Ben Gazzara
Photograph by Carl van Vechten, 1955
Born	Biagio Anthony Gazzarra (1930-08-28)August 28, 1930 New York City, New York, United States
Died	February 3, 2012(2012-02-03) (aged 81) New York City, New York, United States
Cause of death	Pancreatic cancer
Residence	New York City, New York, United States
Nationality	American
Education	City College of New York
Alma mater	The New School, Actors Studio
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1953–2012
Home town	New York City, New York, United States
Spouse	Louise Erickson (m. 1951–1957; divorced) Janice Rule (m. 1961–1979; divorced) Elke Krivat (m. 1982–2012; his death)

Biagio Anthony Gazzarra (August 28, 1930 – February 3, 2012), known as Ben Gazzara, was an American film, stage, and Emmy Award winning television actor and director.

Early life[link]

Gazzara was born in New York City, the son of Italian immigrants Angelina (née Cusumano) and Antonio Gazzarra, who was a laborer and carpenter.^[1] Gazzara grew up in New York's Kips Bay neighborhood; he lived on East 29th Street and participated in the drama program at Madison Square Boys and Girls Club located across the street.^[2] He attended New York City's Stuyvesant High School; but finally graduated from Saint Simon Stock in the Bronx.^[3] Years later, he said that the discovery of his love for acting saved him from a life of crime during his teen years.^[4] He went to City College of New York to study electrical engineering. After two years, he relented. He took classes in acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with the influential German director Erwin Piscator and afterward joined the Actors Studio.

Career[link]

In 1954, Gazzara (having tweaked his original surname from "Gazzarra") made several appearances on NBC's legal drama Justice, based on case studies from the Legal Aid Society of New York. Gazzara starred in various Broadway productions around this time, including creating the role of Brick in Tennessee Williams' Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1955) opposite Barbara BelGeddes, directed by Elia Kazan, although he lost out to Paul Newman when the film version was cast. He joined other Actors Studio members in the 1957 film The Strange One. Then came a high-profile performance as a soldier on trial for avenging his wife's rape in Otto Preminger's courtroom drama Anatomy of a Murder (1959).

Gazzara became well known in several television series, beginning with Arrest and Trial, which ran from 1963 to 1964 on ABC, and the more-successful series Run for Your Life from 1965-68 on NBC, in which he played a terminally ill man trying to get the most out of the last two years of his life. For his work in the series, Gazzara received two Emmy nominations for "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" and three Golden Globe nominations for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama."^[5][6] Contemporary screen credits included The Young Doctors (1961), A Rage to Live (1965) and The Bridge at Remagen (1969).

Gazzara told Charlie Rose in 1998 that he went from being mainly a stage actor who often would turn up his nose at film roles in the mid-1950s to, much later, a ubiquitous character actor who turned very little down. "When I became hot, so to speak, in the theater, I got a lot of offers," he said. "I won't tell you the pictures I turned down because you'll say, 'You are a fool,' and I was a fool."

Some of the actor's most formidable characters were those he created with his friend John Cassavetes in the 1970s. They collaborated for the first time on Cassavetes's film Husbands (1970), in which he appeared alongside Peter Falk and Cassavetes himself. In The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), Gazzara took the leading role of the hapless strip-joint owner, Cosmo Vitelli. A year later, he starred in yet another Cassavetes-directed movie, Opening Night, as stage director Manny Victor, who struggles with the mentally unstable star of his show, played by Cassavetes's wife Gena Rowlands. Also during this period he appeared in the television miniseries QB VII (1974), and the films Capone (1975), Voyage of the Damned (1976), High Velocity (1976), and Saint Jack (1979).

In the 1980s, Gazzara appeared in several movies, such as They All Laughed (directed by Peter Bogdanovich), and in a villainous role in the oft-televised Patrick Swayze film Road House, which the actor jokingly said is probably his most-watched performance. He starred with Rowlands in the critically acclaimed AIDS-themed TV movie An Early Frost (1985), for which he received his third Emmy nomination.

Gazzara appeared in 38 films, many for television, in the 1990s. He worked with a number of renowned directors, such as the Coen brothers (The Big Lebowski), Spike Lee (Summer of Sam), David Mamet (The Spanish Prisoner), Walter Hugo Khouri (Forever), Todd Solondz (Happiness), John Turturro (Illuminata), and John McTiernan (The Thomas Crown Affair).

