James Lipton
James Lipton, April 2007
Born	(1926-09-19) September 19, 1926 (age 85) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Poet, talk show host, writer, teacher, actor, producer
Years active	1951–present
Spouse	Nina Foch (1954–1959) Kedakai Turner (1970–present)
Parents	Lawrence Lipton Betty Weinberg

James Lipton (born September 19, 1926) is an American writer, poet, composer, actor and dean emeritus of the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in New York City. He is the executive producer, writer and host of the Bravo cable television series Inside the Actors Studio, which debuted in 1994. He is also a pilot and member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Early life[link]

James R. Lipton was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Betty (née Weinberg), a teacher, and Polish-born journalist Lawrence Lipton. Noted as the author of the popular Beat Generation chronicle, The Holy Barbarians, Lawrence Lipton was a graphic designer, a columnist for the Jewish Daily Forward and a publicity director for a movie theater.^[1][2][3]

Career[link]

A 1944 graduate of Central High School, Lipton portrayed Dan Reid on WXYZ-Radio's The Lone Ranger. Moving to New York, he initially studied to be a lawyer, and turned to acting only to finance his education.^[4] He wrote for several soap operas, Another World, The Edge of Night, Guiding Light, Return to Peyton Place and Capitol, as well as acting for over ten years on Guiding Light.^[4] In 1951, he appeared in the Broadway play The Autumn Garden by Lillian Hellman. He portrayed a shipping clerk turned gang member in Joseph Strick's 1953 film, The Big Break, a crime drama.

Lipton was the book writer and lyricist for the short-lived 1967 Broadway musical Sherry!, based on the Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman play The Man Who Came to Dinner, with music by his childhood friend Laurence Rosenthal. The score and orchestrations were lost for over 30 years, and the original cast was never recorded. In 2003, a studio cast recording (with Nathan Lane, Bernadette Peters, Carol Burnett, Tommy Tune, Michael Myers and others) renewed interest in the show.

In 1968, his book, An Exaltation of Larks, was first published, and has been in print and revised several times since then, including a 1993 Penguin books edition.^[5] The book is a collection of "terms of venery", both real and created by Lipton himself. The dust jacket biography for the first edition of Exaltation claimed his activities included fencing, swimming, and equestrian pursuits and that he had written two Broadway productions. He speaks French fluently.

In 1983, Lipton published his novel, Mirrors, about dancers' lives. He later wrote and produced it as a TV movie.^[4] In television, Lipton has produced some two dozen specials including: twelve Bob Hope Birthday Specials; The Road to China, an NBC entertainment special produced in China; and the first televised presidential inaugural gala (for Jimmy Carter).^[4]

In 2008 Lipton provided the voice for the Director in the Disney animation film Bolt.

[edit] Inside the Actors Studio

In the early 1990s, Lipton was inspired by Bernard Pivot,^[6] and sought to create a three year educational program for actors that would be a distillation of what he had learned in the twelve years of his own intensive studies.^[4] In 1994, he arranged for the Actors Studio - the home base of "method acting" in the USA for over sixty years - to join with New York City's New School University and form the Actors Studio Drama School, a formal degree-granting program at the graduate level.^[4] After ending its contact with the New School, the Actor's Studio established The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University^[7] in 2006.

Lipton created a project within the Actors Studio drama school: a non-credit class called Inside the Actors Studio (1994), where successful and accomplished actors, directors and writers would be interviewed and would answer questions from acting students.^[4] These sessions are also taped and broadcast on television for the general public to see. The episodes are viewed in 89 million homes throughout 125 countries. Lipton himself hosts the show and conducts the main interview.^[4]

During an interview with writer Daniel Simone, when asked if he had anticipated the sudden success, Lipton responded, "Not in my wildest imagination. It was a joint arduous effort involving many people. At a point and time, I had three lives. I was the dean of the Actors Studio, the writer of the series, its host and executive producer. I maintained a preposterous 16-hour schedule."^[8]

Personal life[link]

Between 1954 and 1959, Lipton was married to actress Nina Foch. He has been married to Kedakai Turner, a model and real estate broker, since 1970.^[1]

See also[link]

Poetry portal

• Bernard Pivot

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bravo biography
• James Lipton at the Internet Movie Database

