Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Entertainment & Celebrities

Sex scandals have rocked Hollywood since the industry began, but Once More With Feeling: You'll Never Make Love in This Town Again, Again is a brand new collection of stories that this town will never recover from - again.

Without bothering to get approval from the President, the State Department, or even the FTC, Dave Barry's publishers sent him to Tokyo. You'd think they would have known better. Now the word is Barry has set back our diplomatic relations with the whole Pacific Rim by a couple of decades. Japanese culture, dining, sport, and industry all come under Barry's relentless scrutiny.

One of the most influential musical forces of our time, David Foster—producer, arranger, songwriter, performer—has worked with superstars every decade since the 1970s. In this compelling and outspoken memoir, Foster shares revealing portraits and stories from over five decades of working with music superstars, including Michael Bublé, Celine Dion, Natalie Cole, Josh Groban, Whitney Houston, Barbra Streisand, and many others. A hitman who produced the soundtrack of our lives, Foster offers glimpses of the musical icons at work and shares secrets for success in the music industry.

This is actor Walter Koenig's story— from growing up as the neurotic child of Russian immigrants in 1940s Manhattan through his rise to fame on Star Trek as Pavel Chekov, Russian navigator of the U.S.S. Enterprise. With wry wit, striking candor, and a true gift for storytelling, Koenig takes us on a sometimes bumpy but often hilarious trip through his galaxy.

Aiming to cash in on the success of The Beatles, American television producers created a television show that featured a quartet of fun-loving musicians, achieving instant success with The Monkees. Davy Jones, a young, aspiring actor was cast in the series. In this lively and entertaining memoir, Jones recounts his life and career—from The Monkees' beginnings to the 1980s reunion and revival—with funny, nostalgic, and revealing memories of the glamorous people and high-rolling deals that lie behind the scenes of show business.

One of the most popular and best-known Playboy pin-ups ever, Shannon Tweed burst on the scene in the 1980s as Playmate of the Year and Hugh Hefner's love interest. She soon became a successful actress, appearing in countless movies and television series. She met Gene Simmons at a party at the Playboy Mansion, and they lived happily ever after with their two children.

The first in-depth biography of the world's richest man. Through interviews with those who were closest to Getty, the picture emerges of a truly miserly art collector, the great lover, the bigamist, the puritan, philanthropist, the suspected Nazi spy....

Famously neurotic comedian Richard Lewis finds himself on a gurney in the ER at the age of 44, hallucinating from excess cocaine use and his body poisoned by acute alcoholism. The same dysfunctions that had been the basis for his successful stage persona and inspired his best material had, it seemed, turned on him. In this very funny, deeply honest, and inspiring book, Lewis explores how he got there, how he finally got on the road to recovery, and how he copes with being Richard Lewis sober on a daily basis.

He was one of America's most popular entertainers by the time he was 21 years old. But for Eddie Fisher, that was only the beginning of a two-decade affair with fame and fortune that made him more famous than Frank Sinatra, turned out more consecutive hit records than the Beatles, and earned him millions of dollars. He married America's sweetheart, Debbie Reynolds, then left her for the world's most glamorous woman, Elizabeth Taylor. In between it all there were wild parties with Sinatra and the Rat Pack, and meeting's with Sam Giancana and the high-roller's life in Las Vegas.

Not long ago it occurred to Carol Leifer that she had to stop telling one of her favorite stories—seeing The Beatles perform at Shea Stadium—because it dated her. But then she thought: what’s that about? “I see now that when you deny your age, you deny yourself”, she says, “and when you lie about your age, you become your inauthentic twin. But most importantly, when you lie about your age, they win. (And of course by ‘they’, I mean the terrorists).” In When You Lie About Your Age, the Terrorists Win, comedy veteran Leifer tells hilarious stories about herself in her own voice.

Tupperware ladies, eighties people, and leisure concept salesmen beware: Dave Barry is on the loose and no one is safe! In this collection of eighty essays, the inimitable columnist observes everything that makes America the unique, special place you've grown to love: taxes, toilets, airbags, baseball, beer commercials, and numerous other American artifacts.

