Theatre and Film

Ellen Terry


by Joy Melville

Ellen Terry (1847-1928) rose to fame as an actress in the 19th century, when her stage partnership with Henry Irving at London's Lyceum Theatre drew capacity crowds. She was notorious for flaunting the moral codes of her day, marrying three times and having two illegitimate children.

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Price: £14.40

Coward


by Sheridan Morley

Noel Coward personified the elegant, witty and faintly outrageous way of life of the upper classes between the wars. Sheridan Morley wrote his biography from a very personal angle, being associated with Coward from an early age through his grandmother, Dame Gladys Cooper.

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Price: £7.99

Olivier


by Francis Beckett

Laurence Olivier (1907-1989) was perhaps the last great actor in the old tradition of heroic self-indulgence. He played every part with a frank enjoyment of theatricality which made the experience even more memorable for his audience. In the 1930s he established himself as a wide-ranging Shakespearean actor - alternating Romeo and Mercutio with John Gielgud at the New Theatre in 1935. By the end of the decade he had also demonstrated a powerful screen personality in 'Wuthering Heights' (1939). His second marriage in 1940 to Vivien Leigh seemed to complete the image of the romantic star.

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Price: £7.99

Ivor Novello

Portrait of a Star
by Paul Webb

Paul Webb's biography recalls the glamour and talent that made Ivor Novello the most successful British star of his day.

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Price: £12.80

Orson Welles


by Ben Walters

Orson Welles was the boy wonder who electrified Broadway at 21, terrified America with his 'War of the Worlds' radio broadcast and then, aged 25, upended Hollywood by making 'Citizen Kane', still widely regarded as cinema's greatest achievement.

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Price: £7.99