Dave Chappelle
Dave Chappelle, 2007
Birth name	David Khari Webber Chappelle
Born	(1973-08-24) August 24, 1973 (age 38) Washington, D.C., U.S.[1]
Medium	Stand-up, television, film
Nationality	American
Years active	1987–present
Genres	Satire/political satire, improvisational comedy, observational comedy, surreal humor, sketch comedy, black comedy, blue comedy
Subject(s)	Racism, race relations, American politics, African American culture, pop culture, recreational drug use, human sexuality, morality
Influences	Richard Pryor,[2] Eddie Murphy,[2] Mel Blanc,[2] Chris Rock[3]
Spouse	Elaine Chappelle (2001–present) 3 children
Notable works and roles	Himself and Various in Chappelle's Show Himself in Dave Chappelle's Block Party Achoo in Robin Hood: Men in Tights Thurgood Jenkins in Half Baked
Signature

David Khari Webber "Dave" Chappelle^[4] (/ʃəˈpɛl/; born August 24, 1973)^[1] is an American comedian, screenwriter, television/film producer, actor, and artist. Chappelle began his film career in the film Robin Hood: Men in Tights in 1993 and continued to star in minor roles in the films The Nutty Professor, Con Air, and Blue Streak. His first lead role in a film was in Half Baked in 1998. In 2003, he became widely known for his popular sketch comedy television series, Chappelle's Show, which ran until his abrupt retirement from the show in 2005. Chappelle is ranked forty-third in Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time.^[5]

Early life[link]

Chappelle was born David Khari Webber Chappelle in Washington, D.C. on August 24, 1973.^[1][2] His father, William David Chappelle III, was a professor at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio.^[2] His mother, Yvonne (née Reed), was a professor at Howard University, Prince George's Community College, and the University of Maryland and is also a Unitarian Universalist minister.^[6][7][8] Chappelle grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland and attended Woodlin Elementary School.^[2] During young Chappelle's formative years, his comic inspiration came from various comedians, particularly Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor.^[2]

After his parents separated, Chappelle stayed in Washington with his mother while spending summers with his father in Ohio. In 1991, he graduated from Washington's Duke Ellington School of the Arts where he studied theatre arts.^[2]

Chappelle moved to New York City to pursue a career as a comedian. He gathered the courage to perform at Harlem's famed Apollo Theater in front of the infamous "Amateur Night" audience. The performance resulted in him being booed off the stage. Chappelle has described the experience as the moment that gave him the courage to continue his show business aspirations.^[2] He quickly made a name for himself in the New York comedy circuit, even performing in the city's parks. At the age of 19, Chappelle made his film debut as "Ahchoo" in Mel Brooks' Robin Hood: Men in Tights. In the same year, Chappelle was offered the role of Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue in Forrest Gump. Concerned about what seemed to be a racially demeaning character, he turned down the part; the film would go on to win Academy Award for Best Picture that year. He has since admitted to regretting the decision.^[9] Chappelle played another supporting movie role in 1994's little-seen Getting In.

He attracted the attention of TV network executives and developed numerous pilots but none of them were picked up for series.^[2][10] In 1995, he made a guest appearance in an episode of ABC's highly rated sitcom Home Improvement. The storyline had Chappelle and real-life friend comedian Jim Breuer ask Tim Taylor for advice on their girlfriends. The characters' single outing in the episode proved so popular that ABC decided to give them their own spin-off sitcom titled Buddies. However, after taping a pilot episode, Jim Breuer was fired and replaced with actor Christopher Gartin. Buddies premiered in March 1996 to disappointing ratings. The show was cancelled after only four episodes out of thirteen that were produced. Nine years later, in May 2005, ten of the episodes were released on a single-disc DVD to capitalize on Chappelle's new-found fame.

After the failure of Buddies, Chappelle starred in another pilot. According to Chappelle, the network was uncomfortable with the African-American cast and wanted white actors added. Chappelle resisted and subsequently accused the network of racism. Shortly after this incident, Chappelle's father died. Chappelle returned to Ohio and considered leaving the entertainment business.^[2][10]

He later appeared as a nightclub comedian in the 1996 comedy The Nutty Professor starring Eddie Murphy, one of his major comedic influences. He also had a minor role in 1997's Con Air. He and Neal Brennan co-wrote the 1998 cult stoner film Half Baked, Chappelle's first starring role, about a group of marijuana-smoking friends trying to get their friend out of jail. That same year, he appeared in "Pilots and Pens Lost", a 1998 episode of The Larry Sanders Show's sixth season, in which he and the executives of the show's nameless television network satirized the treatment to which scriptwriters and show creators were subjected, as well as the executives' knee-jerk tendencies toward racial stereotypes. In December of that year Chappelle appeared as Tom Hanks' friend and confidant in You've Got Mail. In 1999, he appeared in the Martin Lawrence film Blue Streak.

In 2000, Chappelle recorded his first HBO special, Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly, in Washington, DC.^[11] He followed this up with an appearance as "Conspiracy Brother" in the 2002 racial satire Undercover Brother.

