Discover the Best Sellers Audiobooks in Arts & Entertainment, Celebrity Bios

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Title: Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck

Subtitle: An Unauthorized Account of the Rise and Fall of Bennifer

Author: Malcolm Stone

Narrator: Tom McElroy

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-03-15

Publisher: D. Carter

Genres: Arts & Entertainment, Celebrity Bios

Publisher's Summary:

This article recaps the history of Jennifer Garner's relationship with Ben Affleck. Since 2001 they have been one of Hollywood's super couples. Then, on June 30, 2015, after 10 years of marriage, they announced their intent to divorce. Listen to this article to find out how their relationship developed - and how it came to an end.

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Title: An Unauthorized Guide to Tamala Jones

Subtitle: A Short Biography of the Actress Who Plays Lanie on TV's Castle

Author: Malcolm Stone

Narrator: Dave Wright

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-29-15

Publisher: Malcolm Stone

Genres: Arts & Entertainment, Celebrity Bios

Publisher's Summary:

This article profiles Tamala Jones. Famous for her portrayal of Lanie on Castle, Tamala has also played many other roles and survived a brain aneurysm. Listen to this article to find out how she became a star.

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Title: American Legends: The Life of Jimmy Stewart

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: James Romick

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-15

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Arts & Entertainment, Celebrity Bios

Publisher's Summary:

"A feller came up to me the other day and said 'I don't know whether this means anything to you but you've given me and my family a lot of enjoyment over the years.' And I said to him, 'Does it mean anything to me? It means everything to me. That's the ballgame. That's it.' And I think that if I have done that to that man, and maybe a couple more...then I'm proud of that." - Jimmy Stewart

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

When the American Film Institute assembled its top 100 actors of all time at the close of the 20th century, Jimmy Stewart ranked third, behind only Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant. There is a certain inevitability to these three actors ranking at the top of the list; after all, they were the dominant faces of Hollywood during the height of the era known as classical Hollywood cinema, a time before the onset of television when the movies still enjoyed relatively uncontested supremacy over American entertainment. The popularity of Stewart, Grant, and Bogart also extends well beyond the success of any of their individual films, reflecting their much broader cultural significance as monuments of Hollywood during its Golden Age.

In fact, if the list was reconstructed today, it is entirely possible that Stewart would rank first.

Members Reviews:

Bricklayer, Airman and Actor Extraordinaire

I enjoyed this ever so brief biography of one of my favorite actors including a lot of history of his early life living with his parents as well as a reasonably thorough review of his film career. I would have loved to have read more of his stint as a bomber pilot during WW2 as well as his own family life once he married but alas that was not to be. I'll leave you with a passage from my all-time favorite film "Remember no man is a failure who has friends." For another fine read I'd also recommend "American Legends: The Life of Henry Fonda" who was a good friend of Jimmy Stewart and of which I found the book to offer even greater depth of that individual.

The man was a true GENTLEMAN!

Jimmy Stewart was and still is loved by all. He was the truest sense of a gentleman. He was the kind of man that all mothers wished their sons would grow up to be and the kind that they wanted for their daughters to marry. I loved him in everyone of his movies! He could make you cry or cry out in fear. He was the cowboy that all little boys wanted to be like and yet so loveable. Even though he was not the hunk, he was so desirable. There were quite a few facts of his life that I had never heard before. All of it so interesting though. Can you tell? I loved the man so dearly. He was one of my most favorite actors and still is today. Another great read!

American Legends: The Life of Jimmy Stewart

A wonderfully complex expose' of the multi-faceted life of one Hollywood's greatest actors. A captivating view of the life and career of a tremendously talented and down-to-earth individual.

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Title: The Life of Joan Crawford

Subtitle: American Legends

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Kate Fisher

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 11 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-10-15

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Arts & Entertainment, Celebrity Bios

Publisher's Summary:

"I never go outside unless I look like Joan Crawford the movie star. If you want to see the girl next door, go next door." Joan Crawford

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

The life of Joan Crawford is one of the most famous Hollywood rags-to-riches tales. While it is common to think of Hollywood as a land offering great opportunity to hardworking actresses, the Horatio Alger myth rarely applies in reality, but it applied almost perfectly to Joan Crawford. Crawford grew up in relative poverty, with both of her childhood father figures abandoning the family before she became a teenager, and she relied on undying ambition in order to progress through the ranks of the show business circuit and then the Hollywood studio system. This drive to succeed continued throughout her entire career, and Crawford's public battles with both studios (MGM in particular) and other stars (first Norma Shearer and later Bette Davis) were borne out of an unmatched competitive streak.

