(Applause Books). For decades, Screen World has been the film professional's, as well as the film buff's, favorite and indispensable annual screen resource, full of all the necessary statistics and facts. Now Screen World editor Barry Monush has compiled another comprehensive work for every film lover's library. In the first of two volumes, this book chronicles the careers of every significant film actor, from the earliest silent screen stars Chaplin, Pickford, Fairbanks to the mid-1960s, when the old studio and star systems came crashing down. Each listing includes: a brief biography, photos from the famed Screen World archives, with many rare shots; vital statistics; a comprehensive filmography; and an informed, entertaining assessment of each actor's contributions good or bad! In addition to every major player, Monush includes the legions of unjustly neglected troupers of yesteryear. The result is a rarity: an invaluable reference tool that's as much fun to read as a scandal sheet. It pulsates with all the scandal, glamour, oddity and glory that was the lifeblood of its subjects. Contains over 1,000 photos!

Screen World editor Barry Monush has compiled an essential work for every film lover's library.

Now what was the name of that film again? The one that Jack Nicholson was in the Sixties, you know... How many times a month does this dilemma strike? American Film Actors are a large part of all our daily lives, if only we could remember the names of the films they appeared in. Now you have all the information you could ever need, as well as crave, at your fingertips in the new Biographical Encyclopedia of Hollywood.Expert film and theatre historian Barry Monush (of Screen World fame) has produced the work of a lifetime -- a complete listing of every actor who has appeared in American film from the dawn of the two-reeler. But Monush does more than list the vital statistics (American films, New York stage appearances, key television work, birth date, real name, educational background, years of release), he provides a highly amusing and well-researched account of each and every thespian.From Bud Abbott to Pia Zadora, Monush gives each performer his or her due, along with the occasional left jab. In most cases Monush reveals more than the particular actor ever revealed on camera. But there is also plenty of praise, and rare facts and figures, for the great artists. The neglected are finally given their due praise, the overblown finally their comeuppance. Overall, it is the most authoritative, complete and revealing resource volume on the American actor ever compiled. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Hollywood is as indispensable as it is enjoyable. Anyone who has ever loved movies, and especially loved to talk about them, must own this book.

Offers an historical overview of the American film industry, from its beginnings in Thomas Edison's workshop to its status today as the leader of the world's filmmaking.

Since the beginning of television, Westerns have been playing on the small screen. From the mid-1950s until the early 1960s, they were one of TV's most popular genres, with millions of viewers tuning in to such popular shows as Rawhide, Gunsmoke, and Disney's Davy Crockett. Though the cultural revolution of the later 1960s contributed to the demise of traditional Western programs, the Western never actually disappeared from TV. Instead, it took on new forms, such as the highly popular Lonesome Dove and Deadwood, while exploring the lives of characters who never before had a starring role, including anti-heroes, mountain men, farmers, Native and African Americans, Latinos, and women. Shooting Stars of the Small Screen is a comprehensive encyclopedia of more than 450 actors who received star billing or played a recurring character role in a TV Western series or a made-for-TV Western movie or miniseries from the late 1940s up to 2008. Douglas Brode covers the highlights of each actor's career, including Western movie work, if significant, to give a full sense of the actor's screen persona(s). Within the entries are discussions of scores of popular Western TV shows that explore how these programs both reflected and impacted the social world in which they aired. Brode opens the encyclopedia with a fascinating history of the TV Western that traces its roots in B Western movies, while also showing how TV Westerns developed their own unique storytelling conventions.