[edit] 2003–2006: Standup and Chappelle's Show

In 2003, Chappelle debuted his own weekly sketch comedy show on Comedy Central called Chappelle's Show. The show parodied many aspects of American culture including racial stereotypes, politics and pop culture. Along with comedy skits, the show also featured musical performances by mostly hip-hop and soul artists.

Chappelle's pointed social and political commentary quickly helped the show garner critical and commercial success as well as controversy.^[10][12] Richard Pryor, one of Chappelle's comedic influences, was a fan of the show and stated that he had "passed the torch" to Chappelle.^[10] Chappelle received two Emmy nominations for the show.^[13] Additionally, the DVD set became the best-selling DVD of a television show to date, overtaking the previous best-selling, The Simpsons first season DVD. It had sold over 3 million copies.^[14] Due to the show's popularity, Comedy Central's parent company Viacom reportedly offered Chappelle a $55 million contract (giving Chappelle a share of DVD sales) to continue production of Chappelle's Show for two more years while allowing him to do side projects. Chappelle had stated that sketches are not his favorite form of comedy, and that the characteristics of the show's format were somewhat like short films.

In June 2004, based on the popularity of the "Rick James" sketch, it was announced that Chappelle was in talks to portray Rick James in a biopic from Paramount Pictures (also owned by Viacom).^[15] James's estate disagreed with the proposed comical tone of the film and put a halt to the talks.^[16]

In 2004, Chappelle recorded his second comedy special, this time airing on Showtime - Dave Chappelle: For What It's Worth, at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium.^[17]

Season three turbulence[link]

In a June 2004 stand-up performance in Sacramento, California, Chappelle walked off the stage after berating his audience for constantly shouting "I'm Rick James, bitch!," which became a catchphrase from the popular "Rick James" sketch. After a few minutes, Chappelle returned and continued by saying, "The show is ruining my life." He stated that he disliked working "20 hours a day" and that the popularity of the show was making it difficult for him to continue his stand-up career, which was "the most important thing" to him. He also told the audience:

You know why my show is good? Because the network officials say you're not smart enough to get what I'm doing, and every day I fight for you. I tell them how smart you are. Turns out, I was wrong. You people are stupid.^[18]

Season 3 was scheduled to air on May 31, 2005, but in that month, Chappelle stunned fans and the entertainment industry when he abruptly left during production of the third season of Chappelle's Show and took a trip to South Africa. Chappelle has since stated that he was unhappy with the direction the show had taken.

Coming here I don't have the distractions of fame. It quiets the ego down. I'm interested in the kind of person I've got to become. I want to be well rounded and the industry is a place of extremes. I want to be well balanced. I've got to check my intentions, man.^[19]

Return[link]

In June 2005, Chappelle performed impromptu stand-up shows in Los Angeles.^[20][21][22] He then went on a tour that began in Newport, Kentucky, not far from his Ohio home.^[23] He also made a surprise appearance on HBO's Def Poetry where he performed two poems, titled Fuck Ashton Kutcher and How I Got the Lead on "Jeopardy!."^[24] He was interviewed for Inside the Actors Studio on December 18, 2005 at Pace University's Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts. The show premiered on February 12, 2006.^[25] Chappelle stated that the death of his father in 1998 had an impact on his decision to go to South Africa. By throwing himself into his work, he had not taken a chance to mourn his father's death. He also said the rumors that he was in drug or psychiatric treatment only persuaded him to stay in South Africa.^[2]

He continued:

I would go to work on the show and I felt awful every day, that's not the way it was. ... I felt like some kind of prostitute or something. If I feel so bad, why keep on showing up to this place? I'm going to Africa. The hardest thing to do is to be true to yourself, especially when everybody is watching.

Chappelle also said that he felt some of his sketches were "socially irresponsible."^[26][27] He singled out the "pixie sketch" in which pixies appear to people and encourage them to reinforce stereotypes of their races. In the sketch, Chappelle is wearing blackface and is dressed as a character in a minstrel show.^[28] According to Chappelle, during the filming of the sketch, a crew member was laughing in a way that made him feel uncomfortable and made him rethink the show.^[26][27] Chappelle said, "it was the first time I felt that someone was not laughing with me but laughing at me."^[26]

During these interviews, Chappelle did not rule out returning to Chappelle's Show to "finish what we started," but promised that he would not return without changes to the production, such as a better working environment. He also stated he would like to donate half of the DVD sales to charity.^[29] Chappelle expressed disdain at the possibility of his material from the unfinished third season being aired, saying that to do so would be "a bully move," and that he would not return to the show if Comedy Central were to air the unfinished material.^[27] On July 9, 2006, Comedy Central aired the first episode of Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes. An uncensored DVD release of the episodes was made available on July 25.

