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Author: Patricia A. Demaio Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi ISBN: 1628468777 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 364
Book Description
The incomparable Simone Signoret (1921-1985), one of the grand actresses of the twentieth century and one of France's most notable stars, considered herself the “oldest discovery” in Hollywood. After years of block-listing during the McCarthy era, she was thirty-eight years old when she entered Hollywood through the back door in the 1959 British blockbuster Room at the Top. Her portrayal of the endearing Alice Aisgill earned her the Academy Award in 1960, the first French actor to win a coveted Oscar. Though a latecomer to Hollywood, Signoret was already an international star who had survived the Nazi occupation of Paris, emerging in 1945 as a beautiful, promising actress capable of communicating more emotion through body language than dialogue alone could achieve. She gained a reputation as the thinking man's sex symbol and in several films portrayed prostitutes with subtlety and depth. She was fiercely protective of her privacy. But after winning the Oscar, she was dragged through the gutter when her second husband, Yves Montand, had a widely publicized affair with Marilyn Monroe. Many attributed her rapid aging and alcoholism to this betrayal. She endured this perception in silence, all the while demonstrating a remarkable capacity to reinvent herself as a bestselling author, respected social activist, and revered actress who remained in the cinema, her “garden of dreams,” for over four decades. Patricia A. DeMaio combines Signoret's courageous story with Montand's biography to reveal new information and insight into Signoret's humanitarian efforts and the vibrant film career that sustained her.
Author: Patricia A. Demaio Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi ISBN: 1628468777 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 364
Book Description
The incomparable Simone Signoret (1921-1985), one of the grand actresses of the twentieth century and one of France's most notable stars, considered herself the “oldest discovery” in Hollywood. After years of block-listing during the McCarthy era, she was thirty-eight years old when she entered Hollywood through the back door in the 1959 British blockbuster Room at the Top. Her portrayal of the endearing Alice Aisgill earned her the Academy Award in 1960, the first French actor to win a coveted Oscar. Though a latecomer to Hollywood, Signoret was already an international star who had survived the Nazi occupation of Paris, emerging in 1945 as a beautiful, promising actress capable of communicating more emotion through body language than dialogue alone could achieve. She gained a reputation as the thinking man's sex symbol and in several films portrayed prostitutes with subtlety and depth. She was fiercely protective of her privacy. But after winning the Oscar, she was dragged through the gutter when her second husband, Yves Montand, had a widely publicized affair with Marilyn Monroe. Many attributed her rapid aging and alcoholism to this betrayal. She endured this perception in silence, all the while demonstrating a remarkable capacity to reinvent herself as a bestselling author, respected social activist, and revered actress who remained in the cinema, her “garden of dreams,” for over four decades. Patricia A. DeMaio combines Signoret's courageous story with Montand's biography to reveal new information and insight into Signoret's humanitarian efforts and the vibrant film career that sustained her.
Author: Susan Hayward Publisher: A&C Black ISBN: 9780826413949 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 308
Book Description
In what may be the most in-depth study yet published of a film star's body of work, Susan Hayward charts the career of Simone Signoret, one of the great Frech actresses of the 20th Century.Signoret- who won an Oscar in 1960 for her performance in Room at the Top- was a key figure in French cinema for 40 years. But it is not so much her longevity that impresses, as it is the quality of work she produced as her career progressed. She started out as a stunningly beautiful woman, winning major international awards five times for her roles, and yet was only moderately in demand during those years. From the 1960s onwards, when her looks began to decline significantly, Signoret was in greater demand, and produced most of her output. She insisted on playing roles consonant with her real age, and often chose to play roles that portrayed wher as even more ugly than she had become.Simore Signoret: The Star as Cultural Sign is a remarkable achievement, a labor of love from one of the world's leading scholars of French cinema.
Author: Catherine David Publisher: Overlook Books ISBN: 9780879515812 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 248
Book Description
A glorious blonde beauty in her youth who hurled herself into old age after husband Yves Montand's much publicized affair with Marilyn Monroe, Simone Signoret was both French icon and international star. Although she is best known for her roles in such films as La Ronde, Diabolique, and Casque d'Or, Signoret played out her riveting life in many arenas. She was famous for being a movie star, she was famous for being a political activist and she was famous for being the wife of Yves Montand. This unflinching, captivating biography shows Signoret as a personally and professionally complex woman who was gutsy and uncompromising in her commitments. Tough, self-deprecating, funny and articulate, Signoret was an actress whose star quality was based not on sex appeal like that of rival Monroe but on her extraordinary ability to communicate passion. As her beauty began to wane, she compensated by throwing herself into her intellectual life - she held salons, wrote books and stepped up her political activities. Even her Academy Award, for Room at the Top, was a political statement. By giving the award to this subversive French woman with ties to the French Communist Party, the academy was advertising its joy at the return of free expression after the chill of the McCarthy years. Signoret was loved by millions as much for her commanding character as for her great talent. When she died of cancer in 1985, at the age of sixty-four, thousands of mourners, ordinary people as well as French actors, writers and politicians, attended her funeral in Paris.
Author: John le Carré Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 1101603755 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 182
Book Description
The first of his peerless novels of Cold War espionage and international intrigue, Call for the Dead is also the debut of John le Carré's masterful creation George Smiley. "Go back to Whitehall and look for more spies on your drawing boards." George Smiley is no one's idea of a spy—which is perhaps why he's such a natural. But Smiley apparently made a mistake. After a routine security interview, he concluded that the affable Samuel Fennan had nothing to hide. Why, then, did the man from the Foreign Office shoot himself in the head only hours later? Or did he? The heart-stopping tale of intrigue that launched both novelist and spy, Call for the Dead is an essential introduction to le Carré's chillingly amoral universe.
Author: Nadine Cohodas Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press ISBN: 0807882747 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 461
Book Description
Born Eunice Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina, Nina Simone (1933-2003) began her musical life playing classical piano. A child prodigy, she wanted a career on the concert stage, but when the Curtis Institute of Music rejected her, the devastating disappointment compelled her to change direction. She turned to popular music and jazz but never abandoned her classical roots or her intense ambition. By the age of twenty six, Simone had sung at New York City's venerable Town Hall and was on her way. Tapping into newly unearthed material on Simone's family and career, Nadine Cohodas paints a luminous portrait of the singer, highlighting her tumultuous life, her innovative compositions, and the prodigious talent that matched her ambition. With precision and empathy, Cohodas weaves the story of Simone's contentious relationship with audiences and critics, her outspoken support for civil rights, her two marriages and her daughter, and, later, the sense of alienation that drove her to live abroad from 1993 until her death. Alongside these threads runs a more troubling one: Simone's increasing outbursts of rage and pain that signaled mental illness and a lifelong struggle to overcome a deep sense of personal injustice.