Biographical - Writers and Poets
by t-xy | created - 25 Sep 2016 | updated - 07 Feb 2019 | PublicRelated Lists:
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1. Wilde (1997)
R | 118 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The turmoil in poet/playwright Oscar Wilde's life after he discovers his homosexuality.
Director: Brian Gilbert | Stars: Stephen Fry, Jude Law, Vanessa Redgrave, Jennifer Ehle
Votes: 18,123 | Gross: $2.16M
2. Capote (2005)
R | 114 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
In 1959, Truman Capote learns of the murder of a Kansas family and decides to write a book about the case. While researching for his novel In Cold Blood, Capote forms a relationship with one of the killers, Perry Smith, who is on death row.
Director: Bennett Miller | Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Clifton Collins Jr., Catherine Keener, Allie Mickelson
Votes: 140,723 | Gross: $28.75M
3. Quills (2000)
R | 124 min | Biography, Drama
In a Napoleonic era insane asylum, an inmate, the irrepressible Marquis De Sade, fights a battle of wills against a tyrannically prudish doctor.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix, Michael Caine
Votes: 56,725 | Gross: $7.06M
4. The Last Station (2009)
R | 112 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A historical drama that illustrates Russian author Leo Tolstoy's (Christopher Plummer's) struggle to balance fame and wealth with his commitment to a life devoid of material things.
Director: Michael Hoffman | Stars: Helen Mirren, James McAvoy, Christopher Plummer, Paul Giamatti
Votes: 19,153 | Gross: $6.62M
5. Becoming Jane (2007)
PG | 120 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A biographical portrait of a pre-fame Jane Austen and her romance with a young Irishman.
Director: Julian Jarrold | Stars: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters, James Cromwell
Votes: 65,077 | Gross: $18.67M
6. Trumbo (2015)
R | 124 min | Biography, Drama
In 1947, Dalton Trumbo was Hollywood's top screenwriter, until he and other artists were jailed and blacklisted for their political beliefs.
Director: Jay Roach | Stars: Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K.
Votes: 84,768 | Gross: $7.86M
7. Genius (2016)
PG-13 | 104 min | Biography, Drama
A chronicle of Max Perkins's time as the book editor at Scribner, where he oversaw works by Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others.
Director: Michael Grandage | Stars: Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney
Votes: 21,357 | Gross: $1.36M
8. Out of Africa (1985)
PG | 161 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
In 20th-century colonial Kenya, a Danish baroness/plantation owner has a passionate love affair with a free-spirited big-game hunter.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Michael Kitchen
Votes: 86,324 | Gross: $87.10M
9. Miss Potter (2006)
PG | 88 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The story of Beatrix Potter, the author of the beloved and best-selling children's book, "The Tale of Peter Rabbit", and her struggle for love, happiness, and success.
Director: Chris Noonan | Stars: Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson, Barbara Flynn
Votes: 32,013 | Gross: $2.98M
10. Shadowlands (1993)
PG | 131 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
C.S. Lewis, a world-renowned Christian theologian, writer and professor, leads a passionless life until he meets spirited poet Joy Gresham from the U.S.
Director: Richard Attenborough | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Debra Winger, Julian Fellowes, Roddy Maude-Roxby
Votes: 20,441 | Gross: $25.84M
11. Shadowlands (1986 TV Movie)
92 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Noted author and scholar finds love, then must endure its loss...
Director: Norman Stone | Stars: Joss Ackland, Claire Bloom, David Waller, Rupert Baderman
Votes: 610
12. In Love and War (1996)
PG-13 | 113 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A bitter love story between a talented writer and a gentle nurse.
Director: Richard Attenborough | Stars: Sandra Bullock, Chris O'Donnell, Mackenzie Astin, Margot Steinberg
Votes: 9,126 | Gross: $14.48M
13. Nora (2000)
R | 106 min | Biography, Drama
Dublin, 1904, James Joyce chats up Nora Barnacle, a hotel maid recently come from Galway. She enchants him with her frank, uninhibited manner, and before long, he's convinced her to come with him to Trieste.
Director: Pat Murphy | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Susan Lynch, Andrew Scott, Vinnie McCabe
Votes: 1,844 | Gross: $0.01M
14. The Edge of Love (2008)
R | 110 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Two feisty, free-spirited women are connected by the brilliant, charismatic poet who loves them both.
