Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries

By Paul Donnelley

Book Overview

This second edition contains 100 new entries. In this addictive book, Paul Donnelley has chronicled the lives and deaths of more than 1,000 movie personalities. Included are not just the big stars but also a wealth of producers, directors and supporting players. Some achieved world fame and great power. Some were consigned to obscurity after one scandal too many. And quite a few hid dark secrets that would only emerge after their deaths. New entries in this edition include Jack Lemmon, Rod Steiger, Dudley Moore, Billy Wilder, John Thaw, Spike Milligan, Joan Sims, Barry Foster, Lola Ferrari, John Frankenheimer, Rosemary Clooney, Billy Fury and many more. The big names featured run from Bogart and Cagney to Sinatra to Valentino. But it is often the starlets and small-time showbiz hustlers who suffered the most tragic fates, burned out before achieving the fame and fortune they craved. For better or worse, they are all here, the villains and heroes side by side. With a foreword by Michael Winner.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0711995125
• ISBN13: 9780711995123
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: Omnibus Pr & Schirmer Trade Books
• Length: 600 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 2.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

A most comprenhsive book!

Hi! I read a lot of celebrity books, especially bios. this book is hardly your typical obituary compilation. It is an enormous undertaking and includes some of the more obscure celebrities. It also includes some very comprehensive obits, more like bios. There also are humorous moments and some titilation that I enjoyed , whether fact or not who cares!!! A very nice surprisingly well detailed work. Lots of time no doubt went into this and it shows. Phil

Fade to Black

I picked this book up in my local library and was hooked from the get go. It took a year or two for me actually buy it, but Im so glad that now I can pick it up, pick a page at random and still find something that could be sad, shocking,or even heart warming. It contains a wealth of imformation about all aspects of hollywood: the actors, producers, directors. If you are interested in this sort of thing, I highly recommend that you get this. This is a book that no film buff should ever be without.

Fab compilation

A great film book....buy it, read it, treasure it and you will keep referring to it every time an old film appears on telly!

The lives and deaths of over 1,000 movie personalities

Researched, compiled, and arranged by Paul Donnelley, Fade To Black: A Book Of Movie Obituaries is the newly revised and expanded edition of a practical Cinematic Studies resource and reference, adding 100 new entries to the chronicles of the lives and deaths of over 1,000 movie personalities. Each separate entry efficiently condenses the individual's life into a single column or page of informative text. Big stars as well as crucial supporting characters from the history of film, (including scandals, success, great power, and hidden secrets preserved until after death) pack the pages of this fact-filled and enthusiastically recommended compendium.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I really enjoyed this book. While I have no specific insight as to how the author really chose the subjects for inclusion in this book, he certainly appears to have extracted a lively (though dead) group of celebrities from all strata of the movie industry.This book was well-researched and provided lots of juicy tidbits about the lives and deaths of the celebrity dead contained within. Unlike many books which promised but failed to deliver the goods, this book was well worth the purchase price. I consider this a worthy sucessor to the out-of-print Hollywood Album I & II which were compilations of NY Times obituaries. And best of all, you finally do find out exactly what happened to many of your favorite actors and actresses. Can it get much better!