Bøger af Donald Bogle

From Donald Bogle, the award-winning author of Hollywood Black and leading authority on Black cinema history, this is a first-of-its-kind comprehensive and lavish biography of Hollywood's first African American movie goddess.Lena Horne's life and career are truly remarkable in American film history. She was the first Black performer to become a true star-to receive the kind of glamour treatment at the fabled MGM that the studio had previously given to the likes of Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, Lana Turner, and Ava Gardner. At the same time, Horne dealt with endless indignities, not the least of which was the fact that her roles in films was often as a musical performer, which allowed her numbers to be easily stripped out of films without affecting the narrative when played to audiences that would find her presence undesirable.At long last, Lena Horne: Goddess Reclaimed gives the star her due. Through a highly informed and insightful narrative based on interviews, press accounts, studio archives, and decades of research, the book sheds new light on the star's compelling life and complicated career: her activism; her accomplishments and heady triumphs in movies, television, and nightclubs as she broke down long-standing barriers for Black individuals-especially Black women-and her solemn, sometimes bitter disappointments, both professional and personal. Illustrated by hundreds of photos (some published for the first time), this is the ultimate book on the icon.

Discover the unique, profound, and unlikely yet enduring friendship between two of the most prominent and beloved celebrities of all time—Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson—in this “exhaustively researched…consistently absorbing” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) biography.From the moment Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson met, they were fascinated by one another. He peered into her violet eyes and was transfixed; she, in turn, was dazzled by his talent, intrigued by his sweet-tempered personality, and moved by the stories she had already heard about his troubled early life. Soon a deep friendship blossomed, unlike anything either had ever experienced. Through their various emotional upheavals, the peaks and valleys of their careers, their personal traumas and heartaches, their countless health issues and extreme physical pain, and the glare of the often merciless public spotlight, their love for each other endured. Award-winning biographer Donald Bogle skillfully re-creates the moving narrative of “these two forces of nature, and digs into the extraordinary histories that made them uniquely suited to understanding each other” (Alan Light, author of Let’s Go Crazy). Through the recollections of friends and acquaintances of the two stars, as well as credited and anonymous sources, Elizabeth and Michael emerges as a tender, intimate look at this famous “odd couple”—and a treasure to their millions of fans.

No other star of the twentieth century reimagined herself with such audacity and durable talent as did Ethel Waters. In this enlightening and engaging biography, Donald Bogle resurrects this astonishing woman from the annals of history, shedding new light on the tumultuous twists and turns of her seven decade career in music, on Broadway, in Hollywood, and beyond.Bogle traces Waters's life from her poverty-stricken childhood to her triumphant rise in show business, detailing her successes with recordings like "Stormy Weather" and "Am I Blue?"; her notorious feuds with stars like Josephine Baker, Billie Holiday, and Lena Horne; her professional relationships with Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and other entertainment legends; and her various, tempestuous love affairs. In addition, Bogle explores Waters's ongoing racial battles and growing paranoia, and the significance her highly publicized life had upon audiences unaccustomed to the travails of a larger-than-life African American woman.Wonderfully atmospheric, richly detailed, and drawn from an array of candid interviews, Heat Wave vividly brings to life a major cultural figure of the twentieth century?a charismatic, complex, and compelling woman, both tragic and triumphant.

Available once again, the definitive biography of the pioneering Black performer--the first nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award--who broke new ground in Hollywood and helped transform American society in the years before Civil Rights movement--a remarkable woman of her time who also transcended it. "An ambitious, rigorously researched account of the long-ignored film star and chanteuse. . . . Bogle has fashioned a resonant history of a bygone era in Hollywood and passionately documented the contribution of one of its most dazzling and complex performers."--New York Times Book ReviewIn the segregated world of 1950s America, few celebrities were as talented, beautiful, glamorous, and ultimately influential as Dorothy Dandridge. Universally admired, she was Hollywood's first full-fledged Black movie star. Film historian Donald Bogle offers a panoramic portrait of Dorothy Dandridge's extraordinary and ultimately tragic life and career, from her early years as a child performer in Cleveland, to her rise as a nightclub headliner and movie star, to her heartbreaking death at 42. Bogle reveals how this exceptionally talented and intensely ambitious entertainer broke down racial barriers by integrating some of America's hottest nightclubs and broke through Tinseltown's glass ceiling. Along with her smash appearances at venues such as Harlem's famed Cotton Club, Dorothy starred in numerous films, making history with her role in Otto Preminger's Carmen Jones, playing opposite Harry Belafonte. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress--the first Oscar nod for a woman of color.But Dorothy's wealth, fame, and success masked a reality fraught with contradiction and illusion. Struggling to find good roles professionally, uncomfortable with her image as a sex goddess, coping with the aftermath of two unhappy marriages and a string of unfulfilling affairs, and overwhelmed with guilt for her disabled daughter, Dorothy found herself emotionally and financially bankrupt--despair that ended in her untimely death.Woven from extensive research and unique interviews, as magnetic as the woman at its heart, Dorothy Dandridge captures this dazzling entertainer in all her complexity: her strength and vulnerability, her joy and her pain, her trials and her triumphs.

From Donald Bogle -- the leading authority on African Americans in film and with the backing of the leading authority on film history, Turner Classic Movies -- Hollywood Black is a riveting chronicle of black performers and filmmakers