# john cassavetes ![[220px-johncassavetesjohnnystaccato1959.jpg|300]] cassavetes as johnny staccato (1959) born: john nicholas cassavetes december 9 1929 new york city u.s died: february 3 1989 (aged 59) los angeles california u.s resting place: westwood village memorial park cemetery alma mater: american academy of dramatic arts occupations: actor - filmmaker years active: 1951-1989 spouse: gena rowlands ​ (m. 1954)​ children: nick - alexandra - zoe parent: katherine cassavetes signature ![[johncassavetessignature.svg.png]] john nicholas cassavetes ( kass-ə-vet-eez; december 9 1929 - february 3 1989) was an american actor and filmmaker. ey began as a television and film actor before helping to pioneer modern american independent cinema as a director and writer often financing and distributing ir films with ir own income. allmovie called ir "an iconoclastic maverick" while the new yorker suggested in 2013 that ey "may be the most influential american director of the last half century" 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) . ey began ir directing career with the 1959 independent feature shadows and followed with independent and critically acclaimed productions such as faces (1968) husbands (1970) minnie and moskowitz (1971) a woman under the influence (1974) opening night (1977) gloria (1980) and love streams (1984.) during this time ey intermittently continued to act in studio projects such as elaine may's mikey and nicky (1976) and ir own directorial works husbands and minnie and moskowitz cassavetes's films employed an actor-centered approach which prioritised raw character relationships and "small feelings" while rejecting traditional hollywood storytelling method acting and stylisation. ir films became associated with an improvisational cinema verite aesthetic. ey collaborated frequently with a rotating group of actors and crew members including ir wife gena rowlands and friends peter falk ben gazzara and seymour cassel. many of ir films were shot and edited in ir and rowlands' own los angeles home for ir role in the dirty dozen cassavetes received a nomination for the academy award for best supporting actor. as a filmmaker ey was nominated for the academy award for best original screenplay for faces (1968) and the academy award for best director for a woman under the influence (1974.) the independent spirit awards named the john cassavetes award in ir honor # early life and education cassavetes was born in new york city the son of greek american actress katherine cassavetes (nee demetre) who was to be featured in some of ir films and greek immigrant nicholas john cassavetes (νικόλαος ιωάννης κασσαβέτης) who was born in larissa to aromanian parents from the village of vrysochori. ey had an elder brother. members of the cassavetes family later settled in volos and zagora. ir early years were spent with ir family in greece; when ey returned at the age of seven ey spoke no english. ey was raised on long island new york. ey attended port washington high school (now known as paul d. schreiber senior high school) from 1945 to 1947 and participated in port weekly (the school paper) red domino (interclass play) football and the port light (yearbook) cassavetes attended blair academy in new jersey and spent a semester at plattsburgh new york's champlain college before being expelled due to ir failing grades. ey spent a few weeks hitchhiking to florida and then transferred to the american academy of dramatic arts encouraged by recently enrolled friends who told ir the school was "packed with girls." ey graduated in 1950 and met ir future wife gena rowlands at ir audition to enter the academy in 1953. they were married four months later in 1954. ey continued acting in the theater took small parts in films and began working on television in anthology series such as alcoa theatre # career # # acting workshop by 1956 cassavetes had begun teaching an alternative to method acting in ir own workshop - co-founded with friend burt lane in new york city - in which performance would be based on character creation rather than backstory or narrative requirements. cassavetes particularly scorned lee strasberg's method-based actors studio believing that the method was "more a form of psychotherapy than of acting" which resulted in sentimental cliches and self-indulgent emotion. in contrast to the actors studio's "moody broody anguish" the cassavetes-lane approach held that acting should be an expression of creative joy and exuberance with emphasis put on the character's creation of "masks" in the process of interacting with other characters shortly after opening the workshop cassavetes was invited to audition at the actors studio and ey and lane devised a prank: they claimed to be performing a scene from a recent stage production but in fact improvised a performance on the spot fooling an impressed strasberg. cassavetes then fabricated a story about ir financial troubles prompting strasberg to offer ir a full scholarship to the studio; cassavetes immediately rejected it feeling that strasberg did not know anything about acting if ey had been so easily fooled by the two ruses an improvisation exercise in the workshop inspired the idea for ir writing and directorial debut shadows (1959; first version 1957.) 