The Ultimate Directory of Silent and Sound Era Performers: A Necrology of Actors and Actresses

By Billy H. Doyle

A follow-up to The Ultimate Directory of the Silent Screen Performers (1995), this text includes the birth, death, and career dates of actors during the transition from silents to sound and into the sound era in filmmaking. The book includes individuals from Europe, Asia, Australia, and North and South America, ranging from stars and featured actors to character and minor actors. The reader will find actors that bridge the silent and the sound eras, actors from the "Golden Age of Hollywood," and actors who straddle the big screen and the small screen of television.

Information is included on thousands of actors from throughout the world, creating a populated map of film history. With the continued popularity of classic films, from early Hollywood and around the world, The Ultimate Directory of Silent and Sound Era Performers will be a welcome resource.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810835479
• ISBN13: 9780810835474
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: Scarecrow Press
• Length: 636 Pages
• Weight: 1.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Indispensable

In the spirit of fairness, I should begin this review by mentioning that my name appears in the book's acknowledgments. That said, however, this, Billy Doyle's final book in his trilogy, is indeed indispensable for everyone researching past film personalities. An indefatigable necrologer, Mr. Doyle has left no stone unturned in order to deliver the facts -- birth and death places and dates for more than 15,000 performers. Doyle has spent a lifetime collecting and updating his material and is the foremost authority in his field. Naturally, a great deal of the names are unknown to even the most ardent film buff, but THE ULTIMATE DIRECTORY ... can settle any argument concerning the true age of anyone from Jean Arthur to Blanche Yurka. And Doyle did not stop there but has included a wealth of foreign actors -- from Hans Albers to Milivoye Zivanovic. As an added bonus, Doyle has included corrections and additions to the first two books in the trilogy, THE ULTIMATE DIRECTORY OF SILENT SCREEN PERFORMERS and THE ULTIMATE DIRECTORY OF FILM TECHNICIANS.