Starstruck: My Unlikely Road to Hollywood

by Leonard Maltin

Overview

Hollywood historian and film reviewer Leonard Maltin invites readers to pull up a chair and listen as he tells stories, many of them hilarious, of 50+ years interacting with legendary movie stars, writers, directors, producers, and cartoonists. Maltin grew up in the first decade of television, immersing himself in TV programs and accessing 1930s and ‘40s movies hitting the small screen. His fan letters to admired performers led to unexpected correspondences, then to interviews and publication of his own fan magazine. Maltin’s career as a free-lance writer and New York Times-bestselling author as well as his 30-year run on Entertainment Tonight, gave him access to Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Sean Connery, Shirley Temple, and Jimmy Stewart among hundreds of other Golden Age stars, his interviews cutting through the Hollywood veneer and revealing the human behind each legend. Starstruck also offers a fascinating glimpse inside the Disney empire, and Maltin’s tenure teaching USC’s popular film course reveals insights into moviemaking along with access to past, current, and future stars of film, such as George Lucas, Kevin Feige, Quentin Tarantino, and Guillermo del Toro.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781735273815
Publisher:	GoodKnight Books
Publication date:	10/12/2021
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	1,103,330
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Leonard Maltin is one of the most recognized and respected film critics of our time. He spent 30 years on the hit television show Entertainment Tonight and appears regularly on Turner Classic Movies. An established author, he is best known for his annual paperback reference, Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide. In 2005, he introduced a companion volume, Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide (now in its third edition), which focuses on movies made before 1965, going back to the silent era. Leonard’s other books include Hooked on Hollywood, The Best 151 Movies You’ve Never Seen, The Disney Films, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, The Great American Broadcast: A Celebration of Radio’s Golden Age, The Great Movie Comedians, Movie Comedy Teams, The Art of the Cinematographer, Selected Short Subjects and (as co-author) The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang. Leonard has been teaching at the USC School of Cinematic Arts for the last 23 years. His popular class screens new films prior to their release, followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers. This direct access to top talent has proven to be invaluable in his students’ own filmmaking endeavors. As an expert and host, he is frequently seen on news programs and documentaries. Leonard is also a prolific freelance writer whose articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The London Times, Smithsonian, TV Guide, Esquire, The Village Voice and American Film. He was the film critic for Playboy magazine for six years. Additionally, Leonard frequently lectures on film and was a member of the faculty of New York City’s New School for Social Research for nine years. He served as Guest Curator at the Museum of Modern Art film department in New York on two separate occasions. Leonard created, hosted and co-produced the popular Walt Disney Treasures DVD series and appeared on Warner Home Video’s Night at the Movies features. He has written a number of television specials, including Fantasia: The Creation of a Disney Classic and has hosted, produced and written such video documentaries and compilations as The Making of The Quiet Man, The Making of High Noon, Cartoons for Big Kids, The Lost Stooges, Young Duke: The Making of a Movie Star, Cliffhangers: Adventures from the Thrill Factory and Cartoon Madness: The Fantastic Max Fleischer Cartoons. In 2006 he was named by the Librarian of Congress to join the Board of Directors of the National Film Preservation Foundation. He also has received awards and citations from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, American Society of Cinematographers, Anthology Film Archives, The Society of Cinephiles, San Diego Comic-Con International, and the Telluride Film Festival. In 1997 he was made a voting member of the National Film Registry, which selects 25 landmark American films every year. Perhaps the greatest indication of his fame was his appearance in a now-classic episode of the animated series South Park. He holds court at leonardmaltin.com. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook; you can also listen to him on his weekly podcast Maltin on Movies, which he hosts with his daughter, Jessie.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Take One ix

