Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson (Updated and Expanded)

Download Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson (Updated and Expanded) PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393350975
Total Pages : 608 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (933 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson (Updated and Expanded) by : Patrick McGilligan

Download or read book Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson (Updated and Expanded) written by Patrick McGilligan and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2015-11-09 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Jack’s Life feels true. . . . Fascinating.”—Entertainment Weekly Jack Nicholson has lived large on and off the screen. Patrick McGilligan, one of America’s outstanding film biographers, has plumbed research and interviews to expand his definitive biography since its publication twenty years ago. Jack’s Life captures the essence of this most private and public of stars with a vivid depiction of Nicholson’s tangled Dickensian upbringing, his hungry years as actor and writer, his nearaccidental breakthrough in Easy Rider, and his prolificacy and artistry ever since, with roles in Chinatown, Five Easy Pieces, The Shining, A Few Good Men, As Good As It Gets, and The Departed, to name a beloved handful of his sixty-plus films. McGilligan captures the life and legacy of this unabashed and complex personality

Nicholson

Download Nicholson PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 030788838X
Total Pages : 386 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (78 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Nicholson by : Marc Eliot

Download or read book Nicholson written by Marc Eliot and published by Crown. This book was released on 2014-10-28 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive biography of a man with one of the most iconic and fascinating careers—and lives—in Hollywood. For six decades, Jack Nicholson has been part of film history. With three Oscar wins and twelve nominations to his credit and legendary roles in films like Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Terms of Endearment, The Shining, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Nicholson created original, memorable characters like no other actor of his generation. And his offscreen life has been no less of an adventure—Nicholson has always been at the center of the Hollywood elite and has courted some of the most famous and beautiful women in the world. Relying on years of extensive research and interviews with insiders who know Nicholson best, acclaimed biographer Marc Eliot sheds light on Nicholson’s life on and off the screen. From Nicholson’s working class childhood in New Jersey, where family secrets threatened to tear his family apart, to raucous nights on the town with Warren Beatty and tumultuous relationships with starlets like Michelle Phillips, Anjelica Huston, and Lara Flynn Boyle, to movie sets working with such legendary directors and costars as Dennis Hopper, Stanley Kubrick, and Meryl Streep, Eliot paints a sweeping picture of the breadth of Nicholson’s decades-long career in film and an intimate portrait of the real man. Both a comprehensive tribute to a film legend and an entertaining look at a truly remarkable life, Nicholson is a compulsively readable biography of an iconic Hollywood star.

Jack Nicholson - The Biography

Download Jack Nicholson - The Biography PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Kings Road Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1786064995
Total Pages : 374 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (86 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Jack Nicholson - The Biography by : John Parker

Download or read book Jack Nicholson - The Biography written by John Parker and published by Kings Road Publishing. This book was released on 2017-04-06 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As he turns eighty, Jack Nicholson can look back on a career that has spanned over six decades. With iconic roles in Easy Rider, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining and The Departed to name but a few, he has exhibited an astonishing range in all and remains arguably our greatest living actor. This comprehensive biography explores Nicholson's life with the help and co-operation of many of his Hollywood associates. Born in 1937 in New Jersey, he was raised, unbeknownst to him, by his grandparents, who had agreed to raise their teenage daughter's child. It was just the beginning of his journey from humble beginnings to award-winning success and multiple high-profile relationships with Hollywood's most glamorous women. The most nominated male actor in Academy Award history and a true bon viveur, Nicholson has lived the most extraordinary of lives. John Parker delves into the life of this fascinating man, discovering that far more lies beneath the surface than one might think. The real Jack Nicholson and his legacy is examined in enthralling detail in this must-read for any film lover.

Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson

Download Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393248410
Total Pages : 514 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (932 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson by : Patrick McGilligan

Download or read book Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson written by Patrick McGilligan and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 1996-02-17 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Volatile Jack Nicholson has found the perfect biographer in Patrick McGilligan, who gives us a rich, absorbing portrait of one of the greatest movie stars ever." —Patricia Bosworth No male American film star of the post-Brando era has demonstrated the talent, the charisma, the larger-than-life audacity, and the string of screen triumphs of Jack Nicholson. In Jack's Life, Patrick McGilligan, one of our finest film historians, has produced the definitive biography of this most private and public of stars, from his tangled Dickensian upbringing in New Jersey, his formative years as an actor and screenwriter, his near-accidental breakthrough to stardom in Easy Rider, and his string of great roles in Chinatown, Five Easy Pieces, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Last Detail, The Shining, and other films that mark him as a searching, complex artist. Here as well is the often Rabelaisian life behind the smiling mask, the legendary romances and appetites for sex and drugs, the obsessions with money and control, and the perpetual restlessness.

