Classic Actor

It is something of a cliché to say that an actor’s life was like a movie he or she might have starred in, but in the case of Myrna Loy, the cliché is true. It is easy to picture her as a little girl, riding the range with her rancher father, sitting around the table and participating charmingly in family discussions of current events.

Once called "the most gifted character actor of our time," Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954) was part of the illustrious Barrymore acting dynasty. Although he garnered success on stage and screen and was a talented actor, writer, director, visual artist, and composer, he never escaped the shadow of his family. Barrymore won the Academy Award for Best Actor in A Free Soul and was nominated for Best Director for Madame X. He is best known for his role as Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life and as the voice of Ebenezer Scrooge.

This audiobook is a faithful reproduction of one of Jerome K Jerome's first successes, a humorous autobiographical look at his early career in the theatre, published in 1885. The modest success of this book opened the door to further plays and essays, leading on to 'Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow' in the following year.

A short story from the British Library Crime Classic collection Final Acts. The third act of a play is cut short by the death of an actor onstage. Inspector Bristow must delve into the man's past and relationships with his colleagues to solve the mystery.

Ernest Bramah (1868-1942) was an English author of 21 novels and numerous short stories and features. His humorous works have been ranked with Jerome K. Jerome and W. W. Jacobs, his detective stories with Conan Doyle, his politico-science fiction with H. G. Wells, and his supernatural stories with Algernon Blackwood. In his stories of detection, Bramah hit on the idea of a blind detective, Max Carrados, whose triumphs are all the more amazing because of his disability.

A collection of short stories by Anton Chekhov, featuring "A Tragic Actor", "In a Strange Land", "Oh the Public", "The Looking Glass", "Her Husband", and "Overdoing It".

These stories are small masterpieces. The scene is set quickly, and within a few sentences the storyline is underway. But all seem to contain elements of the unexpected.

Young, impressionable Masha sees a tragic actor, Fenogenov, during his benefit night and falls madly in love with him. Masha decides to run away with the actor and marry him despite her father's clear disapproval. Her father disowns her, describing her husband as idle, stupid and of no fixed home or occupation. Masha later finds herself in desperate need of money and has to seek help from her farther. Read in English, unabridged.