John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes (Greek: Ιωάννης Νικαλάου Κασσαβέττης) (
December 9,
1929 -
February 3,
1989) was a
Greek-American actor,
screenwriter, and
director.
Cassavetes was born in
New York City to Nicholas John Cassavetes and Katherine Demetri,
Greek immigrants. He grew up on
Long Island, New York and attended high school at
Blair Academy in New Jersey before moving to the
American Academy of Dramatic Arts. On graduation in 1950, he continued acting in the theater, took small parts in films, and began working on television.
Early films and acting
During this time he met and married actress
Gena Rowlands. By 1956, Cassavetes had begun teaching
method acting in workshops in New York City. An
improvisation exercise in one workshop inspired the idea for his writing and directorial debut,
Shadows (1959). Cassavetes raised the funds for production from friends and family, as well as listeners to a late-night radio talk show.
Cassavetes was unable to get American distributors to carry
Shadows, so he took it to Europe, where 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 viewership of
Shadows in the United States was slight, it did gain attention from the Hollywood studios. Cassavetes directed two movies for Hollywood in the early 1960s —
Too Late Blues and
A Child is Waiting.
He performed masterfully as an actor in films such as
The Dirty Dozen (1967), for which he was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as a high strung army private, and in
Roman Polanski's
Rosemary's Baby (1968) as a two faced actor. Other notable appearances include the role of the victim in
Don Siegel's
The Killers, and as a vicious government nemesis to Kirk Douglas in
The Fury (1978).
His next film as a director was
Faces, starring his wife Rowlands. It depicts a contemporary marriage in slow disintegration.
Faces was nominated for two Academy Awards (
Best Supporting Actor and
Actress).
Husbands (1970) stars Cassavetes himself with
Peter Falk and
Ben Gazzara. They play a trio of married men on a London spree.
Minnie and Moskowitz, about two unlikely lovers, has Rowlands with
Seymour Cassel.
1970s masterpieces
His three masterpieces of the 1970s were produced independently.
A Woman Under the Influence (1974) stars Rowlands as an increasingly troubled housewife in an uncomprehending world. She received an 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. According to Laurence Gavron, Cassavetes worked on the screenplay for several years, refining and altering it. The production cost more than 1 1/2 million dollars and took more than one year to complete. The first cut was over five hours long, and only one copy of the final version was released in the U.S.
Late career
Gloria (1980) stars Rowlands as a mob moll who runs off with a young boy orphaned by the mob and soon to be next.
Love Streams (1984) has Cassavetes as an aging swain who suffers the overbearing affection of his recently divorced sister. Cassavetes's last film,
Big Trouble (1986), was taken over during filming from Andrew Bergman, who wrote the original screenplay.
Cassavetes died from
cirrhosis of the
liver in 1989 at the age of 59. He was survived by Rowlands and three children. His son,
Nick Cassavetes, followed in his father's footsteps as an actor (
Face/Off,
Life) and director, and made 1997's significant
She's So Lovely from the elder Cassavetes's screenplay; he also directed 2004's
The Notebook.
The role of improvisation in Cassavetes films is frequently misunderstood. His films were - with the exception of the original version of
Shadows - heavily scripted. Confusion arises in part because Cassavetes allowed actors to bring their own interpretations of characters to their performances. Performances were scripted, but delivery was not. Cassavetes was also willing to revise the script if he saw an actor taking a character in a different direction.
In September 2004,
The Criterion Collection produced a set of his five most well known 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 called
A Constant Forge along with a booklet featuring critical assessments of the director's work, along with tributes by old friends.
Cassavetes is also the subject of several books about the actor-filmmaker's life. Perhaps the most comprehensive of the collection is a book called
Cassavetes on Cassavetes, which is a collection of interviews collected or conducted by film historian
Ray Carney, in which the late filmmaker recalls his experiences, influences and outlook in the film industry. In the Oscar
2005 edition of
Vanity Fair magazine, one of the articles features a tribute to Cassavetes with three members of his stock company: wife and actress Gena Rowlands, actors
Ben Gazzara and
Peter Falk.
As Director
*
Shadows (1959)
*
Too Late Blues (1961)
*
A Child Is Waiting (1963)
*
Faces (1968)
*
Husbands (1970)
*
Minnie and Moskowitz (1971)
*
A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
*
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
*
Opening Night (1977)
*
Gloria (1980)
*
Love Streams (1984)
*
Big Trouble (1986)
As Actor
*
The Killers (1964)
*
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
*
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
*
Husbands (1970)
*
Two-Minute Warning (1976)
*
Mikey and Nicky (1976)
*
The Fury (1978)
*
Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981)
*
Tempest (1982)
*
*
Ray Carney: John Cassavetes*
Reviews*
Essay: The Killing of a Chinese Bookie*
Sense of Cinema essay*
kamera.co.uk: John Cassavetes*
Bright Lights Film Journal: John Cassavetes*
Interview (07/1971)*
Essay on Cassavetes' first film, Shadows
