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How to Be a Movie Star
- Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
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Editorial reviews
Elizabeth Taylor's career marked a turning point for American celebrity culture: old-fashioned modesty and feminine docility receded into the past, as Taylor assumed an image - not always intentionally - marked by pluck, sexuality, and unapologetic honesty. Publicly, Taylor was infamous for spats with studio executives, multiple marriages, and adulterous affairs. At the same time, Taylor was widely recognized as a talented and cooperative worker, a warm and humane personality, and a charitable champion of civic causes. Striking a tone worthy of the "good bad girl" herself, actor Mark Boyett delivers this exhaustive biography with homespun authenticity and intimacy, nevertheless infusing the actress' glamorous exploits, groundbreaking successes, and enduring legacy with an almost lyrical, prosaic intonation - a fitting ode to one of cinema's most remarkable icons.
Publisher's summary
Elizabeth Taylor has never been short on star power, but in this unprecedented biography, the spotlight is entirely on her - a spirited beauty full of magic, professional daring, and wit.
Acclaimed biographer William Mann follows Elizabeth Taylor publicly as she makes her ascent at MGM, falls into (and out of) marriages, wins Oscars, fights studio feuds, and combats America's conservative values with her decidedly modern love affairs. But he also shines a light on Elizabeth's rich private life, revealing a love for her craft and a loyalty to the underdog that fueled her lifelong battle against the studio system. Swathed in mink, disposing of husbands but keeping the diamonds - this is Elizabeth Taylor as she lived and loved, breaking and making the rules in the game of supreme celebrity.
In the 60s, Elizabeth Taylor's affair with the married Richard Burton knocked John Glenn's orbit of the moon off front pages nationwide. Yet, despite all the gossip, the larger-than-life personality and influence of this very human woman has never been captured. William Mann, praised by Gore Vidal, Patricia Bosworth, and Gerald Clarke for Kate, uses untapped sources and conversations to show how she ignited the sexual revolution with her on-and off-screen passions, helped kick down the studio system by taking control of her own career, and practically invented the big business of celebrity star-making. With unputdownable storytelling he tells the full truth without losing Taylor's magic, daring, or wit.
Listeners will feel they are sitting next to Taylor as she rises at MGM, survives a marriage engineered for publicity, feuds with Hedda Hopper and Mr. Mayer, wins Oscars, endures tragedy, juggles Eddie Fisher, Richard Burton and her country's conservative values. But it is the private Elizabeth that will surprise - a woman of heart and loyalty, who defends underdogs, a savvy professional whose anger at the studio's treatment of her led to a lifelong battle against that very system. All the Elizabeth's are here, finally reconciled and seen against the exciting years of her greatest spirit, beauty, and influence. Swathed in mink, staring us down with her lavender eyes, disposing of husbands but keeping the diamonds, here is Elizabeth Taylor as she was meant to be, leading her epic life on her own terms, playing the game of supreme stardom at which she remains, to this day, unmatched.
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- Original Recording
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Elwood Blues (aka Dan Aykroyd) is on another mission—to tell the full story of how two young actors went from blues lovers to Blues Brothers. In this fascinating audio documentary Aykroyd “gets the band back together”, taking listeners on a road trip through time—from late nights in the early days with John Belushi at Dan’s speakeasy in Toronto, to working with blues legends Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Ray Charles on The Blues Brothers movie, through the founding of House of Blues, the Blues Brothers 2000 sequel, and beyond.
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Thank you. I needed that.
- By Robert on 07-27-24
By: Dan Aykroyd
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Born a Crime
- Stories from a South African Childhood
- By: Trevor Noah
- Narrated by: Trevor Noah
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In this award-winning Audible Studios production, Trevor Noah tells his wild coming-of-age tale during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa. It’s a story that begins with his mother throwing him from a moving van to save him from a potentially fatal dispute with gangsters, then follows the budding comedian’s path to self-discovery through episodes both poignant and comical.
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Great book and perfect narration
- By MarilynArms on 12-15-16
By: Trevor Noah
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Coatbridge: The Disappearance of Moira Anderson
- By: Chalk and Blade
- Narrated by: Sandra Brown
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Original Recording
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For decades, Sandra Brown’s life has been intertwined with someone she has never met: an eleven year-old girl named Moira Anderson – who disappeared from their hometown of Coatbridge, Scotland, in 1957. It became one of the oldest cold cases in Scottish history. Sandra lived just around the corner from Moira. She grew up hearing about the missing girl, whose memory haunted the town. But she never imagined that, one day, she would be the one trying to uncover what happened. Or that her search for answers would reveal secrets and lies so close to home.
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Moving Story
- By White-Dobb on 07-05-24
By: Chalk and Blade
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Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
- A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
- By: Lori Gottlieb
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.
