Books like The Star Machine by Jeanine Basinger

An intimate biography that explores the professional and personal intersections of Sondra Locke’s career with the motion‑picture industry, featuring insights from her collaborations with legendary director Clint Eastwood.

Jeanine Basinger’s critical study reveals lesser‑known silent‑film stars who were misperceived or forgotten, reconstructing their careers and illuminating early Hollywood.

The legendary actor and best-selling author of Pieces of My Heart offers a nostalgic look at Hollywood's golden age, touring favorite hotspots and exploring period business practices before the advent of paparazzi culture and high-powered agents.

Drawing on his unprecedented access to Grace Kelly, bestselling biographer Donald Spoto at last offers an intimate, honest, and authoritative portrait of one of Hollywood's legendary actresses.In just seven years--from 1950 through 1956--Grace Kelly embarked on a whirlwind career that included roles in eleven movies. From the principled Amy Fowler Kane in High Noon to the thrill-seeking Frances Stevens of To Catch a Thief, Grace established herself as one of Hollywood's most talented actresses and iconic beauties. Her astonishing career lasted until her retirement at age twenty-six, when she withdrew from stage and screen to marry a European monarch and became a modern, working princess and mother. Based on never-before-published or quoted interviews with Grace and those conducted over many years with her friends and colleagues--from costars James Stewart and Cary Grant to director Alfred Hitchcock--as well as many documents disclosed by her children for the first time, acclaimed biographer Donald Spoto explores the transformation of a convent schoolgirl to New York model, successful television actress, Oscar-winning movie star, and beloved royal. As the princess requested, Spoto waited twenty-five years after her death to write this biography. Now, with honesty and insight, High Society reveals the truth of Grace Kelly's personal life, the men she loved, the men she didn't, and what lay behind the facade of her fairy-tale life.From the Hardcover edition.

Kathleen Feeley's biography of Mary Pickford traces her journey from stage child to Hollywood icon, showing how she shaped and was shaped by the rise of industrial capitalism, consumer culture, and the evolving role of women in early 20th‑century America.

"Part biography, part true crime narrative, this painstakingly researched book chronicles the improbable rise and stunning fall of Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle from his early big screen success to his involvement in actress Virginia Rappe's death, and the resulting irreparable damage to his career. It describes how during the course of a rowdy three-day party hosted by the comedian in a San Francisco hotel, Rappe became fatally ill, and Arbuckle was subsequently charged with manslaughter. Ultimately acquitted after three trials, neither his career nor his reputation ever recovered from this devastating incident. Relying on a careful examination of documents, the book finally reveals what most likely occurred that Labor Day weekend in 1921 in that fateful hotel room. In addition, it covers the evolution of the film industry--from the first silent experiments to the connection between Arbuckle's scandal and the implementation of industry-wide censorship that altered the course of Hollywood filmmaking for five decades"--