Patrick McGilligan

Un libro divertido y sorprendente, vigoroso retrato de la era más glamourosa de Hollywood, ejemplar como biografía crítica e importante como libro de cine. [...] Catapulta a Patrick McGilligan a la primera linea de los biografos cinematograficos.

Como las mejores películas de Hitchcok, esta biografía de Patrick McGilligan es un drama lleno de nuevas revelaciones, embellecida por una historia central de amor, humor negro y suspense: un retrato definitivo de la mas creativa, y menos comprendida, de la historia del cine.

Oscar Micheaux was the Jackie Robinson of film, the black D. W. Griffith: a bigger-than-life American folk hero whose important life story is nearly forgotten today. Now, in a feat of historical investigation and vivid storytelling, one of our greatest film biographers takes on one of the most talented and complex figures in the history of American entertainment.The son of freed slaves, Micheaux grew up in Metropolis, Illinois, then roamed America as a Pullman porter before making his first mark as a homesteader in South Dakota. Disaster and defeat there led him to forge a career publishing a successful series of autobiographical novels. Ever the entrepreneur, when Hollywood failed to bid high enough for film rights to his stories, he answered by forming his own film production company. Going on to produce or direct twenty-two silent and fifteen sound films in his lifetime, Micheaux became the king of the "race cinema" industry at a time when black-produced films had to scrounge for venues in a segregated society. In this groundbreaking new biography, award-winning film historian Patrick McGilligan offers a vivid and fascinating portrait of this little-known pioneer. Part visionary, part raffish Barnum-like showman, Micheaux was both a maverick filmmaker and an inveterate hustler who used every weapon at his disposal to break the color barrier and thrive in a profession he helped to invent. He made a fortune and lost it again, and launched repeated con games that were followed by public arrests and bankruptcies. He eagerly took credit for the work of othersincluding his unsung-heroine wife. In his desperate later years, he even sunk to plagiarizing his final novela discovery McGilligan reveals here for the first time. In this searching exploration, McGilligan tracks down long-lost financial records, unpublished letters, and unmarked paupers graves, pinpointing Micheauxs birthplace, his tangled personal life, and the circumstances of his tragic death. The result is an epic that bridges a fascinating period in American history, and offers lessons for anyone who would understand the role of black America in forming the culture of our time.

A remarkable, eye-opening biography . . . McGilligans Orson is a Welles for a new generation, [a portrait] in tune with Patti Smiths Just Kids.A. S. Hamrah, BookforumNo American artist or entertainer has enjoyed a more dramatic rise than Orson Welles. At the age of sixteen, he charmed his way into a precocious acting debut in Dublins Gate Theatre. By nineteen, he had published a book on Shakespeare and toured the United States. At twenty, he directed a landmark all-black production of Macbeth in Harlem, and the following year masterminded the legendary WPA production of Marc Blitzsteins agitprop musical The Cradle Will Rock. After founding the Mercury Theatre, he mounted a radio production of The War of the Worlds that made headlines internationally. Then, at twenty-four, Welles signed a Hollywood contract granting him unprecedented freedom as a writer, director, producer, and starpaving the way for the creation of Citizen Kane, considered by many to be the greatest film in history.Drawing on years of deep research, acclaimed biographer Patrick McGilligan conjures the young mans Wisconsin background with Dickensian richness and detail: his childhood as the second son of a troubled industrialist father and a musically gifted, politically active mother; his youthful immersion in theater, opera, and magic in nearby Chicago; his teenage sojourns through rural Ireland, Spain, and the Far East; and his emergence as a maverick theater artist. Sifting fact from legend, McGilligan unearths long-buried writings from Welless school years; delves into his relationships with mentors Dr. Maurice Bernstein, Roger Hill, and Thornton Wilder; explores his partnerships with producer John Houseman and actor Joseph Cotten; reveals the truth of his marriage to actress Virginia Nicolson and rumored affairs with actresses Dolores Del Rio and Geraldine Fitzgerald (including a suspect paternity claim); and traces the story of his troubled brother, Dick Welles, whose mysterious decline ran counter to Orsons swift ascent. And, through it all, we watch in awe as this whirlwind of talenthailed hopefully from boyhood as a geniuscollects the raw material that he and his co-writer, the cantankerous Herman J. Mankiewicz, would mold into the story of Charles Foster Kane.Filled with insight and revelationincluding the surprising true origin and meaning of RosebudYoung Orson is an eye-opening look at the arrival of a talent both monumental and misunderstood.

