A companion to the successful 1997 volume Stars in Blue: Movie Actors in America's Sea Services, this book is filled with over forty fascinating and revealing celebrity profiles of motion picture stars who served in the U.S. Marine Corps from World War I through Vietnam. Many readers will discover for the first time the contributions of such actors as Steve McQueen, Gene Hackman, Harvey Keitel, Brian Dennehy, and Ed McMahon, as well as the tremendous sacrifices of a few, including Sterling Hayden and Lee Marvin.

Most remember Academy Award winner Marvin for his portrayal of iconoclastic characters in such movies as The Dirty Dozen, but the story of his real-life heroism while serving with the 4th Marine Division during the invasion of Saipan is one of the many surprises in this book. Another interesting, little-known fact it calls attention to is the marker on Marvin's grave at Arlington National Cemetery that identifies him only as a Pfc. in the Marine Corps.

Dashing leading man Tyrone Power joined the Corps as a boot, qualified for officer's candidate school, and went on to receive his commission and aviator wings, logging hundreds of hours as a command transport pilot in Pacific combat zones. His profile, along with all the rest, highlights anecdotes from both military and Hollywood careers. Sterling Hayden, a well-known movie star before World War II, changed his name upon commissioning to conceal his movie identity. His experience as a seaman, parachutist, and graduate of British Commando Training School was utilized by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in the Mediterranean, where he carried supplies to agents in the Balkans and aided Marshal Tito's partisans in their guerrilla warfare against the Germans. For parachuting behind enemy lines and bringing downed pilots to safety, he was awarded the Silver Star. Harvey Keitel, whose long list of movie credits include Taxi Driver and Pulp Fiction, joined the Marines at seventeen and served in Beirut, earning his high school equivalency diploma and developing a love of books in the Corps. Dale Dye, a twice-wounded Vietnam veteran and Bronze Star recipient, has appeared in numerous war movies and has become a respected technical adviser, working with such directors as Oliver Stone, Brian DePalma, and Steven Spielberg, whom he assisted in the making of the blockbuster Saving Private Ryan.

Encyclopedic in scope and accompanied by some never-before-published photographs from their military careers, these portraits of actors who served in the Corps are based on the authors' interviews with the stars and their families, as well as battle reports, unit diaries, personnel records, and oral histories to assure authenticity. Even the most avid movie buff will be surprised and delighted by the little-known facts presented here, and military historians will be equally interested.