In his seventies, Gazzara continued to be active. In 2003, he was in the ensemble cast of the experimental film Dogville, directed by Lars von Trier of Denmark and starring Nicole Kidman, as well as the television film Hysterical Blindness (he received his first Emmy Award for his role). Several other projects have recently been completed or are currently in production. In 2005, he played Agostino Casaroli in the television miniseries, Pope John Paul II. He completed filming his scenes in the film The Wait in early 2012, shortly before his death.^[7]

In addition to acting, Gazzara worked as an occasional television director; his credits include the Columbo episodes "A Friend in Deed" (1974) and "Troubled Waters" (1975). Gazzara was nominated three times for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play—in 1956 for A Hatful of Rain, in 1975 for the paired short plays Hughie and Duet, and in 1977 for a revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, opposite Colleen Dewhurst.

Personal life[link]

Gazzara married three times; to Louise Erickson (1951–57), Janice Rule (1961–1979), and German model Elke Krivat from 1982. He also disclosed a love affair with actress Audrey Hepburn.^[8] They co-starred in two of her final films, Bloodline (1979) and They All Laughed (1981).

During filming of the war movie The Bridge at Remagen (1969) co-starring Gazzara and his friend Robert Vaughn, the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia. Filming was halted temporarily, and the cast and crew were detained before filming was completed in West Germany.^[9][10][11] During their departure from Czechoslovakia, Gazzara and Vaughn assisted with the escape of a Czech waitress whom they had befriended. They smuggled her to Austria in a car waved through a border crossing that had not yet been taken over by the Soviet army in its crackdown on the Prague Spring.^[12]

Other[link]

Gazzara was the honorary starter of the 1979 Daytona 500, the first flag-to-flag Daytona 500 broadcast live on CBS. He was also featured in a 1994 article in Cigar Aficionado.^[3]

Death[link]

Gazzara was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1999. On February 3, 2012, he died of pancreatic cancer at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York.^[13]

Selected filmography[link]

Further reading[link]

• "Broadway: The Golden Age - by the Legends Who Were there," a film by Rick McKay Films, etc. Broadcast on KCET, Ch.28 (PBS in Los Angeles, December 16, 2006. Gazzara speaks openly about getting off of 29th St.
• Harris, Irving (2009), Madison Square Memoir: The Magic and History of Madison Square Boys and Girls Club (visit www.madisonsquare.org); Gazzara wrote the introduction.
• Sutton, Imre, 2008. Back to E.29th Street: Where Fact and Fiction Revisit Kips Bay, N. Y. (Fullerton, CA: Americo Publications) See http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/handle/1813/11665.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ben Gazzara

• Ben Gazzara at the Internet Movie Database
• Ben Gazzara at the Internet Broadway Database
• Ben Gazzara at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Ben Gazzara at the TCM Movie Database
• Ben Gazzara at AllRovi

John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes as he appeared in the trailer for the movie Edge of the City (1957)
Born	John Nicholas Cassavetes (1929-12-09)December 9, 1929 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	February 3, 1989(1989-02-03) (aged 59) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, Director, Producer, Screenwriter, Film editor
Years active	1951–1988
Spouse	Gena Rowlands (1954-1989, his death)

John Nicholas Cassavetes (in Greek: Γιάννης Νικόλαος Κασσαβέτης; December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an Greek-American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker.^[1] He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby (1968) and The Dirty Dozen (1967). Cassevetes was also a pioneer of American independent film by writing and directing over a dozen movies, which he financed in part with his Hollywood paychecks, and which pioneered the use of improvisation and a realistic cinéma vérité style.

Early life[link]

Cassavetes was born in New York as the son of Greek American Katherine Cassavetes (who was to feature in some of his films) and Greek immigrant Nicholas John Cassavetes. His early years were spent with his family in Greece; when he returned at age seven, he spoke no English.^[2] He grew up on Long Island, New York. He attended Port Washington High School from 1945 to 1947, participating in Port Weekly (the school paper), Red Domino (interclass play), football, and the Port Light (yearbook). Next to his photo on page 55 of his 1947 year book is written: "'Cassy' is always ready with a wisecrack, but he does have a serious side. A 'sensational' personality. Drives his 'heap' all over." Cassavetes also attended high school at Blair Academy in New Jersey before spending a year at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, before transferring to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After graduating in 1950, he continued acting in the theater, took small parts in films and began working on television in anthology series, such as Alcoa Theatre.

