Mark A. Vieira is a photographer, writer, and filmmaker. He makes glamour portraits in the classic Hollywood mode. He writes books about the artists, genres, and photographic technique of Hollywood’s Golden Era. He writes, directs, and edits documentaries for the Cecil B. De Mille Foundation.

 

Mark has written nineteen books since 1988, giving voices to Tony Curtis, George Hurrell, Boris Karloff, Greta Garbo, Irving Thalberg, Joan Crawford, and Norma Shearer. He publicizes his books with photographs that he prints in his darkroom from original Hollywood negatives or restores digitally to fine-art quality.

 

Mark’s portfolio includes the “Portraits of Pleasure” ad campaign and portraits of Jack Lemmon, Danny Glover, and Leslie Mann. In 2010 Mark’s portrait career was celebrated by an exhibition at the University of Southern California’s One Archives Gallery. In 2019 Art Meets Architecture honored Mark’s fiftieth year as a photographer with a retrospective exhibition at the Fine Arts Building in Downtown Los Angeles.

 

In 2009 Mark guest-curated the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences exhibition: “Irving Thalberg: Creating the Hollywood Studio System.” In 2008 Mark introduced his Irving Thalberg exhibition at Lincoln Center. 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 sixteen documentaries, including Photoplay Productions’ Garbo 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 2015 they were interviewed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. In 2016 Mark lectured at the UCLA Film & Television Archives and the American Cinematheque. In 2018 Mark made presentations in the Los Angeles Public Library system and at First Congregational Church. In 2019 he performed the one-man show When Sin Ruled the Movies at the Cavern Club Theater. In 2021 Mark was a full-time consultant for the legendary editor Robert Gottlieb on his book Garbo for Farrar Straus & Giroux. In 2023 Mark addressed Warner Bros. Discovery employees about the writing of Warner Bros. 100.