The show still plays in syndication on several television networks despite the relatively small number of episodes compared to most American syndicated television programs.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Dave Chappelle's Block Party

The site of Dave Chappelle's Block Party in Brooklyn.

Chappelle was the star and producer of the Michel Gondry-directed documentary Dave Chappelle's Block Party, which chronicles a Chappelle-hosted concert in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn on September 18, 2004. Several musical artists, including Kanye West, The Roots, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Dead Prez and Jill Scott are featured in the movie both performing in the concert and in conversation off-stage. The most surprising highlight of the event was the "last minute" reunion of popular 1990s hip hop group The Fugees. Chappelle toured several cities in February and March 2006 to promote the film under the moniker "Block Party All-Stars featuring Dave Chappelle". Universal Pictures' genre division Rogue Pictures released the film in the United States on March 3, 2006.

2007–present[link]

In April 2007, Chappelle set a stand-up endurance record at the Laugh Factory Sunset Strip comedy club, beating comedian Dane Cook's record of 3 hours and 50 minutes. In December of the same year, Chappelle broke his own record with a time of 6 hours and 12 minutes. Cook reclaimed the record in January 2008, with a time of 7 hours.^[30] On November 19, 2009 Chappelle performed at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles, where it was speculated that he would aim to take back the record. However, he was disqualified according to the club owner, after he left the stage, five hours into his routine.^[31]

Chappelle again appeared on Inside the Actors Studio and in celebration of the show's 200th episode, he humorously interviewed the show's usual host, James Lipton. The episode aired on November 11, 2008.

Personal life[link]

Chappelle lives with his wife Elaine, two sons,^[28] Sulayman^[32] and Ibrahim,^[33] and daughter Sonal, on a 65-acre (260,000 m²) farm,^[2][10] just outside Yellow Springs, Ohio.^[23] He also owns several houses in Xenia, Ohio. Regarding his home in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Chappelle says, "Turns out you don't need $50 million to live around these parts, just a nice smile and a kind way about you. You guys are the best neighbors ever," he stated at a blues and jazz festival in the town in mid-September 2006. "That's why I came back and that's why I'm staying."^[34]

Chappelle is a Muslim, having converted to Islam in 1998. He told Time Magazine in a May 2005 interview, "I don’t normally talk about my religion publicly because I don’t want people to associate me and my flaws with this beautiful thing. And I believe it is beautiful if you learn it the right way."^[35]

Filmography[link]

This section requires expansion.

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dave Chappelle

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Dave Chappelle

• Dave Chappelle at the Internet Movie Database
• Video of Anderson Cooper 360 Interview
• Fresh Air Interview in 2004

Al Pacino
Al Pacino attending the Venice Film Festival in September 2004
Born	Alfredo James Pacino (1940-04-25) April 25, 1940 (age 72) New York City
Occupation	Actor, director, screenwriter, producer
Years active	1968–present
Children	2 daughters, 1 son

Alfredo James "Al" Pacino (/pəˈtʃiːnɵ/; born April 25, 1940) is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy and Tony Montana in Scarface, though he has also appeared several times on the other side of the law — as a police officer, a detective and a lawyer. His role as Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman won him the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1993 after receiving seven previous Oscar nominations, one of them being in the same year.

He made his feature film debut in the 1969 film Me, Natalie in a minor supporting role, before playing the leading role in the 1971 drama The Panic in Needle Park. Pacino made his major breakthrough when he was given the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather in 1972, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Other Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor were for Dick Tracy and Glengarry Glen Ross. Oscar nominations for Best Actor include The Godfather Part II, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, ...And Justice for All and Scent of a Woman.

In addition to a career in film, he has also enjoyed a successful career on stage, winning Tony Awards for Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. A longtime fan of Shakespeare, he made his directorial debut with Looking for Richard, a quasi-documentary on the play Richard III. Pacino has received numerous lifetime achievement awards, including one from the American Film Institute. He is a method actor, taught mainly by Lee Strasberg and Charles Laughton at the Actors Studio in New York.

Although he has never married, Pacino has had several relationships with actresses and has three children.