Director: John Maybury | Stars: Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Matthew Rhys, Simon Armstrong
Votes: 18,939 | Gross: $0.03M
15. Before Night Falls (2000)
R | 133 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The life of Cuban poet and novelist, Reinaldo Arenas.
Director: Julian Schnabel | Stars: Javier Bardem, Johnny Depp, Olatz López Garmendia, Giovani Florido
Votes: 26,369 | Gross: $4.22M
16. Violette (2013)
Not Rated | 139 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Violette Leduc, born a bastard at the beginning of last century, meets Simone de Beauvoir in the years after the war in St-Germain-des-Prés. Then begins an intense relationship between the ... See full summary »
Director: Martin Provost | Stars: Emmanuelle Devos, Sandrine Kiberlain, Olivier Gourmet, Catherine Hiegel
Votes: 2,189
17. Prick Up Your Ears (1987)
R | 105 min | Biography, Drama
Biographer John Lahr is writing a book about playwright Joe Orton. Joe and Kenneth meet at drama school and live together for ten years as lovers and collaborators. Both want to be writers, but only one of them is successful.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Gary Oldman, Alfred Molina, Vanessa Redgrave, Wallace Shawn
Votes: 6,536 | Gross: $1.65M
18. Rebel in the Rye (2017)
PG-13 | 106 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The life of celebrated but reclusive author, J.D. Salinger, who gained worldwide fame with the publication of his novel, "The Catcher in the Rye".
Director: Danny Strong | Stars: Nicholas Hoult, Kevin Spacey, Victor Garber, Hope Davis
Votes: 10,787 | Gross: $0.38M
19. Casanova (2005)
TV-MA | 58 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
After a life spent seeking pleasure and decadence, Casanova seeks his one true love, Henriette.
Stars: Rose Byrne, David Tennant, Peter O'Toole, Rupert Penry-Jones
Votes: 5,435
20. Young Cassidy (1965)
Approved | 110 min | Biography, Drama
The misadventures of a young idealist man in Dublin, Ireland in the early twentieth century.
Directors: Jack Cardiff, John Ford | Stars: Rod Taylor, Julie Christie, Maggie Smith, Michael Redgrave
Votes: 1,325
21. The Wings of Eagles (1957)
Approved | 110 min | Biography, Drama, War
A biography of Navy flier-turned-screenwriter Frank W. "Spig" Wead.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Dan Dailey, Ward Bond
Votes: 4,606
22. The Mystery of Dante (2014)
90 min | Biography, History, Mystery
A journey in the footsteps of the most famous initiate of Italian Trecento, the author of the celebrated "Divine Comedy". A poet who has inspired some of the most outstanding minds in History.
Director: Louis Nero | Stars: F. Murray Abraham, Taylor Hackford, Louis Nero, Franco Zeffirelli
Votes: 84
23. In the Heart of the Sea (2015)
PG-13 | 122 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
A recounting of a New England whaling ship's sinking by a giant whale in 1820, an experience that later inspired the great novel Moby-Dick.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw
Votes: 148,731 | Gross: $25.02M
24. Girl, Interrupted (1999)
R | 127 min | Biography, Drama
A directionless teenager, Susanna, is rushed to Claymoore, a mental institution, after a supposed suicide attempt. There, she befriends a group of troubled women who deeply influence her life.
Director: James Mangold | Stars: Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Clea DuVall, Brittany Murphy
Votes: 211,202 | Gross: $28.87M
25. Denial (II) (2016)
PG-13 | 109 min | Biography, Drama
Acclaimed writer and historian Deborah E. Lipstadt must battle for historical truth to prove the Holocaust actually occurred when David Irving, a renowned denier, sues her for libel.
Director: Mick Jackson | Stars: Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall, Andrew Scott
Votes: 23,512 | Gross: $4.07M
26. Enid (2009 TV Movie)
82 min | Biography, Drama
Edwardian child Enid Blyton begins to tell stories to her brothers as an escape from their parents' rows before the father deserts the family. While training as a teacher after the Great ... See full summary »
Director: James Hawes | Stars: Helena Bonham Carter, Matthew Macfadyen, Denis Lawson, Claire Rushbrook
Votes: 1,668
27. The End of the Tour (2015)
R | 106 min | Biography, Drama
The story of the five-day interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky and acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace, which took place right after the 1996 publication of Wallace's groundbreaking epic novel, 'Infinite Jest.'