The middle years[link]

[edit] Acting workshop and Shadows

By 1956, Cassavetes had begun teaching method acting in his own workshop in New York City. An improvisation exercise in his workshop inspired the idea for his writing and directorial debut, Shadows (1959; first version 1957). Cassavetes raised the funds for production from friends and family, as well as listeners to Jean Shepherd's late-night radio talk show Night People. His stated purpose was to make a film about little people, different from Hollywood studio productions.

Cassavetes was unable to gain American distribution of Shadows, but it won the Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival. European distributors later released the movie in the United States as an import. Although the box office of Shadows in the United States was slight, it did gain attention from the Hollywood studios.

Television and acting jobs[link]

Cassavetes played bit parts in B-pictures and in television serials, until gaining notice in 1955 as a vicious killer in The Night Holds Terror, and as a juvenile delinquent in the live TV drama Crime In The Streets (he would repeat this latter performance in the 1956 film version). His first starring role in a feature film was Edge of the City (1957), which co-starred Sidney Poitier. He was briefly under contract to MGM and co-starred with Robert Taylor in the western Saddle the Wind, written by Rod Serling. In the late 1950s Cassavetes played Johnny Staccato, the title character in a television series about a jazz pianist who also worked as a private detective. In total he directed five episodes of the series, which also features a guest performance from his wife Gena Rowlands. It was broadcast on NBC between September 1959 and March 1960, when it was acquired by ABC. Although critically acclaimed, the series was cancelled in September 1960. Cassavetes also appeared on the NBC interview program, Here's Hollywood. Cassavetes directed two movies for Hollywood in the early 1960s - Too Late Blues and A Child Is Waiting. He also starred in CBS western series Rawhide, in the episode "Incident Near Gloomy River" (1961). In the 1962-1963 season Cassavetes guest-starred on the CBS anthology series, The Lloyd Bridges Show, and directed two episodes, including "A Pair of Boots", in which his friend, Seymour Cassel, guest-starred. In the 1963-1964 season Cassavetes appeared in Jason Evers's ABC drama about college life, Channing. That same season he appeared in the ABC medical drama about psychiatry, Breaking Point. In 1965 he appeared on ABC's western series, The Legend of Jesse James. The same year he also guest-starred in the World War II series, Combat!, in the episode "S.I.W.".

It was with the payment for his work on television, as well as a handful of film acting jobs, that he was able to relocate to California and to make his subsequent films independent of any studio, as Shadows had been. The films in which he acted with this intention include, Don Siegel's The Killers; the motorcycle gang movie, Devil's Angels (1967); The Dirty Dozen (1967), in a role for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as PVT. Victor R. Franko; Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968); and The Fury (1978).

[edit] The Faces International films

Faces (1968) was the second film to be both directed and independently financed by Cassavetes. The film starred Cassavetes' wife Gena Rowlands, whom he had married during his struggling actor days, John Marley, Seymour Cassel and Val Avery, as well as several first time actors, such as lead actress Lynn Carlin. It depicts the slow disintegration of a contemporary marriage. The film reportedly took three years to make, and was made largely in the Cassavetes home. Faces was nominated for three Academy Awards (Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress). Around this time, Cassavetes formed "Faces International" as a distribution company to handle all of his films.

In 1970, Cassavetes directed and acted in Husbands, with actors Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara. They played a trio of married men on a spree in New York and London after the funeral of one of their best friends. Minnie and Moskowitz (1971), about two unlikely lovers, had Rowlands with Seymour Cassel.

In 1972, Cassavetes played opposite Peter Falk again and Blythe Danner in the Columbo episode Etude in Black, playing the symphony conductor Alex Benedict.

A Woman Under the Influence (1974) stars Rowlands as an increasingly troubled housewife named Mabel. Rowlands received a Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, while Cassavetes was nominated for Best Director.

