Books by Nat Segaloff

Imagine you're a young movie producer trying to jump from small pictures into the international film market. Imagine a novice German director comes to you with a lousy script and barely enough money to pick up lunch. Now imagine that, for reasons that boggle your mind, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton announce that they want to star in your movie.This is the outlandish, funny, touching, and mostly true story told by Yoram Ben-Ami in Guiding Royalty: My Adventure with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.In 1975, Ben-Ami was a struggling young producer making movies and TV shows in Israel. He was married, trying to start a family, and desperate to make it to Hollywood. Suddenly the highest-paid, highest-profile movie stars in the world land in his lap. They are movie royalty and their marriages and private lives fill supermarket tabloids everywhere. He brings them to Israel for publicity only to discover that, as famous as they are, "Liz and Dick" are out of work with no prospects. In other words, both sides need each other. During the five days that they spend together, all of Israel opens up to Taylor and Burton, and Burton and Taylor open up to Ben-Ami. Now Ben-Ami opens up to the reader about what happened.Guiding Royalty: My Adventure with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton is an intimate look at two ultra-famous people at a time when their fame was at a low ebb. Set in the Holy Land and featuring places and personalities who shaped the history of their times, here is an untold and richly human story. Yoram Ben-Ami (author) has made films for major American studios and TV networks including Lone Wolf McQuade, Stone Cold, Steal the Sky, Jury Duty, The Lion of Africa, The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains, Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, and the 3 Ninjas franchise, among others. He is active in Hollywood in the Directors Guild and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.Nat Segaloff (co-author) has written over a dozen books and produced documentaries including biographies of Arthur Penn, William Friedkin, Harlan Ellison, Stan Lee, Larry King, and John Belushi. His books for Bear Manor Media include Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors and the Screen Saver series.

Imagine you're a young movie producer trying to jump from small pictures into the international film market. Imagine a novice German director comes to you with a lousy script and barely enough money to pick up lunch. Now imagine that, for reasons that boggle your mind, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton announce that they want to star in your movie.This is the outlandish, funny, touching, and mostly true story told by Yoram Ben-Ami in Guiding Royalty: My Adventure with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.In 1975, Ben-Ami was a struggling young producer making movies and TV shows in Israel. He was married, trying to start a family, and desperate to make it to Hollywood. Suddenly the highest-paid, highest-profile movie stars in the world land in his lap. They are movie royalty and their marriages and private lives fill supermarket tabloids everywhere. He brings them to Israel for publicity only to discover that, as famous as they are, "Liz and Dick" are out of work with no prospects. In other words, both sides need each other. During the five days that they spend together, all of Israel opens up to Taylor and Burton, and Burton and Taylor open up to Ben-Ami. Now Ben-Ami opens up to the reader about what happened.Guiding Royalty: My Adventure with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton is an intimate look at two ultra-famous people at a time when their fame was at a low ebb. Set in the Holy Land and featuring places and personalities who shaped the history of their times, here is an untold and richly human story. Yoram Ben-Ami (author) has made films for major American studios and TV networks including Lone Wolf McQuade, Stone Cold, Steal the Sky, Jury Duty, The Lion of Africa, The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains, Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, and the 3 Ninjas franchise, among others. He is active in Hollywood in the Directors Guild and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.Nat Segaloff (co-author) has written over a dozen books and produced documentaries including biographies of Arthur Penn, William Friedkin, Harlan Ellison, Stan Lee, Larry King, and John Belushi. His books for Bear Manor Media include Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors and the Screen Saver series.

