Thorndike Press large print biography

A definitive portrait of the iconic Hollywood star draws on new research and insider interviews to cover his New Jersey upbringing, his early years with Hanna-Barbera, his private life, and his considerable film achievements.

An instant American icon, the third woman, and the first Hispanic on the U.S. Supreme Court, the author tells the story of her life before becoming a judge, in this personal memoir. Here the author recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a progress that is testament to her extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself. She writes of her precarious childhood, with an alcoholic father (who would die when she was nine), and a devoted but overburdened mother, and of the refuge she took with her passionately spirited paternal grandmother. But it was when she was diagnosed with juvenile daibetes that the precocious Sonia recognized she must ultimately depend on herself. She would learn to give herself the insulin shots she needed to survive and soon imagined a path to a different life. With only television characters for her professional role models, and little understanding of what was involved, she determined to become a lawyer. She describes her resolve, and how she made this dream become reality: valedictorian of her high school class, summa cum laude at Princeton, Yale Law, prosecutor in the Manhattan D.A.'s office, private practice, federal district judge before the age of forty. She writes about her deeply valued mentors, about her failed marriage, about her cherished family of friends. Through her still-astonished eyes, America's infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this story of self-discovery and self-invention.

President Carter's loving, admiring, wry homage to Miss Lillian Carter, who championed the underdog always, even when her son was president. A registered nurse, pecan grower, university housemother, Peace Corps volunteer, public speaker, and renowned raconteur, Miss Lillian ignored the mores and prejudices of the racially segregated South of the Great Depression years. She was an avid supporter of the Brooklyn Dodgers (because she happened to attend the first major league baseball game in which Jackie Robinson, from Cairo, Georgia, played), was a favored guest on television talk shows (usually able to "steal the microphone" from hosts such as Johnny Carson and Walter Cronkite), and an important role model for the nation. Jimmy Carter's mother emerges from this portrait as redoubtable, generous, and forward-looking. He ascribes to her the inspiration for his own life's work of commitment and faith.--From publisher description.

Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe's elopement in 1954 caused a sensation unlike any the American public had ever seen. Joe and Marilyn reveals the true inside story of these iconic figures whose love affair (and ensuing scandals) became Hollywood legend. Though their marriage lasted only nine months, they remained devoted to each other, even after death: DiMaggio had a half-dozen red roses delivered three times a week to her crypt for twenty years. Based on extensive archival research and personal interviews with Monroe and DiMaggio's family and friends, Joe and Marilyn offers great insight into a famously tragic romance.

Offers a handbook for parents concerned with the development of moral and ethical values in boys from birth to the age of eighteen.

The remarkable true story of Margaret Powell, who arrived at the servant's entrance in the 1920s as a kitchen maid and entered an entirely new world. Margaret's tales of her time in service are told with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye in this fascinating portrait of life in Downton Abbey and 165 Eaton Place.

They were the Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Army Airborne, the legendary fighting unit of World War II. And there was one man every soldier in Easy Company looked up to--Major Richard D. Winters. Here is the compelling story of an ordinary man who became an extraordinary hero--from Winters's childhood in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, through the war years in which his natural skill as a leader elevated him through the ranks in combat, to now, decades later, when he may finally be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions on D-Day.

This is the heartfelt true story of a wife and mother's yearlong experience inviting one new guest (from senators to school teachers, artists to professional athletes) to dinner each week that her husband was deployed overseas. But the story isn't really about dinner. Or the military. It's a love story about marriage, motherhood, and the community that helped her raise three boys (one on the cusp of adolescence) in the absence of their father.--

