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John Nicholas Cassavetes ( ; December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as a television and film actor, Cassavetes also helped pioneer American
independent cinema Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independen ...
, writing and directing movies financed partly by income from his acting work.
AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cul ...
called him "an iconoclastic maverick",Ankeny, Jason
John Cassavetes
''
AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cul ...
''.
while ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' suggested in 2013 that he "may be the most influential American director of the last half century."''The New Yorker'', July 1, 2013, p. 17 "On the Horizon: Movies: Wild Man Blues July 6–31" As an actor, Cassavetes starred in notable
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...
films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including '' Edge of the City'' (1957), ''
The Dirty Dozen ''The Dirty Dozen'' is a 1967 American war film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Lee Marvin with an ensemble supporting cast including Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Ralph M ...
'' (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 A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...
'' (1977), and '' Love Streams'' (1984). He intermittently continued to act and direct on studio projects such as
Elaine May Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American comedian, filmmaker, playwright, and actress. She has received numerous awards including an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and a Tony. She made her initial impact in the 1950s with he ...
's '' Mikey and Nicky'' (1976) and his own directorial works '' A Child is Waiting'' (1963), '' Minnie and Moskowitz'' (1971), and ''
Gloria Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkins) ...
'' (1980). Cassavetes's films employed an actor-centered approach which prioritized raw character relationships and "small feelings" while rejecting traditional
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...
storytelling, method acting, or stylization. His films became associated with an improvisational, cinéma vérité aesthetic. He collaborated frequently with a rotating group of actors and crew members, including his wife Gena Rowlands and friends
Peter Falk Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011) was an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the long-running television series '' Columbo'' (1968–1978, 1989–2003), for which he ...
, Ben Gazzara, and
Seymour Cassel Seymour Joseph Cassel (January 22, 1935 – April 7, 2019) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 movies and television shows, and had a career that spanned over 50 years. Cassel first came to prominence in the 1960s in the pioneering in ...
. Many of his films were shot and edited in his and Rowlands' own Los Angeles home. For his role in ''The Dirty Dozen'', Cassavetes received a nomination for the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role while worki ...
. As a filmmaker, he was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with th ...
for ''Faces'' (1968) and the
Academy Award for Best Director The Academy Award for Best Director (officially known as the Academy Award of Merit for Directing) is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of a film director who has exhibi ...
for ''A Woman Under the Influence'' (1974). The
Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic gla ...
named the John Cassavetes Award in his honor.


Early life and education

Cassavetes was born in New York City, the son of Greek American actress
Katherine Cassavetes Katherine Cassavetes ( el, Κάθριν Κασσαβέτης; née Demetre; June 24, 1906 – March 29, 1983) was an American actress. She was the mother of actor-director John Cassavetes and mother-in-law of actress Gena Rowlands. Her grand ...
(née Demetre), who was to be featured in some of his films, and Greek immigrant Nicholas John Cassavetes (), who was born in
Larissa Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...
to Aromanian parents from the village of
Vrysochori Vrysochori ( el, Βρυσοχώρι, before 1927: Λεσινίτσα - ''Lesinitsa'', rup, Leshinitsa, Leshnitsa) is one of the Zagori Aromanian (Vlach) villages (Zagorochoria), in the Ioannina regional unit, Greece. Vrysochori is in the Tymfi m ...
. He had an elder brother. Members of the Cassavetes family later settled in Volos and Zagora. His early years were spent with his family in Greece; when he returned at the age of seven, he spoke no English. He was raised on
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
. He 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 Blair Academy is a coeducational, boarding and day school for students in high school. The school serves students from ninth through twelfth grades as well as a small post-graduate class. The school's campus is located on a campus in Blairs ...
in
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...
and spent a semester at Plattsburgh, New York's Champlain College before being expelled due to his failing grades. He spent a few weeks hitchhiking to Florida and then transferred to the
American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a private performing arts conservatory with two locations, one in Manhattan and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related art ...
, encouraged by recently enrolled friends who told him the school was "packed with girls". He graduated in 1950 and met his future wife Gena Rowlands at her audition to enter the Academy in 1953. They were married four months later in 1954. He continued acting in the theater, took small parts in films, and began working on television in
anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...
such as ''
Alcoa Theatre ''Alcoa Theatre'' is a half-hour American anthology series telecast on NBC at 9:30 pm on Monday nights from September 30, 1957 to May 23, 1960. The program also aired under the title ''Turn of Fate''. ''Alcoa Theatre'' was syndicated together ...
''.


