Hollywood’s Star System & How it Works

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Program Type:

Lecture

Age Group:

Adults
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Program Description

Description

From Mary Pickford to Meryl Streep: Hollywood’s Star System & How it Works 
with Brian Rose


For more than a century, Hollywood has relied on star power as the most reliable way to draw an audience. From the early days of silent films when Mary Pickford was able to command $10,000 a week to modern times, when actors like Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks are guaranteed $20 million or more per picture, the film studios recognized the role stars played at the box office.  This presentation will look at the history of movie stardom, how Hollywood studios manufactured stars like Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney during its Golden Age, how the star system changed once television came to be and how actors like Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep ushered in a new definition of stardom.