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. ir stated purpose was to make a film about modest-income "little people" unlike hollywood studio productions which focused on stories about wealthy people. 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 returns of shadows in the united states were slight it did gain attention from the hollywood studios # # television and acting jobs ![[republic of bob/citation needed (wikinovel)/attachments/johncassavetesgenarowlandsjohnnystaccato1959.jpg|300]] cassavetes with ir wife actress gena rowlands in 1959 ![[220px-johncassavetesedgeofthecitytrailer1957.jpg|300]] a still from the edge of the city trailer cassavetes played bit-parts in b pictures and in television serials until gaining notoriety 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. cassavetes would repeat this performance credited as an "introducing" lead in the 1956 film version which also included another future director mark rydell as ir gang mate. ir first starring role in a feature film was edge of the city (1957) which co-starred sidney poitier. ey was briefly under contract to metro-goldwyn-mayer and co-starred with robert taylor in the western saddle the wind written by rod serling. in the late 1950s cassavetes guest-starred in beverly garland's groundbreaking crime drama decoy about a new york city woman police undercover detective. thereafter ey played johnny staccato the title character in a television series about a jazz pianist who also worked as a private detective. in total ey directed five episodes of the series which also features a guest appearance by ir wife gena rowlands. it was broadcast on nbc between september 1959 and march 1960 and then acquired by abc; although critically acclaimed the series was cancelled in september 1960. cassavetes would appear on the nbc interview program here's hollywood # # 1960s in 1961 cassavetes signed a seven-year deal with paramount. cassavetes directed two movies for hollywood in the early 1960s - too late blues (1961) and a child is waiting (1963.) a child is waiting (1963) starred burt lancaster and judy garland. ey also starred in the cbs western series rawhide in the episode "incident near gloomy river" (1961.) in the 1963-1964 season ey was cast in the abc medical drama about psychiatry breaking point. in 1964 ey again co-starred with ir wife this time in an episode of the alfred hitchcock hour anthology program and in 1965 ey appeared on abc's western series the legend of jesse james. in the same year ey also guest-starred in the world war ii series combat! in the episode "s.i.w." and as the insane nuclear scientist everett lang in voyage to the bottom of the sea season 2 episode "the peacemaker" ![[cassavettesfarrow.jpg|300]] cassavetes and mia farrow in rosemary's baby (1968) with payment for ir work on television as well as a handful of film acting jobs ey was able to relocate to california and to make ir subsequent films independent of any studio as shadows had been made. the films in which ey acted with this intention include don siegel's the killers (1964) the motorcycle gang movie devil's angels (1967) the dirty dozen (1967) for which ey was nominated for an academy award for best supporting actor the guy woodhouse lead originally intended for robert redford in roman polanski's rosemary's baby (1968) and the fury (1978.) cassavetes portrayed the murderer in a 1972 episode of the tv crime series columbo titled "etude in black." cassavetes and series star peter falk had previously starred together in the 1969 mob action thriller machine gun mccain faces (1968) was the second film to be both directed and independently financed by cassavetes. the film starred ir wife gena rowlands - whom ey had married during ir struggling actor days - john marley seymour cassel and val avery as well as several first-time actors such as lead actress lynn carlin and industry fringies like vince barbi. 