Donald Spoto

Documents the life and whirlwind career of the iconic Hollywood actress-turned-European princess, drawing on previously unpublished interviews to discuss her conservative education, Oscar-winning film achievements, and role as a mother to royal children.

A biography of the screen legend employs thirty-five thousand formerly sealed documents--letters, diaries, and other papers--to examine virtually every aspect of Monroe's life and death.

"A fresh and definitive biography in the context of Joan of Arc's times." - International Herald Tribune "Donald Spoto is one of the best biographers in the world today. " - Acclaimed biographer Mary S. Lovell, author of the national bestselling The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family "A magnificent introduction to one of the most misunderstood and controversial of all the saints." - James Martin, SJ, editor of America Magazine, author of My...

Laurence Olivier was the most famous actor of his century and one of the greatest of all time. His looks made him a matinee idol; his talent made him world renowned as an actor, director, and producer. From his stage roles as Hamlet and Archie Rice to his screen roles as Heathcliff and Henry V, his range was unparalleled. But beneath the glamorous image, Olivier was often lonely, confused, and plagued by self-doubts. In this revealing account, Spoto...

The actress Teresa Wright (1918-2005) lived a rich, complex, magnificent life against the backdrop of golden-age Hollywood, Broadway and television. There was no indication, from her astonishingly difficult--indeed, horrifying--childhood, of the success that would follow, nor of the universal acclaim and admiration that accompanied her everywhere. Her two marriages--to the writers Niven Busch and Robert Anderson--provide a good deal of the drama,...