Joan Crawford's life and career also shed light on the treatment of women in pop culture and in cinema during the early 20th century. Her career was not only limited to film acting, as she acted in musical revues and was previously an unabashed flapper during the Roaring Twenties. As her career progressed, she acted in silent films, flourished with the rise of sound cinema in the late 1920s, became a leading lady in the 1930s and 1940s, and finally became a sort of caricature of herself during the late stages of her career in the 1950s and 1960s.

Members Reviews:

Short and sweet

Narration very monotonous. Not bad, just droning. Short and sweet and to the point biography. Bite sized but packs a punch.

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Title: American Legends: The Life of Sidney Poitier

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Rhett Samuel Price

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-10-15

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Arts & Entertainment, Celebrity Bios

Publisher's Summary:

"In my case, the body of work stands for itself.... I think my work has been representative of me as a man." - Sidney Poitier

"To be compared to Jackie Robinson is an enormous compliment, but I don't think it's necessarily deserved." - Sidney Poitier

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Near the end of the 20th century, the American Film Institute ranked the greatest actors and actresses who worked during the Golden Era of Hollywood and the first half of the 1900s, and Sidney Poitier was ranked 22nd among the men. Given the company he was surrounded by, such a distinction could be considered honor enough, but Poitier also happened to be the only minority on the list, an accomplishment made all the more incredible given the systematic discrimination he faced within the industry and the land where he grew up.

Though he spent much of his childhood in the Bahamas, Poitier was born in Miami and was exposed to the effects of Jim Crow at a young age. With no good educational opportunities, Poitier struggled to even learn how to read as a teen, and after a stint in the Army, it's unclear where his life was headed until he successfully auditioned for a spot in the American Negro Theater, an organization that staged plays during the 1940s and helped groom both Poitier and Harry Belafonte to be actors.

Members Reviews:

Terrific 46-Page Booklet on One of America's Greatest Actors

At 46 pages, this brief booklet will tell you much about the legendary actor.

There is no time wasted in letting you understand at least part of the reason Poitier was unlike the stereotypical African-American. As an infant he spent his fomative years growing up in the Bahamas, although he was born in America, near Miami Beach.

What especially intrigued me was his inability to act in front of Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. To learn how he adapted to his 'stage fright' you'll need to read this terrific publication, as I do not give spoilers.

So, if you are interested in Sidney Poitier for more than reading his bio or his list of movies, I highly recommend American Legends: The Life of Sidney Poitier.

if you loved his career read this book

The book American Legends: The Life of Sidney Poitier provided an excellent insight into who the actor is and was. I have seen every movie, documentary, and TV program that Sidney Poitier made. I knew he was raised in the islands and I assumed he was a naturalized American, and did not realize he was born in Florida. This book is many quotations by him and shows many of the people that helped him further his career. I only have a minor complaint with the book, the night that Sidney Poitier was given his Honorary Academy award was the same night that two other African-American performers became the second African-Americans to win the Academy Award for Best Actor and Actress. Of course Sidney Poitier received his award while acting in much more wholesome movie.

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Title: American Legends: The Life of Carole Lombard

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Wendy Almeida

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-30-15

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Arts & Entertainment, Celebrity Bios

Publisher's Summary:

"Carole Lombard's tragic death means that something of gaiety and beauty have been taken from the world at a time they are needed most." (Errol Flynn)

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

On January 16, 1942, just a few weeks after Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II, the nation suffered what were considered the first civilian deaths of the war when a plane crashed into the side of a mountain southwest of Las Vegas. Aboard the plane were 15 servicemen, but the plane was also carrying one of Hollywood's biggest stars: actress Carole Lombard.