Guarding Gable starts with an actual event in the life of the screen's number one star and becomes a story worthy of a Hollywood movie.It's 1942 and World War Two is just beginning. Beloved actress Carole Lombard is killed in a plane crash while returning from a bond-selling tour and her devoted husband, Clark Gable, is beyond consolation. Depressed to the point of suicide, he enlists in the U.S. Army Air Corps, telling his bosses at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that he doesn't care if he ever comes back.Naturally, MGM is apoplectic at the prospect of losing their top box office attraction. In desperation, studio head Louis B. Mayer leans on a lowly publicist, Alan Greenberg, to enlist with Gable with orders to keep him alive during World War Two. That's hard to do when Gable insists on flying combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe. Not only that, he and Alan fall in love with the same woman -- and, if you're Alan, how do you win the girl if your competition is Clark Gable, the "King" of Hollywood?Guarding Gable is a story of love, war, and humor. It also has a little rough language but, after all, this is the Army.This title is also available as an enhanced audiobook for download from Bear Manor Audio and on CD from Blackstone Audio. Nat Segaloff covered the motion picture business for the Boston Herald, CBS Radio, and Group W. He has also been a studio publicist, college teacher, playwright, and author. In 1996 he formed the multimedia production company Alien Voices with actors Leonard Nimoy and John de Lancie and produced five bestselling, fully dramatized audio plays.

Guarding Gable starts with an actual event in the life of the screen's number one star and becomes a story worthy of a Hollywood movie.It's 1942 and World War Two is just beginning. Beloved actress Carole Lombard is killed in a plane crash while returning from a bond-selling tour and her devoted husband, Clark Gable, is beyond consolation. Depressed to the point of suicide, he enlists in the U.S. Army Air Corps, telling his bosses at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that he doesn't care if he ever comes back.Naturally, MGM is apoplectic at the prospect of losing their top box office attraction. In desperation, studio head Louis B. Mayer leans on a lowly publicist, Alan Greenberg, to enlist with Gable with orders to keep him alive during World War Two. That's hard to do when Gable insists on flying combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe. Not only that, he and Alan fall in love with the same woman -- and, if you're Alan, how do you win the girl if your competition is Clark Gable, the "King" of Hollywood?Guarding Gable is a story of love, war, and humor. It also has a little rough language but, after all, this is the Army.This title is also available as an enhanced audiobook for download from Bear Manor Audio and on CD from Blackstone Audio. Nat Segaloff covered the motion picture business for the Boston Herald, CBS Radio, and Group W. He has also been a studio publicist, college teacher, playwright, and author. In 1996 he formed the multimedia production company Alien Voices with actors Leonard Nimoy and John de Lancie and produced five bestselling, fully dramatized audio plays.

Citizen Kane and Titanic might have an artistic and popular monopoly on greatness, but when it comes to sitting down to a strictly enjoyable film, give me The North Avenue Irregulars any day. What you hold in your hand now is a collection of behind the scenes essays dealing with the unheralded wonders of my youth. I am nobody, but I do have a publishing company, so please excuse the one vanity project you now read. However, I think you're going to find some really good stuff here. If you, like me are a true fan of ignored classics like The Shaggy DA and The Good Fairy, then this is going to be a book you will treasure. I tried to collect up a group of my favorite films that have not been covered much in print before, then asked a few good writers I knew if they would be interested in writing chapters on each, with a particular emphasis on how the films were made and interviews with any cast or crew they could catch, rather than just criticism. I am pleased with this book and hope you will be too. - Ben Ohmart

Citizen Kane and Titanic might have an artistic and popular monopoly on greatness, but when it comes to sitting down to a strictly enjoyable film, give me The North Avenue Irregulars any day.What you hold in your hand now is a collection of behind the scenes essays dealing with the unheralded wonders of my youth. I am nobody, but I do have a publishing company, so please excuse the one vanity project you now read. However, I think you're going to find some really good stuff here. If you, like me are a true fan of ignored classics like The Shaggy DA and The Good Fairy, then this is going to be a book you will treasure.I tried to collect up a group of my favorite films that have not been covered much in print before, then asked a few good writers I knew if they would be interested in writing chapters on each, with a particular emphasis on how the films were made and interviews with any cast or crew they could catch, rather than just criticism. I am pleased with this book and hope you will be too.- Ben Ohmart