1 Circulation: 3 1

2 "Is This About You…or Me?" 14

3 My Fanzine and My Future Wife 25

4 My Two Unlikely Careers 38

5 Hollywood: The First Time Around 53

6 Alan King and the American Academy of Humor 62

7 Sharing Soup with Katharine Hepburn 69

8 A Day with James Stewart 77

9 Shake the Hand That Shook the Hand of Buster Keaton 80

10 Robert Mitchum's Grass Roots 85

11 A Reluctant Ambulance Chaser 90

12 The Nutty Filmmaker 97

13 Two Decades of Teaching at USC 106

14 Happy Trails with Roy and Dale 118

15 Lunch, Dinner, and a Roast with Jackie Cooper 122

16 The Unsinkable Gloria Stuart 127

17 Getting Close to Walt Disney 133

18 John Wayne's Extended Family 142

19 Those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear 151

20 My Friend Freda 159

21 Harlan Ellison: One of a Kind 163

22 Diving for Disney Treasures 169

23 40 Years of Telluride 178

24 Leading Ladies: Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Olivia de Havilland 185

25 Pursuing My Other Passion: Jazz 193

26 Lena Home: In a Class by Herself 198

27 Inside the Playboy Mansion 203

28 My Night at Sammy's House 211

29 The Most Famous Little Girl in the World 215

30 The Golden Boot Awards and One Thorny Star 221

31 Meeting Modern Masters 228

32 Off-the-Cuff Interviews and Encounters 237

33 Mel Brooks and Me 244

34 Remembering Jimmy Karen 249

35 Meeting the Jedi Master 256

36 Inside (and Outside) the Oscars 260

37 Festival Hopping Around the World 268

38 My Adventures in Podcasting 279

39 The Blessing Known as TCM 289

40 Healthy Thoughts 296

41 …and in Conclusion 298

Index 300

Editorial Reviews

"The latest from film critic and historian Maltin (Leonard Maltin’s 151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen) is an often delightful if uneven collection of work from the past five decades. The bulk of the text consists of interviews with Hollywood performers and filmmakers conducted between 1967 and 2010. The subjects range from celebrated star Joan Blondell to the obscure but prolific Leslie H. Martinson, a film script supervisor turned film and TV director who worked on 'every Warner Bros. show imaginable.' The author is a generous, well-informed interviewer, whose introductory text helps the reader understand why lesser-known figures like Martinson merit attention. In the earliest selections, the still teenaged Maltin takes some time to find his footing as an interviewer, but any initial amateurism on his part is offset by his contagious enthusiasm. The book also includes several essays, most memorably about the use of popular songs in Casablanca, the late-career return of silent stars like Buster Keaton and Lillian Gish in television roles, and early Hollywood remakes. Other essays, though, will be too granular for any but the Maltin completist. Nonetheless, this enjoyable anthology will be a welcome addition to the bookshelves of classic film fans.” —Publishers Weekly

 


"I have read it, as in every word, as in reading nothing else till it was finished, as in being sorry when it was finished, because I could as much have enjoyed 400 more pages of Hooked On Hollywood's delve into sagas of past film all new to me, indeed unknown to anyone before Maltin dug his customary deep to find lost lore regarding movies we all love." —John McElwee, Greenbriar Picture Shows

 


“The go-to choice for both film geeks and casual couch potatoes.” —The New York Times Book Review

 


​“Distinctive, authoritative and personal. Its prose is so spare, rarely betraying biases or eccentricities, but the book lives so long precisely because ever page has Maltin’s unmistakable presence.” —NPR

"Film critic and historian Maltin offers a warmhearted, rambling memoir of his long romance with movies, which began when he was a child. Replete with anecdotes, the good-natured, rarely critical narrative features appreciative recollections of James Stewart, Buster Keaton, Robert Mitchum, Elizabeth Taylor, Jerry Lewis, Roy Rogers, Jackie Cooper, and Shirley Temple, among many more. A genial, entertaining memoir." —Kirkus Reviews

"His memoir is a delightful collection of relatively short and breezy chapters indulging some of his favorite stars (Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Jerry Lewis, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gloria Stuart, Harlan Ellison) and subjects (such as jazz). This is strictly G-rated and great fun."  —Library Journal

"Leonard Maltin has earned his stellar reputation as a film historian, movie critic, author, and yes, even celebrity. His memoir invites all movie lovers to reminisce right along with him." —David Ferguson, Red Carpet Crash