Although Lombard's death and her marriage to Gone with the Wind star Clark Gable have overshadowed her career, her untimely death in 1942 cut short the life of one of Hollywood's most prominent stars at the time. In fact, Lombard's platinum look and her unique mannerisms had helped her become the biggest star of the screwball genre by the end of the 1930s, and her movies were so successful that she was the highest paid actress in Hollywood by the start of the 1940s. As English critic Graham Greene said of her, "Platinum blonde, with a heart-shaped face, delicate, impish features and a figure made to be swathed in silver lamé, Lombard wriggled expressively through such classics of hysteria as Twentieth Century and My Man Godfrey." Indeed, despite dying at the age of 33, the American Film Institute recognized her as one of the biggest film icons of the 20th century.

Members Reviews:

Although too short ...

Being a consummate admirer of Ms Lombard, both on and off the screen, I enjoyed it immensely. I recommend this short read to anyone even remotely interested in the short life of one Hollywood's most important icons. C. L. defies the stereotype of what most people think of, when they say Hollywood 'Star'.

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Title: American Legends: The Life of Jane Fonda

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Carroll Snead

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-25-15

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Arts & Entertainment, Celebrity Bios

Publisher's Summary:

"Being Henry Fonda's daughter got me started. But it didn't keep me working." (Jane Fonda)

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Growing up in the shadow of one of America's most famous actors would be intimidating for anyone, but few have emerged out of that shadow like Jane Fonda, the oldest daughter of screen legend Henry Fonda. In fact, when Jane costarred with her father in the last film he made, On Golden Pond, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for it. However, she has accomplished more than enough in her own career to make her father proud, winning two Academy Awards, an Emmy, and seven Golden Globe Awards herself.

Jane burst onto the scene in the early 1960s, when she was still in her 20s, and when she performed in Sunday in New York, one critic labeled her, "[T]he loveliest and most gifted of all our new, young actresses." She has been acting at least off and on from that point forward, earning critical acclaim both for her acting skills and for many of the movies she appeared in.

However, today many people associate Jane Fonda with political causes, most notoriously her stance against the Vietnam War. Indeed, she might still be the face of the anti-Vietnam movement because of an episode that earned her the notorious nickname Hanoi Jane. In addition to speaking out against the war, Fonda actually traveled to Hanoi in July 1972 and was photographed sitting in a North Vietnamese antiaircraft battery, immediately earning widespread condemnation that sought to brand her as anti-American.

Members Reviews:

Three Stars

Nothing we didn't know

interesting

Very readable and concise. Covered all the important aspects of her life and explained her actions during the war well.

Four Stars

OK

Thought provoking as to why traitors are allowed to live.

An interesting look at americas worst traitor. Be sure and read this for evidence that Jane should be hung for treason.

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Title: Legends of Hollywood: The Life of Richard Burton

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Scott Clem

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-22-15

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Arts & Entertainment, Celebrity Bios

Publisher's Summary:

"You may be as vicious about me as you please. You will only do me justice." (Richard Burton)

In the 1960s, the most popular actor in the world was Richard Burton, a hard-drinking Welshman who was nevertheless so professional that he was one of the preeminent stage performers of his day. In fact, he performed Shakespeare so magnificently that he was compared to British legend Laurence Olivier, and that success ultimately led to a film career that earned him seven Academy Award nominations, as well as BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for Best Actor.

Given his accomplishments on the stage and in Hollywood, Burton became one of the world's most recognizable leading men, so it seemed fitting that he engaged in one of Hollywood's most legendary romances with Elizabeth Taylor while on the set of Cleopatra, one of the era's most notorious movies. In fact, his tumultuous relationship with Taylor, which included two marriages, dominated tabloids and remains the one thing most people associate with Burton today, despite the rest of his accomplishments.

Burton's high-profile marriages to Taylor helped bring him attention, but they also led to more self-destructive behavior, and in a sense they represented the peak of Burton's career. Over the last decade of his life, Burton began appearing in mediocre films, and due to his declining health and constant drunkenness, his performances were mediocre as well, often involving incoherent slurring. The fast life ultimately caught up with him in 1984, when a cerebral hemorrhage killed him at the age of 58. Fittingly, it was the same cause of death that befell his alcoholic father in 1957, just as Burton was at the precipice of Hollywood stardom.