Early life and education[link]

Pacino was born in East Harlem, New York City to Italian American parents Rose and Salvatore Pacino, who divorced when he was two years old.^[1] When he was two, his mother moved to the South Bronx near the Bronx Zoo, to live with her parents, Kate and James Gerardi, who originated from Corleone, Sicily.^[2] His father moved to Covina, California, and worked as an insurance salesman and restaurateur.^[1] Pacino attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in New York.^[2] During his teenage years 'Sonny', as he was known to his friends, aimed to become a baseball player, though he was also nicknamed 'The Actor'.^[3] Pacino flunked nearly all of his classes except English and dropped out of school at 17. His mother disagreed with his decision; they had an argument and he left home. He worked at a string of low-paying jobs, including messenger boy, busboy, janitor, and postal clerk, in order to finance his acting studies.^[1]

He started smoking at age nine, drinking and casual marijuana use at age thirteen, but never took hard drugs.^[4] His two closest friends died young of drug abuse at the ages of 19 and 30.^[5] Growing up in the Bronx, he got into occasional fights and was something of a troublemaker at school.^[6]

He acted in basement plays in New York's theatrical underground but was rejected for the Actors Studio while still a teenager.^[3] Pacino then joined the Herbert Berghof Studio (HB Studio), where he met acting teacher Charlie Laughton, who became his mentor and best friend.^[3] During this period, he was frequently unemployed and homeless, and sometimes had to sleep on the street, in theaters, or at friends' houses.^[2][7] In 1962, his mother died at the age of 43.^[8] The following year, his grandfather, James Gerardi, one of the most influential people in his life, also died.^[1]

Actors Studio training[link]

After having spent four years at HB Studio, Pacino successfully auditioned for the Actors Studio.^[3] The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.^[9] Pacino studied "method acting"^[1] under acting coach Lee Strasberg, who later appeared with Pacino in the films The Godfather Part II and in ...And Justice for All.^[2] During later interviews he spoke about Strasberg and the Studio's effect on his career. "The Actors Studio meant so much to me in my life. Lee Strasberg hasn’t been given the credit he deserves ... Next to Charlie, it sort of launched me. It really did. That was a remarkable turning point in my life. It was directly responsible for getting me to quit all those jobs and just stay acting."^[10] During another interview he added, "It was exciting to work for him [Lee Strasberg] because he was so interesting when he talked about a scene or talked about people. One would just want to hear him talk, because things he would say, you’d never heard before ... He had such a great understanding... he loved actors so much."^[11]

Pacino is currently co-president, along with Ellen Burstyn and Harvey Keitel, of the Actors Studio.^[9]

Stage career[link]

In 1967, Pacino spent a season at the Charles Playhouse in Boston, performing in Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing! (his first major paycheck: $125 a week); and in Jean-Claude Van Itallie's America, Hurrah, where he met actress Jill Clayburgh while working on this play. They went on to have a five-year romance and moved together back to New York City.^[12]

In 1968, Pacino starred in Israel Horovitz's The Indian Wants the Bronx at the Astor Place Theater, playing Murph, a street punk. The play opened January 17, 1968, and ran for 177 performances; it was staged in a double bill with Horovitz's It's Called the Sugar Plum, starring Clayburgh. Pacino won an Obie Award for Best Actor for his role, with John Cazale winning for Best Supporting actor and Horowitz for Best New Play.^[13] Martin Bregman saw the play and offered to be Pacino's manager, a partnership that became fruitful in the years to come, as Bregman encouraged Pacino to do The Godfather, Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon.^[14] Pacino and this production of The Indian Wants the Bronx traveled to Italy for a performance at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto. It was Pacino's first journey to Italy; he later recalled that "performing for an Italian audience was a marvelous experience".^[12] Pacino and Clayburgh were cast in "Deadly Circle of Violence", an episode of the ABC television series N.Y.P.D., premiering November 12, 1968. Clayburgh at the time was also appearing on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow, playing the role of Grace Bolton. Her father would send the couple money each month to help.^[15]

On February 25, 1969, Pacino made his Broadway debut in Don Petersen's Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? at the Belasco Theater. It closed after 39 performances on March 29, 1969, but Pacino received rave reviews and won the Tony Award on April 20, 1969.^[12] Pacino continued performing onstage in the 1970s, winning a second Tony Award for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and performing the title role in Richard III.^[1] In 1980s Pacino again achieved critical success on the stage while appearing in David Mamet's American Buffalo, for which Pacino was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.^[1] Since 1990 Pacino's stage work has included revivals of Eugene O'Neill's Hughie, Oscar Wilde's Salome and in 2005 Lyle Kessler's Orphans.^[16]

Pacino made his return to the stage in summer 2010, as Shylock in a Shakespeare in the Park production of The Merchant of Venice.^[17] The acclaimed production transferred to Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre in October, earning US$1 million at the box office in its first week.^[18][19] The performance also garnered him a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Play.^[20]

Film career[link]

Early film career[link]

