Legends: Remembering America's Greatest Stars

Syndicated television critic of the Washington Post and winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, Shales has selected some of his well-known appreciations of entertainment celebrities written upon their deaths for this star-struck anthology. Shales's affection for stars of years ago--Fred Astaire, Jimmy Durante, Rita Hayworth--and the more recent past--Lucille Ball, Gilda Radner--is revealed in adulatory assessments in which never is heard a debunking word. As he says in the introduction, ``You have to find the warts elsewhere.'' In shamelessly subjective and touchingly poignant profiles, he celebrates the public personas, glamorous images and unique abilities of such legendary figures as James Cagney, Danny Kaye, Henry Fonda and Rosalind Russell. Photos. (Sept.)