"In November 1993, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis took a tumble from her horse during a hunt in Virginia. A scarce six months later, on May 19, 1994, this revered, fascinating woman of substance, style, and steely will passed away in her Park Avenue home. Farewell, Jackie, by bestselling author Edward Klein - who knew Jackie for more than a dozen years - is the moving account of those last months and a celebration of the life of an American icon who faced death as she faced life - with all the bravery and grace of a woman who had long inspired the nation." "From the moment she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Jackie embraced a renewed spiritual life and embarked on her final journey in the company of her children, grandchildren, and Maurice Tempelsman, the man who brought her joy and companionship. "No other person in modern times has been so thoroughly scrutinized," writes Klein. "And yet, the climactic moment of Jackie's life - in which she orchestrated her own death as masterfully as she orchestrated the funeral of her assassinated husband - remains shrouded in mystery. This book lifts that veil."" "Klein chronicles the circumstances of Jackie's diagnosis, the astonishing pace of the cancer's progress, the treatments she endured, and the ones she refused. In recounting this heart-wrenching story, he also celebrates Jackie's life - her accomplishments and her hopes for John and Caroline. Farewell, Jackie is a regal tribute and an inspiring account of the last days of a woman whose legacy endures in post-Camelot America."--BOOK JACKET.

The first biography of Laura Bush to be written with White House cooperation offers a look at the private world of this famously reserved woman, as well as the beliefs and attitudes that shape it. Based on interviews with her closest friends and confidantes from childhood to the present, as well as family members and administration heavyweights, Kessler paints a portrait of a woman who, even as she ascended to the heights of political fortune and power, never lost touch with the bedrock American values she absorbed in her youth. Kessler reveals how Laura's opinions have brought budget changes to a range of federal agencies and have affected her husband's policies, appointments, and worldview; what Laura's own political opinions are and what her relationship with twin daughters Jenna and Barbara is really like; what Laura says in private about Hillary Clinton, media attacks on her husband, and his victory in the 2004 election.--From publisher description.

Billy Crystal is turning 65, and he's not happy about it. With his trademark wit and heart, he outlines the absurdities and challenges that come with growing old. In chapters like "Buying the Plot" and "Nodding Off," Crystal not only catalogs his gripes, but offers a road map to his 77 million fellow baby boomers arriving at this milestone age. As wise and poignant as they are funny, Crystal's reflections are an unforgettable look at an extraordinary life well lived.

Linda Greenlaw never shied away from a challenge. The renowned swordfish boat captain had, through hard work and determination, created a life of peaceful independence on a rugged island off the coast of Maine. Then Mariah arrives to stay with her uncle, an island newcomer. The community is rocked to learn that the troubled teen she suffers terrible abuse at his hands. Alone and at risk, Mariah needs a guardian. And the island residents nominate Linda ...

Diana Athill made her reputation as a writer with the candour of her memoirs, now aged ninety, and freed from any inhibitions that even she may once have had, she reflects frankly on the losses and occasionally the gains that old age brings, and on the wisdom and fortitude required to face death. This is a lively narrative of events, lovers and friendships: the people and experiences that have taught her to regret very little, to resist despondency and to question the beliefs and customs of her own generation.

Memoir. His unorthodox, beautifully wrought examination of his own life as seen through the history of his body.

One of the most recognizable big-screen stars of the past half-century, Sir Roger Moore played the role of James Bond longer than any other actor. Beginning with the classic Live and Let Die, running through Moonraker and A View to a Kill, Moore brought his finely honed wit and wry charm to one of Hollywood's most beloved and long-lasting characters. Still, James Bond was only one in a lifetime of roles stretching back to Hollywood's studio era, and encompassing stardom in theater and television on both sides of the Atlantic. From The Saint to Maverick, Warner Brothers to MGM, Hollywood to London to extreme locations the world over, Roger Moore's story is one of the last of the classic Hollywood lives as yet untold.Until now. From the dying days of the studio system and the birth of television, to the quips of Noel Coward and David Niven, to the bedroom scenes and outtakes from the Bond movies, Moore has seen and heard it all. Nothing is left out — especially the naughty bits. The 'special effects' by which James Bond unzipped a dress with a magnet; the spectacular risks in The Spy Who Loved Me's opening scene; and Moore's preparation for facing down villains (he would imagine they all have halitosis): the stories in My Word is My Bond are priceless.Throughout his career, Moore hobnobbed with the glamorous and powerful, counting Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Seymour, and Cary Grant among his contemporaries and friends. Included are stories of a foul-mouthed Milton Berle, a surly Richard Burton, and a kindhearted Richard Kiel, infamous as Bond enemy Jaws.As much as it is Moore's own exceptional story, My Word is My Bond is a treasure trove of Hollywood history.

