Ben Gazzara's screen career began with two critically acclaimed roles
as heavies in the late 1950s. He turned to television in the 1960s but
made a big screen comeback with roles in three
John Cassavetes films in the
1970s. The 1980s and 1990s saw Gazzara work more frequently than ever
before in character parts. If he never became the leading man his early
films and stage work promised, he had a career notable for its
longevity. He was born Biagio Anthony Gazzara on August 28, 1930, in
New York City. The son of a Sicilian immigrant laborer, he grew up on
New York's tough Lower East Side. After seeing
Laurette Taylor in "The Glass
Menagerie," Gazzara decided he wanted to become an actor. He studied
engineering (unhappily) but quit after receiving an acting scholarship
(he worked under well-known coach
Erwin Piscator).
Gazzara then joined the Actors Studio, where a group of students
improvised a play from
Calder Willingham's novel End as a
Man. The tale of a brutal southern military academy reached Broadway
slightly changed in 1953 but with Gazzara still in the principal role.
It was a star making part (he won a Theatre World award) and he then
played leads in the original productions of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
(1955) and "A Hatful of Rain" (1955) (he was nominated for a Tony).
Bigger names Paul Newman and
Don Murray played those last two
roles on the big screen but Gazzara made his movie debut in
Stirb wie ein Mann (1957) the film
version of "End as a Man." The film was a critical but not commercial
success. His next role was as the defendant in
Anatomie eines Mordes (1959)
which was a big hit.
Gazzara followed this with an Italian venture co-starring
Anna Magnani,
Dieb aus Leidenschaft (1960), two
Hollywood films
Chefarzt Dr. Pearson (1961) and
Convicts 4 (1962) and then another
Italian film
La città prigioniera (1962).
None of these did much for his career, and he turned to television. He
appeared in the successful series
Arrest and Trial (1963) and
Wettlauf mit dem Tod (1965).
In between, he made
Nymphomania (1965), a film
version of John O'Hara's novel. He
returned to films in
Die Brücke von Remagen (1969)
and with a cameo appearance in
So reisen und so lieben wir (1969).
His buddy in the cameo was
John Cassavetes, who directed
and co-starred with him in
Ehemänner (1970), a critical success.
Gazzara made two more well-received films with his good friend
Cassavetes:
Mord an einem chinesischen Buchmacher (1976)
and Opening Night (1977).
Gazzara's other films in the 1970s were undistinguished apart from the
sprawling
Reise der Verdammten (1976)
and a rare leading role in director
Peter Bogdanovich's
Saint Jack (1979).
Blutspur (1979) and
Sie haben alle gelacht (1981) (also
directed by Bogdanovich) were only notable because of Gazzara's
off-screen relationship with co-star
Audrey Hepburn (ironically,
Gazzara had declined to make his screen debut in
Krieg und Frieden (1956) starring
Hepburn).
Bukowski - Ganz normal verrückt (1981)
was another lead for Gazzara, but it received a mixed critical
reception. Other big-screen roles in the 1980s were scarce apart from
Road House (1989), a
Patrick Swayze vehicle that Gazzara
believed out of all his films had been the most repeated on television.
He worked much on the small screen, including the groundbreaking
television movie
Früher Frost: Ein Fall von Aids (1985),
playing the father of an AIDS victim.
The 1990s saw Gazzara working like never before, appearing in 38
films. Most were for free-to-air television or cable but he also worked
on the big screen in
Die unsichtbare Falle (1997),
The Big Lebowski (1998),
Happiness (1998) and
Summer of Sam (1999). His
television work included a guest appearance as an executive assistant
attorney in a 2001 episode of
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999)
a nice touch sinceArrest and Trial (1963) was
the predecessor of
Law & Order (1990) and its
spin-off series.
Gazzara has often returned to the stage throughout his career-in "The
Night Circus" (1958) (where he met second wife
Janice Rule), "Strange Interlude" (1963),
"Traveller Without Luggage" (1964), Hughie/Duet (1975) (nominated for a
Tony), "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1976) (again Tony nominated),
and "Shimada" (1992). He has also worked as a director on episodes his
series
Wettlauf mit dem Tod (1965)
and
The Name of the Game (1968)
and the television movies
Meine Tote - Deine Tote (1974)
and
Traumschiff des Todes (1975)
featuring his friend Peter Falk. The
unreleased Ausstieg ins Paradies (1990)
(which he also wrote) was his final film as a director.
In 2003 Gazzara appeared in the independent
Dogville (2003) adding
Lars von Trier to the list of interesting
and acclaimed directors with whom he has worked. There can't be many
actors who can boast that they have acted in films by
Otto Preminger
(Anatomie eines Mordes (1959)),
John Cassavetes,
Joel Coen
(The Big Lebowski (1998)),
Spike Lee
(Summer of Sam (1999)), and
Lars von Trier, among others. Ben Gazzara
died at age 81 of pancreatic cancer on February 3, 2012.
