Music Biopics
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- DirectorLee DanielsStarsAndra DayTrevante RhodesGarrett HedlundFollows Holiday during her career as she is targeted by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by black Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher, with whom she has a tumultuous affair.
- DirectorGeorge C. WolfeStarsViola DavisChadwick BosemanGlynn TurmanTensions rise when trailblazing blues singer Ma Rainey and her band gather at a recording studio in Chicago in 1927.
- DirectorFloria SigismondiStarsKristen StewartDakota FanningMichael ShannonA coming-of-age biographical film about the 1970s teenage all-girl rock band The Runaways. The relationship between band members Cherie Currie and Joan Jett is also explored.
- DirectorAndrew L. StoneStarsFlorence HendersonToralv MaurstadChristina SchollinBased on the life of Norway's greatest composer Edvard Grieg, and filmed in Norway where he lived. The soundtrack is all Edvard Grieg's music with added lyrics.
- DirectorMichael AptedStarsSissy SpacekTommy Lee JonesLevon HelmThe fictionalized life of singer Loretta Lynn, a girl who rose from humble beginnings to become a country music star in the 1960s/70s.
- DirectorIrving CummingsStarsRita HayworthVictor MatureJohn SuttonAt the end of the 19th century, the young Indiana boy Paul Dresser left his hometown for a long adventure that would eventually place him at the pinnacle of American music as a songwriter.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsAnn BlythPaul NewmanRichard CarlsonTorch singer Helen Morgan rises from sordid beginnings to fame and fortune only to lose it all to alcohol and poor personal choices.
- DirectorBill PohladStarsJohn CusackPaul DanoElizabeth BanksIn the 60s, Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson struggles with emerging psychosis as he attempts to craft his avant-garde pop masterpiece. In the 80s, he's a broken, confused man under the 24-hour watch of shady therapist, Dr. Eugene Landy.
- DirectorHerbert DanskaStarsDon MurrayDick GregoryDiane VarsiA loose fictitious of Charlie Parker's last years and a portrait of the jazz scene in 1960's New York.
- DirectorRupert GooldStarsRenée ZellwegerJessie BuckleyFinn WittrockLegendary performer Judy Garland arrives in London in the winter of 1968 to perform a series of sold-out concerts.
- DirectorMalcolm LeoStarsBrian WilsonDennis WilsonCarl WilsonA biography of the American rock band The Beach Boys, with interviews, concert footage and clips from movies and television shows they appeared in.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsDebbie ReynoldsRicardo MontalbanGreer GarsonFanciful biography of the Belgian nun who briefly made the hit parade.
- DirectorIrving CummingsStarsAlice FayeDon AmecheHenry FondaThe life story of the musical star from her discovery in 1890 by bandleader Tony Pastor until her retirement in 1912, when she married newspaperman Alexander Moore.
- DirectorGordon ParksStarsRoger E. MosleyPaul BenjaminMadge SinclairBiography of the legendary folksinger, Huddie Ledbetter, master of the 12-string guitar and long-time convict on Texas and Louisiana chain gangs.
- DirectorMichael SchultzStarsSheila E.Joseph SimmonsDarryl McDanielsThe story of a man who has started a new hip-hop/rap label called Krush Groove.
- DirectorTaylor HackfordStarsJamie FoxxRegina KingKerry WashingtonThe story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsVal KilmerMeg RyanKyle MacLachlanThe story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band The Doors and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison, from his days as a UCLA film student in Los Angeles, to his untimely death in Paris, France at age 27 in 1971.
- DirectorBrian GibsonStarsAngela BassettLaurence FishburneRaéVen KellyThe story of singer Tina Turner's rise to stardom and how she gained the courage to break free from her abusive husband, Ike Turner.
- DirectorTodd HaynesStarsChristian BaleCate BlanchettHeath LedgerRuminations on the life of Bob Dylan, where six characters embody a different aspect of the musician's life and work.
- DirectorSteve RashStarsGary BuseyDon StroudCharles Martin SmithThe story of the life and career of the early rock and roll singer, from his meteoric rise to stardom, to his marriage and untimely death.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJames StewartJune AllysonHarry MorganBiography of bandleader Glenn Miller from his beginnings to his death over the English Channel in December 1944.
- DirectorJames MangoldStarsJoaquin PhoenixReese WitherspoonGinnifer GoodwinA chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins.
- DirectorTate TaylorStarsChadwick BosemanNelsan EllisDan AykroydA chronicle of James Brown's rise from extreme poverty to become one of the most influential musicians in history.
- DirectorDee ReesStarsQueen LatifahKamryn JohnsonRikki McKinneyThe story of legendary blues performer Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.
- DirectorSidney J. FurieStarsDiana RossBilly Dee WilliamsRichard PryorThe story of the troubled life and career of the legendary Jazz singer, Billie Holiday.
- DirectorKevin SpaceyStarsKevin SpaceyKate BosworthJohn GoodmanA swooning study of "Mack the Knife" singer Bobby Darin and specifically his relationship with wife Sandra Dee.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsJulie AndrewsRichard CrennaMichael CraigA musical biography of Gertrude Lawrence, who led a hustling and bustling life on the stage.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsF. Murray AbrahamTom HulceElizabeth BerridgeThe life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsPaul MuniMerle OberonCornel WildeBiography of Frederic Chopin.
- DirectorJames LapineStarsJudy DavisHugh GrantMandy PatinkinIn 1830s France, pianist/composer Frédéric Chopin is pursued romantically by the determined, individualistic woman who uses the name George Sand.