Director: James Ponsoldt | Stars: Jason Segel, Jesse Eisenberg, Anna Chlumsky, Mamie Gummer
Votes: 32,571 | Gross: $2.99M
28. A Walk in the Woods (2015)
R | 104 min | Adventure, Biography, Comedy
After spending two decades in England, Bill Bryson (Robert Redford) returns to the U.S., where he decides the best way to connect with his homeland is to hike the Appalachian Trail with one of his oldest friends, Stephen Katz (Nick Nolte).
Director: Ken Kwapis | Stars: Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Emma Thompson, Mary Steenburgen
Votes: 29,750 | Gross: $29.47M
29. Fleming (2014)
TV-MA | 44 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Look at the 007 creator, Ian Fleming, and his early life set against the permissive society of war-torn WWII London.
Stars: Dominic Cooper, Lara Pulver, Samuel West, Anna Chancellor
Votes: 5,278
30. Goldeneye (1989 TV Movie)
105 min | Biography
Fact-based biography of James Bond author, Ian Fleming. The film focuses on his wartime exploits and romantic adventures which ultimately led to his creation of the super-spy.
Director: Don Boyd | Stars: Charles Dance, Phyllis Logan, Patrick Ryecart, Marsha Fitzalan
Votes: 452
31. Paulo Coelho's Best Story (2014)
Not Rated | 112 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A chronicle of Paulo Coelho's rise from his troubled life to become one of the most influential writers in Brazilian history.
Director: Daniel Augusto | Stars: Júlio Andrade, Ravel Andrade, Fabiana Gugli, Fabiula Nascimento
Votes: 694
32. The Postman (1994)
PG | 108 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
A simple Italian postman learns to love poetry while delivering mail to a famous poet, and then uses this to woo local beauty Beatrice.
Directors: Michael Radford, Massimo Troisi | Stars: Massimo Troisi, Philippe Noiret, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Renato Scarpa
Votes: 38,998 | Gross: $21.85M
33. Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)
PG | 137 min | Comedy, Drama, History
Famed swordsman and poet Cyrano de Bergerac is in love with his cousin Roxane. He has never expressed his love for her as he his large nose undermines his self-confidence. Then he finds a way to express his love to her, indirectly.
Director: Jean-Paul Rappeneau | Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Anne Brochet, Vincent Perez, Jacques Weber
Votes: 25,941 | Gross: $15.14M
34. Omar Khayyam (1957)
Not Rated | 101 min | Adventure, Biography, Romance
During the 11th century, Persian poet Omar Khayyam's lover marries the Shah but the Shah, whose life is threatened by a sect of assassins, appoints Omar royal advisor.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Cornel Wilde, Michael Rennie, Debra Paget, John Derek
Votes: 376
35. The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam (2005)
PG | 95 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
Kamran is a 12-year-old boy in the present day who discovers that his ancestor is 11th-century mathematician, astronomer, and poet of Persia Omar Khayyam. The story has been passed down in ... See full summary »
Director: Kayvan Mashayekh | Stars: Adam Echahly, Bruno Lastra, Moritz Bleibtreu, Rade Serbedzija
Votes: 805 | Gross: $0.22M
36. Omar Al-Khayyam (2002– )
Biography, Drama, History
Stars: Saba Mubarak, Khaled Taja, Jawad Al Shakarji, Zuhair Ramadan
Votes: 8
37. Byron (2003 TV Movie)
147 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Following the success of his poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", Byron becomes the toast of London.
Director: Julian Farino | Stars: Stephen Campbell Moore, Oliver Milburn, Michael Elwyn, Jonny Lee Miller
Votes: 1,155
38. Mary Shelley (2017)
PG-13 | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History
Life and facts of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, who at 16 met 21 year old poet Percy Shelley, resulting in the writing of Frankenstein.
Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour | Stars: Elle Fanning, Bel Powley, Owen Richards, Joanne Froggatt
Votes: 17,764 | Gross: $0.11M
39. Miss Austen Regrets (2007 TV Movie)
TV-G | 90 min | Biography, Drama, History
In the later years of her life, as she's approaching the age of forty, the novelist Jane Austen helps her niece find a husband.