Career


Acting workshop

By 1956, Cassavetes had begun teaching an alternative to method acting in his 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.Carney, Ray, ''Cassavetes on Cassavetes'', London: Faber and Faber, 2001: pp. 52-53. Cassavetes particularly scorned Lee Strasberg's Method-based
Actors Studio The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founde ...
, 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 in response he 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 his financial troubles, prompting Strasberg to offer him a full scholarship to the Studio; Cassavetes promptly rejected it, feeling that Strasberg couldn't know anything about acting to have been so easily fooled by the two ruses. It's worth noting that the Actors Studio has always been free to its members, has never charged for tuition, and therefore the claim of an offer of a "scholarship" by Strasberg is apocryphal. An
improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
exercise in the workshop inspired the idea for his 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''. His 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 The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...
. 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

Cassavetes played bit-parts in
B pictures A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
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 Mark Rydell (born Mortimer H. Rydell; March 23, 1929) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has directed several Academy Award-nominated films including '' The Fox'' (1967), '' The Reivers'' (1969), ''Cinderella Liberty'' (1973) ...
, as his gang mate. His first starring role in a feature film was '' Edge of the City'' (1957), which co-starred
Sidney Poitier Sidney Poitier ( ; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was an American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He received two competitive ...
. He was briefly under contract to
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
and co-starred with Robert Taylor in the western ''
Saddle the Wind Saddle the Wind is a 1958 American Western film directed by Robert Parrish, written by Rod Serling, produced by Armand Deutsch, and starring Robert Taylor, Julie London and John Cassavetes. The picture was filmed in Metrocolor and CinemaScope. ...
'', written by
Rod Serling Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, and narrator/on-screen host, best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his anthology television series ...
. In the late 1950s, Cassavetes guest-starred in Beverly Garland's groundbreaking
crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and comb ...
, ''
Decoy A decoy (derived from the Dutch ''de'' ''kooi'', literally "the cage" or possibly ''ende kooi'', " duck cage") is usually a person, device, or event which resembles what an individual or a group might be looking for, but it is only meant to lu ...
'', about a New York City woman police undercover detective. Thereafter, he played
Johnny Staccato ''Johnny Staccato'' is an American private detective television series starring John Cassavetes which ran for 27 episodes on NBC from September 10, 1959 through March 24, 1960. Synopsis Titular character Johnny Staccato, played by John Cassav ...
, the title character in a television series about a jazz pianist who also worked as a private detective. In total he directed five episodes of the series, which also features a guest appearance by his 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 ''Too Late Blues'' is a 1961 black-and-white American film directed by John Cassavetes and starring Bobby Darin, Stella Stevens and Everett Chambers. It is the story of jazz musician "Ghost" Wakefield and his relationship with both his fellow band ...
'' (1961) and '' A Child Is Waiting (1963)''. ''A Child Is Waiting (1963)'' starred
Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
and
Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...
. He also starred in the CBS western series '' Rawhide'', in the episode "Incident Near Gloomy River" (1961). In the 1963–1964 season he was cast in the ABC
medical drama A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical dramatic programming go beyond the events pertaining to the characters' jobs and portray som ...
about
psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial p ...
, '' Breaking Point''. In 1964, he again co-starred with his wife, this time in an episode of '' The Alfred Hitchcock Hour'' anthology program, and in 1965, he appeared on ABC's western series, ''
The Legend of Jesse James ''The Legend of Jesse James'' is a 1980 country music concept album written by English songwriter Paul Kennerley, based on the story of American Old West outlaw Jesse James. The album features Levon Helm singing the role of Jesse James, J ...
''. In the same year, he also guest-starred in the
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
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". 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 made. The films in which he acted with this intention include Don Siegel's ''
The Killers The Killers are an American rock band formed in Las Vegas in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After going through a number of short-term bass players and drummers in t ...
'' (1964), the motorcycle gang movie ''Devil's Angels'' (1967), ''
The Dirty Dozen ''The Dirty Dozen'' is a 1967 American war film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Lee Marvin with an ensemble supporting cast including Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Ralph M ...
'' (1967), for which he was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role while worki ...
, the Guy Woodhouse lead originally intended for
Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award from four nominations, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, the Cec ...
in
Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...
's '' Rosemary's Baby'' (1968), and '' The Fury'' (1978). Cassavetes portrayed the murderer in a 1972 episode of the TV crime series ''
Columbo ''Columbo'' () is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originally aired on NBC fr ...
'', titled "Étude in Black". Cassavetes and series star
Peter Falk Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011) was an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the long-running television series '' Columbo'' (1968–1978, 1989–2003), for which he ...
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 his wife Gena Rowlands—whom he had married during his struggling actor days— John Marley,
Seymour Cassel Seymour Joseph Cassel (January 22, 1935 – April 7, 2019) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 movies and television shows, and had a career that spanned over 50 years. Cassel first came to prominence in the 1960s in the pioneering in ...
and Val Avery, as well as several first-time actors, such as lead actress
Lynn Carlin Mary Lynn Carlin (née Reynolds) is an American former actress. She is best known for her debut role in the film ''Faces'' (1968), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. Life and career She was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of so ...
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 his 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 their best friends. Cassavetes stated that this was a personal film for him; his 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 his debt. In ''
Opening Night A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...
'' (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 her colleagues, afraid of aging and always removed from others due to her stardom, she succumbs to alcohol and hallucinations after witnessing a young fan accidentally die. Ultimately, Gordon fights through it all, delivering the performance of her life in a play. Rowlands won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 28th Berlin International Film Festival for her performance.


