num_pages: 285
description: From Van Heflin to William Bendix, from Carole Landis to Carmen Miranda, social forces in American society cause us to celebrate movie stars on a level with royalty. This, in turn, causes the public's insatiable thirst for information about them. Any treatise on movie stars of the 1930s through the 1950s must by necessity come from the remembrances of a thousand Saturdays spent in the cool darkness of a theater as audiences watched their fantasies take shape on the screen. "Star Quality" is a discussion of screen personalities who peopled those fantasies. For years movie fans yearned for escape and the stars provided it; the movie stars were something to believe in through depression and war. But where did all these people come from? What motivated them to come to Hollywood? Are there common characteristics among the stars? What is 'star quality'? Can it be defined, or can it be explained only as a part of the magic of movies? In the golden days of the 1930s and 1940s studios signed young performers and groomed them for years, slowly and carefully. They settled in and waited for the big break - if it ever came. The star system was the foundation of Hollywood's success and, despite some prophets of doom, it remains so. The motion picture public still wants stars with whom they can identify, even though the system has changed a great deal. The authors present a brief glimpse of a large number of movie stars of the sound era, in many cases stars who have been somewhat overlooked by film historians. The first section discusses in some detail the lives of 79 luminaries; the second contains 395 stills of stars, with information about dates and places of birth, and of death if they are no longer alive. The more than 480 photographs evoke pleasant memories of the accomplishments and attributes of these people who have "star quality."
language: English
title: Star Quality: The Great Actors and Actresses of Hollywood
titlecomplete: Star Quality: The Great Actors and Actresses of Hollywood
ratings_count: 1
publisher: A. S. Barnes and Company