# Favorite Books on Directors, Actors, Etc.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833 "2020-03-02T23:28:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/1 "2020-03-02T23:28:23Z")
I love biographies, but I really love autobiographies, because its (hopefully) coming from the source, even if they might leave out a few details. Or a book about Hollywood, or the movie-making process… I just bought one entitled, “Letters from Hollywood: Inside the Private World of Classic American Movemaking” I have Marlon Brando’s autobiography “Songs My Mother Taught Me” and would highly recommend it. Highly recommend Conversations with Filmmakers Series > **[Conversations with Filmmakers Series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversations_with_Filmmakers_Series)** > > The Conversations with Filmmakers Series is part of the University Press of Mississippi which is sponsored by Mississippi's eight state universities. The mission of the Series is to publish collected interviews with world-famous directors. The current Filmmakers Series editor is Gerald Peary, a noted film critic and Professor of Communications and Journalism at Suffolk University, Boston. Peary was appointed to this position following the death of the Series’ original general editor, Dr. Peter... I’ll add more once I take a look… Please share any recommendations! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/2 "2020-03-02T23:36:12Z")
_[Hitchcock/Truffault](https://www.amazon.com/Hitchcock-Revised-Francois-Truffaut/dp/0671604295)_ Charlie Chaplin’s _[My Autobiography](https://www.amazon.com/My-Autobiography-Neversink-Charlie-Chaplin/dp/1612191924)_ is a great read, but he doesn’t really discuss his filmmaking. Andrew Sarris’s _[The American Cinema](https://www.amazon.com/American-Cinema-Directors-Directions-1929-1968/dp/0306807289)_ is a great resource for directors pre-1968. Sarris is the king of the auteur theory, which has a bad rep these days, but mostly because people haven’t read it, where he explains what he means. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/3 "2020-03-03T00:13:27Z")
Whatever you might think of him as an actor or a person, Charlton Heston’s two books ([The Actor’s Life: Journals, 1956-1976](https://www.amazon.com/Charlton-Heston-Actors-Journals-1956-1976/dp/0525050302/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=heston+the+actors+life&qid=1583194237&sr=8-2) and [In The Arena: An Autobiography](https://www.amazon.com/Arena-Autobiography-Charlton-Heston/dp/0684803941/ref=pd_sbs_14_1/141-2952914-9797106?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0684803941&pd_rd_r=11e54395-f1c0-4ffe-b1b9-6104f28f83b4&pd_rd_w=UWS4p&pd_rd_wg=zhZUx&pf_rd_p=7cd8f929-4345-4bf2-a554-7d7588b3dd5f&pf_rd_r=X69G1ZM4E7Z5NWZ22HAE&psc=1&refRID=X69G1ZM4E7Z5NWZ22HAE)) are an excellent insight into the whole movie process. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/4 "2020-03-03T00:46:45Z")
Donald Borst, _Graven Images_ - Horror film posters Leon Barsacq, _Caligari’s Cabinet and Other Grand Illusions: A History of Film Design_ Peter Bogdanovich,\* Fritz Lang in America\* - In which Herr Lang almost comes across as a reasonable man instead of the conniving fuck that he was (and who probably murdered his first wife) Luis Buñuel, _My Last Sigh_ - autobiography (co-written with his frequent writing partner Jean-Claude Carrière) Larry Ceplair & Steven Englund,\* The Inquisition in Hollywood\* - The Blacklist Era in Hollywood José de la Colina, Luis Buñuel, and Tomás Pérez Turrent, _Objects of Desire: Conversations with Luis Buñuel_ William K. Everson, _Classics of the Horror Film_ and _More Classics of the Horror Film_ Patrick McGilligan (ed.), _Backstory: Interviews with Screenwriters_, vols. 1-4 (but especially vols. 2 & 3) Susan Pack, _Film Posters of the Russian Avant-Garde_ Michael Powell, _A Life in Movies_ and _Million Dollar Movie_ - Lengthy, but never boring 2-part autobiography Mark Viera, _Sin in Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood_ Amos Vogel, _Film as a Subversive Art_ Josef von Sternberg, _Fun in a Chinese Laundry_ - autobiography Michael Weldon, _The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film_ and _The Psychotronic Video Guide_ Orson Welles & Peter Bogdanovich, _This is Orson Welles_ - Extensive interview ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/5 "2020-03-03T02:30:35Z")