1980s

Cassavetes directed the film ''
Gloria Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkins) ...
'' (1980), featuring Rowlands as a Mob moll who tries to protect an orphan boy whom the Mob wants to kill, which earned her another Best Actress nomination. In 1982, Cassavetes starred in
Paul Mazursky Irwin Lawrence "Paul" Mazursky (April 25, 1930 – June 30, 2014) was an American film director, screenwriter, and actor. Known for his dramatic comedies that often dealt with modern social issues, he was nominated for five Academy Awards: three ...
's '' Tempest,'' which co-starred Rowlands, Susan Sarandon, Molly Ringwald,
Raúl Juliá Raúl Rafael Carlos Juliá y Arcelay (March 9, 1940 – October 24, 1994) was a Puerto Rican actor. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he took an interest in acting while still in school and pursued the career upon completion of his studies. After ...
and
Vittorio Gassman Vittorio Gassman (; born Gassmann; 1 September 1922 – 29 June 2000), popularly known as , was an Italian actor, director and screenwriter. He is considered one of the greatest Italian actors, whose career includes both important productions ...
. Cassavetes penned the stage play ''Knives'', the earliest version of which he 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 his ''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 Alan Herman (January 26, 1916 – June 29, 1995), known professionally as Ted Allan, was a Canadian screenwriter, author, and poet, several of whose books were made into motion pictures. In 1975, he received a nomination for the Academy Award for ...
'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 him as an aging playboy who suffers the overbearing affection of his 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 his previous films. He despised the film '' Big Trouble'' (1986), which he took over during filming from
Andrew Bergman Andrew Bergman (born February 20, 1945) is an American screenwriter, film director, and novelist. His best-known films include ''Blazing Saddles'', '' The In-Laws'', '' The Freshman'' and '' Striptease''. Early life Born to a Jewish family, Ber ...
, who wrote the original screenplay. Cassavetes came to refer to the film as "The aptly titled 'Big Trouble,'" since the studio vetoed many of his 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 he wrote the three-act play ''Woman of Mystery'' and brought it to the stage in May and June at the Court Theater. Cassavetes worked during the last year of his life to produce a last film that was to be titled ''She's Delovely''. He was in talks with
Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televisi ...
to star, though legal and financial hurdles proved insurmountable and the project was forgotten about until after Cassavetes's death, when his son Nick finally directed it as ''
She's So Lovely ''She's So Lovely'' is a 1997 American romantic drama film directed by Nick Cassavetes, written by John Cassavetes. At the time of its release, it received special attention because, eight years after his death, it was the first (and still on ...
'' (1997).