Director: Jeremy Lovering | Stars: Samuel Roukin, Olivia Williams, Greta Scacchi, Imogen Poots
Votes: 3,607
40. Magic Beyond Words: The J.K. Rowling Story (2011 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 90 min | Biography, Drama
An inspiring look at JK Rowling's rise to become one of the most influential writers-from her humble beginnings as an imaginative young girl and awkward teenager to the loss of her mother and the genesis of the Harry Potter phenomenon.
Director: Paul A. Kaufman | Stars: Poppy Montgomery, Emily Holmes, Antonio Cupo, Janet Kidder
Votes: 2,761
41. Byron: Ballad for a Daemon (1992)
138 min | Biography, Drama
Poet Lord Byron decides to fight with the Greek revolutionaries in Missolonghi against the Turks but instead the glorious battle wrestles with fever and his own demons.
Director: Nikos Koundouros | Stars: Manos Vakousis, Vera Sotnikova, Vasilis Laggos, Igor Yasulovich
Votes: 136
42. Haunted Summer (1988)
R | 106 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
In 1816, authors Lord Byron, Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley get together for some philosophical discussions, but the situation soon deteriorates into mind games, drugs and sex.
Director: Ivan Passer | Stars: Philip Anglim, Laura Dern, Alice Krige, Eric Stoltz
Votes: 586 | Gross: $0.01M
43. Lady Caroline Lamb (1972)
PG | 123 min | Drama, History, Romance
A noblewoman doomed to a loveless marriage falls into a scandalous affair with the dashing Lord Byron.
Director: Robert Bolt | Stars: Sarah Miles, Jon Finch, Richard Chamberlain, John Mills
Votes: 555
44. Shelley (1972 TV Movie)
75 min | Biography, Drama, History
Director: Alan Bridges | Stars: Jenny Agutter, Peter Bowles, Nicolas Chagrin, David Dundas
Votes: 18
45.
Biography (1970– )
Episode:
Byron
(1970)
Biography
The life of the infamous - but great - poet.
Director: John Glenister | Stars: Keith Barron, Julian Burbery, Gigi Gatti, Margaret Ford
46. The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944)
Approved | 130 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The dramatized life of immortal humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, from his days as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River until his death in 1910 shortly after Halley's Comet returned.
Director: Irving Rapper | Stars: Fredric March, Alexis Smith, Donald Crisp, Alan Hale
Votes: 1,360
47. Wodehouse in Exile (2013 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 82 min | Drama
An all-star cast heads up this intimate film about how author, P.G.Wodehouse, came to face a charge of treason during the Second World War and how this quintessential Englishman, creator of... See full summary »
Director: Tim Fywell | Stars: Tim Pigott-Smith, Zoë Wanamaker, Curran McKay, Simon Coury
Votes: 353
48. Saint-Ex (1996)
PG | 82 min | Biography, Drama, Fantasy
Poetic biography of author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Director: Anand Tucker | Stars: Bruno Ganz, Miranda Richardson, Janet McTeer, Ken Stott
Votes: 226
49. Das Ende ist mein Anfang (2010)
Not Rated | 98 min | Biography, Drama
In his last days, journalist and writer Tiziano Terzani talks to his son about his life.
Director: Jo Baier | Stars: Bruno Ganz, Elio Germano, Erika Pluhar, Andrea Osvárt
Votes: 658
50. Nella vita di Sylvia Plath (1979 TV Movie)
90 min | Biography
The last months of life of the American writer Sylvia Plath, who committed suicide at the age of 31.
Director: Alessandro Cane | Stars: Carla Gravina, Alfredo Piano, Olivia Bignardi, Valeria Sabel
51. Dangerous Beauty (1998)
R | 111 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A Venetian courtesan becomes a hero to her city, but later becomes the target of an inquisition by the Church for witchcraft.
Director: Marshall Herskovitz | Stars: Catherine McCormack, Rufus Sewell, Oliver Platt, Fred Ward
Votes: 19,630 | Gross: $4.53M
52. Neruda (2016)
R | 107 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
An inspector hunts down Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who becomes a fugitive in his home country in the late 1940s for joining the Communist Party.
