55 Products

Acting in myriad roles, including Albert Perks in The Railway Children , various Carry On characters and a Fawlty Towers guest, singing ‘Right Said Fred’, fishing for trout, picking up his BAFTA award and jumping out of aeroplanes (as a paratrooper), Bernard Cribbins (b.1928) has had a busy 75 years. Using his conversational ‘Jackanory method’, he tells the story of his life in the Army, films, television, radio and on and off stage: ‘one long variety show’.

Challenges in Matt Lucas's childhood included losing his hair and his father going to prison before he was 11. This autobiography describes how his experiences shaped him and how he has built his career through hit shows such as Little Britain and Shooting Stars.

Richard Briers' comedic talent and acting pedigree was revealed to an international audience (and to his Hollywood co-stars) through Kenneth Branagh's films of the 1990s but he had long been established as a national treasure in Britain. This biography chronicles the early life and training of the actor (a contemporary of Peter O'Toole and Albert Finney at RADA) and relates anecdotes from his long career in theatre, television, film and radio.

By the age of 37 Charlton Heston was an Oscar-winning movie star, having played leading roles in three of Hollywood’s top-grossing movies, including The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur. This biography follows Heston from his boyhood in Michigan, where he suffered the pain of his parent’s divorce (an experience that would inform his indomitable screen persona), through his prolific Hollywood years, to his defence of the Second Amendment as president of the National Rifle Association. Felt-tip mark on lower trimmed edge.

One of the most charismatic actors of his generation, Peter O'Toole (1932–2013) brought a dangerous edge to both his roles and his life. Drawing on exclusive interviews with colleagues and friends, this biography from the author of Hellraisers paints an intimate picture of a complex, much-loved man. From the mystery of his place of birth through his formative years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the book charts his celebrated performances, his turbulent relationships and his drunken antics.

Playing the sweet and vulnerable everyman, Tim, in The Office made Martin Freeman's name but before this breakthrough he had often been cast as edgy outsiders. This biography describes his Hampshire childhood and tracks his career from his acting debut at the Youth Action Theatre to his roles in TV and film, including Sherlock and the Hobbit trilogy, which have made him an international star.

Vivien Leigh's performance in Gone with the Wind or Anita Ekberg's in La Dolce Vita were pivotal moments in cinema, when a relatively unknown actress was transformed into a major international star. With full-page portraits and brief biographies, this film history identifies the breakthrough moments of 75 leading actresses from Greta Garbo in Mata Hariand Grace Kelly in High Noon to Jane Fonda in Klute and Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.

Lead singer and lyricist on many of the Beach Boys' biggest hits, Mike Love has often been blamed for the quarrels that divided the group. In this autobiography he offers his side of the story. Off-mint with felt-tip mark on the lower trimmed edge.

Hitchcock carefully controlled his public persona, emphasizing his lugubrious humour and often retelling selected anecdotes from his childhood to explain his mastery of the cinematic thriller. Delving behind these stories Ackroyd investigates what the director also owed to his formative experiences in British and German film-making and how the fears, fantasies and obsessions of his lonely upbringing in East London shaped his lifelong controlling personality and his films’ characteristic mixture of comedy and suspense. Off-mint with American-cut pages and felt-tip mark on lower trimmed edge.

Something of a national treasure, thanks to her appearances as the archetypal mum in the Oxo television commercials, Lynda Bellingham (1948–2014) was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2013. In this memoir, she reflects on her life and continuing work while undergoing treatment for the disease as well as her relationships with her family, and her quest to find her birth father, having been adopted in infancy.

Killed in an accident at the age of 33, Carole Lombard had been Hollywood's highest paid female star, and the most prominent, thanks to her marriage to Clark Gable. This biography reveals the struggles, successes and personal tragedies of her brief life.

Eric Morecambe's son Gary has drawn on the family archive of photographs and ephemera to compile this illustrated biography of Eric and Ernie, reviewing their career from the early 1940s to the 1980s and their legacy beyond. The pictured items include variety bills, programmes, letters, scripts, stills from their celebrated television shows, archive images of their early career and private snaps with friends and family.

The actors who would create the iconic parts of Spock and Kirk in Star Trek were both 23 when they met on the set of The Man from UNCLE in 1964. In this affectionate biography, Shatner gives an account of Leonard Nimoy’s life and career from the perspective of their long friendship.

Michael Caine’s film characters, such as Alfie and Harry Palmer, as well as his distinctive looks, working-class background and glamorous lifestyle, made him the model of male cool in the 1960s. This celebration of his style presents a portfolio of photographs of the actor during the period, including portraits, film stills and candid pictures, on and off set. A brief introduction and captions set the scene and identify celebrity co-stars and companions, including Natalie Wood, Terence Stamp and Mia Farrow.

