Mark A. Vieira makes glamour portraits in the classic Hollywood mode, working in the historic Granada Buildings, where George Hurrell had his first Los Angeles studio. Mark writes books about the artists, genres, and photographic technique of Hollywood’s Golden Era.

 

Mark has written seventeen books since 1988, giving voices to George Hurrell, Tony Curtis, Boris Karloff, Greta Garbo, Irving Thalberg, Joan Crawford, and Norma Shearer. He publicizes his books with exhibitions of photographs that he prints by hand from original Hollywood negatives.

 

Mark’s portfolio includes the “Portraits of Pleasure” ad campaign and portraits of Jack Lemmon, Danny Glover, and Leslie Mann. In 2010 Mark’s photography career was honored with an exhibition at the University of Southern California’s One Archives Gallery.

 

In 2019 Art Meets Architecture feted Mark’s fiftieth year as a photographer with an exhibition at the Fine Arts Building in Los Angeles.

 

In 2008 Mark introduced his Irving Thalberg exhibition at Lincoln Center. In 2009 Mark guest-curated an exhibition at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: “Irving Thalberg: Creating the Hollywood Studio System, 1920-1936.”  In 2013 Mark entertained a capacity audience in the historic Orpheum Theatre for the L.A. Conservancy’s presentation of Ben-Hur, and he appeared on NBC’s The Today Show.

 

Mark has appeared in a score of documentaries; these include Photoplay Productions’ Garbo, the Playboy Channel’s Sex at Twenty-Four Frames, and the 2011 BBC documentary Shooting the Stars. In 2014 Mark and Cecilia de Mille Presley were interviewed by Rita Braver on CBS Sunday Morning.

 

In 2016 Mark introduced the Nitrate Noir series at the UCLA Film & Television Archives and lectured at the American Cinematheque. In 2017 Mark made a series of presentations in the Los Angeles Public Library system, in the Glendale Public Library, and at First Congregational Church.

 

In 2019 he starred in the one-man show When Sin Ruled the Movies at the Cavern Club Theater. He was also interviewed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and presented his “Pre-Code vs. Pro-Code” debate at the Los Angeles Public Library.