Director: Pablo Larraín | Stars: Gael García Bernal, Luis Gnecco, Mercedes Morán, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba
Votes: 11,049 | Gross: $0.94M
53. Pushkin: Poslednyaya duel (2006)
105 min | Biography, Drama, History
The movie has reveal the last days of the famous and popular russian poet-Alexander Pushkin. After the poet faced scandolous rumors that his wife Natalya Pushkina had embarked a love affair... See full summary »
Director: Natalya Bondarchuk | Stars: Nadezhda Bakhtina, Sergey Bezrukov, Andrey Ilin, Oleg Kuznetsov
Votes: 318
54. Vysotsky. Thank You for Being Alive (2011)
128 min | Biography, Drama
Underground concerts, drugs and clinical death in Bukhara. A tragic episode in the life of an idol of generations.
Director: Pyotr Buslov | Stars: Sergey Bezrukov, Oksana Akinshina, Andrey Smolyakov, Ivan Urgant
Votes: 2,911
55. The Miracle Worker (1962)
Approved | 106 min | Biography, Drama
The story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, Victor Jory, Inga Swenson
Votes: 20,498 | Gross: $5.45M
56. This Boy's Life (1993)
R | 115 min | Biography, Drama
The story about the relationship between a rebellious 1950s teenager and his abusive stepfather, based on the memoirs of writer and literature Professor Tobias Wolff.
Director: Michael Caton-Jones | Stars: Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Barkin, Jonah Blechman
Votes: 58,334 | Gross: $4.10M
57. Total Eclipse (1995)
R | 111 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Young, wild poet Arthur Rimbaud and his mentor Paul Verlaine engage in a fierce, forbidden romance while feeling the effects of a hellish artistic lifestyle.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, David Thewlis, Romane Bohringer, Dominique Blanc
Votes: 16,770 | Gross: $0.34M
58. Borstal Boy (2000)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, Romance
Irish teenager political activist and future writer Brendan Behan is befriended in a British borstal (reformatory) by a liberal warden.
Director: Peter Sheridan | Stars: Shawn Hatosy, Danny Dyer, Eamon Glancy, Ian McElhinney
Votes: 2,570 | Gross: $0.09M
59. Oscar Wilde (1960)
Not Rated | 96 min | Biography, Drama, History
Playwright Oscar Wilde's homosexuality is exposed when he brings a libel action against his lover's father, leading to his own prosecution.
Director: Gregory Ratoff | Stars: Robert Morley, Phyllis Calvert, Ralph Richardson, John Neville
Votes: 630
60. The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960)
PG | 123 min | Biography, Drama, History
A chronicle of Oscar Wilde's libel suit against the Marquis of Queensberry and the tragic turn his life takes because of it.
Director: Ken Hughes | Stars: Peter Finch, Yvonne Mitchell, James Mason, Nigel Patrick
Votes: 1,117
61. Friedrich Schiller - Eine Dichterjugend (1923)
111 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Despite his wish to become a pastor, Friedrich Schiller is ordered to join a military school. There, he begins to write poetry...
Director: Curt Goetz | Stars: Theodor Loos, Hermann Vallentin, Isabel Heermann, Max Pategg
Votes: 71
62. The Beloved Rogue (1927)
Not Rated | 99 min | Adventure, Drama, History
François Villon, in his lifetime the most renowned poet in France, is also a prankster, an occasional criminal, and an ardent patriot.
Director: Alan Crosland | Stars: John Barrymore, Conrad Veidt, Marceline Day, Lawson Butt
Votes: 900
63. Voltaire (1933)
Passed | 72 min | Drama
Writer and philosopher Voltaire, loyal to his king, Louis XV of France, nonetheless writes scathingly of the king's disdain for the rights and needs of his people. Louis admires Voltaire ... See full summary »
Director: John G. Adolfi | Stars: George Arliss, Doris Kenyon, Margaret Lindsay, Reginald Owen
Votes: 244
64. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
Passed | 116 min | Biography, Drama
The biopic of the famous French muckraking writer and his involvement in fighting the injustice of the Dreyfus Affair.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Paul Muni, Gale Sondergaard, Joseph Schildkraut, Gloria Holden
Votes: 9,013
65. Gorky 1: The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (1938)
98 min | Biography, Drama
A drama reveals the great writer's inauspicious early years as an orphan raised by conniving relatives.
