Star, By Peter Biskind

This may seem an unduly voluminous portrait of an actor who hasn't made a movie since 2000. On the other hand, its subject is Warren Beatty, who was described by his sister Shirley MacLaine: "He's 50 from the neck up and 14 from the waist down."

Biskind, author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, has produced a supremely readable portrait. We learn that he got on so badly with Faye Dunaway during Bonnie & Clyde (1967) that there was no love affair and her final smile was directed not at Beatty but the film's director.

This animus did not apply to Julie Christie, his co-star in McCabe & Mrs Miller (1971): "He was demented about her." After Beatty insisted on endless retakes, director Robert Altman got his own back by shooting McCabe's death buried in snow 25 times.