acting

Hal Needham takes a smoke break at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. Famous for his death-defying feats, Needham was an industry pioneer who broke more than fifty-six bones while becoming the highest-paid stuntman in the world.

Falling for the Stars

By Jason Motlagh

Winter 2013

Donaldson is a professional stuntman, the guy who doubles for brand-name stars too valuable to a production to do the real stunts, despite what many of them like to claim. The car hit. The high fall. The naked burn. With the right team and preparation, he’ll do almost anything so long as he gets to return to his quiet ranch house in the canyon country north of Los Angeles, and no one is lurking in the bushes with a camera.

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Notes From the Dream Factory

By Jon Parrish Peede

Winter 2013

From the eclipsed icons of silent film to the stars of Bollywood, from the set of a breakout, made-for-tv movie to how the publicity game is played, from Walt Disney’s Snow White to Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, we have tried to provide an insightful glimpse at how screenwriters, illustrators, actors, stunt persons, producers, directors, and crews bring words and images to life on the silver screen.

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Sonakshi Sinha, star of Dabangg (her debut film with Salman Khan), rehearses for the Stardust Awards, one of many awards shows in Mumbai. (Mark Bennington)

Inside Bollywood

By Mark Bennington

Winter 2013

Bollywood holds a major key to India’s cultural identity, reinforced by over a billion devoted masala fans within and outside the country, including in neighboring Pakistan. Bollywood not only captures the social fabric of India; through its archetypal stories of valor and romance, it becomes the visual incubation and celebration of hope.

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The Vanishing American

By Leslie Parry

Fall 2009

Indian #9’s voice was gassed out of him in a trench in the Argonne Forest. After the war he’d left Chicago and come to California; with no voice, he decided to seek work in the movies. Because of his bulk—broad shoulders, bullish jaw, fists as big as pumpkins—he’d spent the past few months playing bad guys. But this role was different.

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