Director: Mark Donskoy | Stars: Aleksei Lyarsky, Varvara Massalitinova, Mikhail Troyanovskiy, Elizaveta Alekseeva
Votes: 779
66. Gorky 2: My Apprenticeship (1939)
100 min | Biography, Drama
For the family really no money, Alexei began to make a living. Everything was limited to dirty chores, but while reading could end his depression. After hard working experience, he was ... See full summary »
Director: Mark Donskoy | Stars: Aleksei Lyarsky, Irina Zarubina, Varvara Massalitinova, Yelizaveta Lilina
Votes: 287
67. Gorky 3: My Universities (1940)
90 min | Biography, Drama
The last installment of Russian director Mark Donskoy's Maxim Gorky trilogy. Having endured a painful youth in Gorky 1: The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (1938) and a torturous sojourn as a serf... See full summary »
Director: Mark Donskoy | Stars: Nikolai Valbert, Stepan Kayukov, Nikolai Dorokhin, Nikolai Plotnikov
Votes: 239
68. Alisher Navoy (1948)
100 min | Biography, Drama, History
A biopic of Alisher Navoi, father of Uzbek literature, scientist, humanist and statesman of the XV century.
Director: Kamil Yarmatov | Stars: Razzak Khamrayev, Asad Ismatov, Abid Dshalilov, Tamara Nazarova
Votes: 38
69. The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe (1942)
Approved | 67 min | Biography, Drama
Edgar Allan Poe led an unhappy childhood, broken only by the unceasing devotion of his foster mother, Mrs. Frances Allan, whose loving ministrations gave him courage to carry out his desire... See full summary »
Director: Harry Lachman | Stars: Linda Darnell, Shepperd Strudwick, Virginia Gilmore, Jane Darwell
Votes: 229
70. Devotion (1946)
Passed | 107 min | Biography, Drama, Mystery
Genius authors Emily and Charlotte Brontë fall in love with their curate as they seek to get their work published.
Director: Curtis Bernhardt | Stars: Olivia de Havilland, Ida Lupino, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet
Votes: 1,014
71. Hans Christian Andersen (1952)
Passed | 112 min | Biography, Family, Musical
The opening scene of the movie describes it best: "Once upon a time there lived in Denmark a great storyteller named Hans Christian Andersen. This is not the story of his life, but a fairy tale about the great spinner of fairy tales."
Director: Charles Vidor | Stars: Danny Kaye, Farley Granger, Zizi Jeanmaire, Joseph Walsh
Votes: 4,218
72. The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962)
G | 135 min | Adventure, Biography, Comedy
The story of Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, and three of their stories.
Directors: Henry Levin, George Pal | Stars: Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom, Karlheinz Böhm, Walter Slezak
Votes: 2,158 | Gross: $14.17M
73. F. Scott Fitzgerald and 'the Last of the Belles' (1974 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 98 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A semi-fictional account of how writer F. Scott Fitzgerald met his wife while he was in the army and stationed in Alabama in 1919.
Director: George Schaefer | Stars: Richard Chamberlain, Blythe Danner, Susan Sarandon, David Huffman
Votes: 281
74. F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood (1975 TV Movie)
100 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The story of author F. Scott Fitzgerald's two stays in Hollywood to write for films, once in 1927 at the height of his acclaim, and again in 1937 when he arrived with little money, enormous expenses and an ill wife.
Director: Anthony Page | Stars: Jason Miller, Tuesday Weld, Julia Foster, Dolores Sutton
Votes: 40
75. The Belle of Amherst (1976 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 90 min | Biography, Drama
Portrait of 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson based on her poems, letters and notes. This is a taped broadcast of a live one-woman performance.
Director: Charles S. Dubin | Star: Julie Harris
Votes: 137
76. Stevie (1978)
PG | 102 min | Biography, Drama
This biographical film has Glenda Jackson portraying a British poet with emotional problems.
Director: Robert Enders | Stars: Glenda Jackson, Mona Washbourne, Alec McCowen, Trevor Howard
Votes: 545
77. Molière (1978)
260 min | Biography, Drama, History
Who was Moliere? He is known everywhere as one of the world's greatest playwrights. But who was he? Born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin in 1622, the son of a prosperous tapestry maker. His mother ... See full summary »
Director: Ariane Mnouchkine | Stars: Philippe Caubère, Marie-Françoise Audollent, Frédéric Ladonne, Odile Cointepas
Votes: 889
78. My Brilliant Career (1979)
G | 100 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A proud young woman in early 20th century Australia must choose between marriage and independence.
