TV and Movies

[Oznell]

Every so often, we have to discuss this!   So many of you have mentioned really great ones, but would you mind contributing again in one spot here, so we could use this as a resource?    (Calling @SharkE ,  among many others!)

I just finished --  again--  James Gavin's monumental bio of Lena Horne, "Stormy Weather",  and it is probably my current favorite.   Her complex life truly was "stormy weather",  but he puts it in context so well, and illuminates that period.

Gail Jones Lumet Buckley's bio of her endlessly fascinating mother Lena and family,  "The Hornes", is a somehow "sunnier" depiction, despite digging into the struggles of the Hornes and the Calhouns as they headed toward the black middle class and beyond...

The two books must be read together!   Both authors very canny, knowledgable about the Hollywood and New York milieu of the time, and superior writers.

Other greats, to me:  "Goddess:  The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe",  by Anthony Summers, a journalist and Brit who fearlessly digs into the murky circumstances of her life and death, and lets the chips fall where they may.

Oh, I have more that I'll add later-- what are yours? 

[Bookplate]

A very old one - Harpo Speaks.

Newer - Just Kids, Patti Smith.

[Group 5 minus 1]

Robert Wagner--well done and a good read.

Johnny Carson-also well done and very informative.

[Johnnyeager]

Two exceptional, well researched and informative biographies:

[spiderw]

Billie Holiday

Mickey Mantle.  Joe Di Maggio

Catherine the Great

The Ramonov Family

The Astors

The Vanderbilts

Rockerfeller

Just a few I can recall at this time but there were many biographies of royal families I read, the Tudors included.

[PickyPicky3]

Goddess (Marilyn Monroe)

Mommie Dearest (Christina Crawford)

[Mz iMac]

Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin by David Ritz

Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis, Jr. by Jane And Burt Boyar

My Mother's Keeper by B. D. Hyman, the daughter of actress Bette Davis

[Group 5 minus 1]

Forgot about,"Yes,I can". Great,great read.

[aubnwa01]

It's an oldie but was really good & she was/is such an interesting person:

"Faithfull" by Marianne Faithfull

[Dusty1]

I really love to listen to autobiographies read by the author.

Bare Bones by Bobby Bones. He has had a really rough life.

I Must Say by Martin Short

Nevertheless by Alec Baldwin

Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe

Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death & Drums, Drums, Drums

Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming