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 In this groundbreaking book, Mark A. Vieira draws on newly discovered interviews and production records; the unpublished autobiography of Thalberg’s wife, superstar Norma Shearer; and a treasure trove of unseen images to vividly recount the making of Ben-Hur, The Big Parade,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 Hollywood history. He makes glamour portraits with George Hurrell's camera in the historic Granada Buildings, where Hurrell had his original studio.
In October 2009 Mark celebrated his fortieth anniversary as a professional photographer. In October 2010 the University of Southern California's ONE Archives Gallery and Museum presented a retrospective of his work entitled "The Glamorous Gaze."
Mark has lectured at USC, UCLA, at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Universal Studios, the Hollywood Heritage Museum, the Palm Springs Film Festival, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
He has appeared on camera in Photoplay Productions' "Garbo," in Turner Classic Movies' "Moguls and Movie Stars," Playboy's "Sex at 24 Frames per Second," in Universal's "Forbidden Film," and on "CBS Sunday Morning." In the 2011 BBC documentary "Shooting the Stars," he photographed Leslie Mann and interviewed Jane Russell.
In 2009 Mark guest-curated the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences exhibition: "Irving Thalberg: Creating the Hollywood Studio System, 1920-1936." In 2011 he co-curated "Harlow at 100" for the Hollywood Museum in the Historic Max Factor Building.