Director: Gillian Armstrong | Stars: Judy Davis, Sam Neill, Wendy Hughes, Robert Grubb
Votes: 4,802
79. The Brontë Sisters (1979)
Not Rated | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History
In a small presbytery in Yorkshire, living under the watchful eyes of their aunt and father, a strict Anglican pastor, the Bronte sisters write their first works and quickly become literary sensations.
Director: André Téchiné | Stars: Isabelle Adjani, Marie-France Pisier, Isabelle Huppert, Pascal Greggory
Votes: 1,218
80. Antonieta (1982)
Not Rated | 108 min | Biography, Drama, War
Anna uncovers an incident involving a young Mexican woman, Antonieta, while doing research for a book on women's suicides in the XXth century. In 1931, in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Antonieta shot herself through the heart.
Director: Carlos Saura | Stars: Isabelle Adjani, Hanna Schygulla, Ignacio López Tarso, Carlos Bracho
Votes: 404
81. Céleste (1980)
107 min | Biography, Drama, History
In 1914, with men gone to war, Marcel Proust hired Céleste Albaret as his attendant. More than eight years later, she was at his side when he died. During this entire time, she only entered... See full summary »
Director: Percy Adlon | Stars: Eva Mattes, Jürgen Arndt, Norbert Wartha, Wolf Euba
Votes: 284
82. Carrington (1995)
R | 121 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The platonic relationship between artist Dora Carrington (Dame Emma Thompson) and writer Lytton Strachey (Jonathan Pryce) in the early twentieth century.
Director: Christopher Hampton | Stars: Emma Thompson, Jonathan Pryce, Steven Waddington, Samuel West
Votes: 5,775 | Gross: $3.24M
83. Papusza (2013)
G | 131 min | Biography, Drama
The rise and fall of the most distinguished Polish-Gypsy poetess Bronislawa Wajs, widely known as Papusza, and her relationship with her discoverer, writer Jerzy Ficowski.
Directors: Joanna Kos-Krauze, Krzysztof Krauze | Stars: Jowita Budnik, Zbigniew Walerys, Antoni Pawlicki, Artur Steranko
Votes: 1,415
84. Anton Chekhov 1890 (2015)
96 min | Biography, Drama, History
In 1890,Russian writer Anton Chekov writes short stories in newspapers to feed his family. He achieves success in the form of Pushkin prize. However, he decides to meet convicts at Sakhalin when one of this brothers die due to tuberculosis.
Director: René Féret | Stars: Nicolas Giraud, Lolita Chammah, Robinson Stévenin, Jacques Bonnaffé
Votes: 303
85. Priest of Love (1981)
R | 125 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Following the banning and burning of his novel, "The Rainbow", D.H. Lawrence and his wife, Frieda, move to the United States, and then to Mexico. When Lawrence contracts tuberculosis, they ... See full summary »
Director: Christopher Miles | Stars: Ian McKellen, Janet Suzman, Ava Gardner, Penelope Keith
Votes: 522
86. Cross Creek (1983)
PG | 127 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
In the 1930s, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings moves to Florida's backwaters to write in peace. She feels bothered by affectionate men, editor and confused neighbors, but soon she connects and writes The Yearling, a classic of American literature.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Mary Steenburgen, Rip Torn, Peter Coyote, Dana Hill
Votes: 2,032 | Gross: $0.20M
87. Oscar (1985)
120 min | Biography, Drama, History
Biography of Irish writer Oscar Wilde.
Stars: Michael Gambon, Robin McCallum, Tim Hardy, Karl Howman
Votes: 45
88. Last Call (2002 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 96 min | Biography, Drama
Renowned writer F. Scott Fitzgerald is living the last months of his life with his youthful secretary, confidant and protege who later wrote a memoir of their time together.
Director: Henry Bromell | Stars: Jeremy Irons, Neve Campbell, Sissy Spacek, Shannon Lawson
Votes: 985
89. Bright Star (2009)
PG | 119 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The three-year romance between 19th-century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne near the end of his life.
