The Errol Flynn Blog

Comparing the Golden Age of Hollywood to the New Hollywood that exists in the millennium – the foundation, structure and every aspect is impossible. The studio system was the backbone of the picture business from its infancy to its decline in the early fifties. The studios discovered, trained, protected, and covered for their actors and actresses in the years when there was true glamour. The focus of Ralph Schiller’s new book The Complete Films of Broderick Crawford is on this period of time, when Mr. Crawford was one of those distinguished players. Born into a show business family (his father Lester was a Vaudeville headliner and his mother a former Ziegfeld girl, Broadway stage and film actress who appeared in the highly revered film Top Hat) as a young man Brod yearned to carry on in his parents’ footsteps. Author Schiller traces Brod’s early theatrical steps from his debut on stage at London’s West End to his return to the Broadway stage, through ninety-five feature films and hundreds of television appearances. Schiller’s writing is crisp, informative, and paced to hold the reader’s attention. With a bountiful amount of research and never-before-seen photographs, this tome should please readers of all ages who have an affection for vintage Hollywood and the larger than life Broderick Crawford.