Award-winningfilm historian Patrick McGilligan follows hisacclaimed biographies of Alfred Hitchcock and Oscar Micheauxwith a revelatory look at the life of Nicholas Ray, the troubled director of Ina Lonely Place, We Cant GoHome Again, and Rebel Without a Cause. McGilligancharts the cerebral struggles, astonishing adventures, and artistic triumphsthat defined Rays life, including his Hollywood collaborations with HumphreyBogart, Robert Mitchum, James Cagney, and James Dean;his love affairs with Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, ZsaZsa Gabor, and Gloria Grahame; his partnerships withactivist Abbie Hoffman, pornography starlet MarilynChambers, photographer Wim Wenders;and more. Celebrating, contextualizing, and examining Rays life and work, McGilligandelivers a milestone of film history and offers a captivating look at one ofclassic cinemas most colorful figures.

Woody Allen was once made a knight commander by France, but he didnt know because the paperwork got lost in the mail.A decade later, he found out about the award by reading about it in the New York Times.Across nearly nine eventful decades, Allens life has been full of surprises. Writing jokes got him a gig as the youngest writer of Sid Caesars television dream team. As a rising comic, he boxed a kangaroo on TV. He made a blank-check deal with a major studio for terms unmatched in Hollywood history apart from early titans like Chaplin and Welles. All before Annie Hall.Yet despite once being one of the most consequential American cultural figures, Allen is now persona non grata. In this judicious biography, acclaimed biographer Patrick McGilligan charts the meteoric rise and fall of the comedian whose nonconformity proved both his secret genius and Achilles heel.Drawing on meticulous research, McGilligan reconstructs Allens Brooklyn boyhood, his salad days as a television comedy writer, his rise to stand-up, and the thoughtful, award-winning filmmaking of his golden years in the 1970s and 80s. His messy relationships with wives and girlfriends, including Annie Hall costar Diane Keaton, were essential to his artistic development and undoing. Yet no one could have predicted his tumultuous personal and professional relationship with actress Mia Farrow, his alleged abuse of their adopted daughter Dylan, and his subsequent marriage to Mias daughter Soon-Yi Previn.In this comprehensive, sweeping, and rigorous account of Allens life and career, McGilligan astutely reveals the writers writer beyond the smoke and controversy, and paints a compelling portrait of the most creative, productive, and influential filmmaker of his time.This definitive biography separates the artist from the headlines, offering a clear-eyed look at a complicated legacy.Meteoric Rise to Fame: From writing jokes for Sid Caesars dream team to boxing a kangaroo on live TV, discover the unconventional path that led to a blank-check deal unmatched since Chaplin and Welles. Acclaimed Filmmaker: Go behind the scenes of an unparalleled career, from the golden years of award-winning films like Annie Hall to his status as one of the most influential directors in modern history. Complicated Relationships: A frank look at the messy, essential relationships with wives and girlfriends, including Diane Keaton, that shaped both his artistic development and his eventual undoing. Career-Ending Controversy: An unflinching, judicious examination of the tumultuous relationship with Mia Farrow, the abuse allegations, and the fallout that redefined his public image forever.

Del spaghetti western al cine de autor. La primera gran biografía del polifacético cineasta norteamericano.«Implacable. [#] Arrasador, incisivo, documentado, repleto de declaraciones.»Gregorio Belinc

Del spaghetti western al cine de autor. La primera gran biografía del polifacético cineasta norteamericano. «Implacable. […] Arrasador, incisivo, documentado, repleto de declaraciones.»Gregorio Belin

Del spaghetti western al cine de autor. La primera gran biografía del polifacético cineasta norteamericano.«Implacable. […] Arrasador, incisivo, documentado, repleto de declaraciones.» Gregorio Bel

Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light is the definitive biography of the Master of Suspense and the most widely recognized film director of all time.In a career that spanned six decades and produced more than 60 films including The 39 Steps, Vertigo, Psycho, and The Birds Alfred Hitchcock set new standards for cinematic invention and storytelling. Acclaimed biographer Patrick McGilligan re-examines his life and extraordinary work, challenging perceptions of Hitchcock as the macabre Englishman and sexual obsessive, and reveals instead the ingenious craftsman, trickster, provocateur, and romantic.With insights into his relationships with Hollywood legends such as Cary Grant, James Stewart, Ingrid Bergman, and Grace Kelly as well as his 54-year marriage to Alma Reville and his inspirations in the thriller genre, the book is full of the same dark humor, cliffhanger suspense, and revelations that are synonymous with one of the most famous and misunderstood figures in cinema.