How do the most glamorous people in Hollywood behave when they're not in Hollywood? They run the gamut, and Nat Segaloff followed them for twenty-five years. He started in the staid and stuffy (but also politically tinged and rapidly evolving) city of Boston, Massachusetts, then picked up the trail in Los Angeles. In Screen Saver: Private Stories of Public Hollywood, he writes about the celebrities he worked with when they thought they were out of the public eye. Read about: Why Film Critic is one of the most dangerous jobs in journalism! How Deep Throat almost got un-banned in Boston! Pointers on how to lie, cheat, and steal in Hollywood! What really happens on those glitzy Hollywood press junkets! Personal stories about Hollywood in transition during the last great age of American cinema. Read the scoop about the Bad, the Beautiful, the Boring, and the Blessed as seen by the publicist who kept it out of the papers and then became a reporter who put it back in. About the author: Nat Segaloff is a movie publicist who crossed the professional street to become a film critic and journalist-a move that gave him insight into the ways of Hollywood but made him an infidel to the studios he used to work for. His previous BearManor titles are Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors, Stirling Silliphant: The Fingers of God, and Mr. Huston/Mr. North: Life, Death, and Making John Huston's Last Film. His next project is the biography of Harlan Ellison.

This is the Hardback version. "Bogie always said that, if there's an impossible location, you can be sure John will find it. John's authentic. He was about something." - Lauren Bacall "He was a landmark in film history, a great friend, and I'll miss him very much." - Michael Caine "There is nothing more fascinating-and more fun-than making movies. Besides, I think I'm finally getting the hang of it." - John Huston IN THE SUMMER OF 1987, a group of the screen's most notable stars gathered in glamorous Newport, Rhode Island to make Mr. North, a charming but unpretentious film about a magical man who turns the town upside-down. They included Anthony Edwards, Anjelica Huston, Lauren Bacall, Harry Dean Stanton, Virginia Madsen, Tammy Grimes, and a host of other talents, including legendary director John Huston (The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen). The filmmaker was Danny Huston, John's son. But just as the cameras turned, John fell ill and was replaced by Robert Mitchum. There were daily reports on Huston's failing health, and the world wondered whether the lion of Hollywood, after surviving so many close calls with death over the years, would finally succumb. Nat Segaloff was the only journalist-in fact, the only outsider-allowed onto the set and behind the scenes of Mr. North, and he reported on it for The Boston Herald. But only some of it. Now, after more than a quarter century, the full story can be told of the daily interactions of these famous egos struggling to finish their movie while being overshadowed by the one person who wasn't even in it.

"Bogie always said that, if there's an impossible location, you can be sure John will find it. John's authentic. He was about something." - Lauren Bacall "He was a landmark in film history, a great friend, and I'll miss him very much." - Michael Caine "There is nothing more fascinating-and more fun-than making movies. Besides, I think I'm finally getting the hang of it." - John Huston IN THE SUMMER OF 1987, a group of the screen's most notable stars gathered in glamorous Newport, Rhode Island to make Mr. North, a charming but unpretentious film about a magical man who turns the town upside-down. They included Anthony Edwards, Anjelica Huston, Lauren Bacall, Harry Dean Stanton, Virginia Madsen, Tammy Grimes, and a host of other talents, including legendary director John Huston (The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen). The filmmaker was Danny Huston, John's son. But just as the cameras turned, John fell ill and was replaced by Robert Mitchum. There were daily reports on Huston's failing health, and the world wondered whether the lion of Hollywood, after surviving so many close calls with death over the years, would finally succumb. Nat Segaloff was the only journalist-in fact, the only outsider-allowed onto the set and behind the scenes of Mr. North, and he reported on it for The Boston Herald. But only some of it. Now, after more than a quarter century, the full story can be told of the daily interactions of these famous egos struggling to finish their movie while being overshadowed by the one person who wasn't even in it.

