Author Description

David Shipman's best-selling and authoritative books on movie stars make enthralling reading. When they were first published, John Coleman of the New Statesman acclaimed them for their "blend of scholarship, judgment, wit and all-round know-how", in this revised and expanded edition a host of new names has been included, some biographies have been amplified and scores of new photos have been added.This volume describes the careers of almost 200 stars who made their names before the beginning of the Second World War. The stories of some of these early stars lay hidden for many years until David Shipman pieced them together for the first time. They are packed with fascinating details such as the first announced leads of Cone With the wind (who were Ronald Coleman and Taiiulah Bankhead); what Humphrey Bogart thought of his films and why Greta Garbo retired. Other stories, happily, are still in- complete:they continue every week on television and at the local cinema.