While he was researching subjects for his next book in 2022, writer-producer-author Burt Kearns noted that the centennial of Marlon Brando’s birth was coming up: April 3, 2024 (this past Wednesday). At the same time, he understood that the world didn’t need another Brando biography. “There had already been so many of those,” Kearns notes, “including one that Brando himself collaborated on.” Yet he was fascinated by the actor (who died in 2004) who perfected The Method. And as a longtime journalist, the more Kearns dug into the life and career of Brando, the more astounded he grew at the influence the acting legend had on Western society, popular culture and the American psyche.
“And it all goes back to Brando’s role in the 1953 film ‘The Wild One’,” Kearns asserts, “and that singular image.”
The image of which the author speaks is the one of Brando that graces the cover of his fascinating new book,...
“And it all goes back to Brando’s role in the 1953 film ‘The Wild One’,” Kearns asserts, “and that singular image.”
The image of which the author speaks is the one of Brando that graces the cover of his fascinating new book,...
- 4/5/2024
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
Lawrence Tierney: New book biography of legendary Hollywood tough guy generating holiday season buzz
The moment that writer-producer-author Burt Kearns knew he had to write a book about actor Lawrence Tierney came early in 2019 while he was researching a different book called “The Show Won’t Go On: The Most Shocking, Bizarre and Historic Deaths of Performers Onstage” that would publish that same year. He came upon a 1951 article in the Los Angeles Times headlined, “Lawrence Tierney Arrested 13th Time.” It was due to drunken driving, a familiar charge for perhaps the most pugnacious, self-destructive star in showbiz annals. “Drunk and disorderly” was another of his favorites.
“I decided to do a little more research,” Kearns recalls, “and it turned out it wasn’t actually his 13th arrest but more like his 22nd.”
Mind you, Tierney had only been acting professionally for less than a decade in ’51. Born in 1919, the Brooklyn native broke into the business with Rko Radio Pictures in 1943, earning a reputation for playing mobsters,...
“I decided to do a little more research,” Kearns recalls, “and it turned out it wasn’t actually his 13th arrest but more like his 22nd.”
Mind you, Tierney had only been acting professionally for less than a decade in ’51. Born in 1919, the Brooklyn native broke into the business with Rko Radio Pictures in 1943, earning a reputation for playing mobsters,...
- 12/14/2022
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
The life and wild times of the late Lawrence Tierney will soon be put on the page.
Author, journalist and documentary producer Burt Kearns confirms to The Hollywood Reporter that he is writing Tierney’s biography, which has been acquired by the University Press of Kentucky for publication in 2022.
Born in 1919, the Brooklyn-raised Tierney, who died in 2002, broke into the business in the early 1940s and earned a reputation for playing intense, tough-guy characters like mobsters, murderers and bank robbers. His fame came quickly thanks to a star turn in the film Dillinger, which cast him as the notorious gangster ...
Author, journalist and documentary producer Burt Kearns confirms to The Hollywood Reporter that he is writing Tierney’s biography, which has been acquired by the University Press of Kentucky for publication in 2022.
Born in 1919, the Brooklyn-raised Tierney, who died in 2002, broke into the business in the early 1940s and earned a reputation for playing intense, tough-guy characters like mobsters, murderers and bank robbers. His fame came quickly thanks to a star turn in the film Dillinger, which cast him as the notorious gangster ...
The life and wild times of the late Lawrence Tierney will soon be put on the page.
Author, journalist and documentary producer Burt Kearns confirms to The Hollywood Reporter that he is writing Tierney’s biography which has been acquired for publication by the University Press of Kentucky for publication in 2022.
Born in 1919, the Brooklyn-raised Tierney, who passed away in 2002, broke into the business in the early 1940s and earned a reputation for playing intense, tough-guy characters like mobsters, murderers and bank robbers. His fame came quickly thanks to a star turn in the film Dillinger, which cast him as ...
Author, journalist and documentary producer Burt Kearns confirms to The Hollywood Reporter that he is writing Tierney’s biography which has been acquired for publication by the University Press of Kentucky for publication in 2022.
Born in 1919, the Brooklyn-raised Tierney, who passed away in 2002, broke into the business in the early 1940s and earned a reputation for playing intense, tough-guy characters like mobsters, murderers and bank robbers. His fame came quickly thanks to a star turn in the film Dillinger, which cast him as ...
Talk to any performer, and they probably have a horror story about the time they died on stage. It was a bad crowd, bad night, bad material, the venue wasn’t right.
But now, there’s a book actually devoted to those who have, literally, died on stage. The Show Won’t Go On: The Most Shocking, Bizarre, and Historic Deaths of Performers Onstage (Chicago Review Press), by Jeff Abraham and Burt Kearns, is the first comprehensive study of onstage deaths. Unearthed details, little-known facts, and anecdotes reveal the truth about the final curtain call that ended many artists’ lives. The book arrives on Sept. 3.
The book chronicles Albert Brooks’s father, comedian Harry “Parkyakarkus” Einstein, to high-wire walker Karl Wallenda, rock star Dimebag Darrell Abbott, to rapper Jax the Axehandler. It also covers Tommy Cooper, who died on live television, and cult ukulele crooner Tiny Tim and J.I.
But now, there’s a book actually devoted to those who have, literally, died on stage. The Show Won’t Go On: The Most Shocking, Bizarre, and Historic Deaths of Performers Onstage (Chicago Review Press), by Jeff Abraham and Burt Kearns, is the first comprehensive study of onstage deaths. Unearthed details, little-known facts, and anecdotes reveal the truth about the final curtain call that ended many artists’ lives. The book arrives on Sept. 3.
The book chronicles Albert Brooks’s father, comedian Harry “Parkyakarkus” Einstein, to high-wire walker Karl Wallenda, rock star Dimebag Darrell Abbott, to rapper Jax the Axehandler. It also covers Tommy Cooper, who died on live television, and cult ukulele crooner Tiny Tim and J.I.
- 8/24/2019
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Frozen firing 2 beach volleys
Brett Hudson and Burt Kearns' Frozen Pictures is taking a dig at two series centered on beach volleyball, one of which is a reality show featuring U.S. Olympic coach Dane Selznick. The reality show will feature Selznick -- coach of beach volleyball duo Misty May and Kerri Walsh, gold medalists at last month's Summer Olympics in Athens -- searching for the next top female athletes in the sport. In the elimination-competition series, 16 finalists will be selected from a nationwide search to live together in Manhattan Beach, Calif., and compete in various challenges until the group is whittled down to two winners, who will be trained to compete as professional beach volleyball players.
- 9/28/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ruddy serves up 'Cloud Nine' with coach Reynolds
Albert S. Ruddy has a new project, Cloud Nine, about a has-been coach (Burt Reynolds) who launches a women's volleyball team with a difference: It's for strippers. Described as a "labor of love" for the Godfather producer, Cloud was co-written by Ruddy after encountering a volleyball poster during a trip to New York. Cloud will be directed by Hairy Tale helmer Harry Basil. Ruddy is reteaming with Godfather associate producer Gray Fredrickson for Cloud, with Fredrickson executive producing together with Graymark Prods. partner John Simonelli. The film will be a Graymark presentation in association with Ruddy Morgan and Frozen Films. Brett Hudson and Burt Kearns of Frozen are producing with Ruddy. The duo also co-scripted the project.
- 3/23/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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