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It was like a hallmark movie being waterboarded into my ears for 15 hours
- By Amazon Customer on 10-01-19
By: Lori Gottlieb
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The Demon Next Door
- By: Bryan Burrough
- Narrated by: Steve White
- Length: 2 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling author Bryan Burrough recently made a shocking discovery: The small town of Temple, Texas, where he had grown up, had harbored a dark secret. One of his high school classmates, Danny Corwin, was a vicious serial killer. In this chilling tale, Burrough raises important questions of whether serial killers can be recognized before they kill or rehabilitated after they do. It is also a story of Texas politics and power that led the good citizens of the town of Temple to enable a demon who was their worst nightmare.
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Odd narration choice
- By Amanda Fredericks on 03-08-19
By: Bryan Burrough
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Letters from Guantánamo
- By: Mansoor Adayfi, Antonio Aiello
- Narrated by: Mansoor Adayfi, Fajer Al-Kaisi, Elias Khalil, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
- Original Recording
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In weeks after the September 11 attacks, 18-year-old Mansoor Adayfi was kidnapped by Afghan militia and sold to US forces for bounty money. After months of interrogations, he was sent to the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as one of its first prisoners. Like the nearly 800 other men imprisoned at Guantanamo, Adayfi didn’t know why he was imprisoned or for how long. He had never seen a skyscraper and couldn’t imagine what the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center looked like, much less how they were destroyed.
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An important reminder
- By Dave Heilman on 05-25-24
By: Mansoor Adayfi, and others
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Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
- By: Jack Weatherford
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Jack Weatherford
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization.
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Golden Horde/Platinum Listen
- By Cynthia on 12-11-13
By: Jack Weatherford
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Helter Skelter
- The True Story of the Manson Murders
- By: Vincent Bugliosi, Curt Gentry
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 26 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial Vincent Bugliosi held a unique insider's position in one of the most baffling and horrifying cases of the 20th century: the cold-blooded Tate-LaBianca murders carried out by Charles Manson and four of his followers. What motivated Manson in his seemingly mindless selection of victims, and what was his hold over the young women who obeyed his orders? Now available for the first time in unabridged audio, the gripping story of this famous and haunting crime is brought to life by acclaimed narrator Scott Brick.
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Everything I remembered about the case was wrong..
- By karen on 06-22-12
By: Vincent Bugliosi, and others
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X
- As Told to Alex Haley
- By: Malcolm X, Alex Haley
- Narrated by: Laurence Fishburne
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Experience a bold take on this classic autobiography as it’s performed by Oscar-nominated Laurence Fishburne. In this searing classic autobiography, originally published in 1965, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and Black empowerment activist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Human Rights movement. His fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American dream and the inherent racism in a society that denies its non-White citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.
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Audible Masterpiece
- By Phoenician on 09-10-20
By: Malcolm X, and others
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Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side? In Going Infinite Lewis sets out to answer this question, taking listeners into the mind of Bankman-Fried.
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really expected more rigor from Michael Lewis
- By Wowhello on 10-04-23
By: Michael Lewis
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Drinking
- A Love Story
- By: Caroline Knapp
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifteen million Americans a year are plagued with alcoholism. Five million of them are women. Many of them, like Caroline Knapp, started in their early teens and began to use alcohol as "liquid armor", a way to protect themselves against the difficult realities of life. In this extraordinarily candid and revealing memoir, Knapp offers important insights not only about alcoholism, but about life itself and how we learn to cope with it.
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The Big Picture of Alcohol Dependence
- By Karen K on 07-26-16
By: Caroline Knapp
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My Story
- By: Marilyn Monroe
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Marilyn Monroe had the most famous face of the 20th century. A legendary actress, comedienne, and sex symbol, she has been one of Hollywood’s most talked-about performers ever since she first crossed the silver screen. Her fame persisted long after her tragic death—but as time has gone by, it has become almost impossible to separate the legend of the woman born as Norma Jeane from the truth. Now, at last, Marilyn’s real story can be told.
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Nice To Hear Norma Jean
- By Brooke R. Calder on 02-23-23
By: Marilyn Monroe
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Under the Bridge
- By: Rebecca Godfrey
- Narrated by: Rebecca Godfrey, Erin Moon, Mary Gaitskill - introduction
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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One moonlit night, 14-year-old Reena Virk went to join friends at a party and never returned home. In this “tour de force of crime reportage” (Kirkus Reviews), acclaimed author Rebecca Godfrey takes us into the hidden world of the seven teenage girls - and boy - accused of a savage murder. As she follows the investigation and trials, Godfrey reveals the startling truth about the unlikely killers. Laced with lyricism and insight, Under the Bridge is an unforgettable look at a haunting modern tragedy.