Death

A long-term alcoholic, Cassavetes died on February 3, 1989, at the age of 59, from complications of cirrhosis of the liver. He is buried at
Westwood Village Memorial Park Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park & Mortuary is a cemetery and mortuary located in the Westwood Village area of Los Angeles. It is located at 1218 Glendon Avenue in Westwood, with an entrance from Glendon Avenue. The cemetery was ...
cemetery in Los Angeles. At the time of his death, Cassavetes had amassed a collection of more than 40 unproduced screenplays, as well as a novel, ''Husbands''. He 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 Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...
film scholar Ray Carney, in which the filmmaker recalled his experiences, influences and outlook on the film industry. In the Oscar 2005 edition of ''
Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Literature * Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan * ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray * ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...
'', one article features a tribute to Cassavetes by three members of his 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 his 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 Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...
, which acquired the films' holding parent company, Westchester Films. Cassavetes's son Nick followed in his father's footsteps as an actor and director, adapting the ''She's Delovely'' screenplay his father had written into the 1997 film ''
She's So Lovely ''She's So Lovely'' is a 1997 American romantic drama film directed by Nick Cassavetes, written by John Cassavetes. At the time of its release, it received special attention because, eight years after his death, it was the first (and still on ...
'', which starred Sean Penn, as John Cassavetes had wanted.
Alexandra Cassavetes Alexandra "Xan" Cassavetes is an American actress and director. She is the daughter of Greek-American actor-director John Cassavetes and actress Gena Rowlands. She is the granddaughter of actress Katherine Cassavetes. She is the sister of actor- ...
directed the documentary '' Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession'' in 2004, and in 2006 served as 2nd Unit Director on her brother Nick's film, ''
Alpha Dog ''Alpha Dog'' is a 2006 American crime film written and directed by Nick Cassavetes based on the true story of the kidnapping and murder of Nicholas Markowitz in 2000. The cast includes Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Ben Foster, Shawn Ha ...
''. Cassavetes's younger daughter Zoe wrote and directed the 2007 film ''
Broken English Broken English is a name for a non-standard, non-traditionally spoken or alternatively-written version of the English language. These forms of English are sometimes considered as a pidgin if they have derived in a context where more than one ...
'', featuring Rowlands and Parker Posey. ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' wrote that Cassavetes "may be the most influential American director of the last half century"—this in announcing that all the films he directed, plus others he acted in, were being screened in a retrospective tribute at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...
throughout July 2013. The
Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic gla ...
named one of their 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 he can be considered a feminist. The song "Cassavetes" by the band
Fugazi Fugazi (; ) is an American post-hardcore band that formed in Washington, D.C., in 1986. The band consists of guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally, and drummer Brendan Canty. They are noted for their sty ...
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 stylization. He often presented difficult characters whose inner desires were not easily understood, rejecting simplistic psychological or narrative explanations for their behavior.Carney, Ray,''Cassavetes on Cassavetes'', London: Faber and Faber, 2001: pp. 283. Cassavetes also disregarded the "impressionistic cinematography, linear editing, and star-centred scene making" fashionable in Hollywood and art films. Instead, he worked to create a comfortable and informal environment where actors could freely experiment with their performances and go beyond acting clichés 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 his actors in any significant detail.Carney, Ray, ''Cassavetes on Cassavetes'', London: Faber and Faber, 2001: pp. 65. He 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." He 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 he strove "to put ctorsin 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'', his films were tightly scripted. However, he allowed actors to interpret characters in their own way, and often rewrote scripts based on the results of rehearsals and performances. He 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." This method differs greatly from the 'director run' sets of big-budget Hollywood productions. According to Marshall Fine, "Cassavetes, who provided the impetus of what would become the independent film movement in America … spent the majority of his career making his films 'off the grid' so to speak … unfettered by the commercial concerns of Hollywood. To make the kind of films he 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 behaviour. He mortgaged his 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 Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians an ...
and
Shafi Hadi __NOTOC__ Shafi Hadi (born Curtis Porter, 21 September 1929 – 1976) was an American jazz tenor and alto saxophonist known for his recordings with Charles Mingus and with Hank Mobley. Biography Hadi was born Curtis Porter in Philadelphia, Penn ...
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 their 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 his 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 André S. Labarthe during the making of ''Faces'' whether he had the desire to make a
musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as brea ...
, Cassavetes responded he 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 In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by ...
" for two of them. During these projects Harwood wrote several songs, some with Cassavetes contributing lyrics and rudimentary tunes. During his work with Cassavetes, Harwood claimed the notoriously unpredictable director preferred to use the "scratch track" version of his 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 he had learned from working with Cassavetes, Harwood replied:
I learned a lot through John. I've done a lot of editing for him. 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.Michael Ventura, , 1984.


Filmography

Faces (1968 poster - retouched).jpg, '' Faces'' (1968) A Woman Under the Influence (1974 poster - retouched).jpg, '' A Woman Under the Influence'' (1974) The Killing of a Chinese Bookie Starring Ben Gazzara (1976 poster - Style A).jpg, '' The Killing of a Chinese Bookie'' (1976) Opening Night (1977 poster).jpg, ''
Opening Night A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...
'' (1977)
As director


Awards and nominations


Notes


References


Further reading

* Carney, Raymond Francis, Junior, ''American Dreaming: The Films of John Cassavetes and the American Experience'', Berkeley, CA / Los Angeles / London:
University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facul ...
, 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.


External links

* *
The Criterion Collection



Literature on John Cassavetes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassavetes, John 1929 births 1989 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American screenwriters Alcohol-related deaths in California American film producers American male film actors American male screenwriters American people of Greek descent American people of Aromanian descent Aromanian actors American writers of Greek descent Blair Academy alumni Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...
Deaths from cirrhosis Directors of Golden Bear winners Directors of Golden Lion winners Film directors from New York City People from Long Island Screenwriters from New York (state)