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The
face.
The
grace.
The
style.
The
walk.
The
look.
The
voice – always that voice.
The
heart.
The
soul
The
soul of an artist.
The
artist is Ben Gazzara.
We
who love film, we who love acting, we
who love this art
whether creating it,
with all the joy and all the pain
or
watching it, with all its passion and
all its magic (when it works)
cherish Ben Gazzara for the creative gift
he has given us time and again.
For
four decades he has been one of our finest
actors – an actor's actor, revered
by his peers all over the world.
His
journey has been remarkable, from Manhattan's
East 29 th Street to the Actor's Studio,
from Broadway to Hollywood to Europe
and back again
and still going strong,
with an Emmy for last year's HYSTERICAL
BLINDNESS, 75 performances of the one-man
show NOBODY DON'T LIKE YOGI (BERRA), and
acclaimed work in Van Trier's DOGVILLE.
Ben's
roll call of achievements covers all the
bases. On Broadway in the Fifties (an
era evoked in the recent documentary BROADWAY:
THE GOLDEN AGE, in which Ben appears),
Gazzara starred in the original productions
of END AS A MAN (recreating his role in
his film debut, 1957's THE STRANGE ONE),
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF and A HATFUL OF
RAIN
performances that influenced and
inspired a generation of actors.
He
attained TV superstardom with two series,
ARREST AND TRIAL (a forerunner and inspiration
for LAW AND ORDER), and especially RUN
FOR YOUR LIFE, in which he played a wealthy
lawyer given two years to live and embarking
on a new globe-trotting adventure each
week. The show was so popular it ran for
three years, but stagnated its star's
creativity.
That
creativity was refreshed by his collaboration
with John Cassavetes on HUSBANDS, beginning
a friendship that lasted until Cassavetes
death in 1989. HUSBANDS, KILLING OF A
CHINESE BOOKIE and OPENING NIGHT are masterpieces
that get better and better with each passing
year, movies that should be required viewing
for aspiring actors, rich and complex
works that reward frequent screenings.
Much
of Cassavetes work was unavailable until
the mid-90s, when the films were discovered
by a new generation of independent filmmakers.
Ben Gazzara was quickly embraced for his
magnificent artistry, and graced such
films as David Mamet's THE SPANISH PRISONER,
The Coen Brothers' THE BIG LEBOWSKI, Todd
Solondz' HAPPINESS, Vincent Gallo's BUFALO
66, John Turturro's ILLUMINATA and Spike
Lee's SUMMER OF SAM.
Other
landmark performances in the Gazzara canon
include Otto Preminger's ANATOMY OF A
MURDER opposite Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick
and George C. Scott, Mario Monicelli's
THE PASSIONATE THIEF with Anna Magnani
and Toto, Peter Bogdanovich's SAINT JACK
and THEY ALL LAUGHED, Guiseppe Tornatore's
IL CAMORRISTA, Marco Ferreri's TALES OF
ORDINARY MADNESS, countless theatre and
TV plays (including AN EARLY FROST, the
first TV movie to deal with AIDS), three
Tony Award nominations, four Emmy nominations
and the aforementioned win for HYSTERICAL
BLINDNESS.
I
have many reasons to cherish Ben Gazzara,
going back to my childhood. I come from
Sicilian and Neapolitan heritage; when
I was a kid, American television portrayed
Italians in a comic, stereotypical manner
– organ grinders with monkeys, or
at best, gangsters.
Ben
Gazzara broke down those barriers.
He
was the first Italian-American actor on
American TV to star as a real person,
the first to bury the stereotype.
That
made him a hero in my family
in many
Italian-American families.
But
that's not all he pioneered. His show
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE helped bring a dramatic
maturity to the medium, not only with
daring technique but with daring subject
matter. He directed some of the best episodes
but always it was Ben's acting, regardless
of what medium, regardless of what role,
that kept us watching.
I've
seen Gazzara's best movies, I've seen
his worst movies – and lots in between
– but one thing always remains the
same – when the man is on screen,
you can't keep your eyes off him.
