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By the mid-1940s, José Iturbi was more recognizable to American moviegoers than most working actors — his face on magazine covers, his hands insured, his name above the title in MGM musicals. Audiences adored him. Critics adored him. There was just one problem. José Iturbi hated who he’d become. And behind the scenes, he was … Read more

Ronald Colman glided across the screen with the kind of effortless grace that made him one of the most beloved leading men of Hollywood’s golden age. That deep, cultured voice. That easy charm. Audiences never suspected a thing. Because underneath the tailored suits and impeccable posture, Colman was carrying a secret from the trenches of … Read more

She co-founded a studio, invented modern stardom, and was once mobbed so violently by fans that police feared for her life. But the woman who had everything spent her last twenty years behind drawn curtains, refusing to let anyone photograph her. Friends who tried to visit were turned away at the gate. What was Mary … Read more

In 1950, Anne Baxter held an Academy Award and the kind of Hollywood momentum most actresses only dream of. A decade later, she was hauling water on a dirt-floor cattle station in the Australian outback, hundreds of miles from the nearest doctor. She traded soundstages for scorched earth in the name of love. But what … Read more

In 1942, Errol Flynn was the most swoon-worthy man in America—Robin Hood, a pirate captain, a war hero on screen if not off it. Then came the headlines that threatened to end it all: two teenage girls, separate accusations, one word—rape. The trial captivated the country for weeks. Flynn was acquitted. But the public didn’t … Read more

In 1958, Debbie Reynolds was the most trusted woman in America — freckled, cheerful, married to crooner Eddie Fisher, and best friends with Elizabeth Taylor. Then Taylor’s husband died, and within a year Fisher had left Reynolds for the grieving widow. The press crowned Debbie the martyr and Elizabeth the villain, and Debbie played the … Read more

The world knew her as the giggling blonde who couldn’t remember her lines. What almost no one knew was that Marilyn Monroe kept a personal library of over 400 books, including Joyce, Dostoevsky, and Whitman, and that she wrote private, aching poetry no studio ever wanted the public to see. She was terrified of being … Read more

In 1938, William Powell was at the absolute top of his game — the wittiest, wealthiest, most beloved leading man in Hollywood. Audiences adored him as Nick Charles, the martini-swilling detective who made crime-solving look effortless and glamorous. But that same year, a devastating diagnosis threatened to end everything, and MGM made sure the world … Read more

She was called the most beautiful animal in the world, a woman men destroyed themselves trying to hold onto. Frank Sinatra lost his mind over her, gave up everything for her, and still couldn’t keep her. But what Ava Gardner hid from him, and from nearly everyone else, was a decision so quietly devastating that … Read more

She was the most photographed face of the twentieth century — porcelain, graceful, seemingly untouched by hardship. But underneath the couture and the camera-ready smile was a girl who once ate tulip bulbs to survive. Audrey Hepburn rarely spoke about the years before fame. What exactly happened to her during the Nazi occupation of the … Read more