How do the most glamorous people in Hollywood behave when they're not in Hollywood? They run the gamut, and Nat Segaloff followed them for twenty-five years. He started in the staid and stuffy (but also politically tinged and rapidly evolving) city of Boston, Massachusetts, then picked up the trail in Los Angeles. In Screen Saver: Private Stories of Public Hollywood, he writes about the celebrities he worked with when they thought they were out of the public eye. Read about: Why Film Critic is one of the most dangerous jobs in journalism! How Deep Throat almost got un-banned in Boston! Pointers on how to lie, cheat, and steal in Hollywood! What really happens on those glitzy Hollywood press junkets! Personal stories about Hollywood in transition during the last great age of American cinema. Read the scoop about the Bad, the Beautiful, the Boring, and the Blessed as seen by the publicist who kept it out of the papers and then became a reporter who put it back in. About the author: Nat Segaloff is a movie publicist who crossed the professional street to become a film critic and journalist-a move that gave him insight into the ways of Hollywood but made him an infidel to the studios he used to work for. His previous BearManor titles are Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors, Stirling Silliphant: The Fingers of God, and Mr. Huston/Mr. North: Life, Death, and Making John Huston's Last Film. His next project is the biography of Harlan Ellison.

During the 1950s and 1960s it seemed that every TV show was written by Stirling Silliphant. His scripts for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Tightrope, Alcoa-Goodyear Theatre, Perry Mason, and, of course, Naked City and Route 66, made him Hollywood's most produced writer. Later he dominated the disaster film cycle with The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, brought martial arts phenomenon Bruce Lee to screen prominence with Marlowe and Longstreet, won an Oscar® for In the Heat of the Night, and helped create the TV mini-series. He lived the life of a movie star, not a movie writer, attending A-list parties, sailing his yacht around the world, driving posh cars, and turning out one hit after another.But it came at a price: Four marriages, estranged children, a son's death, and, ultimately, expatriation. Stirling Silliphant: The Fingers of God intimately explores the life and creative process of the man behind Charly, Pearl, The Grass Harp, Village of the Damned, and other big and small screen events. Drawn from exhaustive interviews conducted by author Nat Segaloff in the years before Silliphant's 1996 death and augmented by material from his private files, what emerges is a complex portrait of a larger-than-life figure who rose to the top of a larger-than-life industry. About the AuthorNat Segaloff has written biographies of Arthur Penn and William Friedkin, in-depth profiles of Paul Mazursky, John Milius, and Walon Green; and TV biographies of Stan Lee, Larry King, John Belushi, Darryl F. Zanuck, and Shari Lewis & Lamb Chop. He is a playwright, college instructor, journalist, and producer who loves writing books."Stirling Silliphant was a legendary, larger-than-life screenwriter whose brilliant, innovative scripts changed the face of television and film. Nat Segaloff's compelling biography itself feels like the plot for a movie as it chronicles Silliphant's fascinating personality, epical life, and dramatic career."- David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of First Blood and The Brotherhood of the Rose"Seeing as how The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno were the two films that first made the 10-year-old me want to pursue a career in the movies, I devoured Mr. Segaloff's wonderful book about one of our finest screenwriters; a man who brought us from the sublime (In the Heat of the Night) to the ridiculous (The Swarm), with equal parts artistry and verve."- Scott Rosenberg, screenwriter, Con Air and High Fidelity"Highly-respected film/TV writer Stirling Silliphant gets A+ treatment in this flavorful account of the prolific craftsman. Silliphant's prodigious talents and unique viewpoints shine through this fast-flowing narrative by Nat Segaloff, whose interactions with the Oscar-winning scenarist over many years, gives this detailed study an added dimension. This book is a winner and a choice read!"- James Robert Parish, author of It's Good to be the King: The Seriously Funny Life of Mel Brooks

