Freddie Mercury - Sunset Boulevard: A Hollywood Story 1950 - Bette Davis - 99 River Street 1953 - Bullets Over Broadway 1994 - Orson Welles - Simon Schama TV - 20 Feet From Stardom 2013 - Hits, Hype & Hustle: An Insider’s Guide to the Music Business TV - Monster 2003 - Jade: The Reality Star TV - Paris: The Golden Twenties TV - Too Young to Die TV - Ferrari: Race to Immortality TV - Grace of Monaco: Hollywood Princess TV - Lawrence of Arabia: Britain’s Great Adventurer TV - Elvis: The Man that Rocked the World TV - Elvis: The Man Who Shook Up the World TV - Elvis: Rebirth of a King TV - Elvis: The Searcher TV - Grace Kelly: The Hollywood Years TV - Diana 2021 TV - Marilyn Monroe - The Karen Carpenter Story 1989 - Glen Campbell: The Rhinestone Cowboy TV - Adam Curtis TV - A Life in Ten Pictures TV - Amy Winehouse in Her Own Words TV - Alexei Sayle TV -
I always knew I was a star. And now, the rest of the world seems to agree with me. Freddie Mercury
Great stars have great pride. Sunset Boulevard: A Hollywood Story 1950 starring Gloria Swanson & Erich von Stronheim & William Holden & Nancy Olson & Fred Clark & Lloyd Gough & Jack Webb & Franklyn Farnum et al, director Billy Wilder, Norma
In this business, until you’re known as a monster you’re not a star. Bette Davis
I’d have been a star if I hadn’t married you. 99 River Street 1953 starring John Payne & Evelyn Keyes & Brad Dexter & Frank Faylen & Peggie Castle & Jay Adler & Jack Lambert et al, director Phil Karlson, her to him
I’m still a star. I never play frumps or virgins. Bullets Over Broadway 1994 starring John Cusack & Jack Warden & Dianne Wiest & Jim Broadbent & Jennifer Tilly & Chazz Palminteri & Mary-Louise Parker & Joe Viterelli & Rob Reiner & Tracey Ullman et al, director Woody Allen, Helen
The don’t exist ... In the old days the greatest thing in the world to be was a movie star. Today the greatest thing in the world is to be a pop singer. Orson Welles, interview The Parkinson Show, BBC 1973
Hogarth and Garrick: he [Garrick] was our first star. Face of Britain by Simon Schama III, BBC 2015
I’ve known tremendous back-up singers who just don’t look comfortable in that position. Twenty Feet From Stardom, Springsteen, 2000
There’s a power to what it is we do. ibid. Janice Pendarvis
They were all white girls, but they were very tasteful … we called them the Readers, they couldn’t do nothing without that music sitting right in their face. ibid.
I’m an award-winning music agent with over 25 years in the business … I’ve seen countless acts come and go. Hits, Hype & Hustle: An Insider’s Guide to the Music Business, BBC 2014
Making a star is a team effort: there are managers, producers, PRs and image consultants. ibid.
I always wanted to be in the movies. When I was little I thought for sure one day I could be a big big star. Monster 2003 starring Charlize Theron & Christina Ricci & Bruce Dern & Lee Tergesen & Annie Corley & Pruitt Taylor Vince & Marco St John & Marc Macaulay & Scott Wilson & Kane Hodder & Brett Rice et al, director Patty Jenkins, Aileen Wuornos’ opening commentary
Jade was never a fairytale person. Never believed in fantasies or pretty things. Jade: The Reality Star Who Changed Britain, mother, Channel 4 2019
One of the most high profile celebrity weddings of the year. Sunday’s ceremony is the latest twist in Jade Goody’s ongoing battle with cancer. ibid. television news
She was the impoverished daughter of drug addicts. ibid. US television news
Jade was the absolute first of her kind. ibid. commentator
She had that fingers on the blackboard kind of thing going on. ibid. producer
Am I minging? ibid. Jade on Big Brother
I was a drug addict them times: I was a crackhead. ibid. Jade’s mum
There’s a wonderful feeling of achievement when that first flashlight goes off. And you love it and think it’s great. And then you need it. And then you’ve got to have it. And then you’ve got to stay in the limelight. It becomes a totally addictive thing, and you’ve got to have more. Jade: The Reality Star Who Changed Britain II, Mark Fuller, former nightclub dude
Jade is the UK’s first reality TV star to become a millionaire. ibid. caption
But she did deal with the rougher end of the business … She was the queen of Big Brother. ibid. agent
That’s fucking nasty. ibid. Jade, re eviction of her mother
You are so far up your arse you can smell your own shit. ibid. Jade to Shilpa
The biggest professional gaffe since Gerald Ratner called his own brand of jewellery … Well, you know what he called it. ibid. dude
Hello, good afternoon, the Celebrity Big Brother contestant has denied she’s racist after being voted off the reality television show … Jade: The Reality Star Who Changed Britain III, BBC News
You really have a never say die attitude. ibid. Shilpa to Jade in India
She’s been diagnosed with Cervical Cancer. ibid. contestant on Indian Big Brother
Surely the most shocking thing to happen on reality television. ibid. English dude
Max Clifford dragged Jade Goody into the shit of the celebrity tabloid world. ibid. English dude #2
She’s a black American, and she’s an exceptional artiste: her name is Josephine Baker … she’s the darling of the avant-garde … She’s the first black star in history. Paris: The Golden Twenties, Sky Arts 2020
By his mid-twenties Heath Ledger had established himself in Hollywood as one of the best actors of his generation. He was an actor who’d never sought stardom, who tried to preserve his naturalness in the spotlight. The news of his sudden death therefore came as all the more as a shock: he died on 22nd January 2008 as a result between prescription drugs that he’d taken in the wrong combination. Heath Ledger was 28 years old. ibid.
The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus (2000) director Terry Gilliam … ‘The are forever young. They are gods.’ ibid.
Heath’s Ledger’s estate is currently being cataloged for an exhibition in the Western Australian museum. ibid.
Rome 4th March 1994: One of the world’s greatest rock-stars has tried to kill himself: Kurt Cobain. His wife, Courtney Love, gives the paparazzi the finger as she rushes to the hospital. News agencies prematurely announce his death. Too Young to Die s1e2: Kurt Cobain
The hero of a whole generation: the instigator of Grunge. ibid.
MTV Unplugged, recorded in 1993, was an artistic high point for Nirvana. ibid.
Aberdeen in the mid-80s: the town was in decline. Kurt Cobain was 17, had dropped out of various schools, and was picked up from time to time by the police for graffiti spraying. He was living from hand to mouth and was surviving on casual jobs. ibid.
‘Another myth is that people think Nirvana were an overnight success.’ ibid. biographer
‘You know John I don’t think he ever slept.’ Too Young to Die s1e3: John Belushi, friend
‘He always played at the top of his skill, at the top of his ingenuity, at the top of his personality.’ ibid.
He made just seven films but they immortalised him. ibid.
Belushi was arrogant and quick-tempered, funny and dramatic, insecure and beset by doubt. ibid.
An early death that was inevitable? John Belushi died in 1982 of a mixture of cocaine and heroin. ibid.
‘Absolutely brilliant parody of Joe Cocker.’ ibid. friend
Saturday Night Live: In four seasons of the show John played well over fifty characters and improvisations. ibid.
Animal House became the most successful comedy of all time. ibid.
For Saturday Night Live he [Belushi] had devised the Blues Brothers – their records sold millions: The Blues Brothers: a musical with crazy car chases. The film cost $27 million … A triumphant return for John. But shooting was overshadowed by Belushi’s alcohol and drug excesses. ibid.