Pacino found acting to be enjoyable and realized he had a gift for it while studying at The Actors Studio. However, his early work was not financially rewarding.^[2] After his success on stage, Pacino made his movie debut in 1969 with a brief screen appearance in Me, Natalie, an independent film starring Patty Duke.^[21] In 1970, Pacino signed with the talent agency Creative Management Associates (CMA).^[12]

1970s[link]

It was the 1971 film The Panic in Needle Park, in which he played a heroin addict, that brought Pacino to the attention of director Francis Ford Coppola, who cast him as Michael Corleone in the blockbuster Mafia film The Godfather (1972). Although several established actors – including Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, and then little-known Robert De Niro – also tried out for the part, Coppola selected the relatively unknown Pacino, much to the dismay of studio executives.^[2] Pacino was even teased on the set because of his short stature. Pacino's performance earned him an Academy Award nomination, and offered a prime example of his early acting style, described by Halliwell's Film Guide as "intense" and "tightly clenched". Pacino boycotted the Academy Award ceremony, as he was insulted at being nominated for the Supporting Acting award, noting that he had more screen time than costar and Best Actor winner Marlon Brando – who was himself boycotting the awards.^[22]

In 1973, he co-starred in Scarecrow, with Gene Hackman, and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. That same year Pacino was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor after starring in Serpico, based on the true story of New York City policeman Frank Serpico, who went undercover to expose the corruption of fellow officers.^[22] In 1974, Pacino reprised his role as Michael Corleone in the sequel The Godfather Part II, which became the first sequel to win the Best Picture Oscar; Pacino, meanwhile, was nominated for his third Oscar.^[22] Newsweek has described his performance in the film as "arguably cinema's greatest portrayal of the hardening of a heart".^[23] In 1975, he enjoyed further success with the release of Dog Day Afternoon, based on the true story of bank robber John Wojtowicz.^[2] It was directed by Sidney Lumet, who also directed him in Serpico a few years earlier, and Pacino was again nominated for Best Actor.^[24]

In 1977, Pacino starred as a race-car driver in Bobby Deerfield, directed by Sydney Pollack, and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama for his portrayal of the title role, losing out to Richard Burton, who won for Equus. His next film was the courtroom drama ...And Justice for All, which again saw Pacino lauded by critics for his wide range of acting abilities, and nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for a fourth time.^[24] However he lost out that year to Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer — a role that Pacino had declined.^[24]

During the 1970s, Pacino had four Oscar nominations for Best Actor, for his performances in Serpico, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and ...And Justice for All.^[2]

1980s[link]

Pacino's career slumped in the early 1980s; his appearances in the controversial Cruising, a film which provoked protests from New York's gay community,^[25] and the comedy-drama Author! Author! were critically panned.^[1] However, 1983's Scarface, directed by Brian De Palma, proved to be a career highlight and a defining role.^[2] Upon its initial release, the film was critically panned,^[26] but did fairly well at the box office, grossing over US$45 million domestically.^[27] Pacino earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role as Cuban drug lord Tony Montana.^[28]

In 1985, Pacino worked on his personal project, The Local Stigmatic, a 1969 Off Broadway play by the English writer Heathcote Williams. He starred in the play, remounting it with director David Wheeler and the Theater Company of Boston in a 50-minute film version. The film was never released theatrically but was later released as part of the Pacino: An Actor's Vision box set in 2007.^[2]

His 1985 film Revolution about a fur trapper during the American Revolutionary War, was a commercial and critical failure, which Pacino blamed on a rushed production,^[29] resulting in a four-year hiatus from films. During this time Pacino returned to the stage. He mounted workshop productions of Crystal Clear, National Anthems and other plays; he appeared in Julius Caesar in 1988 in producer Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival. Pacino remarked on his hiatus from film: "I remember back when everything was happening, '74, '75, doing The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui on stage and reading that the reason I'd gone back to the stage was that my movie career was waning! That's been the kind of ethos, the way in which theater's perceived, unfortunately."^[30] Pacino returned to film in 1989's Sea of Love,^[2] in which he portrayed a detective hunting a serial killer who finds victims through the singles column in a newspaper. The film earned solid reviews.^[31]

1990s[link]

Al Pacino at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.