I
was privileged to direct Ben in the starring
role in a feature called BLUE MOON (2000).
My producer Sylvia Caminer met him a party
for CARLITO'S WAY, called me excitedly
that she'd spoken to him about the project.
We sent him a script, met him at the Westbury
Hotel's Polo Lounge, and Ben committed.
He stayed committed for five years, the
amount of time it took for us to get the
picture financed.
When
we shot BLUE MOON, I didn't have to direct
Ben, I just had to be his first audience,
a pleasure for any filmmaker.
Working
with Ben, I learned more about directing
than I had on four previous movies. His
creative generosity to myself and the
other actors (including Rita Moreno, Alanna
Ubach, Brian Vincent, Burt Young and Vinny
Pastore) was boundless. I marveled at
the way he could take a speech and reduce
it to a few words
or just a look.
He
was always perfect on the first take
and better on the second take.
Cut!
Where did that come from, Ben? I'd ask.
You
liked that, huh? he'd wink and chuckle.
BLUE
MOON climaxes with a three-page monologue
for Ben's character. I fully expected
him to trim it, but no, he did it word
for word. As a writer, this was a greater
reward than any award or review.
During
the entire process, Ben expressed his
belief in me in the simplest of ways,
in the purest of ways
through the work.
This
is just a taste of the man, but here's
another story:
When
Mel Gibson directed BRAVEHEART, he would
sometimes give directions to his crew
in the inimitable voice of Ben Gazzara.
At
the NBR awards gala in 1996, Ben was on
hand to present an ensemble acting award
to the cast of THE USUAL SUSPECTS, while
Mel Gibson was there to receive a special
filmmaking prize for BRAVEHEART. I had
the opportunity to introduce them to each
other.
I
hear you do me better than me, growled
Gazzara to Gibson.
For
a split second, Mel was speechless, staring
at him like a naughty boy. Ben returned
the stare, stone-faced.
Then
Ben's rich laughter cut the air, and Gazzara
and Gibson embraced in a bear hug.
I
treasure the friendship of Ben
and his amazing wife Elke, and I am obviously
writing this with lots of love. Because
of BLUE MOON, we traveled together to
Gazzara retrospectives at film festivals
in Ft. Lauderdale, Avignon, France, and
Oldenburg, Germany, with The Man receiving
standing ovations wherever we went.
So,
yes, I love Ben Gazzara. Check out the
movies I've mentioned, and you'll see
why.
Now
Ben has given us another lasting gift
– his autobiography
which he actually
wrote himself.
In
the Moment: My Life as an Actor has
just been published by Carroll & Graf,
and it's endlessly rewarding. Gazzara
is renowned for his honesty as an actor
– his book is equally so. He paints
a vivid picture of growing up on the Lower
East Side during the Thirties and Forties,
and his teenage introduction to acting
through the Madison Avenue Boys' Club.
There are enough anecdotes to satisfy
the most ravenous show biz appetite, as
he details his encounters and/or collaborations
with James Dean, Claude Rains, Elia Kazan,
Tennessee Williams, Lee Strasberg, Marilyn
Monroe, George Cukor, James Stewart, Orson
Welles, Anna Magnani, Fredric March, Edward
Albee, Al Pacino, Gena Rowlands
just
to name a few. Ben's relationship with
John Cassavetes of course receives special
treatment, and he details the making of
their films together, not only the artistic
joys but the hardships of indie moviemaking.
On
the personal side, Ben is incredibly candid
about his romantic relationships with
Elaine Stritch, Eva Gabor and Audrey Hepburn,
his two failed marriages, and his bouts
with depression, but there's a happy ending
--the beautiful love story between Ben
and Elke, and his victory over cancer.
There's even an unlikely heroine in the
form of Maxi, the couple's adorable honey
dachsund who savesno, read the book,
I don't want to spoil it.
But
perhaps the greatest value of In the
Moment lies in Ben's attention to
how he creates his roles. He writes eloquently
about his craft, and for each major role,
discusses his process of discovering the
character. This aspect of the book guarantees
it a long life as an important contribution
to the literature of acting.
-- JOHN GALLAGHER
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