In this moving memoir, a renowned feminist scholar explores the physical and psychological ordeal of living with ovarian cancer.

JR Moehringer grew up listening for a voice, the voice of his missing father, a disc jockey who disappeared before JR spoke his first words. As a boy, JR would press his ear to a battered clock radio, straining to hear in that resonant voice the secrets of identity and masculinity. When the voice disappeared, JR found new voices in the bar on the corner. A grand old New York saloon, the bar was a sanctuary for all sorts of men — cops and poets, actors and lawyers, gamblers and stumblebums. The flamboyant characters along the bar — including JR’s Uncle Charlie, a Humphrey Bogart look-alike; Colt, a Yogi Bear sound-alike; Joey D, a soft-hearted brawler; and Cager, a war hero who raised handicapping horses to an art — taught JR, tended him, and provided a kind of fatherhood by committee.Torn between his love for his mother and the lure of the bar, JR forged a boyhood somewhere in the middle. When the time came to leave home, the bar became a way station—from JR’s entrance to Yale, where he floundered as a scholarship student; to Lord & Taylor, where he spent a humbling stint peddling housewares; to The New York Times, where he became a faulty cog in a vast machine. The bar offered shelter from failure, from rejection, and eventually from reality, until at last the bar turned JR away. In the rich tradition of bestselling memoirs about self-invention, THE TENDER BAR is by turns riveting, moving, and achingly funny. An evocative portrait of one boy’s struggle to become a man, it’s also a touching depiction of how some men remain lost boys.

On the silver anniversary of its original publication, Bacall brings her inspiring memoir up to date. Bacall and Humphrey Bogart produced some of the most electric scenes in movie history, and their romance on and off screen made them Hollywood's most celebrated couple. But when Bogart died of cancer in 1957, Bacall and their children had to take everything he had taught them and grow up fast. In a time of postwar communism, Hollywood blacklisting, and revolutionary politics, she mixed with the legends: Hemingway, the Oliviers, Katharine Hepburn, Bobby Kennedy, and Gregory Peck. She was engaged to Frank Sinatra and had a turbulent second marriage to Jason Robards. But Bacall never lost sight of the strength that made her a superstar, and she never lost sight of Bogie.

Arkin looks back on his career as an actor, but this memoir forgoes the backstage gossip and star-studded anecdotes readers might expect. In fact, the author largely ignores his accomplishments in favor of charting his inner evolution as an artist, focusing on intellectual and spiritual epiphanies that have shaped his approach to acting. Arkin’s approach to autobiography is a bit unexpected—the intensely earnest, verging-on-New-Age tone is distinctly at odds with his familiar brusque, comedic persona—but rewarding, as the author illustrates the principles of his acting philosophy with a wealth of concrete details taken directly from his experience, resulting in a coherent and provocative manifesto. There are some intriguing glimpses at the process and personalities behind Chicago’s seminal Second City acting troupe, in which Arkin first made a name for himself, and a handful of familiar tropes about the struggling young artist looking for work. But the author’s interest is primarily in the discoveries he has made conducting improvisational-theater workshops, working with various acting mentors and performing on stage and screen. Arkin’s basic premise is that good acting is born of an actor’s commitment to the present moment, an embrace of spontaneity and willingness to give up rigid control. This Zen-like approach, which largely consists of the actor getting out of his own way, is hardly revolutionary, but Arkin has a knack for making it feel fresh and wholly sensible. He also displays a refreshing lack of egocentrism; many of the most profound lessons he recounts are the result of watching other actors, often amateurs, struggle with the challenges of improvisation laid out in his workshops. For an actor famous for his anxious, intense brand of comedy, Arkin’s tone is surprisingly cool and measured, often wry but rarely laugh-out-loud funny. Earnest, intelligent and well-observed—less a celebrity memoir than a serious consideration of the principles of acting and improvisation.

A groundbreaking portrait of one of Hollywood's most successful stars, from critically acclaimed and bestselling biographer Marc Eliot.