Robert Taylor by Gillian Kelly
Because of his lengthy screen resume that includes almost eighty appearances in such movies as Camille and Waterloo Bridge, as well as a marriage and divorce to actress Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Taylor was a central figure of Hollywood's classical era. Despite this, he can be regarded as a “lost” star, an interesting contradiction given the continued success he enjoyed during his lifetime. In Robert Taylor: Male Beauty, Masculinity, and Stardom in Hollywood, author Gillian Kelly investigates the initial construction and subsequent developments of Taylor's star persona across his thirty-five-year career. By examining concepts of male beauty, men as object of the erotic gaze, white American masculinity, and the unusual longevity of a career initially based on looks, Kelly highlights how gender, masculinity, and male stars and the ageing process affected Taylor's career. Placing Taylor within the histories of both Hollywood's classical era and mid-twentieth-century America, this study positions him firmly within the wider industrial, cultural, and socioeconomic contexts in which he worked. Kelly examines Taylor's film and television work as well as ephemeral material, such as fan magazines, to assess how his on- and off-screen personas were created and developed over time. Taking a mostly chronological approach, Kelly places Taylor's persona within specific historical moments in order to show the complex paradox of his image remaining consistently recognizable while also shifting seamlessly within the Hollywood industry. Furthermore, she explores Taylor's importance to Hollywood cinema by demonstrating how a star persona like his can “fit” so well, and for so long, that it almost becomes invisible and, eventually, almost forgotten.Gillian Kelly was awarded a PhD from the University of Glasgow in 2015 and her areas of academic interest include constructions of stardom and celebrity in the media, with a strong focus on male performers and American masculinity. Her first monograph, Robert Taylor: Male Beauty, Masculinity and Stardom in Hollywood (University Press of Mississippi, 2019) was shortlisted for the prestigious BAFTSS (British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies) Award for Best Monograph in 2020. Her chapter 'Robert Taylor: The 'Lost' Star with the Long Career' is included in the edited collection Lasting Screen Stars: Personas that Endure and Images that Fade (Palgrave McMillan, 2016), and she has contributed to several journals including Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Celebrity Studies and Alphaville.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781496823144 |
| ISBN 10 | 1496823141 |
| Title | Robert Taylor |
| Author | Gillian Kelly |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | University Press of Mississippi |
| Year published | 2019-05-30 |
| Number of pages | 224 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |