Three Hollywood Stalwarts in Literature

Henryk Hoffmann was born, raised and educated in Poznä, Poland. Upon his graduation from Adam Mickiewicz University with an MA in English Philology, he worked as an English teacher, translator and interpreter in several institutions, including his alma mater, the Polish Academy of Sciences and his self-owned firm. Since his immigration to the USA in 1992 he has taught Latin, German, English and History, first in North Carolina and then in Pennsylvania.He is the author of five reference books-"A" Western Filmmakers: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers, Directors, Cinematographers, Composers, Actors and Actresses (McFarland, 2000, 2008), Western Film Highlights: The Best of the West, 1914-2001 (McFarland, 2003, 2009), Leksykon gwiazd kina amerykäskiego (A Biographical Dictionary of American Movie Stars, Agencja Producentów Filmowych, Warsaw, 2006; written in Polish in collaboration with his daughters, Beata and Katarzyna), Western Movie References in American Literature (McFarland, 2012) and Four Hollywood Legends in World Literature: References to Bogart, Cooper, Gable and Tracy (BearManor Media, 2016); and one memoir-Ironies, Coincidences and Absurdities in My Ordinary Life on Both Sides of the Atlantic (Higher Ground Books & Media, 2019).Hoffmann's professional honors include the Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition (2000) for his first book, a two-time inclusion in Who's Who Among America's Teachers (Educational Communications, 2002 and 2005), an entry in Contemporary Authors (Thomson Gale, 2005) and an Honorary Diploma from the Polish Federation of Film Societies (on its 50th Anniversary, 2006).At present Hoffmann works at Perkiomen School in Pennsburg, PA, where he teaches Latin and German. He is an active member of the Western Writers of America and lives, with his wife Betsy, in Lititz, PA.

This book focuses on the perception of the names, personae, performances and films of three Hollywood megastars, Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and William Holden, as presented in the references and allusions encountered in American and foreign literature. Its secondary aim is to establish the 'impact factor' of the three actors and their major films and provide extensive data for further studies on the complex and bilateral relationships between film and literature.The pertinent quotations in 'Three Hollywood Stalwarts in Literature: A Study in Film Perception Through References to Peck, Mitchum and Holden' have been extracted from nearly 220 works by about 140 authors. The majority of the works were written by acclaimed authors; amongst them are some well-known American mainstream writers such as John Updike, John Irving, Fannie Flagg and Anne Tyler; some leaders of the mystery genre include Martha Grimes, Stuart Kaminsky, Elmore Leonard, Sara Paretsky; and a few masters of other popular genres, such as Stephen King and Dean Koontz. The global flavor of the citations is provided by international authors (e.g., Julio Cortázar, Elizabeth Hay, Henri Charrière, Sebastien Japrisot) and authors born to first-generation U.S. immigrants (e.g., Oscar Hijuelos). Almost seventy films referenced in world literature are discussed in the book, and those mentioned in the biggest number of works include 'Sunset Boulevard', 'The Wild Bunch', 'To Kill a Mockingbird', 'Roman Holiday', 'Spellbound', 'The Guns of Navarone', and 'Duel in the Sun', among others.This book will appeal to college professors and students interested in film studies, specifically film analysis and criticism, film perception, and film genres. It will also hold interest for the general reader interested in biographies of movie personalities and the careers of the three actors, movie and stage actors, and fans of the western, film noir, and war genres.