In The Company Of Legends by Joan Kramer and David Heeley in stores April 16!
Foreword by Richard Dreyfuss
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In The Company Of Legends is an insiders' view of Hollywood's famous and powerful: behind the scenes stories of Katharine Hepburn, Johnny Carson, Frank Sinatra, Lew R. Wasserman, Richard Dreyfuss, Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, James Stewart, and Bette Davis, among others.
Starting with their award-winning profiles of Fred Astaire in 1980, Joan Kramer and David Heeley produced film portraits of the lives and careers of many Hollywood legends, establishing a reputation for finding the un-findable, persuading the reluctant, and maintaining unique relationships long after the end credits rolled. Their stories of the productions and the personalities involved are amusing, sometimes moving, often revealing, and have never been told before.
*****
"Thank you, David Heeley and Joan Kramer for giving us one of the best reasons ever for curling up with a book. After their treating us to some of the best, most literate and entertaining hours of television (including Katharine Hepburn: All About Me, Bacall on Bogart, The John Garfield Story, The Adventures of Errol Flynn, and numerous other TV specials) they now offer us a book I never wanted to end, chock full of constant surprises. In The Company Of Legends is a king's ransom of fascinating stories about colorful, bigger than life people we know but don't know. The big bonus is that it's a book about dazzling personalities told by people who actually knew the celebrities they write about, worked with them and, further, socialized with them, aware of their foibles and strengths from first-hand knowledge, not hearsay. That's something both rare and refreshing in books today. This one deserves a high spot on your 'must read' booklist for the year." --- Robert Osborne
*****
"This delicious account of the greatly talented and productive Kramer and Heeley's adventures, misadventures, headaches and thrills among their illustriously famous subjects is a joy to read. The quirks and maddening eccentricities of such greatly gifted giants as Frank Sinatra, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, et al., are all here on delightfully entertaining -- and often startling -- display. In The Company Of Legends is so hard to put down I ate with one hand while reading it." -- Dick Cavett
*****
About the Authors:
Joan Kramer and David Heeley have received five Emmy awards, twenty Emmy nominations and many other national and international honors.
David Heeley was born in the north of England. After graduating from Oxford University in 1961, he joined the BBC in London, initially as an engineer, eventually becoming a staff director. In 1969 he moved to New York, where he worked first for public television's WNET, and later Top Hat Productions, which he owned with Joan Kramer. He has received many awards, including six Emmys, has been nominated for three Directors Guild of America awards, and has taught a course on directing at New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies. He was executive producer of the WNET/PBS series Nature from its premiere in 1982 until 1991, and has produced a number of acclaimed documentary profiles together with Joan Kramer.
Born in Chicago, IL, Joan Kramer was a ballet dancer and assistant choreographer before starting her career in film and television production. She was an assistant talent co-ordinator for The Dick Cavett Show, associate producer for a Candid Camera Special, and writer for Live from Lincoln Center. She then joined the staff of WNET where she began her long producing partnership with David Heeley. For public television and later for their own company, Top Hat Productions, they documented the lives of some of the most famous and well-respected personalities in the entertainment industry, and maintained personal relationships with many of them, their families and friends. These programs were recognized as high-quality, definitive film portraits, which revitalized the genre and made it a mainstay of television programming.
THE FILMS OF JOAN KRAMER & DAVID HEELEY
Fred Astaire: Puttin' On His Top Hat (WNET) 1980
Fred Astaire: Change Partners and Dance (WNET) 1980
Starring Katharine Hepburn (WNET) 1981
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward (ABC News 20/20) 1984
Judy Garland: The Concert Years (WNET/Sid Luft) 1985
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn (WNET/MGM) 1986
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life (WNET/MGM) 1987
Bacall on Bogart (WNET/Turner Entertainment Co.) 1988
Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of The Group Theatre (WNET) 1989
The Perfect Tribute (Proctor & Gamble Productions) 1991
The Fred Astaire Songbook (WNET/Turner Entertainment Co.) 1991
Fonda on Fonda (Top Hat Productions/Turner Pictures) 1992
Katharine Hepburn: All About Me (Top Hat Productions/Turner Pictures) 1993
The Universal Story (Top Hat Productions/Universal Television) 1996
The Lady with the Torch (Top Hat Productions/Sony Pictures Entertainment) 1999
The John Garfield Story (Top Hat Productions/Turner Entertainment Co.) 2003
The Adventures of Errol Flynn (Top Hat Productions/Turner Entertainment Co.) 2005