Five Easy Decades

Download Five Easy Decades PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 0471722464
Total Pages : 516 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (717 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Five Easy Decades by : Dennis McDougal

Download or read book Five Easy Decades written by Dennis McDougal and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for Five Easy Decades: How Jack Nicholson Became the Biggest Movie Star in Modern Times "Dennis McDougal is a rare Hollywood reporter: honest, fearless, nobody's fool. This is unvarnished Jack for Jack-lovers and Jack-skeptics but, also, for anyone interested in the state of American culture and celebrity. I always read Mr. McDougal for pointers but worry that he will end up in a tin drum off the coast of New Jersey." — Patrick McGilligan, author of Jack's Life and Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light Praise for Privileged Son: Otis Chandler and the Rise and Fall of the L.A. Times Dynasty "A great freeway pileup—part biography, part dysfunctional family chronicle, and part institutional and urban history, with generous dollops of scandal and gossip." — Hendrick Hertzberg, The New Yorker "McDougal has managed to scale the high walls that have long protected the Chandler clan and returned with wicked tales told by angry ex-wives and jealous siblings." —The Washington Post Praise for The Last Mogul: Lew Wasserman, MCA and the Hidden History of Hollywood "Real glamour needs a dark side. That is part of the fascination of Dennis McDougal's wonderful book." —The Economist "Thoroughly reported and engrossing . . . the most noteworthy trait of MCA was how it hid its power." —The New York Times Book Review "Over the years, I've read hundreds of books on Hollywood and the movie business, and this one is right at the top." — Michael Blowen, The Boston Globe

Jack Nicholson

Download Jack Nicholson PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813136156
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Jack Nicholson by : Robert Crane

Download or read book Jack Nicholson written by Robert Crane and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1975, this book is about the enigmatic star and the only one to have Nicholson's participation. In 1975 Nicholson was just becoming a household name in spite of having already starred in, written or produced 25 films.

Jack Nicholson

Download Jack Nicholson PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781840181487
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (814 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Jack Nicholson by : Peter Thompson

Download or read book Jack Nicholson written by Peter Thompson and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jack Nicholson has been part of the Hollywood movie scene for more than 40 years. Since his role in Easy Rider in 1969, he has lived in the limelight. This book explores the truth about the secret life of the actor who calls himself Dr Devil. Writer and investigative journalist, Peter Thompson catches Nicholson unguarded in off-screen moments to examine the contradictions of his personality. Nicholson reveals the truth behind his feud with Susan Anspach, the mother of his 26-year-old son Caleb, the truth about his other children, how Marlon Brando comforted him after the murder of his half-sister, Pamela, and why he continues to pursue a vendetta against her grieving husband. He also discloses the intimate secrets of his stormy relationships with Anjelica Houston and Rebecca Broussard. The book exposes him as a spoiled playboy trying to escape reality with sex and drug binges. Thompson paints a picture of a tormented man who inflicts pain on his loved ones and ultimately on himself.

Becoming Jack Nicholson

Download Becoming Jack Nicholson PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 0810885980
Total Pages : 205 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (18 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Becoming Jack Nicholson by : Shaun R. Karli

Download or read book Becoming Jack Nicholson written by Shaun R. Karli and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2012 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining eight films produced between 1969 and 1980, this book explores how the actor and the filmmakers played upon audience expectations of "Jack Nicholson" to challenge prevailing attitudes about masculinity and power. In each of these films-Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, C...

