Pearl White, William Duncan, William Desmond, Ben Wilson, Walter Miller, Francis Ford, Charles Hutchinson, Jack Dougherty, and Eddie Polo are just a few of the stars to start up a whirlwind of enthusiasm among serial devotees. They offered a thrill-a-minute world of ridiculous plots, weird disguises, hair-raising escapes, hidden treasures, diabolic scientific devices, wild animals, depraved men, runaway trains, and an endless procession of knock-down, drag-out fights. Who could resist? This reference work highlights 446 serial performers who thrilled generations. Each entry includes the performer's birth and death dates, serial credits, major films and details of life before and after the movies.

John Carradine, Jamie Lee Curtis, Yvonne De Carlo, Faith Domergue, Boris Karloff, Otto Kruger, Bela Lugosi, Jack Palance, Vincent Price, Santo, and George Zucco are just a few of the 80 horror film stars that are covered in this major standard reference work, now in its third edition. The author has revised much of the information from the two previous editions and has added several more performers to the lineup of horror film stars. The performers are given well rounded career bios and detailed horror film write-ups, with complete filmographies provided for those most associated with horror, science fiction, and fantasy movies, and genre-oriented filmographies for the lesser stars.

This book focuses on film stars from the past and present, from Hollywood, its margins and beyond, and analyzes them through a close consideration of their films and the variety of contexts in which they worked. Essays spread the net wide, looking at past stars from Rosalind Russell and Charlton Heston to present-day stars including Sandra Bullock, Jackie Chan and Jim Carrey, as well as those figures who have earned a certain film star cachet such as Prince, and the martial artist Cynthia Rothrock.

This is a guide to over 850 character actors and actresses. The people covered include John le Mesurier, Irene Handl, Dora Bryan and Sam Kydd from the British studios, and Elisha Cook, Iris Adrian, Hattie McDaniel and Irving Bacon from Hollywood. There is a photograph to accompany every entry in the book. After a short account of each actor's career and characteristics, all their known film credits are given, including many fleeting appearances never previously recorded, plus shorts and TV movies.

This is an A-Z of biographical profiles of filmstars, listing all the films and the years they were made.

Long before sound became an essential part of motion pictures, Westerns were an established genre. The men and women who brought to life cowboys, cowgirls, villains, sidekicks, distressed damsels and outraged townspeople often continued with their film careers, finding success and fame well into the sound era--always knowing that it was in silent Westerns that their careers began. More than a thousand of these once-silent Western players are featured in this fully indexed encyclopedic work. Each entry includes a detailed biography, covering both personal and professional milestones and a complete Western filmography. A foreword is supplied by Diana Serra Cary (formerly the child star "Baby Peggy"), who performed with many of the actors herein.