Donald Spoto is een gerespecteerde auteur wiens werk zich verdiept in biografie en theologie. Zijn boeken, vertaald in tal van talen, verkennen de complexe levens en spirituele reizen van opmerkelijke figuren. Spoto staat bekend om zijn diepe begrip van de menselijke natuur, waarbij hij zijn onderwerpen met zowel empathie als scherpe inzichten weergeeft. Zijn schrijfstijl biedt vaak nieuwe perspectieven op bekende individuen, waarbij hij hun innerlijke wereld en maatschappelijke impact onthult.
Based on her personal archive of over 35,000 pages of documents - including letters, diaries, billets doux and suicide notes - as well as extensive interviews with friends and colleagues, this biography of Marilyn Monroe rejects many myths about her dramatic childhood, her marriages, and her relationships with Hollywood moguls, politicians, poets, artists and statesmen. It also offers evidence of the truth behind her death.
The first full biography of Jackie Onassis since her death offers revelations about her life and the life of JFK, chronicling her work as a mother, editor, and spiritual seeker.
A long-time teacher of theology offers another biography of Jesus, debunking attempts to paint him as a mere historical figure and arguing that he was the human incarnation of God. Reprint. 40,000 first printing. Tour.
Biography of the Royal Family of Great Britain from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II that reveals new information about many family members and examines the difficulties that celebrity status has brought to the family.
Her name is synonymous with elegance, style and grace. Over the course of her extraordinary life and career, Audrey Hepburn captured hearts around the world and created a public image that stands as one of the most recognizable and beloved in recent memory. But despite her international fame and her tireless efforts on behalf of UNICEF, Audrey was also known for her intense privacy. With unprecedented access to studio archives, friends and colleagues who knew and loved Audrey, bestselling author Donald Spoto provides an intimate and moving account of this beautiful, elusive and talented woman. Tracing her astonishing rise to stardom, from her harrowing childhood in Nazi-controlled Holland during World War II to her years as a struggling ballet dancer in London and her Tony Award–winning Broadway debut in Gigi, Spoto illuminates the origins of Audrey’s tenacious spirit and fiercely passionate nature. She would go on to star in some of the most popular movies of the twentieth century, including Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Funny Face, The Nun’s Story, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and My Fair Lady. A friend and inspiration to renowned designer Hubert de Givenchy, Audrey emerged as a fashion icon as well as a film legend, her influence on women’s fashion virtually unparalleled to this day. But behind the glamorous public persona, Audrey Hepburn was both a different and a deeper person and a woman who craved love and affection. Donald Spoto offers remarkable insights into her professional and personal relationships with her two husbands, and with celebrities such as Gregory Peck, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Gary Cooper, Robert Anderson, Cary Grant, Peter O’Toole, Albert Finney and Ben Gazzara. The turbulent romances of her youth, her profound sympathy for the plight of hungry children, and the thrills and terrors of motherhood prepared Audrey for the final chapter in her life, as she devoted herself entirely to the charity efforts of an organization that had once come to her rescue at the end of the war: UNICEF. Donald Spoto has written a poignant, funny and deeply moving biography of an unforgettable woman. At last, Enchantment reveals the private Audrey Hepburn—and invites readers to fall in love with her all over again. “She was as funny as she was beautiful. She was a magical combination of high chic and high spirits.” —Gregory Peck “In spite of her fragile appearance, she’s like steel.” —Cary Grant “Audrey was known for something which has disappeared, and that is elegance, grace and manners . . . God kissed her on the cheek, and there she was.” —Billy Wilder “There is not a woman alive who does not dream of looking like Audrey Hepburn.” —Hubert de Givenchy “Her magnetism was so extraordinary that everyone wanted to be close to her. It was as if she placed a glass barrier between herself and the world. You couldn’t get behind it easily. It made her remarkably attractive.” —Stanley Donen “She has authentic charm. Most people simply have nice manners.” —Alfred Lunt
Drawing on his unprecedented access to Grace Kelly, bestselling biographer Donald Spoto at last offers an intimate, honest, and authoritative portrait of one of Hollywood’s legendary actresses. In just seven years–from 1950 through 1956–Grace Kelly embarked on a whirlwind career that included roles in eleven movies. From the principled Amy Fowler Kane in High Noon to the thrill-seeking Frances Stevens of To Catch a Thief, Grace established herself as one of Hollywood’s most talented actresses and iconic beauties. Her astonishing career lasted until her retirement at age twenty-six, when she withdrew from stage and screen to marry a European monarch and became a modern, working princess and mother. Based on never-before-published or quoted interviews with Grace and those conducted over many years with her friends and colleagues–from costars James Stewart and Cary Grant to director Alfred Hitchcock–as well as many documents disclosed by her children for the first time, acclaimed biographer Donald Spoto explores the transformation of a convent schoolgirl to New York model, successful television actress, Oscar-winning movie star, and beloved royal. As the princess requested, Spoto waited twenty-five years after her death to write this biography. Now, with honesty and insight, High Society reveals the truth of Grace Kelly’s personal life, the men she loved, the men she didn’t, and what lay behind the façade of her fairy-tale life.
Marlene Dietrich's story spans Germany's cabarets, Hollywood's silver screen and beyond.
Born in Brussels in 1929, Audrey Hepburn was the daughter of a British father and a Dutch Baroness. She married and divorced a second time, and there were other passionate but short-lived affairs, some revealed for the first time in this book, but her relationships were never entirely successful.
"Absolutely compulsory reading." The New York Times Book Review No one but a tortured genius could have created such brooding, suspenseful, and utterly original films as SPELLBOUND, PSYCHO, and THE BIRDS. Now Alfred Hitchcock, the intensely private and often bizarre creator of these masterpieces, is fully revealed in a masterful biography that traces the roots of his obsessions back to a childhood in which the seeds of his future films were sown.