The Essential Jack Nicholson

Download The Essential Jack Nicholson PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1442269898
Total Pages : 213 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (422 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Essential Jack Nicholson by : James L. Neibaur

Download or read book The Essential Jack Nicholson written by James L. Neibaur and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-12-01 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For ten years Jack Nicholson toiled in low-budget films and guest spots in such television shows as Dr. Kildare and The Andy Griffith Show before his breakout performance in Easy Rider. Despite “retiring” in 2010, Nicholson remains one of the most revered actors of the last half century. Nominated for twelve Academy Awards—the most of any male actor—Nicholson has received three Oscars and countless other honors. The Essential Jack Nicholson looks at the key films in the career of one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. After a brief profile of the actor, James L. Neibaur highlights each of Nicholson’s most important works, explaining why his performances are essential viewing. In addition to Easy Rider, the films discussed include Five Easy Pieces, The Last Detail, Chinatown, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Shining, Reds, Terms of Endearment, Prizzi’s Honor, Ironweed, Batman, A Few Good Men, As Good as It Gets, About Schmidt, and The Departed. Neibaur also provides details about each film’s production, critical reaction, commercial reception, major nominations, and awards. A filmography of all of Nicholson’s movie roles (and select television performances) is also included. The Essential Jack Nicholson is a valuable source of information for fans of this iconic star and his films.

Jack Nicholson: Anatomy of an Actor

Download Jack Nicholson: Anatomy of an Actor PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Phaidon Press
ISBN 13 : 9780714866680
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (666 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Jack Nicholson: Anatomy of an Actor by : Beverly Walker

Download or read book Jack Nicholson: Anatomy of an Actor written by Beverly Walker and published by Phaidon Press. This book was released on 2014-01-06 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout his career, Jack Nicholson has portrayed unique and challenging roles in classic movies such as Easy Rider (1969), Chinatown (1974), The Shining (1980), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), Terms of Endearment (1983), The Witches of Eastwick (1987) and The Departed (2006). Nicholson's twelve Oscar nominations make him the most nominated male actor in history. Jack Nicholson: Anatomy of an Actor is a new addition to Cahiers du cinema, a fascinating series from the world-renowned cinema magazine. The book focuses on ten key performances, exploring the unparalleled career of Jack Nicholson through narrative and analytical text accompanied by 300 images, including film stills and set photographs, as well as film sequences, script notes, and more. This thoughtful and lively examination of Nicholson's craft will appeal to film professionals and casual movie fans alike.

The Big Goodbye

Download The Big Goodbye PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Flatiron Books
ISBN 13 : 1250301831
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (53 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Big Goodbye by : Sam Wasson

Download or read book The Big Goodbye written by Sam Wasson and published by Flatiron Books. This book was released on 2020-02-04 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author of Fifth Avenue, Five A.M. and Fosse comes the revelatory account of the making of a modern American masterpiece Chinatown is the Holy Grail of 1970s cinema. Its twist ending is the most notorious in American film and its closing line of dialogue the most haunting. Here for the first time is the incredible true story of its making. In Sam Wasson's telling, it becomes the defining story of the most colorful characters in the most colorful period of Hollywood history. Here is Jack Nicholson at the height of his powers, as compelling a movie star as there has ever been, embarking on his great, doomed love affair with Anjelica Huston. Here is director Roman Polanski, both predator and prey, haunted by the savage death of his wife, returning to Los Angeles, the scene of the crime, where the seeds of his own self-destruction are quickly planted. Here is the fevered dealmaking of "The Kid" Robert Evans, the most consummate of producers. Here too is Robert Towne's fabled script, widely considered the greatest original screenplay ever written. Wasson for the first time peels off layers of myth to provide the true account of its creation. Looming over the story of this classic movie is the imminent eclipse of the '70s filmmaker-friendly studios as they gave way to the corporate Hollywood we know today. In telling that larger story, The Big Goodbye will take its place alongside classics like Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and The Devil's Candy as one of the great movie-world books ever written. Praise for Sam Wasson: "Wasson is a canny chronicler of old Hollywood and its outsize personalities...More than that, he understands that style matters, and, like his subjects, he has a flair for it." - The New Yorker "Sam Wasson is a fabulous social historian because he finds meaning in situations and stories that would otherwise be forgotten if he didn't sleuth them out, lovingly." - Hilton Als

Watch Me

Download Watch Me PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1476760365
Total Pages : 400 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (767 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Watch Me by : Anjelica Huston

