About the books:

A Real American Character: The Life of Walter Brennan
By Carl Rollyson

The first biography of the prodigiously hard-working actor who embodied the Western ideal

Walter Brennan (1894–1974) was one of the greatest character actors in Hollywood history, winner of three Academy Awards, who grew into a national icon because of his starring role as Grandpa in The Real McCoys. Brennan appeared in over two hundred motion pictures and became the subject of a Norman Rockwell painting, celebrating the actor's unique role as the voice of the American Western. His life journey from Swampscott, Massachusetts, to Hollywood to a twelve-thousand-acre cattle ranch in Joseph, Oregon, is one of the great American stories, and the fulfillment of the American Dream.

In A Real American Character: The Life of Walter Brennan (University Press of Mississippi) the first biography of this epic figure, Carly Rollyson reveals Brennan’s consummate mastery of virtually every kind of role while playing against and often stealing scenes from stars such as Gary Cooper, Humphrey Bogart, and John Wayne. His work with Hollywood's greatest directors, such as Howard Hawks, John Ford, and Fritz Lang, is fully explored. The volume also contains engaging discussions of Brennan’s early work in films that have escaped the notice of critics and biographers.

The book provides a compelling look at Brennan as a family man, a father and grandfather, who instilling in generations of his family an outlook on the American Dream that remains a sustaining feature of their lives today. Brennan's conservative politics, which grew out of his New England upbringing and his devout Catholicism, receives meticulous attention and a balanced assessment.

Meticulously researched and written with the full cooperation of the Brennan family, the book draws on material in archives from every region of the United States and also includes several previously unpublished photographs. Rollyson has written impassioned tribute to Brennan as both the man and actor come vibrantly alive in this thoughtful biography. A Real American Character presents an artist and family man worthy of the profoundest attention and respect. Finally, an unsung character actor finally gets a long-overdue close-up

Marilyn Monroe: A Life of the Actress, Revised and Updated
By Carl Rollyson

The First Biography to Focus on the American Icon's Acting Craft

In American popular culture, Marilyn Monroe has evolved in stature from movie superstar to American icon. Monroe’s own understanding of her place in the American imagination, and her effort to perfect her talent as an actress, are explored with great sensitivity in Marilyn Monroe: A Life of the Actress, Revised and Updated (University Press of Mississippi).

Biographer Carl Rollyson’s engaging and meticulous narrative shows how movies became crucial events in the shaping of her identity. He explores Monroe’s enduring gifts as a creative artist, discussing how her smaller roles in The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve established the context for her career, while in-depth chapters on her more important roles in Bus Stop, Some Like It Hot, and The Misfits provide the centerpiece of his examination of her life and career.

Through extensive interviews with many of Monroe’s colleagues, close friends, and other biographers, as well as a careful rethinking of the literature written about her, Rollyson is able to describe her use of Method acting, her studies with Michael Chekhov and with Lee Strasberg, head of the Actors Studio in New York. The author also analyzes several of Monroe’s own drawings, diary notes, and letters that have become recently available. From this comprehensive, yet critically measured wealth of material, Rollyson offers a distinctive and insightful portrait of Marilyn Monroe, highlighted by new perspectives that clearly depict the central importance of acting to the authentic aspects of her being. This edition of Marilyn Monroe: A Life of the Actress features new photographs not included in the original publication as well as an afterword that squarely confronts the conspiracy theories about Monroe’s death.

About the Author:
CARL ROLLYSON is the advisory editor of University Press of Mississippi’s Hollywood Legends Series and the author of several biographies, including Hollywood Enigma: Dana Andrews (published by University Press of Mississippi); American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath; and Amy Lowell Anew: A Biography. He is a professor of journalism at Baruch College, the City University of New York

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