John Cassavetes

Biography

John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as an actor on television and in film, Cassavetes also became a pioneer of American independent cinema, writing and directing movies financed in part with income from his acting work. AllMovie called him "an iconoclastic maverick," while The New Yorker suggested that he "may be the most influential American director of the last half century." As an actor, Cassavetes starred in notable Hollywood films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including Edge of the City (1957), The Dirty Dozen (1967), and Rosemary's Baby (1968). He began his directing career with the 1959 independent feature Shadows and followed with independent productions such as Faces (1968), Husbands (1970), A Woman Under the Influence (1974), Opening Night (1977), and Love Streams (1984), in addition to intermittent studio work. Cassavetes' films employed an actor-centered approach which privileged character examination over traditional Hollywood storytelling or stylized production values. His films became associated with an improvisational, cinéma vérité aesthetic. He collaborated frequently with a rotating group of friends, crew members, and actors, including his wife Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara, and Seymour Cassel. For his role in The Dirty Dozen, Cassavetes received a Best Supporting Actor nomination. As a filmmaker, he was nominated for Best Original Screenplay for Faces (1968) and Best Director for A Woman Under the Influence (1974). Description from the Wikipedia article John Cassavetes, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Known For

Victor Franko

The Dirty Dozen

Guy Woodhouse

Rosemary's Baby

Sgt. Chris Button

Two-Minute Warning

Johnny North

The Killers

Dr. Michael Emerson

Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Ben Childress

The Fury

Maurice Aarons

Opening Night

Nick Douglas

Affair in Havana

Axel Nordmann

Edge of the City

Jim

Minnie and Moskowitz

Frankie Dane

Crime in the Streets

Robert Batsford

The Night Holds Terror

Robert Harmon (archive footage) (uncredited)

Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films

Hank McCain

Gli intoccabili

Phillip

Tempest

Frankie Yale

Capone

Gus Demetri

Husbands

Robert Harmon

Love Streams

Maj. Joe De Lucca

Brass Target

Cody

Devil's Angels

Self

Out of the Shadows: The Films of John Cassavetes

Tony Sinclair

Saddle the Wind

Nicky

Mikey and Nicky

Dr. Sam Cordell

Incubus

Self (archive footage)

The Kid Stays in the Picture

Self (archive footage)

Anything for John

Guy Woodhouse (archive footage)

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Marvin

Marvin & Tige

Evan

Virgin Island

Self

The Making of 'Husbands'

Karonos

Alexander The Great

Mario Corda

Roma come Chicago

Self (archive footage)

Edge of Outside

VA Doctor (uncredited)

Heroes

Man (uncredited)

Taxi

Music Industry Executive

The Haircut

Self

Operation Dirty Dozen

Gus Caputo

Flesh & Blood

Self

Hedda Hopper's Hollywood

himself

Fräulein Berlin

Self - Portrait of the actor / cinematographer

Nederland C

Self

Movies Are My Life

Self

I'm Almost Not Crazy: John Cassavetes — The Man and His Work

Self

Arena - John Cassavetes

Self (archive footage)

A Constant Forge

Self (archive footage)

Gena Rowlands — Unabhängig im Kino und im Leben

Vance Miller

The Webster Boy

McCloud

No Right to Kill

Man Talking

150 Miles of Rotting, Rutted, Lumpy, Dilapidated Pavement

Steve

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium

Carmine Kelly

Nightside

Reporter (uncredited)

Fourteen Hours

Pedestrian (uncredited)

Shadows

John Cassavetes par Thierry Jousse

"Cinéastes de notre temps": John Cassavetes

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

55

Gender

Male

Birthday

1929-12-09

Place of Birth

New York City, New York, USA

Also Known As

John Nicholas Cassavetes