Image of John Cassavetes

John Cassavetes

John Nicholas Cassavetes was a Greek-American actor, film director, and screenwriter. Cassavetes was a pioneer of American independent film, writing and directing over a dozen movies, which he partially self-financed, and pioneered the use of improvisation and a realistic cinéma vérité style. He also acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby (1968) and The Dirty Dozen (1967). He studied acting with Don Richardson, using an acting technique based on muscle memory. By 1956, Cassavetes had begun teaching an alternative to 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. Cassavetes raised the funds for the 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 US as an import. With payment for his work on television, as well as a handful of film acting jobs, he was able to relocate to California and to make his subsequent films independent of any studio, as Shadows had been. Faces (1968) was the second film to be both directed and independently financed by Cassavetes. The film starring his wife Gena Rowlands, whom he had married during his struggling actor days, depicts the slow disintegration of a marriage. Faces was nominated for three Academy Awards. Around this time, Cassavetes formed "Faces International" as a distribution company to handle his films. In 1970, Cassavetes directed and acted in Husbands, with 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. Cassavetes stated this was a personal film for him; his older brother died at the age of 30. Minnie and Moskowitz (1971), about two unlikely lovers, featured Rowlands with Seymour Cassel. A Woman Under the Influence (1974) stars Rowlands as an increasingly troubled housewife. Rowlands received an Academy Award nomination, while Cassavetes was nominated for Best Director. In The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), Ben Gazzara plays a small-time strip-club owner with a gambling habit, pressured by mobsters to commit a murder to pay off his debt. Opening Night (1977) Rowlands portrays an aging film star working in the theater and suffering a personal crisis. Cassavetes directed the film Gloria (1980), featuring Rowlands as a Mob moll who tries to protect an orphan boy. Rowlands earned another Best Actress nomination for it. 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. It won the Golden Bear at the 34th Berlinale. Cassavetes died on February 3, 1989, at the age of 59. By then, he had amassed a collection of more than forty unproduced screenplays, as well as a novel, Husbands. The New Yorker wrote that Cassavetes "may be the most influential American director of the last half century". Description from the Wikipedia article John Cassavetes, licensed under CC-BY-SA.


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Born:
Dec 9, 1929 In New York City, New York, U.S.
Movie/TV Credits:
75
First Appeared:
In the series The Ed Sullivan Show 1948-06-20
Latest Project:
Movie 150 Miles of Rotting, Rutted, Lumpy, Dilapidated Pavement 2021-03-03
Known For
Poster of Nederland C
Poster of I'm Almost Not Crazy: John Cassavetes - The Man and His Work
Poster of Fräulein Berlin
Filmography
Movie 150 Miles of Rotting, Rutted, Lumpy, Dilapidated Pavement Man Talking 2021-03-03
Movie Gena Rowlands: A Life on Film Self (archive footage) 2019-06-05
Movie Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films Robert Harmon (archive footage) (uncredited) 2014-10-06
Movie Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired Guy Woodhouse (archive footage) 2008-01-18
Movie Edge of Outside Self (archive footage) 2006-06-11
Movie Operation Dirty Dozen Self 2006-01-01
Movie The Kid Stays in the Picture Self (archive footage) 2002-08-16
Movie A Constant Forge Self (archive footage) 2000-01-01
Movie A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies Self 1995-05-21
Movie Anything for John Self (archive footage) 1993-09-06
Movie Arena - John Cassavetes Self 1989-02-24
Movie Nederland C Self - Portrait of the actor / cinematographer 1985-01-16
Movie Marvin & Tige Marvin 1985-03-08
Movie Fräulein Berlin himself 1984-01-01
Movie Love Streams Robert Harmon 1984-02-20
Movie Terror in the Aisles Guy Woodhouse (archive footage) (uncredited) 1984-10-26
Movie I'm Almost Not Crazy: John Cassavetes - The Man and His Work Self 1984-07-01
Movie Incubus Dr. Sam Cordell 1982-02-24
Movie The Haircut Music Industry Executive 1982-09-12
Movie Tempest Phillip 1982-08-13
Movie Whose Life Is It Anyway? Dr. Michael Emerson 1981-12-02
Movie Flesh & Blood Gus Caputo 1979-10-14
Movie The Fury Ben Childress 1978-03-10
Movie Movies Are My Life Self 1978-10-06
Movie Brass Target Maj. Joe De Lucca 1978-12-22
Movie Heroes VA Doctor (uncredited) 1977-11-04
Movie Opening Night Maurice Aarons 1977-12-22
Movie Two-Minute Warning Sgt. Chris Button 1976-11-12
Movie Mikey and Nicky Nicky 1976-12-21
Movie Capone Frankie Yale 1975-04-16
Series Columbo Alex Benedict 1971-09-15
Movie Minnie and Moskowitz Jim 1971-12-22
Movie Husbands Gus Demetri 1970-12-01
Movie If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium Steve 1969-04-24
Movie Machine Gun McCain Hank McCain 1969-04-01
Movie Rosemary's Baby Guy Woodhouse 1968-06-12
Movie Alexander The Great Karonos 1968-01-26
Movie Bandits in Rome Mario Corda 1968-11-20
Movie Devil's Angels Cody 1967-04-14
Movie The Dirty Dozen Victor Franko 1967-06-15
Series The Legend of Jesse James Unknown 1965-09-13
Movie The Killers Johnny North 1964-07-07
Series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Unknown 1964-09-14
Series Profiles in Courage Unknown 1964-11-08
Series Burke's Law Unknown 1963-09-20
Series Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Unknown 1963-10-04
Series Kraft Suspense Theatre Unknown 1963-10-10
Series The Virginian Unknown 1962-09-19
Movie The Webster Boy Vance Miller 1962-06-01
Series Combat! Unknown 1962-10-02
Series Dr. Kildare Unknown 1961-09-27
Movie Hedda Hopper's Hollywood Self 1960-01-10
Movie Shadows Pedestrian (uncredited) 1960-10-14
Movie Virgin Island Evan 1959-08-07
Series Rawhide Unknown 1959-01-09
Series Johnny Staccato Johnny Staccato 1959-09-10
Series The Dick Clark Show Unknown 1958-02-15
Movie Saddle the Wind Tony Sinclair 1958-03-20
Movie Edge of the City Axel Nordmann 1957-01-04
Movie Affair in Havana Nick Douglas 1957-10-01
Series Decoy Unknown 1957-10-14
Movie Crime in the Streets Frankie Dane 1956-06-10
Movie No Right to Kill McCloud 1956-08-09
Movie The Night Holds Terror Robert Batsford 1955-07-13
Series Alfred Hitchcock Presents Unknown 1955-10-02
Series The 20th Century Fox Hour Unknown 1955-10-05
Series Climax! Unknown 1954-10-07
Movie Taxi Man (uncredited) 1953-01-21
Series General Electric Theater Unknown 1953-02-01
Movie Fourteen Hours Reporter (uncredited) 1951-04-01
Series Schlitz Playhouse of Stars Unknown 1951-10-05
Series Robert Montgomery Presents Unknown 1950-01-30
Series The Ed Sullivan Show Unknown 1948-06-20
Series Studio One Unknown 1948-11-07
Series The Philco Television Playhouse Unknown 1948-10-03