In The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), Ben Gazzara plays Cosmo Vitelli, a small-time strip-club owner with an out-of-control gambling habit, pressured by mobsters to commit a murder to pay off his debt.

Opening Night (1977) has Gena Rowlands as lead actress with Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara and Joan Blondell. Rowlands portrays an aging film star named Myrtle Gordon working in the theater and suffering a personal crisis. Alone and unloved by her colleagues, in fear of age and always at a remove from others on account of her stardom, she succumbs to alcohol and hallucinations after witnessing the accidental death of a young fan. Ultimately, she fights through this, delivering the performance of her life in a play. Rowlands won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 28th Berlin International Film Festival for her performance.^[3]

Last years[link]

Cassavetes directed the film Gloria (1980), featuring Rowlands as a Mob moll who tries to protect an orphan boy whom the Mob wants to kill. Rowlands earned another Best Actress nomination for it. In 1982, Cassavetes starred in Paul Mazursky's Tempest, which costarred Rowlands, Susan Sarandon, Molly Ringwald, and Raúl Juliá.

After receiving the prognosis from his doctor that he had six months to live, Cassavetes made Love Streams (1984) which featured him as an aging playboy who suffers the overbearing affection of his recently divorced sister. It was entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Golden Bear.^[4] The film is often considered Cassavetes' "last film", in that it brought together many aspects of his previous films and also in that he despised the film he made afterwards. Big Trouble (1986), was taken over during filming from Andrew Bergman who wrote the original screenplay. Cassavetes came to refer to the film as "the aptly titled 'Big Trouble'", since the studio vetoed many of his decisions for the film and eventually edited most of the film in a way which Cassavetes disagreed with.^[5]

In January 1987, Cassavetes was facing health problems but having outlasted his doctor's prognosis, wrote the three-act play Woman of Mystery and succeeded in bringing it to the stage in May and June at the Court Theater.^[6]

Cassavetes worked during the last year of his life to produce a last film which was to be titled She's Delovely. He was in talks with Sean Penn to star, though legal and financial hurdles proved insurmountable and the project was forgotten about until after Cassavetes's death, when it was finally made as She's So Lovely.^[7]

Death and legacy[link]

John Cassavetes' grave

An alcoholic,^[8] Cassavetes died from cirrhosis of the liver in 1989 at the age of 59. He was survived by Rowlands and three children (Nick, Alexandra and Zoe). Cassavetes is buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park cemetery in Los Angeles.

At the time of his death Cassavetes had amassed a collection of more than forty unproduced screenplays, as well as a novel of Husbands.^[9]

Cassavetes is the subject of several books about the actor/filmmakers life. Cassavetes on Cassavetes is a collection of interviews collected or conducted by Boston University film scholar Ray Carney, in which the filmmaker recalled his experiences, influences and outlook on the film industry. In the Oscar 2005 edition of Vanity Fair magazine, one article features a tribute to Cassavetes by three members of his stock company, Rowlands, Ben Gazzara and Peter Falk.

Many of Cassavetes' films are owned by Faces Distribution, a company overseen by Gena Rowlands and Julian Schlossberg, distributed by Castle Hill Productions. In September 2004 The Criterion Collection produced a Region 1 DVD box set of his five independent films: Shadows, Faces, A Woman Under the Influence, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie and Opening Night. Also featured in the set is a documentary about the life and works of Cassavetes, A Constant Forge, a booklet featuring critical assessments of the director's work and tributes by old friends. In 2005 a box set of the same films was released in Region 2 by Optimum Releasing. The Optimum DVD of Shadows has a voice-over commentary by Seymour Cassel. Mistakes about the first and second versions of the film are documented on Ray Carney's web site.^[10]

Cassavetes's son, Nick Cassavetes, followed in his father's footsteps as an actor and director. In 1997 Nick Cassavetes made the film, She's So Lovely, from the She's Delovely screenplay his father had written. The film starred Sean Penn, as John Cassavetes had wanted. Alexandra Cassavetes directed the documentary, Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession in 2004, and in 2006 served as 2nd Unit Director on her brother, Nick's, film, Alpha Dog. Cassavetes's younger daughter, Zoe Cassavetes, wrote and directed the 2007 film, Broken English, featuring Rowlands and Parker Posey.

Filmmaking style[link]

Directing[link]