These two books by Peter Biskind: _Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock’n’Roll Generation Saved Hollywood_ _Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film_ Together these two books are a history of Hollywood from about 1967 to about 2002. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/6 "2020-03-03T03:00:55Z")
I’ve recently read two books by Mark Harris, which were both very good. _Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War_ - The story of five prominent directors and their wartime service. _Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood_ - It’s centered on the five movies that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar in 1967 and how they reflect the changes in movie-making. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/7 "2020-03-03T03:59:55Z")
Two of my favorite books about Hollywood: \* The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, and the Network Battle for the Night \*----backstage story of Johnny Carson’s retirement from _The Tonight Show_, andthe behind the scenes battle between David Letterman and Jay Leno to take it over. _The War for Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy_—backstage story of Conan O’Brien’s failed attempt to take ove the Tonight Show ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/8 "2020-03-03T04:20:46Z")
> **[Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams: Tosches, Nick: 9780385334297:...](https://www.amazon.com/Dino-Living-Dirty-Business-Dreams/dp/038533429X)** > > Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams \[Tosches, Nick\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams > **[Tony Curtis: The Autobiography: Curtis, Tony, Paris, Barry: 9780688097592:...](https://www.amazon.com/Tony-Curtis-Autobiography/dp/0688097596)** > > Tony Curtis: The Autobiography \[Curtis, Tony, Paris, Barry\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Tony Curtis: The Autobiography [[https://www.amazon.com/Moons-Balloon-David-Niven/dp/0140239243/ref=sr\_1\_1?crid=27QCRFKGBBDBS&keywords=the+moon's+a+balloon+david+niven&qid=1583209038&s=digital-text&sprefix=the+moon's+a+%2Cdigital-text%2C416&sr=1-1-catcorr](https://www.amazon.com/Moons-Balloon-David-Niven/dp/0140239243/ref=sr_1_1?crid=27QCRFKGBBDBS&keywords=the+moon%27s+a+balloon+david+niven&qid=1583209038&s=digital-text&sprefix=the+moon%27s+a+%2Cdigital-text%2C416&sr=1-1-catcorr) > **[Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven's Gate, the Film that...](https://www.amazon.com/Final-Cut-Making-Heavens-Artists/dp/1557043744)** > > Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven's Gate, the Film that Sank United Artists \[Bach, Steven\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven's Gate, the Film that Sank... ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/9 "2020-03-03T04:27:52Z")
> **[Amazon.com: Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live eBook :...](https://www.amazon.com/Saturday-Night-Backstage-History-Live-ebook/dp/B006MNL3K0)** > > Amazon.com: Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live eBook : Hill, Doug, Weingrad, Jeff: Kindle Store > **[Wired: The Short Life & Fast Times of John Belushi: Woodward, Bob:...](https://www.amazon.com/Wired-Short-Life-Times-Belushi/dp/1451655592)** > > Wired: The Short Life & Fast Times of John Belushi \[Woodward, Bob\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Wired: The Short Life & Fast Times of John Belushi > **[King Pulp: The Wild World of Quentin Tarantino: Woods, Paul A.: 9780859652704:...](https://www.amazon.com/King-Pulp-World-Quentin-Tarantino/dp/085965270X)** > > King Pulp: The Wild World of Quentin Tarantino \[Woods, Paul A.\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. King Pulp: The Wild World of Quentin Tarantino > **[Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang! The Unofficial James Bond 007 Film Companion: Barnes,...](https://www.amazon.com/Kiss-Bang-Unofficial-James-Companion/dp/0713486457)** > > Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang! The Unofficial James Bond 007 Film Companion \[Barnes, Alan, Hearn, Marcus\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang! The Unofficial James Bond 007 Film Companion ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/10 "2020-03-03T13:23:22Z")