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Powerful Account of 8 Young Teens Killing Another
- By Mary Burnight on 08-16-19
By: Rebecca Godfrey
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Finding Tamika
- By: Erika Alexander, Kevin Hart, Charlamagne Tha God, and others
- Narrated by: Erika Alexander
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Original Recording
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Black girls and women disappear every day, but not without a trace. Join actress and activist Erika Alexander in a neo-noir, true crime drama as she searches for Tamika Huston, a 24-year-old Black woman from Spartanburg, SC who went missing in 2004. Her case became a rallying cry for other missing Black women in America and led to a growing demand to expose a system that ignores missing girls and women of color.
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Cynical conflation of two tragedies
- By Buretto on 03-26-22
By: Erika Alexander, and others
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Exposed
- The Ashley Madison Hack
- By: Sophie Elmhirst, Maria Luisa Tucker
- Narrated by: Sophie Nélisse
- Length: 3 hrs and 13 mins
- Original Recording
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Millions of people–looking to cheat on their partners–signed up for Ashley Madison in the early 2000s, seeking a private space to share their public desires. The promise of discretion was shattered in the summer of 2015, when anonymous hackers stole the company’s cache of user information and published it worldwide. The result? One of the most shocking data breaches of the internet age. Overnight, millions of unfaithful spouses had their real names, addresses and sexual preferences published online in a searchable database that anyone could browse.
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Hard to feel sorry for the cheaters
- By Kim Kormylo on 02-21-24
By: Sophie Elmhirst, and others
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Juicy, Thoughtful and One of a Kind!
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What listeners say about How to Be a Movie Star
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Katherine
- 03-09-16
I love Elizabeth Taylor! 😫❤️
And all this man's books. The narrator is enjoyable. This book never gets boring 🙏 thank you.
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4 people found this helpful
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- robin p
- 03-12-21
Surprise
Love the narration! Lots of fun! Luv Liz more than ever imagined... sympathy and understanding
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- K Martin
- 04-12-20
Elizabeth Taylor in contex
An intelligent and well researched analysis of the Elizabeth Taylor phenomenon as well as insights into her personality.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Nakota
- 03-10-19
Best biography I've ever read
This was exactly what I hoped for, by far the best biography I've ever read.
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- VM
- 01-14-21
Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood
I enjoyed this book and hearing the stories behind the star. I give this 5 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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- Thomas Wolf
- 07-18-19
Great narrator performance and detailed story
I have always wanted to know more about Elizabeth Taylor and her very long career in the old and new Hollywood systems. Especially interested in all her marriages and how she managed to have so many in her lifetime.
The story is great and the performance by the voice artist is incredible. One of the best I have listened to.
My only criticism is that after Her marriage(s) to Burton, the rest of her life is included in one chapter and an incredible amount of story/information is skipped and missed.
I doesn’t take away from the overall narrative just a little disappointing.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Troy
- 06-18-14
A Specialized Biography
The author states up front that rather than be the kind of detailed biography you can find anywhere else, this is specifically a look at Elizabeth Taylor's rise to stardom. I think that's a bit disingenuous, as much like any other famous Elizabeth in history, it's impossible to separate the lofty career from the personal life of the woman herself. One defines the other.
Everything that made Taylor who she was is put under the spotlight for this. Her parents and upbringing within the studio system are detailed, which helps to put her career as an independent actress into proper perspective. Her husbands, friends, colleagues, and even her detractors are all set into her orbit, their worlds revolving around her star. There are a great many quotes, anecdotes, and news clippings within that help round out the basic facts, but at the end of the day, Taylor's star power outshines everything, including the author's attempts to be unbiased. There are some private conversations that are seemingly quoted verbatim, which don't seem to have any supporting documentation, but they are believable and add to the already heightened personality of this story. How much is true? Where a Hollywood legend is concerned, who's to say? There's a great line in the Jimmy Stewart film "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence" that pretty much sums up the nature of this book:
"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
That's not to say there aren't facts here. If anything, Taylor's life sometimes proves that fact is stranger than fiction, such is the nature of living at her level of prestige. Regardless, if you're interested in the glamour of Hollywood, bigger than life personalities, or just really fascinating stories from a world beyond the everyday 9 to 5, this one's a fun read.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Bamabooma
- 01-16-14
Outstanding
What made the experience of listening to How to Be a Movie Star the most enjoyable?
I loved learning the real behind-the-scenes details of Liz Taylor's awesome life.
Which scene was your favorite?
I think it was her triumphant return to stardom when she appeared on Broadway in "The Little Foxes."
Any additional comments?
This is a no-brainer for any Liz Taylor fan!
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2 people found this helpful
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- 1rubyd
- 06-16-17
A True Star
Elizabeth Taylor was a true Movie star. She didn't care what people thought and kept going with beauty, charisma and grace. We could learn a lot from her. I could not put this book down.
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- Peter Ryers
- 09-14-20
Interesting and recommended
Mr Mann’s prose is a delight to hear and the reading is first rate. Taylor is one of a kinda.
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