Nat Segaloff – författare

Foreword by John RussoUpdated and Expanded with a New CodaA provocative, fascinating, and compulsively readable account of one of the most shocking, influential, and successful films of all time, The Exorcist, with a new coda on The Exorcist: Believer and the upcoming The Exorcist: Deceiver.

On December 26, 1973, The Exorcist was released. Within days it had become legend. Moviegoers braved hours-long lines in winter weather to see it. Some audience members famously fainted or vomited. Half a century later, the movie that both inspired and transcends the modern horror genre has lost none of its power to terrify and unsettle.The Exorcist Legacy reveals the complete story of this cultural phenomenon, from the 1949 real-life exorcism in Maryland that inspired William Peter Blatty’s bestselling novel on which the movie is based, to its many sequels, prequels, TV series, and homages. Nat Segaloff, biographer of the film’s director, William Friedkin, draws on original interviews with cast, crew, and participants as well as revelations from personal papers to present an intriguing and surprising new view of the making of the movie, and its aftermath.Segaloff also examines as never before the keys to the movie’s enduring appeal. Friedkin and Blatty’s goal was far more ambitious than making a scary movie; they aimed to make people “think about the concept of good and evil.” The Exorcist succeeds, and then some, not just by creating on-screen scares, but by challenging viewers’ deepest personal beliefs—and fears.

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.

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.

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, 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

These are the scoops about the bad, the beautiful, the boring, and the blessed as seen by the publicist who kept them out of the papers and then became the reporter who put them back in.

Journalist, producer, and film historian Nat Segaloff takes listeners behind the scenes during the final days of the great Hollywood filmmaker John Huston (The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen).

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 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—the only outsider, in fact—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 overshadowed by the one person who wasn’t even in it.

Guarding Gable—an original audio novel by Nat Segaloff—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 husband, Clark Gable, is beyond consolation. Depressed to the point of suicide, he enlists in the US 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?

Guarding Gable is a story of love, war, and humor. This “enhanced” audiobook combines narrative with sounds of war, environments, and excerpts from the training film that Gable made while reluctantly grounded.

There’s also a little rough language; after all, this is the Army.

Guarding Gable runs approximately five hours and is told and produced by the author, Nat Segaloff. It’s a special presentation by Blackstone Audio from Bear Manor Media.