Inside the Star Wars Empire
A Memoir
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Narrated by:
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Johnny Heller
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By:
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Bill Kimberlin
About this listen
Bill Kimberlin may refer to himself as "one of those names on the endless list of credits at the close of blockbuster movies." In reality though, he's a true insider on some of the most celebrated and popular movies and franchises of the past century.
Jurassic Park. Star Trek. Jumanji. Schindler's List. Saving Private Ryan. Even Forrest Gump. And perhaps most notably, Star Wars.
Inside the Star Wars Empire is the very funny and insightful tell-all about the two decades Kimberlin spent as a department director at LucasFilm Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), the special effects studio founded by the legendary filmmaker George Lucas.
©2018 Bill Kimberlin (P)2018 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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- By: Chris Nashawaty
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Caddyshack is one of the most beloved comedies of all time, a classic snobs vs. slobs story of working-class kids and the white-collar buffoons that make them haul their golf bags in the hot summer sun. It has sex, drugs, and one very memorable candy bar, but the movie we all know and love didn't start out that way, and everyone who made it certainly didn't have the word classic in mind as the cameras were rolling.
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Not Really About Caddyshack Until Hour 5
- By William M. on 07-01-18
By: Chris Nashawaty
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The Simpsons
- An Uncensored, Unauthorized History
- By: John Ortved
- Narrated by: John Allen Nelson, Justine Eyre
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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John Ortved's oral history is the first-ever look behind the scenes at the creation and day-to-day running of the television phenomenon known as The Simpsons, as told by many of the people who produce it.
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Great Content, Awful Reading
- By JH Easton on 03-13-11
By: John Ortved
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Everybody Thought We Were Crazy
- Dennis Hopper, Brooke Hayward, and 1960s Los Angeles
- By: Mark Rozzo
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Los Angeles in the 1960s: riots in Watts and on the Sunset Strip, wild weekends in Malibu, late nights at The Daisy discotheque, openings at the Ferus Gallery, and the convergence of pop art, rock and roll, and the New Hollywood. At the center of it all, one inspired, improbable, and highly combustible couple—Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward—lived out the emblematic love story of ’60s L.A.
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Wonderful!
- By Rob on 06-07-22
By: Mark Rozzo
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Mr. & Mrs. Hollywood
- Edie and Lew Wasserman and Their Entertainment Empire
- By: Kathleen Sharp
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 18 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Ever wonder why so many B actors wind up as A-grade politicians? Or how the casting couch worked? Acclaimed author Kathleen Sharp traces the influence of show business through the lives of its first power couple. Edie and Lew Wasserman built the world’s largest talent agency, MCA, created the multibillion-dollar Universal Studios, and helped shape Washington, DC.
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Best Book I Have Heard In A Long Time!!!
- By James M. Patton on 09-25-16
By: Kathleen Sharp
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Street Gang
- The Complete History of Sesame Street
- By: Michael Davis
- Narrated by: Caroll Spinney
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Abridged
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When the first episode aired on Nov. 10, 1969, Sesame Street revolutionized the way education was presented to children on television. It has since become the longest-running children's show in history, and today reaches 8 million pre-schoolers on 350 PBS stations and airs in 120 countries. Street Gang is the compelling and often comical story of the creation and history of this media masterpiece and pop culture landmark.
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An important subject, but hardly gripping
- By Scott T. Hards on 09-24-10
By: Michael Davis
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Homey Don't Play That!
- The Story of In Living Color and the Black Comedy Revolution
- By: David Peisner
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Few television shows revolutionized comedy as profoundly or have had such an enormous and continued impact on our culture as In Living Color. Inspired by Richard Pryor, Carol Burnett, and Eddie Murphy, Keenen Ivory Wayans created a television series unlike any that had come before it. In Living Color shaped American culture in ways both seen and unseen. Now, Homey Don't Play That! reveals the complete, captivating story of how In Living Color overcame enormous odds to become a major, zeitgeist-seizing hit.
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Wow, that sucked......
- By Just W on 10-11-18
By: David Peisner
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Three Years in Wonderland
- The Disney Brothers, C. V. Wood, and the Making of the Great American Theme Park
- By: Todd James Pierce
- Narrated by: Al Kessel
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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While the success of Disneyland is largely credited to Walt and Roy Disney, there was a third, mostly forgotten dynamo instrumental to the development of the park: fast-talking Texan C. V. Wood. Three Years in Wonderland presents the never-before-told, full story of "the happiest place on earth".
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A really great and interesting story.
- By Mike on 02-20-20
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American Rebel
- The Life of Clint Eastwood
- By: Marc Eliot
- Narrated by: Marc Eliot
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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From the New York Times best-selling author Marc Eliot comes the definitive biography of one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful actors, producers, and directors in the history of American motion pictures. Marc Eliot examines the ever-exciting, often tumultuous arc of Eastwood's life and career, from his days as a disaffected college dropout, to his rise to fame as the archetypal loner, to his acceptance into the pantheon of the Academy as a multiple Oscar Award winner.