Pacino received an Academy Award nomination for playing Big Boy Caprice in the box office hit Dick Tracy in 1990, in which critic Roger Ebert wrote that Pacino is "the scene-stealer".^[32] Later in the year he followed this up by a return to one of his most famous characters, Michael Corleone, in The Godfather Part III (1990).^[2] The film received mixed reviews, and had problems during pre-production due to script rewrites and the withdrawal of actors shortly before production. In 1991, Pacino starred in Frankie and Johnny with Michelle Pfeiffer, who co-starred with Pacino in Scarface. Pacino portrays a recently paroled cook who begins a relationship with a waitress (Pfeiffer) in the diner he works in. It was adapted by Terrence McNally from his own Off-Broadway play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (1987), which featured Kenneth Welsh and Kathy Bates. The film received mixed reviews, although Pacino later said he enjoyed playing the part.^[33] Janet Maslin in The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Pacino has not been this uncomplicatedly appealing since his "Dog Day Afternoon" days, and he makes Johnny's endless enterprise in wooing Frankie a delight. His scenes alone with Ms. Pfeiffer have a precision and honesty that keep the film's maudlin aspects at bay."^[34]

In 1992, Pacino won the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his portrayal of the blind U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in Martin Brest's Scent of a Woman.^[2] That year, he was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Glengarry Glen Ross, making Pacino the first male actor ever to receive two acting nominations for two different movies in the same year, and to win for the lead role.^[2]

Pacino starred alongside Sean Penn in the crime drama Carlito's Way in 1993, in which he portrayed a gangster who is released from prison with the help of his lawyer (Penn) and vows to go straight. Pacino starred in Michael Mann's Heat (1995), in which he and Robert De Niro appeared on-screen together for the first time (though both Pacino and De Niro starred in The Godfather Part II, they did not share any scenes).^[2]

In 1996, Pacino starred in his theatrical docudrama Looking for Richard, which is both a performance of selected scenes of William Shakespeare's Richard III and a broader examination of Shakespeare's continuing role and relevance in popular culture. The cast brought together for the performance included Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey and Winona Ryder. Pacino played Satan in the supernatural thriller The Devil's Advocate (1997) which co-starred Keanu Reaves. The film was a success at the box office, taking US$150 million worldwide.^[35] Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times, ‘The satanic character is played by Pacino with relish bordering on glee.’^[36] In Donnie Brasco Pacino played mafia gangster "Lefty", in the true story of undercover FBI agent Donnie Brasco (Johnny Depp) and his work in bringing down the mafia from the inside. Pacino also starred as real life 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman in the multi-Oscar nominated The Insider opposite Russell Crowe, before starring in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday in 1999.

2000s[link]

Al Pacino at the Rome Film Festival in 2008.

Pacino has not received another nomination from the Academy since Scent of a Woman, but won two Golden Globes since the year 2000, the first being the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2001 for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.^[37]

In 2000, Pacino released a low budget film adaptation of Ira Lewis' play Chinese Coffee to film festivals.^[38] Shot almost exclusively as a one-on-one conversation between the two main characters, the project took almost three years to complete and it was funded entirely by Pacino.^[38] Chinese Coffee was included along with Pacino's two other rare films he has been involved in producing, The Local Stigmatic and Looking for Richard, on a special DVD boxset titled Pacino: An Actor's Vision which was released in 2007. Pacino produced prologues and epilogues for the discs containing the films.^[39]

Pacino turned down an offer to reprise his role as Michael Corleone in the computer game version of The Godfather. As a result, Electronic Arts was not permitted to use Pacino's likeness or voice in the game, although his character does appear in it. He did allow his likeness to appear in the video game adaptation of the remake of 1983's Scarface, titled Scarface: The World is Yours.^[40]

Director Christopher Nolan worked with Pacino for Insomnia, a remake of the Norwegian film of the same name, co-starring Robin Williams. Newsweek stated that "he [Pacino] can play small as rivetingly as he can play big, that he can implode as well as explode".^[41] The film and Pacino's performance were well-received, gaining a favorable rating of 92 percent on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.^[42] The film did moderately well at the box office, taking in $113 million dollars worldwide.^[43] His next film, S1m0ne, was one that Pacino liked, but which did not gain much critical praise or box office success.^[44]

He played the part of a publicist in People I Know, a small film that received little attention despite Pacino's well-received performance.^[45] Rarely taking a supporting role since his commercial breakthrough, he accepted a small part in the box office flop Gigli in 2003 as a favor to director Martin Brest.^[45] The Recruit, released in 2003, featured Pacino as a CIA recruiter and co-stars Colin Farrell. The film received mostly negative reviews,^[46] and was described by Pacino as something he "personally couldn't follow".^[45] Pacino next starred as lawyer Roy Cohn in the 2003 HBO miniseries Angels in America, an adaptation of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same name.^[2] For this performance, Pacino won his third Golden Globe, for Best Performance by an Actor, in 2004.^[47]

