UVM Libraries Research Guides: Film & Television Studies: Biography

Biography

The New Biographical Dictionary of Film
Call Number: REF PN 1998.2 .T49 2010
Highly-regarded biographical source. Quirky - and often entertaining - substantive entries that provide insights not always found in general biographical resources.
Variety Obituaries
Call Number: REF PN 1583 .V35 [1905-1994] (15 vols) ceased publication with 1994
World Film Directors
Call Number: REF PN 1998.2 .W67 1987 (2 vols)
v. 1. 1890-1945. v. 2. 1945-1985.

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers
(2001). Provides coverage of films and filmmakers, including legendary films, actors and actresses, directors, writers and other production artists. Entries include a detailed essay written by an expert; biographies; filmographies; comprehensive credits; major awards; and updated bibliographies, as well as photographs.
Biography in Context
Collection of electronic versions of many major print biography Reference Books, with related full-text articles from magazines and newspapers. Search for full-text information on people - both current and historic from all eras and fields of endeavor.

Dictionary of Literary Biography This link opens in a new window
This resource is a searchable database of literary biographies written by recognized literary scholars and critics, profiling past and present authors, historians, journalists, screenwriters, publishers, and playwrights worldwide from every era.

Additional Biography Sources

Women Film Pioneers Project
Internet-based scholarly project based at Columbia University. The Women Film Pioneers Project (WFPP) is a digital publication and resource that advances research on the hundreds of women who worked behind the scenes during the silent film era. Always expanding, WFPP publishes original scholarship on women who worked all around the world as directors, producers, screenwriters, editors, and more. WFPP features short career profiles on single individuals, longer thematic peer-reviewed overview essays, and shorter multimedia posts, all by film scholars, film curators, archivists, and historians.
American National Biography
Preeminent scholarly biographical source for noteworthy deceased Americans. Contains links to entries in The Oxford Companion to United States History, providing historical context to the biographical essay. When available, entry cross-links to the person's biography in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Preeminent British biographical source. Scholarly essays about deceased, noteworthy persons from the earliest times to the present who were born and lived in the British Isles or its territories or who visited or settled in the British Isles for significant periods. Also provides access to essays in the Dictionary of National Biography, published in the late 19th/early 20th century.
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When available, entry cross-links to the person's biography in the American National Biography.

NOTE: The online version has shorter essays and is designed as a complement to the print version (both editions):
Dictionary of National Biography (multivolume) / REF DA 28 .D4
Oxford National Biography (multivolume) / REF DA 28 .O95 200

Book-length Biographies

To find book-length biographies of filmmakers, use the Browse search function in CATQuest. Click image below (live link!) to be brought to the Browse search function in CATQuest.

For an individual actor or director, type the name of the person - last name first name (e.g., welles orson). Look at the books listed under the main subject heading (e.g. welles orson) and the subheading "biography" (if present)

For books that contain biographical information on more than one person, use the following subject headings: "motion picture actors and actresses biography," "television actors and actresses," "television personalities," "actors," "actresses."