John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. He starred in notable Hollywood films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including Edge of the City and The Dirty Dozen. His films became associated with an improvisational, cinéma vérité aesthetic. He was a pioneer of American independent cinema, writing and directing movies financed in part with income from his acting work.
About John Cassavetes in brief
John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. He starred in notable Hollywood films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including Edge of the City and The Dirty Dozen. As a filmmaker, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Faces and the Oscar for Best Director for A Woman Under the Influence. His films became associated with an improvisational, cinéma vérité aesthetic. He was born in New York City, the son of Greek American actress KatherineCassavetes and Greek immigrant Nicholas John Cassavets. He died in Los Angeles, California, from complications from a heart attack. He is survived by his wife, Gena Rowlands, and their three children, Michael, Michaela, and Michaela Cassavettes, all of whom died of cancer in 1989. His last film, Gloria, was released on February 4, 1989. He also wrote and directed the TV series “The Big Screen” on which he starred with Michael Keaton. He had a long-running radio show on the Talk Show Network, starting in the 1970s, which he hosted with his wife Gena. His final film was “Gloria,” which aired on February 14, 1989, at 10 p.m. ET on PBS. He wrote the screenplay for the movie Gloria, which was released the same day as “The Great Gatsby”. He was also the co-creator of the television series “American Beauty” on PBS, which aired the same week as “American Gays and lesbians” on CBS.
He appeared in several other films, including “The Godfather” and “Million Dollar Baby”. He also appeared in “The Shawshank Redemption” as a supporting actor in the film version of The Godfather: Part II. He later appeared in a number of other independent films, such as “A Man Walks On To a Gun,” “”, and “Love Streams” He was a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the National Board of Review of Motion Picture Arts, which recognized him as one of the top directors of the 1960s and 1970s in the U.S. “Independent Spirit Awards” were named in his honor. He won the Independent Spirit Award for his writing and directorial debut, Shadows, in 1959. He received an Oscar nomination for “A Woman Under The Influence” in 1961. He worked on “The Dirty Do dozen” in 1962. His first film, “Edge Of the City,” was released in 1953. He went on to star in “Rosemary’s Baby” in 1964. He became a pioneer of American independent cinema, writing and directing movies financed in part with income from his acting work. His movies employed an actor-centered approach which privileged character examination and “small feelings” over traditional Hollywood storytelling or stylized production values. He began teaching an alternative to method acting in his own workshop.
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This page is based on the article John Cassavetes published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 10, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
