acting

I Am Big Bird is a must-see for fans of Sesame Street, Jim Henson, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, or all of the above. It’s a documentary focusing on the life of Caroll Spinney, the puppeteer who plays both Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, and also sometimes other famous Sesame Street characters like Bert. As I’m sure you already know, Sesame Street is like a big family where everyone helps one another to educate and entertain children. You will not only get the inside scoop on the puppets in this documentary, but you will also enjoy learning about Caroll Spinney, members of the Sesame Street team

“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”  “Inconceivable.” “Have fun storming the castle.” “Never get involved in a land war in Asia.” “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” “Get used to disappointment.” “Mawidge. That bwessed awangement!” “You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you"..."You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die.”

The Princess Bride is one of the most widely quoted films of all times. The swashbuckling/fairy-tale/romance/adventure story is enjoyable for both young people and adults, suitable for the former

Hollywood Enigma is a readable biography of one of Hollywood’s better, yet underappreciated male screen stars of the 1940s and 1950s. Dana Andrews was not a famous or flashy screen star in the mold of Gable, Tracy, or James Stewart, but his performances got to the heart of introspective, complex characters that probably would not have worked if he had been more famous or extroverted. Consider his performances in the Ox Bow Incident as a wrongly accused cattle thief and murderer, as confused detectives in film noir classics (Laura, Fallen Angel, Where the Sidewalk Ends), or as a returning World

The Chaperone is Laura Moriarty’s fourth novel and her first historical fiction. As the title suggests, Moriarty created an unforgettable heroine in an ordinary and conservative chaperone, Cora Carlisle. Cora is a respectable and sensible mother and wife of a prosperous Wichita lawyer with a seemingly perfect life. To everyone’s surprise, Cora volunteers to chaperone fifteen-year-old mischievous Louise Brooks, the future silent movie star, to New York City to study modern dance in the summer of 1922. However, Cora has her own reasons why she wants and needs to go to New York City. Most of the

Alan Alda's insightful autobiography Never Have Your Dog Stuffed gives us a peek into the highs, lows, and adventures of an actor's life.  Growing up among a family of burlesque performers, perhaps Alda was fated for acting, but his journey had its fair share of bumps.  He laces candid humor throughout the telling of his trials and tribulations, from growing up with a schizophrenic mother to enduring emergency surgery in the remote Chilean mountains, but his successes are equally exciting.  And yes, his father really did take his childhood dog to a taxidermist. I have a fond appreciation for

Perhaps the title should be Beautiful and Brainy. Beautiful is a readable account of the life of “the most beautiful woman of the first half of the Twentieth Century”, a film star of 1930s and 1940s, and the namesake of Austria’s annual invention award.

Born to an upper middle class Viennese banker and a Jewish mother, Hedy Kiesler became a movie star in Europe as a teenager, soon afterwards married one of Europe’s wealthiest arms manufacturers, and fled her husband and Vienna as Austria was joining the Third Reich.

Shearer tells the story of an actress who arrives in America with no English

Upon picking up Lithgow’s memoir, I was surprised to find him, not only charming, but kind-hearted and caring. In the forward, Lithgow describes the difficulties of moving in with his parents after his father undergoes a difficult surgery, yet refuses to move to a retirement community. Finding the task of caring for his parents far more difficult than anticipated and with his father in a deep depression, Lithgow brings out the stories that his father had read to him as a child. And thus opens the door to long-forgotten, but fond memories.

If you’ve read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers (or about