The Great Movie Stars
David Shipman's bestselling studies of the movie stars make enthralling reading. This newly revised and expanded edition of Volume 1 is fully updated, and describes the careers of almost 200 stars who made their names before the start of World War II. In fact the stories of some of these early performers lay hidden for many years until pieced together for this work. The author has selected both those stars who were most popular and prestigious in their own time and those who are the best remembered and cherished today.Among those featured are James Cagney, Deanna Durbin, Barbara Stanwyck, Spencer Tracy, Buster Keaton, Bette Davis, Laurence Olivier, Judy Garland, Richard Barthelmess, Myrna Loy, Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbanks, Abbott and Costello. For each artist there is a detailed career survey including the titles of all the star's films and an analysis of critical and financial success. Quotes from contemporary reviews, salary figures and contract facts are woven into the biographies, as well as details of the roles that were rejected and the films that were never made.