Actor Warren Beatty: biography, photo, filmography

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Warren Beatty is an American actor, director, producer, screenwriter and singer. Nominated for an Oscar fourteen times. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in Bonnie and Clyde, Shampoo and Heaven Can Wait. Received an Academy Award for directing the historical drama Reds.

Childhood and youth

Warren Beatty was born March 30, 1937 in Richmond, Virginia, into a family of teachers. Moved frequently with his family as a child, grew up in Arlington.

Warren became interested in theater as a teenager, acting in school plays with his older sister Shirley, who later became known in Hollywood as McClain and was nominated for six Oscars.

Warren Beatty was a high-profile football player during his high school years and received offers from several colleges for athletic scholarships. But inspired by the example of his sister, who by that time had already become a popular actress, he did notcontinue his sports career and entered the University of Northwestern, where he studied theater arts. After the first year, the young man dropped out and moved to New York.

Career start

In the mid-fifties, Warren Beatty began working in television, appearing in small roles in several popular series of the time. He also performed successfully in the theater, in 1960 he received a nomination for the Tony Award in the category "Best Actor in a Play".

As a young man, Warren Beatty worried that he could be recruited into the army in the event of a new war involving the United States, which would damage his acting career. So in 1960 he enlisted in the California National Guard, where he served for a year and was discharged in 1961.

In the same year he made his big screen debut in Elia Kazan's drama Splendor in the Grass. For this work, Warren Beatty was nominated for the Golden Globe Award and several other awards.

First successes

In subsequent years, the young actor appeared in many successful Hollywood projects. He played leading roles in the melodrama "Mrs. Stone's Roman Spring", the dramas "Everything Falls Down" and "Lilith", the crime film "Mickey One", the romantic comedy "Promise Her Anything" and the crime comedy "Kaleidoscope".

All of these films were successful at the box office and received generally positive reviews from critics, making Warren Beatty one of the main youngAmerican movie stars. In 1965, the actor founded his own production company.

Career blossoming

As one of the most famous and commercially successful actors of his time, Warren Beatty took a big risk. He produced the film "Bonnie and Clyde", which almost no one believed in at the production stage, since the peak of the popularity of violent gangster films fell on the thirties. However, Beatty convinced the studio to provide him with funds for filming.

He not only played the main role, but also actively participated in the filming process, inviting director Arthur Penn to the project, with whom he had already worked on the film "Kaleidoscope", and also personally inviting actors Gene Hackman and Gene Wilder to the film.

"Bonnie and Clyde" performed well at the box office and received ten Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor. It is believed that it was the success of this picture that marked the beginning of the era of "New Hollywood", when the studios began to allocate money for more risky, author's projects.

In subsequent years, the actor appeared in Robert Altman's western "McCabe and Mrs. Miller", the heist movie "The Dollars", the political thriller "The Parallax Conspiracy" and the comedies "The Only Fun in Town" and "Fate".

In 1975, the satirical comedy "Shampoo" was released. Warren Beatty not only starred and producedpicture, he also co-wrote the script. Hal Ashby's film was nominated for numerous awards and brought the actor a second Oscar nomination.

Director and Producer

In 1978, Warren Beatty made his directorial debut. He co-wrote, produced, starred and directed the fantasy comedy Heaven Can Wait. Directed Beatty with Buck Henry, screenwriter of The Graduate and Catch-22.

The film received numerous Oscar nominations and Warren Beatty became the second person in the history of the award to receive nominations as an actor, producer, director and screenwriter after Orson Welles. After Warren repeated this achievement once again. Today, "Heaven Can Wait" is featured on many lists of the best comedies ever.

The second directorial work for Beatty was the historical drama "Reds" about the American communist journalist John Reed. The project has been in development for almost ten years. The picture performed well at the box office, despite the rather sensitive topic for Americans during the Cold War. The film also received twelve Oscar nominations, Beatty won the Best Director award at the end of the ceremony.

After this project in feature films, Warren Beatty disappeared from the screens for six long years. His next role was in the adventure comedy Ishtar, where he appeared alongside Dustin Hoffman and Isabelle. Adjani. The picture failed at the box office, largely due to the production budget exceeded by many times.

In 1990, the premiere of the film "Dick Tracy" was held, starring Warren Beatty. The actor also produced and directed the film. The adaptation of the famous comic book series performed well at the box office and received positive reviews from critics. A year later, Beatty played the famous gangster Bugsy Malone in Barry Levinson's "Bugsy", for this work he was again nominated for an Oscar.

Three years later, the actor appeared in the melodrama "Love Affair", which received negative reviews from critics. In 1998, Warren Beatty staged the satirical comedy Bullworth, again starring in his own project. For the script for the painting, Beatty was once again nominated for an Oscar.

Retirement and return

In 2001, the actor played one of the main roles in the romantic comedy City and Country written by Buck Henry. The film, with a budget of ninety million dollars, only managed ten at the box office. After this setback, Warren Beatty retired from the film industry for fifteen years.

In 2016, the film "Beyond the Rules" was released. Beatty played the role of the famous millionaire Howard Hughes, and also acted as a screenwriter and director of the picture. The project has been in development for almost forty years. The film received generally positive reviews from critics but flopped at the box office.

In 2017 Warren Beattyfound himself at the center of an Oscar embarrassment when he mistakenly received the wrong envelope with the name of the Best Picture winning project.

Valuations and impact

Warren is considered one of the most influential figures in the history of Hollywood, he has received many honorary awards for his career achievements. Many people who have worked with him call Beatty one of the best producers in history.

Also, the actor and director have many state awards, including the Order of the Arts of France.

Private life

In his youth, the actor was considered one of the main macho Hollywood. Photos of Warren Beatty with a new passion constantly appeared in the press. In particular, he dated actress Joan Collins and singer Carly Simon.

Warren Beatty is now married to famous actress Annette Benning, the couple have been together since 1992 and have four children.