Download or read book Watch Me written by Anjelica Huston and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-07-07 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Picking up where A Story Lately Told leaves off, when Anjelica Huston is 22 years old, Watch Me is a chronicle of her glamorous and eventful Hollywood years. She writes about falling in love with Jack Nicholson and her adventurous, turbulent, high-profile, spirited 17-year relationship with him and his intoxicating circle of friends. She writes about learning how to act, about her Academy Award-winning portrayal of "Maerose Prizzi" in Prizzi's Honor, about her collaborations with many of the greatest directors in Hollywood, including Wes Anderson, Richard Condon, Bob Rafelson, Mike Nichols, and Stephen Frears. She movingly and beautifully writes about the death of her father John Huston and her marriage to sculptor Robert Graham. She is candid, mischievous, warm, passionate, funny, and a fabulous story teller"--

Jack Nicholson

Download Jack Nicholson PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : W H Allen
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Jack Nicholson by : David Downing

Download or read book Jack Nicholson written by David Downing and published by W H Allen. This book was released on 1983 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Jack Nicholson

Download Jack Nicholson PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813140668
Total Pages : 381 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Jack Nicholson by : Robert Crane

Download or read book Jack Nicholson written by Robert Crane and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2012-06-22 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A biography based on personal interviews with the actor as well as his friends and fellow filmmakers: “Entertaining . . . A must for cinema students.” ―Hollywood Reporter In 1975, Jack Nicholson was just becoming a household name after starring in, writing, or producing twenty-five films including Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Last Detail, and Chinatown. At the time, Robert Crane and Christopher Fryer interviewed Nicholson for what began as a thesis for a University of Southern California film class—but quickly morphed into a larger portrait of Nicholson’s unique craft. It would become the first book about the icon, and the only one done with his participation. Crane and Fryer conducted their interviews with Nicholson with the intent of showcasing the young star as he saw himself, while also interviewing many of Nicholson’s close friends and fellow filmmakers, including Dennis Hopper, Roger Corman, Hal Ashby, Ann-Margret, Robert Evans, and Bruce Dern, providing a comprehensive profile of the actor's early years in the industry. The result is a unique portrait of the life and career of a man who has to date earned three Academy Awards and twelve nominations, seven Golden Globes, and the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award. “A true insider’s look at Nicholson not only as a writer, director, and actor, but also as a private man who desires a private life.” ―Los Angeles Daily News Includes photographs Originally published as Jack Nicholson: Face to Face

Michael Douglas

Download Michael Douglas PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 0307952371
Total Pages : 385 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (79 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Michael Douglas by : Marc Eliot

Download or read book Michael Douglas written by Marc Eliot and published by Crown. This book was released on 2013-09-17 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking portrait of one of Hollywood’s most successful stars, from critically acclaimed and bestselling biographer Marc Eliot Through determination, inventiveness, and charisma, Michael Douglas emerged from the long shadow cast by his movie-legend father, Kirk Douglas, to become his own man and one of the film industry’s most formi­dable players. Overcoming the curse of failure that haunts the sons and daughters of Hollywood celebrities, Michael became a sensation when he successfully brought One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, starring his friend Jack Nicholson, to the screen after numerous setbacks, including his father’s own failed attempts to make it happen. This 1975 box-office phenomenon won Michael his first Oscar (the film won five total, including Best Picture), an award Kirk hadn’t won at the time, and solidified the turbulent, competitive father-son relationship that would shape Michael’s career and personal life. In the decades that followed, Michael established a reputation for taking chances on new talent and proj­ects by producing and starring in the hugely successful Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile movies, while cultivating a multifaceted acting persona—edgy, rebel­lious, and a little dark—in such films as Wall Street, Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, and Disclosure. Yet as his career thrived, Michael’s personal life floundered, with an unhappy and tumultuous first mar­riage, rumors of infidelity (especially with leading ladies such as Kathleen Turner), and a headline-grabbing stint in rehab. Rocked by a series of tragedies, including Kirk’s strokes, his son Cameron’s incarceration, and his own fight against throat cancer, Michael has emerged trium­phant, healthy, and happy in his marriage to Catherine Zeta-Jones, a Welsh actress twenty-five years his junior, and their new young family. In Michael Douglas, Marc Eliot brings into sharp fo­cus this incredible career, complicated personal life, and legendary Hollywood family. Eliot’s fascinating portrait of the lows and remarkable highs in Michael’s life—in­cluding the thorny yet influential relationship with his father—breaks boundaries in understanding the life and work of a true American film star.

