In his new memoir, Canadian filmmaker, producer and director Barry Avrich shares fascinating anecdotes about working with some of the biggest names in show business. Like the time he ate street hotdogs with Lauren Bacall.

Avrich told CTV's Canada AM that Bacall was in town one year for the Toronto International Film Festival, and when Avrich picked her up from the airport she insisted that he take her to a factory outlet store to get discounted leather goods.

“When I called the owner of the factory outlet he went, ‘Oh no, not Bacall, she’ll want everything for free,’” he said. “She had been there several times.”

After picking up a "trunkful of clothing," Bacall then asked Avrich to go get hotdogs with her from a street vendor.

"I said, 'Ms. Bacall, I don't eat hotdogs,'" Avrich recalled. "She said, 'Don't be so pretentious, you're having a hotdog with Bacall.'

"She was aware of her stardom, but at the same time some mustard dripping from her chin was OK too."

In his book, titled "Moguls, Monsters, and Madmen: An Uncensored Life in Show Business," Avrich also reveals what it was like to produce movies about some of the biggest Hollywood moguls and dealmakers, often against their wishes.

He noted that when making the 2005 movie "The Last Mogul," about renowned studio executive Lew Wasserman, people were too scared to participate in the film even though Wasserman was dead.

"Even though he had been deceased for five years before the film came out, he still managed to control and navigate the filmmaking. It was unbelievable," Avrich said. "I had doors slammed in my face left, right and centre from people that still feared him, even though he was gone."

Avrich said he hopes that readers are inspired by these stories to celebrate and showcase Canadian success.

"I'm on this crusade to celebrate Canadian celebrity and those that achieve success in this country," he said. "It's always been such a dirty word. I wanted to write and put down my stories, to really show that anybody can make it in this country, and it should start at home."