On set and off guard : behind the scenes with the movie greats

If the public's favourite pastime is the cinema, maybe its second favourite is watching cinema's stars, whose lives off the set are often more fascinating that the roles they play.

On Set and Off Guard satisfies on both fronts: stars on the film set caught between takes just being themselves.

But these are not just any stars: here are the biggest names in movie history - Alec Guinness, Ava Gardner, Alfred Hitchcock, Sophia Loren, James Dean, Marlene Dietrich, Vivan Leigh, John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor, Ingrid Bergman, Charlie Chaplin, Gregory Peck, Dustin Hoffman - actors and directors in their most candid moments on the sets of classic films that made them great.

At turns poignant, serious, romantic, surprising and hilarious, these photographs reveal a lighter side to a serious business and a serious side to the actors who made the cinema their life's work.

This rich archive of rarely seen images will be an absolute necessity for film lovers and star watchers alike.