Pacino starred as Shylock in Michael Radford's 2004 film adaptation of The Merchant of Venice, choosing to bring compassion and depth to a character traditionally played as a villainous caricature.^[48] In Two for the Money, Pacino portrays a sports gambling agent and mentor for Matthew McConaughey, alongside Rene Russo. The film was released on October 8, 2005 and received mixed reviews.^[49] Desson Thomson wrote in The Washington Post, "Al Pacino has played the mentor so many times, he ought to get a kingmaker's award (...) the fight between good and evil feels fixed in favor of Hollywood redemption."^[50]

On October 20, 2006, the American Film Institute named Pacino the recipient of the 35th AFI Life Achievement Award.^[51] On November 22, 2006, the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin awarded Pacino the Honorary Patronage of the Society.^[52]

Pacino starred in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean's Thirteen alongside George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Elliott Gould and Andy García as the villain Willy Bank, a casino tycoon targeted by Danny Ocean and his crew. The film received generally favorable reviews.^[53]

88 Minutes was released on April 18, 2008 in the United States, having already been released in various other countries in 2007. The film co-starred Alicia Witt and was critically panned,^[54] although critics found the fault to be in the plot instead of Pacino's acting.^[55] In Righteous Kill, Pacino and Robert De Niro co-star as New York detectives searching for a serial killer; rapper 50 Cent also stars in it. The film was released to theaters on September 12, 2008. Although it was an anticipated return for the two stars, it was not well received by critics.^[56] Lou Lumenick of The New York Post gave Righteous Kill one star out of four, saying: "Al Pacino and Robert De Niro collect bloated paychecks with intent to bore in Righteous Kill, a slow-moving, ridiculous police thriller that would have been shipped straight to the remainder bin at Blockbuster if it starred anyone else."^[57]

2010s[link]

Pacino played Dr. Jack Kevorkian in an HBO Films biopic entitled You Don't Know Jack, which premiered April 2010. The film is about the life and work of the physician-assisted suicide advocate. The performance earned Pacino his second Emmy Award^[58] for lead actor^[59] and his fourth Golden Globe award.^[28]

Pacino and Robert De Niro are reportedly set to star in the upcoming project The Irishman, that will be directed by Martin Scorsese and co-star Joe Pesci.^[60] He's also filming a biographical picture about Phil Spector.^[61]

It was announced in May 2011 that Pacino was to be honored with the "Glory to the Film-maker" award at the 68th Venice International Film Festival.^[62] The award will be presented ahead of the premier of his film Wilde Salome, which is the third film Pacino has directed.^[62] Pacino, who plays the role of Herod in the film, describes it as his "most personal project ever".^[62]

The United States premiere of Wilde Salomé took place on the evening of March 21, 2012, before a full house at the 1,400-seat Castro Theatre in San Francisco's Castro District. Marking the 130th anniversary of Oscar Wilde's visit to San Francisco, the event was a benefit for the GLBT Historical Society.^[63][64][65]

Personal life[link]

Although he has never married, Pacino has three children. The eldest, Julie Marie (born 1989), is his daughter with acting coach Jan Tarrant. He also has twins, son Anton James and daughter Olivia Rose (born 2001), with actress Beverly D'Angelo, with whom he had a relationship from 1996 until 2003.^[66][67] Pacino had a relationship with Diane Keaton, his co-star in the Godfather Trilogy. The on-again, off-again relationship ended following the filming of The Godfather Part III. ^[68] Other women he has had relationships with include Tuesday Weld, Marthe Keller, Kathleen Quinlan and Lyndall Hobbs.^[39]

The Internal Revenue Service filed a tax lien against Pacino claiming he owes the government $169,143.06 in 2008 and $19,140.44 in 2009 for a total of $188,283.50. A representative for Pacino blamed his former business manager Kenneth Starr for the discrepancy.^[69]

Filmography[link]

Video game[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

Pacino has been nominated and has won many awards during his acting career including eight Oscar nominations (winning one), 15 Golden Globe nominations (winning four), five BAFTA nominations (winning two), two Emmy Awards for his work on Television and two Tony Awards for his work on the Stage. In 2007 the American Film Institute awarded Pacino with a lifetime achievement award and in 2003 British television viewers voted Pacino as the greatest film star of all time in a poll for Channel 4.^[80]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Grobel, Lawrence (2006). Al Pacino: The Authorized Biography. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-9497-1. 

External links[link]

	Book: Al Pacino
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• Al Pacino discography at Discogs
• Al Pacino at the Internet Movie Database
• Al Pacino at the Internet Broadway Database
• Al Pacino at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Al Pacino at the TCM Movie Database
• Al Pacino at Emmys.com