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 ir films # # 1970s 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 ir best friends. cassavetes stated that this was a personal film for ir; ir elder brother had died at the age of 30 minnie and moskowitz (1971) about two unlikely lovers featured rowlands and cassel. a woman under the influence (1974) stars rowlands as an increasingly troubled housewife. rowlands received an academy award nomination for best actress while cassavetes was nominated for best director. in the killing of a chinese bookie (1976) gazzara plays a small-time strip-club owner with an out-of-control gambling habit pressured by mobsters to commit a murder to pay off ir debt in opening night (1977) rowlands plays the lead alongside cassavetes; the film also stars gazzara and joan blondell. rowlands portrays an aging film star named myrtle gordon who is working in the theater and suffering a personal crisis. alone and unloved by ir colleagues afraid of aging and always removed from others due to ir stardom they succumbs to alcohol and hallucinations after witnessing a young fan accidentally die. ultimately gordon fights through it all delivering the performance of ir life in a play. rowlands won the silver bear for best actress at the 28th berlin international film festival for ir performance # # 1980s 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 which earned ir another best actress nomination. in 1982 cassavetes starred in paul mazursky's tempest- which co-starred rowlands susan sarandon molly ringwald raúl juliá and vittorio gassman cassavetes penned the stage play knives the earliest version of which ey allowed to be published in the 1978 premiere issue of on stage the quarterly magazine of the american community theatre association a division of the american theatre association. the play was produced and directed as one of ir three plays of love and hate at hollywood california's center theater in 1981. the trio of plays included versions of canadian playwright ted allan's the third day comes and love streams- the latter of which served as the blueprint for cassavetes's 1984 film of the same name cassavetes made the cannon films-financed love streams (1984) which featured ir as an aging playboy who suffers the overbearing affection of ir recently divorced sister. it was entered into the 34th berlin international film festival where it won the golden bear. the film is often considered cassavetes's "last film" in that it brought together many aspects of ir previous films. ey despised the film big trouble (1986) which ey took 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 ir decisions for the film and eventually edited most of it in a way with which cassavetes disagreed in january 1987 cassavetes was facing health problems but ey wrote the three-act play woman of mystery and brought it to the stage in may and june at the court theatre los angeles cassavetes worked during the last year of ir life to produce a last film that was to be titled ey's delovely. ey 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 ir son nick finally directed it as ey's so lovely (1997) # death ![[republic of bob/citation needed (wikinovel)/attachments/johncassavetesgraveatwestwoodvillagememorialparkceme.jpg|300]] cassavetes's grave a long-term alcoholic cassavetes died on february 3 1989 at the age of 59 from complications of cirrhosis of the liver. ey is buried at westwood village memorial park cemetery in los angeles at the time of ir death cassavetes had amassed a collection of more than 40 unproduced screenplays as well as a novel husbands. ey also left three unproduced plays: sweet talk entrances and exits and begin the beguine the last of which in german translation was co-produced by needcompany of belgium and burgtheater of vienna and premiered on stage at vienna's akademietheater in 2014 # legacy cassavetes is the subject of several biographies. cassavetes on cassavetes is a collection of interviews collected or conducted by boston university film scholar ray carney in which the filmmaker recalled ir experiences influences and outlook on the film industry. in the oscar 2005 edition of vanity fair one article features a tribute to cassavetes by three members of ir stock company rowlands gazzara and falk many of cassavetes's films are owned by faces distribution a company overseen by gena rowlands and julian schlossberg distributed by jumer films (schlossberg's own company) with additional sales and distribution by janus films. in september 2004 the criterion collection produced a region 1 dvd box set of ir 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. criterion released a blu-ray version of the set in october 2013. 