- DirectorAnand TuckerStarsEmily WatsonRachel GriffithsJames FrainThe tragic story of world renowned classic cellist Jacqueline du Pré, as told from the point of view of her sister, flautist Hilary du Pré-Finzi.
- DirectorDaniel MannStarsSusan HaywardRichard ConteEddie AlbertSusan Hayward stars as singer-actress Lillian Roth, whose rise to stardom was nearly destroyed by alcoholism.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsMario LanzaAnn BlythDorothy KirstenThis film traces the life of tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). He loves Musetta, in his home town of Naples, and then Dorothy, the daughter of one of the Metropolitan Opera's patrons. Caruso is unacceptable to both women's fathers: to Musetta's because he sings; to Dorothy's because he is a peasant. To New York patricians, Caruso is short, barrel-chested, loud, emotional, and unrefined. Their appreciation comes slowly. The film depicts Caruso's lament that "the man does not have the voice, the voice has the man": he cannot be places he wants to be, because he must be elsewhere singing, including the day his mother dies. Throughout, Mario Lanza and stars from the Met sing.
- DirectorCurtis BernhardtStarsGlenn FordEleanor ParkerRoger MooreThis movie chronicles Australian-born opera star Marjorie Lawrence's success, her battle with polio, and her eventual career comeback.
- DirectorBernard RoseStarsGary OldmanJeroen KrabbéIsabella RosselliniThe life and death of the legendary Ludwig van Beethoven. Besides all the work he is known for, the composer once wrote a famous love letter to a nameless beloved, and the movie tries to find out who this beloved was--not easy, as Beethoven has had many women in his life.
- DirectorJerzy AntczakStarsPiotr AdamczykDanuta StenkaAdam WoronowiczA tangled web of unruly passion lies at the center of this drama, chronicling the stormy affair between the great piano virtuoso Frédéric Chopin and the flamboyant feminist writer George Sand.
- DirectorAllison AndersStarsIlleana DouglasJohn TurturroSissy BoydEdna wins a recording contract singing her own song at a competition in 1958. After trying to make it as a singer/songwriter for 11 months in NYC, she has success writing songs for others at the Brill Building.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsRobert AldaJoan LeslieAlexis SmithGeorge Gershwin is a driven composer whose need to succeed destroys his relationship with singer Julie Adams and socialite Christine Gilbert.
- DirectorDan PritzkerStarsGary CarrErik LaRay HarveyIan McShaneA mythical account of the life of Buddy Bolden, the first Cornet King of New Orleans.
- DirectorLev ArnshtamStarsBoris ChirkovVasiliy MerkurevMikhail DerzhavinAbout the life of the Russian composer Mikhail Glinka.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsForest WhitakerDiane VenoraMichael ZelnikerThe troubled life and career of jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker.
- DirectorLuis ValdezStarsLou Diamond PhillipsEsai MoralesRosanna DeSotoBiographical story of the rise from nowhere of early rock and roll singer Ritchie Valens who died at age 17 in a plane crash with Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper.
- DirectorGregory NavaStarsJennifer LopezEdward James OlmosJon SedaThe true story of Selena, a Texas-born Tejano singer who rose from cult status to performing at the Astrodome, as well as having chart-topping albums on the Latin music charts.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsAlan ArthurHetty BaynesMaurice BushA biopic about the eminent composer Sir Arnold Bax.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsKurt RussellShelley WintersBing RussellBiographical movie about the famous rock singer Elvis Presley.
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsTino RossiJacqueline PagnolRaoul MarcoFranz Schubert retired from Vienna in country for musical writing. He draws his inspiration from a romance with the watermiller's daughter. An operetta in the fifties Vienna style. This is the only movie from Marcel Pagnol in color and the only movie in rouxcolor, a French experimental process derivated from the agfacolor German process.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsGordon MacRaeDan DaileyErnest BorgnineRay joins Buddy and Lew to form a successful 1920s musical show writing team. Soon, they've got several hits on Broadway, but Buddy's ambition leads to friction among the group, as the other 2 feel increasingly left out.
- DirectorAllen ReisnerStarsNat 'King' ColeEartha KittCab CallowayThe story of W. C. Handy, the undisputed father of the blues.
- DirectorBaz LuhrmannStarsTom HanksAustin ButlerOlivia DeJongeThe life of American music icon Elvis Presley, from his childhood to becoming a rock and movie star in the 1950s while maintaining a complex relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsCary GrantAlexis SmithMonty WoolleyA fictionalized biopic of composer Cole Porter from his days at Yale in the 1910s through the height of his success to the 1940s.
- DirectorLes BlankSkip GersonStarsMance LipscombElnora LipscombHattie FranklinA deeply moving tribute to the Texas songster, Mance Lipscomb, considered by many to be the greatest guitarist of all time.
- DirectorLes BlankSkip GersonStarsLightnin HopkinsBilly BizorMance LipscombA portrait of the great Texas bluesman, 'Lightnin' Hopkins. The film includes interviews and a performance by Hopkins.
- DirectorHal AshbyStarsDavid CarradineRonny CoxMelinda DillonThe early life of Woody Guthrie as a vagabond folk singer.
- DirectorRoger SpottiswoodeStarsLuke TreadawayBob the CatRuta GedmintasThe true feel-good story of how James Bowen, a busker and recovering drug addict, has his life transformed when he meets a stray ginger cat. Based on the international best selling book.
- DirectorBruce WeberStarsChet BakerCarol BakerVera BakerDocumentary on the life of jazz trumpeter and drug addict Chet Baker. Fascinating series of interviews with friends, family, associates and lovers, interspersed with film from Baker's earlier life and some modern-day performances.