Laura Wagner

This first-ever biography of American actress Anne Francis will enlighten her casual fans and earn a nod of agreement from her diehard admirers. The star of such 1950s cinematic classics as Bad Day at Black Rock, Blackboard Jungle and Forbidden Planet, Anne made the risky decision to transplant her talents to television--and as a result, her acting has often been taken for granted. But TV supplied her with the groundbreaking title role in Honey West (1965-66), where she became the first leading actress to portray a private detective on a regular weekly series. All of Anne Francis' film and television appearances are chronicled, including a full episode guide for Honey West and a complete listing of her guest roles on such series as The Twilight Zone, The Untouchables and Murder, She Wrote.

No delicate ingenues, these. In the middle of the twentieth century, the Mary Pickfords of the movie world were replaced by a different sort of woman--drop-dead gorgeous, witty, not afraid to speak their minds, they could slay you with a look--and if that didn't work, look out for the pistol in the garter. These ground-breaking actresses helped change the course of movie history, charting a path for generations to come. These profiles of fifteen leading ladies--Lucille Ball, Lynn Bari, Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Gloria Grahame, Jean Hagen, Adele Jergens, Ida Lupino, Marilyn Maxwell, Mercedes McCambridge, Jane Russell, Ann Sheridan, Barbara Stanwyck, Claire Trevor and Marie Windsor--include overviews of their lives and careers, and excerpts from interviews. Five photos supplement each profile. Jane Russell (one of the actresses profiled) provides a foreword.