Nicknamed the “Boy Wonder,” Irving G. Thalberg was running Universal Pictures at the age of twenty, and he cofounded Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at twenty-four. Between 1924 and 1936, he supervised 400 memorable movies, making stars of Lon Chaney, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, John Gilbert, and Greta Garbo. By the time of his death at thirty-seven, Thalberg had lifted film to the level of fine art. In this groundbreaking book, Mark A. Vieira draws on newly discovered interviews and production records; the unpublished autobiography of Thalberg’s wife, superstar Norma Shearer; and a treasure trove of unseen images to vividly recount the making of Ben-Hur, The Big Parade, Tarzan the Ape Man, Grand Hotel, Mutiny on the Bounty, A Night at the Opera, and scores of other classics. Hollywood Dreams Made Real is a fresh portrait of the prime architect of the studio system and an enchanting tour of the magical world he created.
Mark A. Vieira was born in Oakland, California on October 28, 1950. He is a filmmaker, photographer, and writer specializing in the history of Hollywood. He makes portraits in George Hurrell's original studio in the historic Granada Buildings with Hurrell's own Verito lens. Mark celebrates his fortieth anniversary as a professional photographer in October 2009.
He has lectured at the University of Southern California, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Universal Studios, the University of California Los Angeles, the Hollywood Museum in the Max Factor Building, the Hollywood Heritage Museum, the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, and the Balboa Theatre in San Francisco. He has appeared on camera in Photoplay Productions' "Garbo," TimeLine's "Complicated Women," Playboy's "Sex at 24 Frames per Second," Twentieth Century-Fox Home Video featurettes on Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, Warner Home Video's "Thou Shalt Not," Universal's "Forbidden Film," and on CBS Sunday Morning.
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