How does a self-described “film nerd” become one of the bestselling names in publishing history, a respected USC professor, and a television personality appearing nightly on Entertainment Tonight?

Leonard Maltin provides answers in an entertaining and long-awaited memoir covering his upbringing in New York City and unquenchable thirst for Hollywood history, which connected him as a teen with legendary stars of the golden age and launched an unexpected and magical career. 

Leonard interviewed or worked with all the famous names in show business: Clint Eastwood, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, Peanuts creator Charles M. Schultz, science fiction writer Harlan Ellison, and hundreds of others. He learned about theAfrican-American experience in Hollywood firsthand from Sidney Poitier and Lena Horne. He romped at the Playboy Mansion as a favorite guest of Hugh Hefner. He watched the explosion in popularity of the Walt Disney empire from the inside. And he remained a New York Times bestseller for a generation.

There’s something for everyone in Starstruck—aspiring authors, performers, broadcasters, and pop culture addicts of all ages.

About the Author: LEONARD MALTIN is one of the world’s most respected film critics and historians. He is best known for his widely-used reference work Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide and its companion volume Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide, now in its third edition, as well as his thirty-year run on television’s Entertainment Tonight. He served two terms as President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, is a voting member of the National Film Registry, and was appointed by the Librarian of Congress to sit on the Board of Directors of the National Film Preservation Foundation. Perhaps the pinnacle of his career was his appearance in a now-classic episode of South Park. (Or was it Carmela consulting his Movie Guide on an episode of The Sopranos?) He is the co-host of the popular podcast Maltin on Movies alongside his daughter, Jessie Maltin.