"I’ve read a lot of books during the pandemic but Leonard Maltin’s memoir was one of my most anticipated books of 2021. ...But anyway, the book certainly lived up to my expectations–so much that I finished the ARC in less than a day. That speaks to how quick of a pace that this book has. Honestly, Maltin shares so many stories that a simple review cannot even do this book justice." —Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

From the Publisher

★ 08/01/2021

Leonard Maltin, the doyen of contemporary film fanatics, would have you believe that his remarkable 60-year career as a movie critic, author, television personality, and university academic is the result of fortuitous timing and chance. Not so. While serendipitous luck and being in the proverbial right place at the right time were certainly helpful, it was Maltin's unfettered energy, enthusiasm, and passion for film, as well as a lot of chutzpah, that compelled him as a teenager in New York City in the 1960s to seek out and interview Buster Keaton, Rube Goldberg, Hans Conried, and Celeste Holm; begin writing for film fanzines at 13; and take over the publication of Film Fan Monthly at 15. His memoir is a delightful collection of relatively short and breezy chapters indulging some of his favorite stars (Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Jerry Lewis, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gloria Stuart, Harlan Ellison) and subjects (such as jazz). Woven throughout are anecdotal recollections from Maltin's 30-year stint on Entertainment Tonight; his publishing the best-selling Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide; and his more than 20-year tenure teaching film history at the University of Southern California. VERDICT Looking for TMZ trash talk on the stars? Look elsewhere. This is strictly G-rated and great fun.—Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L., TX

Library Journal

2021-07-28
The self-described “lucky film buff” recounts his career.

Film critic and historian Maltin offers a warmhearted, rambling memoir of his long romance with movies, which began when he was a child. He delivered TV Guide instead of a newspaper, “devoured [my] weekly edition of Variety,” watched TV constantly, went to as many Saturday matinées as he could, and collected 8mm silent films. When he was 15, he began to submit pieces to Film Fan Monthly, soon buying, writing for, and editing the magazine himself. In high school, he started the Motion Picture Club, joined the AV squad, and worked on the stage crew. “Even my doodling was movie related,” he adds. “I would draw classic movie studio logos or try to list all 75 of Bogart’s films.” When he was 17, a teacher put him in touch with a book editor, who assigned him to write a movie reference guide—a task that established his reputation for a career that, even then, seemed inevitable. In 1982, he was hired by Entertainment Tonight, where, for the next 30 years, he interviewed pretty much everyone—except, he regrets, Walt Disney. Not comfortable with asking prying questions, Maltin put celebrities at ease. Katharine Hepburn offered him “soup, sharp memories, and strong opinions, sparing no one, least of all herself.” Anthony Hopkins disclosed why he became an actor: “I just wanted to be rich and famous, that’s all I ever wanted. I had no grounding and I had no cultural background at all.” Replete with anecdotes, the good-natured, rarely critical narrative features appreciative recollections of James Stewart, Buster Keaton, Robert Mitchum, Elizabeth Taylor, Jerry Lewis, Roy Rogers, Jackie Cooper, and Shirley Temple, among many more. Maltin and his wife were on the “permanent guest list” at the Playboy Mansion in the 1990s: “Hef,” the author recalls, “was the most gracious and generous host I ever met.” It seems likely that Maltin was among the most gracious and generous of guests.

A genial, entertaining memoir.

Kirkus Reviews

This effervescent romp reveals how a geeky New York City teenager with classic show business interests developed into the well-respected critic and raconteur who wrote and narrates this audiobook. As he recounts his early years, it is clear that Maltin’s financially comfortable family helped his access and initial connections. Not surprisingly, his voice now sounds older than it did on the syndicated TV program “Entertainment Tonight,” but it’s powerful and pleasing nonetheless. He still has that special talent that is needed to directly involve listeners. His classic interviews with Hollywood’s Golden Age stars, such as Jimmy Stewart and Barbara Stanwyck, are emphasized. Also covered is the evolution of technologies that led Maltin and other American film enthusiasts from VHS to streaming platforms and podcasting. W.A.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

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