“Cassavetes on Cassavetes” is a great one. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/11 "2020-03-03T14:05:44Z")
I enjoyed both of these surveys: _[Easy Riders, Raging Bulls](https://www.amazon.com/Riders-Raging-Bulls-Sex-Drugs-Rock/dp/0684857081#ace-g8881249860) [Down and Dirty Pictures](https://www.amazon.com/Down-Dirty-Pictures-Sundance-Independent/dp/0684862581/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/142-6069084-6654855?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0684862581&pd_rd_r=e68b64e7-3224-4b9b-b604-d355372096ef&pd_rd_w=YmAfM&pd_rd_wg=Bmt6U&pf_rd_p=fd08095f-55ff-4a15-9b49-4a1a719225a9&pf_rd_r=6M9VD9BZH7GTTXQ7ACEM&psc=1&refRID=6M9VD9BZH7GTTXQ7ACEM)_ Both by Peter Biskind. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/12 "2020-03-07T00:06:16Z")
I’m not finished, but “Bloody Sam: The Life and Films of Sam Peckinpah” is one I’d recommend. I like some of his movies, but always found him to be more interesting that his films. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/13 "2020-03-14T23:21:51Z")
I strongly recommend _Adventures in the Screen Trade_ and _Which Lie Did I Tell? More Adventures in the Screen Trade_, both by William Goldman. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/14 "2020-03-15T01:20:20Z")
Harpo Marx’s **Harpo Speaks!** is a terrific autobiography. Surprisingly (to me; I was 13 or 14 when I first read it) he spends many more pages on Broadway in the 1920s, and his interaction with the other Algonquin Roundtablers, than on Hollywood in the 1930s. Clearly he considered the ‘20s the high point of his life. And quite a bit of the 1930s-40s stuff is about his friendship with Oscar Levant. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/15 "2020-03-15T01:58:56Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > Peter Bogdanovich,\* Fritz Lang in America\*… Not a book, but PB’s doc _Directed by John Ford_ is an at-times bewildering look at someone who (whom?) I thought completely came across as one unobliging fucking idiot. Micheal Zuckoff - _Robert Altman: The Oral Biography_. Comprehensive, excellent. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/16 "2020-03-15T02:44:09Z")
_Final Cut_ by Steven Bach ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/17 "2020-03-15T02:47:16Z")
Donald Richie’s **The Films of Akira Kurasawa** ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/18 "2020-03-15T03:26:03Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Whatever you might think of him as an actor or a person, Charlton Heston’s two books ([The Actor’s Life: Journals, 1956-1976](https://www.amazon.com/Charlton-Heston-Actors-Journals-1956-1976/dp/0525050302/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=heston+the+actors+life&qid=1583194237&sr=8-2) and [In The Arena: An Autobiography](https://www.amazon.com/Arena-Autobiography-Charlton-Heston/dp/0684803941/ref=pd_sbs_14_1/141-2952914-9797106?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0684803941&pd_rd_r=11e54395-f1c0-4ffe-b1b9-6104f28f83b4&pd_rd_w=UWS4p&pd_rd_wg=zhZUx&pf_rd_p=7cd8f929-4345-4bf2-a554-7d7588b3dd5f&pf_rd_r=X69G1ZM4E7Z5NWZ22HAE&psc=1&refRID=X69G1ZM4E7Z5NWZ22HAE)) are an excellent insight into the whole movie process. Beat me to it, he was one of my favorite actors. One thing I liked about his aurobiography is that he didn’t dis on other people, just to build himself up. I loved how he talked about his wife and kids too. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-books-on-directors-actors-etc/848833/19 "2020-03-15T18:06:18Z")
Otto Friedrich, _City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940’s_ > **[City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/484077.City_of_Nets)** > > This dazzling story of Hollywood during the decade of i…