Arthur Penn: American Director is the comprehensive biography of one of the twentieth century's most influential filmmakers. Thematic chapters lucidly convey the story of Penn's life and career, as well as pertinent events in the history of American film, theater, and television. In the process of tracing the full spectrum of his career, Arthur Penn reveals the enormous scope of Penn's talent and his profound impact on the entertainment industry in an accessible, engaging account of the well-known director's life.Born in 1922 to a family of Philadelphia immigrants, the young Penn was bright but aimless -- especially compared to his talented older brother Irving, who would later become a world-renowned photographer. Penn drifted into directing, but he soon mastered the craft in three mediums: television, Broadway, and motion pictures. By the time he made Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Penn was already a Tony-winning Broadway director and one of the prodigies of the golden age of television. His innovative handling of the story of two Depression-era outlaws not only challenged Hollywood's strict censorship code, it shook the foundation of studio system itself and ushered in the film revolution. His next films -- Alice's Restaurant (1969), Little Big Man (1970), and Night Moves (1975) -- became instant classics, summoning emotions from shock to sensuality and from confusion to horror, all of which reflected the complexity of the man behind the camera.The personal and creative odyssey captured in these pages includes memorable adventures in World War II; the chaotic days of live television; the emergence of Method acting in Hollywood; and experiences with Marlon Brando, Anne Bancroft, Warren Beatty, William Gibson, Lillian Hellman, and a host of other show business legends.

Critic-producer Nat Segaloff was granted access to private papers, production records, never-before-published interviews, and specialized archives in reconstructing the colorful, touching, and sometimes scandalous stories behind the making of the last films of some of Hollywood's top directors. Winningly readable and yet meticulously researched, its substantial entries range from Robert Aldrich and Robert Altman to Peter Yates and Fred Zinnemann, and John Ford and Howard Hawks to Otto Preminger and Richard Brooks. Certain to attract controversy because of whom it ignores as well as whom it includes, Final Cuts presents fifty widely varied chronicles of success and failure, inspiration and ennui, elation and heartache, and every other emotion enjoyed or endured by the greatest filmmakers that Hollywood ever knew.About the AuthorNat Segaloff always wanted to write and produce, but it took him several careers before he learned how to get paid for it. He was a journalist for The Boston Herald covering the motion picture business, but has also variously been a studio publicist (Fox, UA, Columbia), college teacher (Boston University, Boston College), on-air TV talent (Group W), entertainment critic (CBS radio) and author (nine books including Hurricane Billy: The Stormy Life and Films of William Friedkin and, as co-author, Love Stories: Hollywood's Most Romantic Movies). He has contributed career monographs on screenwriters Stirling Silliphant, Walon Green, Paul Mazursky and John Milius to the University of California Press's acclaimed Backstory series, and his writing has appeared in such varied periodicals as Film Comment, Written By, International Documentary, Animation Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, Time Out (US), MacWorld, and American Movie Classics Magazine. He was also senior reviewer for AudiobookCafe.com.His The Everything® Etiquette Book and The Everything Trivia Book and The Everything® Tall Tales, Legends and Outrageous Lies Book are in multiple printings for Adams Media Corp.As a TV writer-producer, Segaloff helped perfect the format and create episodes for A&E's flagship "Biography" series. His distinctive productions include John Belushi: Funny You Should Ask; Shari Lewis & Lamb Chop; Larry King: Talk of Fame; Darryl F. Zanuck: Twentieth Century-Filmmaker and Stan Lee: The ComiX-MAN! He has written and co-produced the Rock 'n' Roll Moments music documentaries for The Learning Channel/Malcolm Leo Productions, and has written and/or produced programming for New World, Disney, Turner and USA Networks. He is co-creator/co-producer of Judgment Day with Grosso-Jacobson Communications Corp. for HBO.His extraterrestrial endeavors include the cheeky sequel to the Orson Welles "Invasion From Mars" radio hoax, When Welles Collide, which featured a "Star Trek"® cast. It was produced by L.A. Theatre Works and has become a Halloween tradition on National Public Radio. In 1996 he formed the multi-media production company Alien Voices® with actors Leonard Nimoy and actor John de Lancie and produced five best-selling, fully dramatized audio plays for Simon & Schuster: The Time Machine, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Lost World, The Invisible Man and The First Men in the Moon, all of which feature "Star Trek"® casts. Additionally, his teleplay for The First Men in the Moon was the first-ever TV/Internet simulcast and was presented live by The Sci-Fi Channel. He has also written narrative concerts for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, celebrity events, is a script consultant, and was a contributing writer to Moving Pictures magazine.