Image of Warren Beatty

Warren Beatty

It might have been easy to write off American actor Warren Beatty as merely the younger brother of film star Shirley MacLaine, were it not for the fact that Beatty was a profoundly gifted performer whose creative range extended beyond mere acting. After studying at Northwestern University and with acting coach Stella_Adler, Beatty was being groomed for stardom almost before he was of voting age, cast in prominent supporting roles in TV dramas and attaining the recurring part of the insufferable Milton Armitage on the TV sitcom Dobie Gillis. Beatty left Dobie after a handful of episodes, writing off his part as "ridiculous," and headed for the stage, where he appeared in a stock production of +Compulsion and in William Inge's Broadway play +A Loss of Roses. The actor's auspicious film debut occurred in Splendor in the Grass (1961), after which he spent a number of years being written off by the more narrow-minded movie critics as a would-be Brando. Both Beatty and his fans knew that there was more to his skill than that, and in 1965 Beatty sank a lot of his energy and money into a quirky, impressionistic crime drama, Mickey_One (1965). The film was a critical success but failed to secure top bookings, though its teaming of Beatty with director Arthur_Penn proved crucial to the shape of movie-making in the 1960s. With Penn again in the director's chair, Beatty took on his first film as producer/star, Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Once more, critics were hostile -- at first. A liberal amount of praise from fellow filmmakers and the word-of-mouth buzz from film fans turned Bonnie and Clyde into the most significant film of 1967 -- and compelled many critics to reverse their initial opinions and issue apologies. This isn't the place to analyze the value and influence Bonnie and Clyde had; suffice it to say that this one film propelled Warren Beatty from a handsome, talented film star into a powerful filmmaker. Picking and choosing his next projects very carefully, Beatty was offscreen as much as on from 1970 through 1975, though several of his projects -- most prominently McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) and The_Parallax_View (1974) -- would be greeted with effusive praise by film critics and historians. In 1975, Beatty wrote his first screenplay, and the result was Shampoo (1975), a trenchant satire on the misguided mores of the late '60s. Beatty turned director for 1978's Heaven_Can_Wait, a delightful remake of Here_Comes_Mr._Jordan that was successful enough to encourage future Hollywood bankrolling of Beatty's directorial efforts. In 1981, Beatty produced, directed, co-scripted and acted in Reds, a spectacular recounting of the Russian Revolution as seen through the eyes of American Communist John Reed. It was a pet project of Beatty's, one he'd been trying to finance since the 1970s (at that time, he'd intended to have Sergei_Bondarchuk of War and Peace fame as director). Reds failed to win a Best Picture Academy Award, though Beatty did pick up an Oscar as Best Director. Nothing Beatty has done since Reds has been without interest; refusing to turn out mere vehicles, he has taken on a benighted attempt to re-spark the spirit of the old Hope-Crosby road movies (Ishtar [1984]); brought a popular comic strip to the screen, complete with primary colors and artistic hyperbole (Dick_Tracy [1991]); and managed to make the ruthless gangster Bugsy Siegel a sympathetic visionary (Bugsy [1992]). In 1998 he was able to breath new life into political satire with Bulworth, his much acclaimed film in which he plays a disillusioned politician who turns to rap to express himself. In 2001, Beatty rekindled memories of Ishtar as he starred in another phenomenal bust, Town & Country. Budgeted at an astronomical 90 million dollars and earning a miserable 6.7 million dollars during it's brief theatrical run, Town & Country was released three years after completion and pulled from theaters after a mere four weeks, moving critics to rank it among the biggest flops in movie history. Fiercely protective of his private life, and so much an advocate of total control that he will dictate the type of film stock and lighting to be used when being interviewed for television, Beatty has nonetheless had no luck at all in keeping his many amours out of the tabloids. However, Beatty's long and well-documented history of high-profile romances with such actresses as Leslie_Caron, Julie_Christie, Diane_Keaton, and Madonna came to an abrupt end upon his 1992 marriage to Bugsy co-star Annette_Bening, with whom he later starred in 1994's Love_Affair, his blighted remake of the 1957 An Affair to Remember.


Read bio at tmdb | Read bio at Wikipedia
Born:
Mar 30, 1937 In Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
Movie/TV Credits:
54
First Appeared:
In the series Look up and Live
Latest Project:
Movie Mr. Saturday Night 2021-11-13
Known For
Poster of Town & Country
Poster of Ishtar
Poster of The Parallax View
Poster of The Oscars
Filmography
Series Look up and Live Boy 2025
Movie Mr. Saturday Night 2021-11-13
Movie Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies Self 2020-08-18
Movie Rules Don't Apply Howard Hughes 2016-11-23
Movie Warren Beatty - Mister Hollywood Self (archive footage) 2015-10-04
Movie And the Oscar Goes To... Self (archive footage) 2014-02-01
Movie Paul Williams Still Alive Self (archive footage) 2011-09-11
Movie Dick Tracy Special Dick Tracy 2009-06-09
Movie Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson Self 2008-07-18
Movie You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story Self 2008-05-15
Movie Revolution! The Making of 'Bonnie and Clyde' Self 2008-03-25
Movie Inside Deep Throat Self (archive footage) 2005-02-11
Movie One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern 2005-09-16
Series Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List Unknown 2005-08-03
Movie The Kid Stays in the Picture Self (archive footage) 2002-08-16
Movie Town & Country Porter Stoddard 2001-04-27
Movie Forever Hollywood Self 1999-01-01
Movie Bulworth Jay Bulworth 1998-05-15
Movie Shirley Maclaine: Kicking Up Her Heels Self (archive footage) 1996-05-19
Series MADtv Unknown 1995-10-14
Movie The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies Self 1995-06-05
Movie Love Affair Mike Gambril 1994-10-21
Movie Writing with Light: Vittorio Storaro Self 1992-01-01
Movie Bugsy Ben 'Bugsy' Siegel 1991-12-10
Movie Madonna: Truth or Dare Self 1991-05-10
Movie Dick Tracy Dick Tracy 1990-04-05
Movie Ishtar Lyle Rogers 1987-05-15
Movie George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey Self 1985-03-03
Movie Night of 100 Stars Self 1982-03-08
Movie Reds John Reed 1981-12-25
Series The Kennedy Center Honors Unknown 1978-12-28
Movie Heaven Can Wait Joe Pendleton 1978-06-28
Movie The Fortune Nicky Wilson 1975-05-20
Movie Shampoo George Roundy 1975-02-11
Movie The Parallax View Joseph Frady 1974-06-14
Movie Year of the Woman 1973-10-01
Movie $ Joe Collins 1971-12-15
Movie McCabe & Mrs. Miller John McCabe 1971-06-24
Movie The Only Game in Town Joe Grady 1970-01-21
Movie The Movie Orgy Clyde Barrow (archive footage) 1968-01-01
Movie Bonnie and Clyde Clyde Barrow 1967-08-14
Movie Kaleidoscope Barney Lincoln 1966-07-01
Movie Promise Her Anything Harley Rummel 1966-02-22
Movie Mickey One Mickey 1965-09-27
Movie Lilith Vincent Bruce 1964-10-01
Movie All Fall Down Berry-Berry Willart 1962-04-06
Movie The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone Paolo di Leo 1961-12-28
Movie Splendor in the Grass Bud Stamper 1961-10-10
Series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis Unknown 1959-09-29
Series One Step Beyond Unknown 1959-01-20
Series Suspicion Boy 1957-09-30
Movie The Night America Trembled 1957-09-09
Series The Oscars Unknown 1953-03-19
Series Studio One Unknown 1948-11-07