Jack

Download Jack PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0061745499
Total Pages : 401 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (617 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Jack by : Edward Douglas

Download or read book Jack written by Edward Douglas and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-03-17 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jack Nicholson is one of the longest-lasting and most recognized sex symbols of our time. This sizzling biography goes deep in-depth, relating exclusive interviews with past flames and flings, to shed light on the unique charisma and magnetism of one of America's most respected and desired movie stars. Among the startling revelations: A longtime girlfriend who describes Jack's reaction when he at last discovered the long-buried, dark secret of his childhood Jack's notorious penny-pinching, such as the time he came home from a movie set with a doggie bag of catered Mexican food The woman Jack "shared" with Robert Evans and Warren Beatty The night Christina Onassis, who'd had a fling with Jack in Los Angeles, got mad at him for seducing a girl in her party at Xenon The beauty queen who was still married to drug dealer Tom Sullivan when she was drawn to Jack The beautiful, talented costar who showed up at Jack's house at 1 A.M. and what happened when live-in girlfriend Anjelica Huston answered the intercom The night Steve Rubell ran around Studio 54 saying, "We got to keep Ryan O'Neal and Jack Nicholson away from each other. There's going to be a big fight." Why Rebecca Broussard refused him when Jack asked for her hand in marriage in 1993, even after having two children with him Why Katharine Hepburn's goddaughter still loves Jack and has spent years looking for a man who can measure up to him Diane Keaton's reaction to Jack passing gas during filming of a love scene for Something's Gotta Give Jennifer Howard, who found Jack's lovemaking "very oomph! He knows what he's doing. You can kind of just let go. Let him le-e-e-ad the way!"In Jack, Edward Douglas offers us a provocative, fascinating portrait of the man, the legend, the star: Jack Nicholson.

Mike Nichols

Download Mike Nichols PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0399562249
Total Pages : 720 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (995 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Mike Nichols by : Mark Harris

Download or read book Mike Nichols written by Mark Harris and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 720 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A National Book Critics Circle finalist • One of People's top 10 books of 2021 • An instant New York Times bestseller • Named a best book of the year by NPR and Time A magnificent biography of one of the most protean creative forces in American entertainment history, a life of dazzling highs and vertiginous plunges—some of the worst largely unknown until now—by the acclaimed author of Pictures at a Revolution and Five Came Back Mike Nichols burst onto the scene as a wunderkind: while still in his twenties, he was half of a hit improv duo with Elaine May that was the talk of the country. Next he directed four consecutive hit plays, won back-to-back Tonys, ushered in a new era of Hollywood moviemaking with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and followed it with The Graduate, which won him an Oscar and became the third-highest-grossing movie ever. At thirty-five, he lived in a three-story Central Park West penthouse, drove a Rolls-Royce, collected Arabian horses, and counted Jacqueline Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, Leonard Bernstein, and Richard Avedon as friends. Where he arrived is even more astonishing given where he had begun: born Igor Peschkowsky to a Jewish couple in Berlin in 1931, he was sent along with his younger brother to America on a ship in 1939. The young immigrant boy caught very few breaks. He was bullied and ostracized--an allergic reaction had rendered him permanently hairless--and his father died when he was just twelve, leaving his mother alone and overwhelmed. The gulf between these two sets of facts explains a great deal about Nichols's transformation from lonely outsider to the center of more than one cultural universe--the acute powers of observation that first made him famous; the nourishment he drew from his creative partnerships, most enduringly with May; his unquenchable drive; his hunger for security and status; and the depressions and self-medications that brought him to terrible lows. It would take decades for him to come to grips with his demons. In an incomparable portrait that follows Nichols from Berlin to New York to Chicago to Hollywood, Mark Harris explores, with brilliantly vivid detail and insight, the life, work, struggle, and passion of an artist and man in constant motion. Among the 250 people Harris interviewed: Elaine May, Meryl Streep, Stephen Sondheim, Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Tom Hanks, Candice Bergen, Emma Thompson, Annette Bening, Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts, Lorne Michaels, and Gloria Steinem. Mark Harris gives an intimate and evenhanded accounting of success and failure alike; the portrait is not always flattering, but its ultimate impact is to present the full story of one of the most richly interesting, complicated, and consequential figures the worlds of theater and motion pictures have ever seen. It is a triumph of the biographer's art.