A Scott Berg knew Katharine Hepburn for 20 years, during which time they shared many hours of private conversation – material, it was agreed, for a book to be published after the actress’s death. Covering details of her privileged background, her 50 years of stardom, her relationship with Spencer Tracy and her thoughts about other actors, interwoven with fascinating anecdotes, this is Hepburn’s life as she wanted it to be presented.

Despite the success of American Graffiti in 1973, George Lucas was unable to get the rights to Flash Gordon, so instead began to develop his own science fiction soap opera. Tracing the director’s roots and influences, this biography recounts the stories of bringing blockbusters such as Star Wars to the screen and assesses Lucas’s profound influence on movie-making, not least through the foundation of special effects and production companies such as Pixar and THX Sound.

From childhood in wartime Pozzouli, near Naples, to her role in Cocteau’s The Human Voice in 2014, this photographic tribute follows the life and film career of the Academy Award-winning actress and singer. Felt tip mark on lower trimmed edge.

Dismissive of her own talent and largely remembered for her off-screen antics, this well-illustrated biography of Ava Gardner aims to set the record straight. Charting four decades of film history, the authors examine Gardner’s roles in movies such as The Killers and Night of the Iguana, the creation of her image, her tempestuous relationships (including with Hemingway and Sinatra) and her loyal friendships, revealing her to be far more than an MGM-created ‘cookie-cutter star’. Slightly off-mint.

In 1970s London the photographer Peter Gravelle shot portraits of The Sex Pistols, The Damned, Siouxsie Sioux and other punk icons. But the death of Sid Vicious convinced him to switch to fashion, beginning in 1980 with a shoot for Italian Vogue. This collection of Gravelle’s uncompromising and often experimental work also features personal musings on his relationships and career, both derailed by an addiction to heroin which would dominate his life. Contains graphic images and sexually explicit.

After stints in regional theatre in Leeds, Birmingham and Bristol, Tony Robinson played small parts on television during the 1970s, including presenting Play Away, and began to make his name as a comedian in the early 1980s with the sketch show Who Dares Wins. The Blackadder star reads his engaging autobiography in this 12-CD set.

As one of Fagin's boys in the original production of Oliver!, Tony Robinson's understudy was Steve Marriott, later of the Small Faces, and he'd had a 20-year career in regional theatre and minor television work before Blackadder and Time Team, for which he is now principally known. In this autobiography he discusses his long professional career as well as his childhood in North London and his political and campaigning work.

Greasepaint, sausage pie in the landlady’s Aga, alcoholic monkeys, Peter Wyngarde’s wig on fire... Phyllida Law gives a hugely entertaining account of her early acting career and her marriage to Eric Thompson.

Miss Emmeline Snively, head of the Blue Book Agency, nurtured 19-year-old Norma Jeane Dougherty at the beginning of the young woman’s modelling career, before she transformed into the movie icon Marilyn Monroe. It was Miss Snively’s archive, which includes previously unseen colour and black-and-white photographs, adverts, notes and press clippings from the agency, which enabled the authors to put together this unique and detailed account of Marilyn’s first tentative steps along the road to fame.

Philip Norman's history of the Beatles, Shout!, and his biography of John Lennon seemed to take a largely anti-McCartney stance so it was a surprise when Paul gave tacit approval to Norman to write this biography, enabling access to family members and close friends. The result redresses the balance, describing the importance of McCartney's creative leadership in the Beatles and exploring his later career and personal life from the early death of his mother to his highly publicized marriages. Felt-tip mark on upper trimmed edge.

Much loved as the Spanish waiter Manuel in Fawlty Towers, Andrew Sachs (1930-2016) was born in Berlin rather than Barcelona and fled to England in 1938 after his father was arrested by the Gestapo. In this compelling and often hilarious memoir he tells of his early years in showbiz, the success of the infamous Torquay hotel, and his acting career beyond Fawlty, which included Shakespeare, Dustin Hoffman's Quartet, a stint as Father Brown, and Snowy in BBC Radio 5's Tintin.

Actress Charlotte Rampling’s early life included schooling and holidays in France and much time spent with her sister, Sarah, who committed suicide in 1967. The truth about the tragedy was initially kept from Charlotte and she then shared the secret with her father until her mother’s death. This short memoir is written in elegiac, fragmentary and sometimes poetic style and includes photographs from the family archive.

The distinguished Beckett scholar Gerry Dukes presents a photographic biography of one of the most interesting and challenging writers of the 20th century. Illustrated with family snapshots, formal portraits and many informal photographs taken during rehearsals and performances of his plays, the book traces Beckett’s life from his birth in Dublin in 1919 to his death in Paris, his adopted home, in 1989.

Jérôme Larcher traces Charlie Chaplin’s life and work from the London music hall to his tremendous success as the Little Tramp, and from the films he made in Hollywood after the advent of ‘talkies’, to his later work in Europe – minus the baggy trousers and bowler hat.

