Conversations with Wilder
After reading this book I not only had a new-found appreciation for directing legend Billy Wilder, but also for journalist, director, author Cameron Crowe.Conversations with Wilder is the record of a series of interviews that Crowe conducted with Billy Wilder during the time he was also writing his personal bio-pic “Almost Famous”. The book depicts Wilder, through his responses to Crowe’s insightful probes, as a sharp witted, playful, and satirical classic Hollywood Director who is every bit deserving of his legendary status. Read the rest of this entry »
How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make
How Not to Write a Screenplay is an invaluable addition to any aspiring screenwriter’s shelf–and you’d best make the shelf within arm’s reach of the computer. Author Dean Martin Flinn, an experienced script reader, details the common rookie mistakes that drive script readers crazy. Flinn makes no pretense of being able to teach anyone how to write the next Great American Film–or for that matter the next Stupid Summer Blockbuster. Instead he offers information that will help keep the novice screenwriter’s opus from being immediately tossed on the trash pile (arguably a more valuable service). Read the rest of this entry »
Sheldon Leonard
Sheldon Leonard (February 22, 1907 – January 10, 1997) was a pioneering American film and television producer, director, writer, and actor.
Biography
Leonard was born Sheldon Leonard Bershad in New York City, the son of middle class Jewish parents Anna and Frank Bershad.
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896 – December 26, 1977) was an influential American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. He is popular for his films from a wide range of genres such as Scarface (1932), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Sergeant York [...]
Roman Polanski
Director, actor. Born Raimund Polanski, on August 18, 1933, in Paris, France. At the age of three, Polanski moved with his family to his father’s native city of Krakow, Poland. In 1941, his parents were imprisoned in various Nazi concentration camps, where his mother eventually died in Auschwitz. In order to escape deportation, Polanski lived [...]
Anthony Quayle
(born Sept. 7, 1913, Ainsdale, Lancashire, Eng.—died Oct 20, 1989, London) British actor and director who was well known for his roles in classic plays on the stage as well as for his motion-picture career.
Quayle made his first stage appearance in 1931 in vaudeville but became a member of the Old Vic Theatre in 1932 [...]
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg (November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with director Harold Clurman, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as “America’s first true theatrical collective”. In 1951, he became director of the non-profit Actors Studio, in New York City, considered “the nation’s most [...]
Nunnally Johnson
American screenwriter, producer, and director, who made scripts to such film as THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940, dir. by John Ford), THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW (1944, dir. by Fritz Lang), and HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (1953), starring Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall, and Betty Grable. Several of Johnson’s screenplays were based on best-selling novels [...]
Frank Oz
Though his place in pop culture was assured in the early 1960s when he began operating and voicing many of the most memorable Muppets – including Cookie Monster, Bert, Fozzie the Bear, and his most famous creation, Miss Piggy – puppeteer Frank Oz established an impressive second career as a director of such eclectic films [...]
Philip Kaufman
Born in Chicago, IL, writer/director Philip Kaufman makes accessible American art films and stays out of the Los Angeles area, preferring the home base of San Francisco, working with his wife, Rose, and his son Peter. After studying at the University of Chicago and Harvard Law School, he taught English in Europe and began work [...]
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