Books like Silent stars by Jeanine Basinger

Ron Jeremy’s autobiography reveals the life of the famed pornographic actor who transitioned from adult films to mainstream entertainment, detailing his early ambitions, Hollywood attempts, and the challenges of pursuing legitimate acting.

"Theda Bara became an overnight superstar with her film debut in the scandalous 1915 hit A Fool There Was, and for the rest of that decade stayed at the top of the heap, along with Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin. Despite her fame and notoriety as the movies' first "sex symbol," no biography of the original Vamp has ever been written, even though Bara threatened to pen her own "because nobody ever wrote a true word about me." Finally, someone has.". "Bara had one of the most bizarre and colorful careers of the silent era, starring in Cleopatra, Salome, and scores of other hit films before vanishing mysteriously from the screen. Now, read for the first time how a nice Jewish girl from the Midwest became "Satan's Handmaiden," scandalized a nation, and abruptly fell from the heights."--BOOK JACKET.

Peter Biskind offers a deeply researched and balanced biography of Hollywood icon Warren Beatty, revealing the man behind the screen.

Career biography of the star of silent movies with a running commentary on the Hollywood of her day.

"Film noir was the dark side of the movies' happily-ever-after mythology. Sinister and sexy, it forged a new icon: the tough, independent, take-no-guff dame. Determined, desirable, dangerous when cornered, she could handle trouble - or deal out some of her own.". "If you thought these women were something special onscreen, wait till you meet the genuine articles. In Dark City Dames, acclaimed film historian Eddie Muller profiles six women who made a lasting impression in this cinematic terrain - from veteran "bad girls" Audrey Totter, Marie Windsor and Jane Greer to unexpected genre fixtures Evelyn Keyes, Coleen Gray and Ann Savage. The book surveys the lives of these formidable women during the height of their careers circa 1950, as they balanced love and career, struggled against typecasting, and sought fulfillment in a ruthless business. Their personal stories - teeming with larger-than-life characters like Howard Hughes, L. B. Mayer, Robert Mitchum, Otto Preminger and John Huston - offer an illuminating counterpoint to their movies, such as Out of the Past, Detour, The Lady in the Lake, and The Killing. Then Dark City Dames revisits each one of these women today, fifty years on, to witness their hard-won - and triumphant - survival. On every page their own voices ring through, reflecting on their lives with as much passion, pain, intelligence, energy and humor as any movie script."--BOOK JACKET.