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Title: American Legends: The Life of Mickey Rooney

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Robert Diepenbrock

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-22-15

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Arts & Entertainment, Celebrity Bios

Publisher's Summary:

"I was a 13 year old boy for 30 years." (Mickey Rooney)

In 1939, the year of Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, Time magazine noted, "Hollywood's No. 1 box office bait in 1939 was not Clark Gable, Errol Flynn or Tyrone Power, but a rope-haired, kazoo-voiced kid with a comic-strip face, who until this week had never appeared in a picture without mugging or overacting it. His name (assumed) was Mickey Rooney, and to a large part of the more articulate U. S. cinema audience, his name was becoming a frequently used synonym for brat."

At the same time, the fact that the peak of his success came when he was so young has helped obscure the fact that he has acted in 10 different decades. Rooney is one of the only actors who worked in the silent film era, yet he recently appeared in 2012's Last Will and Embezzlement. In the process Rooney has been awarded a Juvenile Academy Award, an Honorary Academy Award, two Golden Globes, and an Emmy Award.

Members Reviews:

Could have been better

I read this book in about an hour and I ain't no speed reader. It reads like just a "history" of Mickey Rooney with a few of his quotes sprinkled lightly across the pages. I never met the man but from all accounts he certainly had a natural wit and humor about him which added to his success. I expected to read more funny stories about his life and times. I bet he was a hoot to go out on the town with in his day. So if you are interested in just history lesson, well this book is for you, but if you want to read more about the persons character and life experiences, go elsewhere. -longspur

Great Brief Synopsis

This is a quick overall view of Mickey Rooney's life. Maybe a few tidbits you might not find elsewhere. But I do love the cover photo. Not a complete listing of all the works of Rooney but there are websites and other books that will cover those minute details. This edition is a good one to attend to any Rooney collection.

(More like Cliff Notes)

It is a booklet rather than a book.

Uninspired.

(More like Cliff Notes).

I was very disappointed.

A quick overview - no heart....:

GOOD READ

Very interesting short biography on a child icon,yes he had flaws, but he left this earth giving us a 100 years of laughter,tears and yes even some personal disappointments however we will have nothing but love and joy while watching the talent of this legend.

Three Stars

Good, but too brief, not enough insight.

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Title: American Legends: Laurel & Hardy

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Peter D. Stover

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-22-15

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Arts & Entertainment, Celebrity Bios

Publisher's Summary:

"Mr. Hardy was beginning to forget things, but Mr. Laurel had no fear of losing his memory - as a matter of fact, Mr. Laurel never had a memory to lose." (Title card in Hog Wild)

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

By the 1920s English comic Stan Laurel had been in dozens of films, and American Oliver Hardy had appeared in hundreds, but it was not until they formed a duo together in 1926 that they began to be noticed. Once they did, however, Laurel & Hardy became one of the most famous comedy teams in American history, with a career that spanned four decades and included over 100 combined shorts and feature films. Even today, nearly 60 years after their last performances together, Laurel & Hardy are still popular, alongside legends like The Three Stooges and Abbott & Costello, and their routines are still watched across the globe.

Perhaps most importantly, Laurel & Hardy were forerunners of slapstick comedy and thus influenced those that followed. Their complementary styles of slapstick humor, with the thin, childish Laurel acting as a foil for the overweight and overly pompous Hardy, offered a template for others to follow, and the duo established several famous gags that other acts, like the Stooges, subsequently mimicked.

Members Reviews:

This book was not needed. Learn more from the Laurel and Hardy Forum online, for free.

Many factual errors. Appears to be internet material done in a cut and past style, with no knowledge of the team beforehand.

An enjoyable peak into the lives of true legends.

Very interesting look into the men behind the legend. Most of us grew up enjoying their very special brand of comedy. It was fun learning of the story behind their success and having the ability to peak into their personal lives. They will always have my respect as true gentlemen and magnificent entertainers. A very enjoyable walk down memory lane.

I enjoyed watching Laurel and Hardy with my Grandpa when I ...

I enjoyed watching Laurel and Hardy with my Grandpa when I was a kid (I am 36 now). Reading this book about their lives was also fun, bringing back many memories.

Great read.

This book gave me a whole new outlook into those two men. Their lives were obviously full of success, laughter and tragedy. Great read.

Four Stars

Good Book! Learned some about those Two!