Aaron Spelling is one of the most successful showmen of all time. No one else has produced as many television programs nor enjoyed such career longevity-35 years and still counting since Spelling's first production: Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater. Never told before, Aaron Spelling is the life story from the Prime-Time King himself—personal, revealing, and filled with stories on such Hollywood greats as Michelle Pfeiffer, Heather Locklear, Sharon Stone, and Nick Nolte.

No one looked like her. No one walked like her. No one talked like her. Sexy, yet vulnerable, and unexpectedly talented, Marilyn Monroe was no ordinary screen goddess. But few really knew her. On June 1, 1962—Marilyn's 36th birthday—famed photographer and reporter George Barris visited Marilyn on the set of what would be her final, unfinished, film. For the next six weeks, Barris photographed and interviewed the actress. "Don't believe anything you read about me except this...." she told Barris.

Harry Cohn was the cofounder and president of Columbia Pictures, which he ran from the 1930s through the 1950s. Cohn—who abhorred personal publicity—left no writings, made no speeches, and rarely submitted to interviews. Despite this, acclaimed biographer Bob Thomas brilliantly illuminates the life of the powerful but elusive studio head in King Cohn: The Life and Times of Hollywood Mogul Harry Cohn. Thomas details the studio head's rise from a New York City song-plugger to a Poverty Row impresario, highlighting his reign as one of the most powerful men in Hollywood.

"If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a quitter," Russell Baker's mother always said. Baker certainly never quit - in fact, this fantastic journalist's Pulitzer Prize-winning column appears twice a week in The New York Times. This book, his second autobiographical volume, describes the rewarding stages of his career and his encounters with John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Eugene McCarthy, and other major figures. All the wit, perceptiveness, and poignant humor that has graced his column for many years comes through in this engaging memoir.

Political provocateur Bill Maher tells it like it is in a useful and hilarious guide for the many Americans who want to do more here at home to help in the war effort, but are at a loss as to how. Says Maher, "Traveling the country, I find that people want to do more here at home, but are at a loss as to what. Even when the government issues a Terrorism Advisory, it's maddeningly vague - 'Terrorist alert today! Code Burnt Orange!' 'And what?' I always want to ask, "Bring a sweater?'"

For years, Margaret Maldonado Jackson was a celebrant of the good life, living with her Prince Charming - Jermaine - at the Jackson family estate in Encino, California. A former teenage runaway who had barely survived life in the fast lane, she had felt fortunate to be welcomed into the Jackson clan. So why, in 1993, was she running for her life with her children? What had happened to this young woman to make her feel so threatened and so alone?

As host of Larry King Live, which was one of the most popular daily forums for political news and commentary, Larry King asked probing questions of major world leaders, politicians, pundits, spin doctors, and reporters. Drawing upon insights gained during those interviews, King takes an in-depth look at how the United States arrived at a pivotal point in its history. Bi-partisan politics, bimbo eruptions, grandstanding in Congress, backstabbing tactics, and more are covered in this fascinating and revealing memoir.

In the 1960s and 70s, actor Steve McQueen was the king of cool, appearing in such classics as The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, and Bullitt. McQueen left the world at age 50, a film legend who went from abandoned child to glittering superstar to a haunted man. In My Husband, My Friend: A Memoir, Steve's wife of more than 15 years, Neile, rode the dazzling Hollywood roller coaster with him. Anecdotally, she details the actor's private personality and his feelings about his career.

Norma Jean Baker was a Hollywood starlet who transformed into Marilyn Monroe, a Hollywood sex symbol and one of the world's most iconic figures. Sadly, she died at age 36 in 1962 from a drug overdose. Montgomery Clift was a highly regarded actor. Dependent on drugs and alcohol, Clift was only 45 when he died of heart disease in 1966. But imagine if the lives of the costars of The Misfits had not been cut short? In this pair of speculative biographies, two writers suppose what might have been if Monroe and Clift had survived their drug-related demises.