An icon of Hollywood's golden era, Marlene Dietrich first made her name in the Deutsches Theater in Berlin in the 1920s. The most famous German performer of the 1930s, Dietrich was a vocal critic of the Nazi regime, bravely denouncing it and later working to promote the American war effort. Recalling the great star during this turbulent period, this book is a collection of interviews with a range of people who knew her, from GIs to well-known fellow entertainers.

Unearthing secrets in Budapest, getting arrested in Thailand, exalting in the art of Venice or facing down airline staff... life is anything but dull with Sheila Hancock. Following on from The Two of Us, this book describes life on her own, after the death of her husband John Thaw. Having heeded a piece of Quaker advice - 'live adventurously' - she faced the future with characteristic wit, gusto and curiosity.

Ronnie Corbett (1930-2016) was one of Britain's best-loved entertainers. Here he discusses his life and work with characteristic self-deprecating wit, including his Edinburgh childhood before the war; early ventures on the stage and screen; encounters with stars such as John Cleese, Noel Coward, Tony Hancock and Spike Milligan; plus his solo sitcom Sorry! and - of course - his long-running partnership with Ronnie Barker.

Already famous as a singer, Frank Sinatra (1915–1998) entered the film industry as a comedic song-and-dance man, but soon demonstrated his versatility in roles ranging from romantic leads to tough guys in films such as Ocean's 11 (1960) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962). This book celebrates his career as an actor, pairing more than 200 photographs and posters with reflections from co-stars including Grace Kelly and Sammy Davis Jr, and essays from his children Nancy, Tina and Frank Jr.

The star of landmark movies including Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter and Sergio Leone's legendary Once Upon a Time in America, Robert De Niro is indisputably one of the greatest actors of his generation, famous for his total immersion in roles such as Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull. This biography from the author of Rat Pack Confidential follows the trajectory of De Niro's career as actor and director, but also examines the life of the man behind the many characters.

There's no one quite like Brian Blessed: actor, storyteller, mountaineer and coffin-maker. In this frank, riotous memoir he recalls his childhood in a Yorkshire mining town, his breakthrough on Z Cars, falling for Katharine Hepburn, raising hell with Peter O'Toole, meeting the love of his life, the actress Hildegard Neil – and punching Harold Pinter down a flight of stairs. ‘No long dramatic pauses this time, Harold; he got one right on the side of the jaw. Wham!’

Marlon Brando (1924–2004) is remembered for his charismatic screen presence, rugged good looks and rebellious stance. Drawing on unpublished documents, letters, the actor's own library and interviews with friends and colleagues, this major biography presents a very different portrait of the fascinating private man: a civil-rights activist and intellectual who collected 4,000 books, rewrote scripts to sharpen his dialogue, loved the poetry of Emily Dickinson, and embraced other cultures and let them shape both his politics and his art.

Destined for the limelight from childhood, Elizabeth Taylor (1932–2011) was just twelve when National Velvet made her a star. And while later films such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) established her depth and power as an actress, she was better known for her many marriages and passion for diamonds. Illustrated with photographs, this handsome book charts her life and career, her turbulent relationship with Richard Burton, and her charity work. Off-mint.

One of the most charismatic actors of his generation, Peter O'Toole (1932–2013) brought a dangerous edge to both his roles and his life. Drawing on exclusive interviews with colleagues and friends, this biography from the author of Hellraisers paints an intimate picture of a complex, much-loved man. From the mystery of his place of birth through his formative years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the book charts his celebrated performances, his turbulent relationships and his drunken antics.

'Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.' Sophia Loren (b.1934) is one of the most magnetic actresses in the history of cinema, yet her off-screen life has been a quiet one, and she counts motherhood and her 40-year marriage to producer Carlo Ponti (1912–2007) as her greatest achievements. This lavish photographic biography covers her impoverished childhood, her early films and her subsequent international success, and explores the contradictions of her public and private personae.

In this touching memoir, the luminous Italian Oscar-winner reflects on her life, from her infancy in war-torn Naples to the dizzy heights of worldwide fame. Each chapter begins with an object such as a letter or a photograph that brings back memories: of her family; of her late husband, Carlo Ponti; of friends and co-stars such as Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando and Richard Burton; and of the joy and satisfaction of being a mother and a grandmother.

Joanna Lumley is not only a star of stage and screen but a national treasure. Luckily her magpie instincts have preserved a hoard of memorabilia that make this illustrated memoir a visual feast, with photos from her Indian childhood to the present. There are souvenirs of her early modelling career, her celebrated roles in The New Avengers, The Pink Panther and Absolutely Fabulous and, of course, the causes about which she feels passionate. Felt-tip mark on upper trimmed edge.

Best known as one half of the TV sitcom duo Steptoe and Son, Harry H Corbett was a gifted classical actor who fought as a Royal Marine in the Second World War before his local theatre company offered him a role as the front legs of a cow. In this affectionate and frank biography, his actress daughter charts his career, from Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop to the popular fame that sat uneasily on the shoulders of this shy, unassuming socialist.