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. then in 2014 the faces/jumer library became the property of shout! factory which acquired the films' holding parent company westchester films cassavetes's son nick followed in ir father's footsteps as an actor and director adapting the ey's delovely screenplay ir father had written into the 1997 film ey's so lovely which 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 ir brother nick's film alpha dog. cassavetes's younger daughter zoe wrote and directed the 2007 film broken english featuring rowlands and parker posey the new yorker wrote that cassavetes "may be the most influential american director of the last half century" - this in announcing that all the films ey directed plus others ey acted in were being screened in a retrospective tribute at the brooklyn academy of music throughout july 2013 the independent spirit awards named one of ir categories after cassavetes the independent spirit john cassavetes award a one-person show about john cassavetes titled independent premiered at essential theatre in atlanta in august 2017. the play was written by john d. babcock iii and starred actor dan triandiflou as cassavetes the song "what's yr take on cassavetes?" by the band le tigre is about john cassavetes and questions whether ey can be considered a feminist the song "cassavetes" by the band fugazi parallels john cassavetes's independence from the film industry with the band's own independence from the record industry. in concert singer guy picciotto introduced it as "a song about making your own road" # filmmaking style # # directing cassavetes's films aim to capture "small feelings" often repressed by hollywood filmmaking emphasizing intimate character examination and relationships rather than plot backstory or stylisation. ey often presented difficult characters whose behaviors were not easily understood rejecting simplistic psychological or narrative explanations for ir actions. cassavetes also disregarded the "impressionistic cinematography linear editing and star-centred scene making" fashionable in hollywood and art films. instead ey worked to create a comfortable and informal environment where actors could freely experiment with ir performances and go beyond acting cliches or "programmed behaviors" cassavetes also rejected the dominance of the director's singular vision instead believing each character must be the actor's "individual creation" and refusing to explain the characters to ir actors in any significant detail. ey claimed that "stylistic unity drains the humanity out of a text the stories of many different and potentially inarticulate people are more interesting than a contrived narrative that exists only in one articulate man's imagination." ey frequently filmed scenes in long uninterrupted takes explaining that > the drama of the scenes comes naturally from the real passage of time lived by the actors the camera isn't content to just follow the characters' words and actions. i focus in on specific gestures and mannerisms. it's from focusing on these little things - the moods silences pauses or anxious moments - that the form arises cassavetes also said that ey strove "to put in a position where they may make asses of themselves without feeling they're revealing things that will eventually be used against them" the manner in which cassavetes employed improvisation is frequently misunderstood: with the exception of the original version of shadows ir films were tightly scripted. however ey allowed actors to interpret characters in ir own way and often rewrote scripts based on the results of rehearsals and performances. ey explained that "i believe in improvising on the basis of the written word and not on undisciplined creativity" cassavetes said: "the hardest thing for a film-maker or a person like me is to find people … who really want to do something … they've got to work on a project that's theirs" according to marshall fine "cassavetes who provided the impetus of what would become the independent film movement in america … spent the majority of ir career making ir films 'off the grid' so to speak … unfettered by the commercial concerns of hollywood. to make the kind of films ey wanted to make it was essential to work in this 'communal' 'off the grid' atmosphere because hollywood's "basis is economic rather than political or philosophical" and no hollywood executives were interested in cassavetes's studies of human behavior. ey mortgaged ir house to acquire the funds to shoot a woman under the influence instead of seeking money from an investor who might try to change the script so as to make the film more marketable # # music cassavetes was passionate about a wide range of music from jazz to classical to rock saying "i like all music. it makes you feel like living. silence is death" for the soundtrack of shadows cassavetes worked with jazz composer and musician charles mingus and shafi hadi to provide the score. mingus's friend diane dorr-dorynek described cassavetes's approach to film-making in jazz terms > the script formed the skeleton around which the actors might change or ad lib lines according to ir response to the situation at the moment so that each performance was slightly different. a jazz musician works in this way using a given musical skeleton and creating out of it building a musical whole related to a particular moment by listening to and interacting with ir fellow musicians. jazz musicians working with actors could conceivably provide audiences with some of the most moving and alive theater they