingrid Bergman. He meticulously and deliberately constructed Grace Kelly's image. Finally, he stalked, harassed and abused Tippi Hedren. His treatment of his daughter, Pat, was certainly unusual, while his strange marriage to his sometime collaborator Alma Reville was a union that (according to Hitchcock himself) was forever chaste after one incident. Spellbound by Beauty offers important insights into the life of a brilliant, powerful, eccentric and tortured artist, and it corrects a major gap in movie history by paying tribute at last to those extraordinarily talented actresses who gave so much to his films.From the Hardcover edition.

Years ago, Ysande Cazalet had been like any other bride-to-be, until tragedy destroyed something precious. And now she had to stay away from the handsome stranger who made her dream again of marriage and family. For how could Ysande spend her evenings in Rufer Jardine's strong arms when her rightful place was beside a hospital bed? For months Rufer had tried to get to know Ysande, and for months she ignored him. It wasn't just her sad beauty or complete indifference to him that drew Rufer to her - with Ysande, he felt whole for the first time in his life. But then he learned the shocking truth of what threatened to keep them apart forever. . . . Ysande Cazalet is involved in a car crash at 19, a few days before her wedding and her finacee saves her life but becomes a quadriplegic who also can barely talk. Ysande devotedly visits him, reads to him, feeds him etc in hospital for the next 10 YEARS. When Rufer Jardine meets her and starts pursuing her, she rejects him due to her commitment to paralysed fiancee. She is persuaded into an affair with Rufer while still visiting fiancee and reject's Rufer's marriage offer due to her 10-yr long commitment.

"Born in England to socially ambitious parents, Elizabeth Taylor was catapulted into child stardom and molded by MGM into the great violet-eyed beauty of postwar America. Along the way, she also became an award-winning actress, without training or theory, without teachers or counsel, ultimately dazzling audiences everywhere with spectacular performances. Elizabeth Taylor has lived nothing less than an extraordinarily remarkable life.". "With an abundance of new information, internationally acclaimed biographer Donald Spoto explores the gripping story of her brutalizing six-month marriage to compulsive gambler and hotel heir Nicky Hilton, her romances with top Hollywood directors, and her marriage to the ailing Michael Wilding. Four years later, she would be swept off her feet by showman Mike Todd, into an alternately violent and loving marriage that would end after a year with Todd's death in a plane crash, leaving Taylor, at the age of twenty-six, a twice-divorced widow with three children. Here are Taylor's years with Eddie Fisher, Republican Senator John Warner and Richard Burton, with whom she would share a hedonistic, brash lifestyle that would virtually define the 1960s jet set. These years are at last fully and richly explored with mines of fresh material, some of it shocking, some of it funny, all of it shedding new light on the complexities of the most beguiling star in movie history.". "Spoto candidly explores all the highs and lows of Taylor's exploits both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Throughout the course of her tumultuous marriages, Taylor never stopped making movies, and from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to Cleopatra to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Taylor dazzled audiences with performances that won her two Academy Awards. The cast of supporting players in her life is unparalleled and never less than fascinating: here are Louis B. Mayer and Jack Warner, Montgomery Clift and James Dean, Tennessee Williams and Franco Zeffirelli, Malcolm Forbes and Michael Jackson. Here, too, is a stream of hilarious and often poignant anecdotes about the making of some of the most famous movies in history.". "Outspoken, mercurial, Elizabeth Taylor is a passionate lover of life and pleasure, a devoted friend, an advocate to the needy and ill. Generous and compassionate, self-absorbed and egocentric, few stars have achieved as much, and no one was more determined or more wounded. Based on a wealth of new sources including interviews, studio diaries, production files, letters and personal journals, A Passion for Life is the ultimate biography of a living legend."--BOOK JACKET.

La couverture porte en sous-titre : Histoire d'une femme d'exception.

During the tumultuous Hundred Years' War between England and France, a teenage peasant girl followed her heart and helped save a nation. A vision from God, received in her parents' garden, instructed her to take up arms and help restore the kingdom of France. Without consulting her family, Joan left home on one of the most remarkable personal quests in history. As a young girl in a world of men, she faced unimaginable odds, yet her belief in her mission propelled her forward. Within months Joan was directing soldiers and bravely fighting for her nation. Before long she had become a national hero and was the guest of honor at her king's coronation. Yet fame ultimately became her undoing. The English shrewdly realized that Joan's demise and defamation would disgrace France and provide a more direct route to victory. Captured in war, Joan became a pawn in one of the longest and bloodiest wars in history.Since her death at the age of nineteen in 1431, Joan of Arc has maintained a remarkable hold on our collective imagination. She was a teenager of astonishing common sense and a national heroine who led men in battle as a courageous warrior. Yet she was also abandoned by the king whose coronation she secured, betrayed by her countrymen, and sold to the enemy. In this meticulously researched landmark biography, Donald Spoto expertly captures this astonishing life and the times in which she lived. Neither wife nor nun, neither queen nor noblewoman, neither philosopher nor stateswoman, Joan of Arc demonstrates that anyone who follows their heart has the power to change history.

Biographie bien documentée et illustrée sur la carrière d'actrice et de chanteuse de Marlene Dietrich. Le biographe retrace le parcours de cette femme fatale au charme magnétique et à la vie sentimentale tumultueuse, qui a su captiver les foules, à la scène comme à l'écran. [SDM].

In this documentary, the tragic screen-icon James Dean is remembered. Footage from early television appearances, stills from his life, and clips from his three Warner Brothers films are interwoven with interviews with his co-workers.

La chronique d'une dynastie, de son ascension à son déclin ; Donald Spoto raconte toute l'histoire d'une famille dont les membres sont devenus de véritables stars.