Director: Jane Campion | Stars: Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw, Paul Schneider, Kerry Fox
Votes: 28,689 | Gross: $4.44M
90. Set Fire to the Stars (2014)
Unrated | 97 min | Biography, Drama
An aspiring poet in 1950s New York has his ordered world shaken when he embarks on a week-long retreat to save his hell-raising hero, Dylan Thomas.
Director: Andy Goddard | Stars: Elijah Wood, Celyn Jones, Kelly Reilly, Steven Mackintosh
Votes: 1,481
91. Leopardi (2014)
143 min | Biography, Drama, History
Based upon the short but fruitful life of illness-racked Italian poet and philosopher Giacomo Leopardi.
Director: Mario Martone | Stars: Elio Germano, Michele Riondino, Massimo Popolizio, Anna Mouglalis
Votes: 3,048
92. Dreamchild (1985)
PG | 94 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Ian Holm is children's author Lewis Carroll in this poignant fantasy-drama set in 1930s New York and populated by the fabulous special effects creatures of Muppet master Jim Henson.
Director: Gavin Millar | Stars: Coral Browne, Ian Holm, Peter Gallagher, Caris Corfman
Votes: 1,749 | Gross: $1.22M
93. Poslednyaya doroga (1986)
101 min | Biography, Drama, History
About the death of Aleksandr Pushkin, the leading poet and writer of Russia, who was shot on a duel and died when he was 37.
Director: Leonid Menaker | Stars: Aleksandr Kalyagin, Vadim Medvedev, Irina Kupchenko, Yelena Karadzhova
Votes: 91
94. An Angel at My Table (1990)
R | 158 min | Biography, Drama
Janet Frame was a brilliant child who, as a teen, was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia. Explore Janet's discovery of the world and her life in Europe as her books are published to acclaim.
Director: Jane Campion | Stars: Kerry Fox, Alexia Keogh, Karen Fergusson, Iris Churn
Votes: 8,679 | Gross: $1.05M
95. Henry & June (1990)
NC-17 | 136 min | Biography, Drama
Anaïs Nin meets American writer Henry Miller in Paris in 1931. She keeps a diary of her sexual awakening, which includes Henry and his wife June.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Fred Ward, Uma Thurman, Maria de Medeiros, Richard E. Grant
Votes: 14,187 | Gross: $11.57M
96. Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994)
R | 125 min | Biography, Drama
Dorothy Parker remembers the heyday of the Algonquin Round Table, a circle of friends whose barbed wit, like hers, was fueled by alcohol and flirted with despair.
Director: Alan Rudolph | Stars: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Campbell Scott, Matthew Broderick, Peter Gallagher
Votes: 4,887 | Gross: $2.14M
97. The Dreamer of Oz (1990 TV Movie)
100 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The film is the biography of Frank Baum, the children's book author and creator of the fantasy world Oz.
Director: Jack Bender | Stars: John Ritter, Annette O'Toole, Rue McClanahan, Charles Haid
Votes: 587
98. The Secret Life of Ian Fleming (1990 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 100 min | Adventure, Biography, War
Ian Fleming's life (1908-64) as a journalist and a naval intelligence officer was a lot like the womanizing James Bond, about whom he would later write 12 spy novels.
Director: Ferdinand Fairfax | Stars: Jason Connery, Kristin Scott Thomas, Joss Ackland, Patricia Hodge
Votes: 650
99. Becoming Colette (1991)
R | 97 min | Biography, Drama
The story of a girl who become the toast of Paris high-society. Through her marriage to one of France's most notorious degenerates, Colette's eyes are opened to every form of sexual depravity - shameless adventures that stir her.
Director: Danny Huston | Stars: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Mathilda May, Virginia Madsen, Paul Rhys
Votes: 281 | Gross: $0.22M
100. The Whole Wide World (1996)
PG | 111 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
In 1933 Texas, a schoolteacher and aspiring writer meets a pulp fiction writer, and a relationship soon develops between the two, but it is doomed by his slavishly devotion to his ailing mother and insistence on his freedom.
Director: Dan Ireland | Stars: Vincent D'Onofrio, Renée Zellweger, Ann Wedgeworth, Harve Presnell
Votes: 4,025 | Gross: $0.14M
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