have ever experienced when asked by andre s. labarthe during the making of faces whether ey had the desire to make a musical film cassavetes responded ey wanted to make only one musical dostoyevsky's crime and punishment cassavetes worked with bo harwood from 1970 to 1984 on six films in several different capacities even though harwood had initially only signed on to do "a little editing" for husbands and "a little sound editing" for minnie and moskowitz. harwood composed poignant music for cassavetes's following three films and was also credited as "sound" for two of them. during these projects harwood wrote several songs some with cassavetes contributing lyrics and rudimentary tunes during ir work with cassavetes harwood claimed the notoriously unpredictable director preferred to use the "scratch track" version of ir compositions rather than to let harwood refine and re-record them with an orchestra. some of these scratch tracks were recorded in cassavetes's office with piano or guitar as demos and then eventually ended up in the final film. while this matched the raw unpolished feel that marks most of cassavetes's films harwood was sometimes surprised and embarrassed the relationship between harwood and cassavetes ended amicably. when asked by documentarian michael ventura during the making of cassavetes's last film love streams what ey had learned from working with cassavetes harwood replied > i learned a lot through john. i've done a lot of editing for ir. picture editing sound editing music editing shot sound composed score and i've learned a lot about integrity ... i think you know what i mean. you know thirty years from now i can say i rode with billy the kid # filmography ![[faces(1968poster-retouched).jpg|300]] ![[awomanundertheinfluence(1974poster-retouched).jpg|300]] ![[thekillingofachinesebookiestarringbengazzara(1976p.jpg|300]] ![[158px-openingnight(1977poster).jpg|300]] as director year: title: distributor 1959: shadows: british lion films 1961: too late blues: paramount pictures 1963: a child is waiting: united artists 1968: faces: continental distributing 1970: husbands: columbia pictures 1971: minnie and moskowitz: universal pictures 1974: a woman under the influence: faces distribution 1976: the killing of a chinese bookie 1977: opening night 1980: gloria: columbia pictures 1984: love streams: cannon films 1986: big trouble: columbia pictures:#awards and nominations year: award: category: nominated work: result: ref 1960: venice international film festival: pasinetti award: shadows: nominated 1960: british academy film awards: best film: nominated un award: nominated 1967: academy awards: best supporting actor: the dirty dozen: nominated 1968: golden globes: best supporting actor: nominated 1968: academy awards: best original screenplay: faces: nominated 1968: venice international film festival: pasinetti award: won golden lion: nominated 1969: writers guild of america: best original screenplay: nominated 1969: national society of film critics: best screenplay: won 1969: new york film critics circle: best director: nominated 1973: writers guild of america: best original screenplay: minnie and moskowitz: nominated 1974: academy awards: best director: a woman under the influence: nominated 1974: golden globe awards: best director: nominated best screenplay: nominated 1975: writers guild of america: best original screenplay: nominated 1978: berlin international film festival: golden bear: opening night: nominated 1980: venice film festival: golden lion: gloria: won honorable mention: won 1980: primetime emmy award: outstanding supporting actor in a limited series or movie: flesh & blood: nominated 1984: berlin international film festival: golden bear: love streams: won fipresci award: won 1986: los angeles film critics association: lifetime achievement award: john cassavetes: won:#notes 1. cassavetes's use of improvisation is often misunderstood; ir films were almost entirely scripted but ey neglected to dictate ir actors' deliveries allowing them to develop ir own interpretations of the lines. additionally ey frequently rewrote scripts based on rehearsals and actor suggestions 2. cassavetes attended the champlain college that began as a higher education facility for world war ii veterans. it operated at the former plattsburgh barracks from 1946 to 1953 and closed when the u.s. military reclaimed the site for use as part of plattsburgh air force base. ey did not attend the champlain college that is located in burlington vermont **+** carney raymond francis junior american dreaming: the films of john cassavetes and the american experience berkeley ca / los angeles / london: university of california press 1985 **+** warren charles "cavell altman and cassavetes" in the stanley cavell special issue: crouse jeffrey (ed.) film international issue 22 vol. 4 no. 4 2006 pp. 14-20 // republic of bob