Recommended Reads

I am an avid reader and, like most book addicts, I suffer from personal fads which wax & wane with enigmatic regularity. So, I'll have a period of, say, two months when I'll read nothing but movie star biographies, then, for no particular reason, I'll dive into a series of Australian colonial history stories, then have a fixation on WWII true adventures. And so on.
With film books, I have read many, many more than those listed here, but I have opted to only highlight the absolute best of what I have discovered. The chosen biographies are both informative AND a great stand-alone story of a fascinating and (often) troubled person. The Reviews & Lists books are references which I dip into constantly and have put me onto many classic movies which I otherwise may have missed. And the Film History books accurately illuminate aspects of the artform / business which were previously unknown to me. But again, the stories they tell are also more than mere information. Reading is a leisure-time pursuit after all. 
I can heartily recommend them all, and will continue to add to the list when new and impressive reads turn up in my life.



BIOGRAPHIES & MEMOIRS

Jean Arthur
JEAN ARTHUR: THE ACTRESS NOBODY KNEW
Author: John Oller   First Published: 1997

Clara Bow
CLARA BOW: RUNNIN' WILD
Author: David Stenn   First Published: 1988

Montgomery Clift
MONTGOMERY CLIFT: A BIOGRAPHY
Author: Patricia Bosworth   First Published: 1978

Judy Garland
JUDY GARLAND
Author: David Shipman   First Published: 1992

Sam Goldwyn
GOLDWYN: A BIOGRAPHY
Author: A. Scott Berg   First Published: 1989

Alec Guinness
ALEC GUINNESS
Author: Piers Paul Read   First Published: 2003

Jean Harlow
BOMBSHELL
Author: David Stenn   First Published: 1993

Walter Huston & John Huston
THE HUSTONS
Author: Lawrence Grobel   First Published: 1989

Buster Keaton
BUSTER KEATON: CUT TO THE CHASE
Author: Marion Meade   First Published: 1995

Fritz Lang
FRITZ LANG: THE NATURE OF THE BEAST
Author: Patrick McGilligan   First Published: 1997

Charles Laughton
CHARLES LAUGHTON: A DIFFICULT ACTOR
Author: Simon Callow   First Published: 1987

David Lean
DAVID LEAN
Author: Kevin Brownlow   First Published: 1996

Vincente Minnelli
A HUNDRED OR MORE HIDDEN THINGS
Author: Mark Griffin   First Published: 2010

Robert Mitchum
ROBERT MITCHUM: BABY, I DON'T CARE
Author: Lee Server   First Published: 2001

Margaret Rutherford
MARGARET RUTHERFORD: DREADNOUGHT WITH GOOD MANNERS
Author: Andy Merriman   First Published: 2009

Robert Ryan
THE LIVES OF ROBERT RYAN
Author: J.R. Jones   First Published: 2015   

Barbara Stanwyck
A LIFE OF BARBARA STANWYCK: STEEL-TRUE Vol. 1 1907-1940
Author: Victoria Wilson   First Published: 2013

Preston Sturges
MADCAP: THE LIFE OF PRESTON STURGES
Author: Donald Spoto   First Published: 1990

Irving Thalberg
THALBERG
Author: Bob Thomas   First Published: 1969   

Spencer Tracy
SPENCER TRACY
Author: James Curtis   First Published: 2011

Billy Wilder
ON SUNSET BOULEVARD: THE LIFE & TIMES OF BILLY WILDER
Author: Ed Sikov   First Published: 1998

William Wyler
A TALENT FOR TROUBLE
Author: Jan Herman   First Published: 1995

REVIEWS & LISTS & TRIVIA

ALTERNATE OSCARS
Author: Danny Peary   First Published: 1993

THE COMPLETE HITCHCOCK
Authors: Paul Condon & Jim Sangster   First Published: 1999

CULT MOVIES 1, 2 & 3
Author: Danny Peary   First Published: 1981 / 1983 / 1988

FILM FACTS
Author: Patrick Robertson   First Published: 2001

5001 NIGHTS AT THE MOVIES
Author: Pauline Kael   First Published: 1982

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE GOD-AWFUL
Author: Kurt Loder   First Published: 2011

THE GREAT MOVIE STARS: THE GOLDEN YEARS
Author: David Shipman   First Published: 1970

GUIDE FOR THE FILM FANATIC
Author: Danny Peary   First Published: 1986

HALLIWELL'S HUNDRED
Author: Leslie Halliwell   First Published: 1982

"HAVE YOU SEEN...?"
Author: David Thomson   First Published: 2008

100 GREAT FILM PERFORMANCES YOU SHOULD REMEMBER - BUT PROBABLY DON'T
Author: John Dileo   First Published: 2002

101 MARVELLOUS MOVIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
Author: David Stratton   First Published: 2018

PAST IMPERFECT: HISTORY ACCORDING TO THE MOVIES
Editor: Mark C. Carnes   First Published: 1995

QUINLAN'S FILM DIRECTORS
Author: David Quinlan   First Published: 1983

QUINLAN'S ILLUSTRATED DIRECTORY OF FILM CHARACTER ACTORS
Author: David Quinlan   First Published: 1985

VARIETY BOOK OF MOVIE LISTS
Editor / Author: Fred Lombardi    First Published: 1994

FILM HISTORY

CITY OF NETS
Author: Otto Friedrich   First Published: 1986
[A portrait of Hollywood in the 1940's]

EALING STUDIOS
Author: Charles Barr   First Published: 1977
[A look at the output of the iconic British film studio]

THE GENIUS OF THE SYSTEM
Author: Thomas Schatz   First Published: 1988
[The Studio Era of Hollywood]

HOLLYWOOD BE THY NAME
Author: Cass Warner Sperling & Cork Millner   First Published: 1994
[The Warner Brothers story]

HOLLYWOOD'S GOLDEN YEAR, 1939
Author: Ted Sennett   First Published: 1989
[The great Hollywood films made in 1939]

THE RKO STORY
Authors: Richard B. Jewell & Vernon Harbin   First Published: 1982
[History of the great pioneering studio, told through its movies]

ROSS & TOM: TWO AMERICAN TRAGEDIES
Author: John Leggett   First Published: 1974
[Tragic lives of two Hollywood writers]

ROUND UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS
Author: Aljean Harmetz   First Published: 1992
[The making of Casablanca]

TENDER COMRADES: A BACKSTORY OF THE HOLLYWOOD BLACKLIST
Author: Patrick McGilligan & Paul Buhle   First Published: 1997
[A collection of interviews with Hollywood Blacklist victims]

TINSELTOWN: MURDER, MORPHINE & MADNESS AT THE DAWN OF HOLLYWOOD
Author: William J. Mann   First Published: 2014
[The mysterious 1922 murder of film director William Desmond Taylor]  

WHO THE DEVIL MADE IT
Author: Peter Bogdanovich   First Published: 1997
[Interviews with great film directors]