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I learned the hard way.
- By Ty Pritchard on 07-23-10
By: Marc Eliot
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Robert Altman
- The Oral Biography
- By: Mitchell Zuckoff
- Narrated by: Robert Altman, Warren Beatty, Cher, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Robert Altman - visionary director, hard-partying hedonist, eccentric family man, Hollywood legend - comes roaring to life in this rollicking cinematic biography, told in a chorus of voices that can only be called Altmanesque.
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Enthralling!
- By Wise & Careful Shopper on 10-17-10
By: Mitchell Zuckoff
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A Mouse Divided
- How Ub Iwerks Became Forgotten, and Walt Disney Became Uncle Walt
- By: Jeff Ryan
- Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Almost everything you know about Mickey Mouse is wrong: He wasn’t Disney’s first star; Steamboat Willie wasn’t his first movie; Mickey wasn’t a nice guy - and Walt Disney didn’t invent him. In 1928, two very different best friends invented Mickey Mouse. And the success tore them apart. Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks’ friendship is a story of betrayal, love, war, money, power, tragedy, intrigue, humor, despair, and hope. You’ll love them both - when you don’t want to drop anvils on their heads.
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Wasted money and wasted time
- By E. Johnson on 12-27-18
By: Jeff Ryan
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Orson Welles's Last Movie
- The Making of The Other Side of the Wind
- By: Josh Karp
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 1970, legendary but self-destructive director Orson Welles returned to Hollywood from years of self-imposed exile in Europe and decided it was time to make a comeback movie. It was about a legendary self-destructive director who returns to Hollywood from years of self-imposed exile in Europe. Welles swore it wasn't autobiographical.
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Engaging and human portrait of Welles
- By TrevorTrujillo on 06-20-20
By: Josh Karp
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Starmaker
- Life as a Hollywood Publicist with Farrah, The Rat Pack, & 600 More Stars Who Fired Me
- By: Jay Bernstein
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Revealingly candid, this Hollywood memoir is the story of Jay Bernstein, an entertainment industry fixture who helped launch and sustain the careers of many celebrities including Farrah Fawcett and Suzanne Somers. From his childhood in Oklahoma City and his first job in a Hollywood mail room to the ownership of his own public relations firm and his work as a television producer, Bernstein’s life is chronicled in his own words.
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Very Entertaining
- By patrick on 09-27-15
By: Jay Bernstein
What listeners say about Inside the Star Wars Empire
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- David Radlauer
- 07-27-24
Minor memoir
I will listen to almost any title on any topic read by this narrator.
Author was a technical creative professional in the earliest days of Industrial Light and Motion, ILM.
His memoir has plenty of details and trivia that will tickle Star Wars and George Lucas fans or nerds.
It’s rich on the perks and benefits of company benefits and cutting edge innovations. But on the whole it fails to offer a deeper assessment of the digital and commercial revolutions implied by the ascent of ILM.
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- C. W. Goss
- 05-29-19
A valuable documentary of an interesting career
I found this story very insightful into the business of movie making and how SFX have changed over the years.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mary Ann Mattingly
- 06-05-21
Not entirely Star Wars, but is about his life
You should know that this is not completely about the movie. He strays into philosophy, the origins of his life, upbringing, his jobs at all other places. The parts about working at ILM are usually nonspecific. The book does give an interesting picture of what it is like to live in California. It does satisfy a lot of curiosities about the movie-making business. The end of it is sort of a commercial for a drag racing documentary movie he made called American Nitro, which I will be buying online very soon.
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- Amy
- 09-18-18
Rich with stories
Great account of a point of view of filmmaking other books don’t cover. Such a bonus to hear about some very interesting California history.h of
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- Admiralu
- 10-23-24
Author Bio-Memories of Lucasfilm
Being a Star Wars fan, I had to listen to this book. The author worked at Lucasfilm for over 19 years. This is more of an author bio with some memories of Lucasfilm. When it does focus on the behind the scenes at Lucasfilm, it is riveting. It is interesting to learn about people who worked there and how some things were done. It is also interesting to note how Lucasfilm the company was run before it was sold to Disney. The author also relates family history besides his story and film interests. Worth it for the behind the scenes tales. Narration by Johnny Heller was great and fit this title.
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- Brad Crisler
- 01-08-19
1 part interesting, 1 part self indulgent, 1 part insufferable.
I appreciate the details of what is was like to work for Lucas during the heyday of Lucasfilm and am respectful of the personal narrative of Mr. Kimberlin within the context of the business but the interwoven stories about family history are out of character with the rest of the book and come off as filler.
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2 people found this helpful