Brian D'Ambrosio

Marquee MontanansTreasure State stars Gary Cooper and Myrna Loy found unparalleled success during the Golden Age of Hollywood. For more than a century, Montana has supplied a rich vein of entertainment and personality--from daredevils to dancers and even mimes. Born in Miles City in 1895, comedian Gilbert "Pee Wee" Holmes played sidekick to such stars as Tom Mix. One-time Butte resident Julian Eltinge went on to become America's first famous female impersonator. There was Taylor Gordon, whose golden voice propelled the son of a slave from White Sulphur Springs to Harlem Renaissance fame. From the little-known Robyn Adair to the ever-popular Michelle Williams, author Brian D'Ambrosio marks Big Sky Country's long-standing connections with America's performing arts.

Treasure State stars Gary Cooper and Myrna Loy found unparalleled success during the Golden Age of Hollywood. For more than a century, Montana has supplied a rich vein of entertainment and personality--from daredevils to dancers and even mimes. Born in Miles City in 1895, comedian Gilbert "Pee Wee" Holmes played sidekick to such stars as Tom Mix. One-time Butte resident Julian Eltinge went on to become America's first famous female impersonator. There was Taylor Gordon, whose golden voice propelled the son of a slave from White Sulphur Springs to Harlem Renaissance fame. From the little-known Robyn Adair to the ever-popular Michelle Williams, author Brian D'Ambrosio marks Big Sky Country's long-standing connections with America's performing arts.

Montanans' football obsession goes far beyond storied college programs. From Baker to Zurich, even the tiniest towns in Montana have sent players to the NFL. One of the most dominant offensive linemen of the 1940s was Anaconda's own Francis Cope, who earned All-Decade honors as a New York Giant. Elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1991, MSU alum Jan Stenerud was the league's first soccer-style kicker. Pat Donovan, who earned a Super Bowl ring with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1970s, was named by Sports Illustrated as the fourth-greatest Montana athlete of the twentieth century. Griz Doug Betters was a member of the Miami Dolphins' famed Killer Bees and the 1983 NFL defensive player of the year. From the obscure to the prominent, author Brian D'Ambrosio celebrates Big Sky Country's rich connections with America's favorite professional sports league.

For nearly a century, movies have been made in Montana. The state played itself in Cattle Queen of Montana, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Winter in the Blood, and the iconic A River Runs Through It, and it doubled for an Arctic ice pack in Firefox, Nebraska in Nebraska, the authentic Old West in Heaven's Gate, and even heaven in What Dreams May Come. Montana's Kootenai River swallowed up Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep in The River Wild, a stunt double for Leonardo DiCaprio tumbled down Kootenai Falls in The Revenant, and Forrest Gump ran through Glacier National Park. The city of Butte played itself in Evel Knievel, substituted for San Francisco's Chinatown in Thousand Pieces of Gold, and hosted a zombie apocalypse in Dead 7. Charles Bronson's Telefon blew up a school in Great Falls, Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando battled in the badlands of The Missouri Breaks, and Far and Away's Oklahoma land rush with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman actually thundered across Montana prairie. From megahits with the biggest Hollywood stars to acclaimed independent films and forgettable flops, nearly a hundred movies have been made, in whole or in part, in Montana, and for the first time this treasure trove of filmmaking has been thoroughly researched and documented. Montana author Brian D'Ambrosio (Warrior in the Ring) describes every movie, including the actors, directors, and shooting locations, and reveals fascinating stories and incidents that took place behind the cameras. Featuring 120 photos and interviews with actors and filmmakers, Shot in Montana is a blockbuster adventure through the Treasure State's cinematic history.

In the Golden Age of boxing, Marvin Camel--a mixed blood from the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana--defied all obstacles of race, poverty, and geographical isolation to become the first Native American to win a world boxing title. Complex and wildly charismatic, Camel combined tremendous physical talent with staggering self-discipline--forged by the sting of his father's belt--to claw his way to the top, twice winning world titles in the newly minted cruiserweight division and fighting on the same cards as boxing icons Roberto Duran, Larry Holmes, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Bob Foster. Camel's journey was an amazing example of gritty determination: punishing runs on Montana's back roads, relentless training in make-shift gyms, sleeping in beat-up cars before fights in glittering Las Vegas, and even training and fighting for a world championship in a foreign country, alone. Always, Camel willingly represented his state and his people, proudly wearing his eagle-feather headdress into the ring. Yet with success came sacrifice and pain, both physical and personal, but in life as in the boxing ring, Camel emerged bloody but unbowed. With irresistible detail gleaned from years of frank interviews with Camel, his family and friends, his former opponents, and seasoned boxing insiders, Brian D'Ambrosio's gripping biography captures the drama, danger, beauty, and ugliness of boxing, of Indian life on reservations, and especially, of the life of a stereotype-shattering man who inspired his people and boxing fans everywhere with his courage, achievements, and great warrior heart.

Brian D'Ambrosio interviews hockey's toughest, who discuss their opinions of the role and purpose of fighting in the modern NHL. "Warriors on the Ice" includes interviews with Tim Hunter, Reed Low and Reid Simpson. Profiles include Jim Agnew; Paul Baxter; Ken Belanger;Riley Cote; Craig Coxe; Gordie Dwyer; Mike Hartman; Tim Hunter; Jamie Huscroft; Kevin Kaminski; Ed Kastelic; Darin Kimble; Paul Kruse; Reed Low; Kevin McClelland; Jeff Odgers; Jim Peplinski; Cam Russell; Reid Simpson; Daryl Stanley; Jason Strudwick; Chris Tamer; Rocky Thompson; Ryan VandenBussche; Jay Wells; Brendan Witt; Richard Zemlak; and Doug Zmolek.

Menacing Face Worth Millions: A Life of Charles Bronson is the first definitive biography of legendary screen actor Charles Bronson. Charles Bronson was the silver screen legend who forever changed America's - and the world's - idea of the leading man's looks: a poverty-stricken young man who became one of the most popular, highly-paid film stars of his day. No movie that Charles Bronson ever made can equal the reclusive life he led and the contradictions of his own hidden self. In this definitive retelling of Bronson's life - the first fully documented biography of the star - Brian D'Ambrosio looks at the vigilante tough guy's life and legacy and explores the events and issues that made him emblematic of his time.