Warren Beatty is an American actor,
producerA film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
,
screenwriterScreenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and
directorA film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.
Early life and education
Beatty was born
Henry Warren Beaty in
Richmond, VirginiaRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
's Bellevue neighborhood. His mother, Kathlyn Corinne (
néeA married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
MacLean), was a
Nova ScotiaNova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
-born drama teacher, and his father, Ira Owens Beaty, was a professor of psychology, a public school administrator, and a
real estateIn general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
agent. Beatty's grandparents were also teachers. The family was
BaptistBaptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
. In Virginia, his father moved the family from Richmond to
NorfolkNorfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
, and then to Arlington, where he became a middle school principal. The family also lived in
Waverly, VirginiaWaverly is an incorporated town in Sussex County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,309 at the 2000 census.-History:Popular legend has it that William Mahone , builder of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad , and his cultured wife, Otelia Butler Mahone , traveled along the newly...
, in the 1930s. Beatty's sister, three years his senior, is the multi-award winning actress and writer
Shirley MacLaineShirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
.
Beatty was a star
footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player at
Washington-Lee High SchoolWashington-Lee High School is one of three traditional public high schools in the Arlington Public Schools district in Arlington, Virginia, covering grades 9-12. As of 2009-2010, the school had over 1,800 students and 120 teachers...
, in Arlington. Encouraged to act by the success of his sister, who had recently established herself as a Hollywood star, he decided to work as a stagehand at the National Theater in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, during the summer prior to his senior year. This enabled him to establish contact with a few famous actors. Upon graduation from high school, he turned down 10 football scholarships to enroll in drama school.
He studied acting and directing at the
Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
school of drama. While at Northwestern, he appeared in the annual
Dolphin showThe Dolphin Show is a non-profit student theatre organization that annually presents a large-scale student-produced musical theatre at Northwestern University.- History :...
. He is a member of the
Sigma ChiSigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...
FraternityFraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
. He dropped out after his freshman year to enroll in the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. By the age of twenty-two, Beatty had appeared in about forty Off Broadway productions. He garnered a best actor
Tony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination in 1960 for his performance in
William IngeWilliam Motter Inge was an American playwright and novelist, whose works typically feature solitary protagonists encumbered with strained sexual relations. In the early 1950s, he had a string of memorable Broadway productions, and one of these, Picnic, earned him a Pulitzer Prize...
's drama
A Loss of Roses. It was to be his only appearance on the Broadway stage.
Military service
Under his original name of Henry W. Beaty, Warren Beatty enlisted in the California
Air National GuardThe Air National Guard , often referred to as the Air Guard, is the air force militia organized by each of the fifty U.S. states, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia of the United States. Established under Title 10 and...
on February 11, 1960.
On January 1, 1961, Beatty was discharged from the Air National Guard due to physical disability. He was also simultaneously discharged from the United States Air Force Reserve. He served on inactive duty only.
1950s and 1960s
Beatty started his career making appearances in television series such as
Studio OneStudio One is a long-running American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by the 26-year-old Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC.-Radio:...
(1957),
Playhouse 90Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
(1959), and
The Many Loves of Dobie GillisThe Many Loves of Dobie Gillis is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from 1959 to 1963. The series and some episode scripts were adapted from a 1951 collection of short stories of the same name, written by Max Shulman, that also inspired the 1953 film The Affairs of Dobie Gillis with Debbie...
(1959). He made his film debut under
Elia Kazan'sElia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...
direction and opposite
Natalie WoodNatalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko was an American film and television actress. After first working in films as a child, Wood became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult, receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old.Wood began acting in movies at the...
in
Splendor in the GrassSplendor in the Grass is a 1961 romantic drama film that tells a story of sexual repression, love, heartbreak, and manic-depression, which the character Deanie suffers from...
(1961). The film was a box office success and Beatty was nominated for a
Golden Globe AwardThe Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
in the category Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama.
Subsequently he appeared in several small films such as
The Roman Spring of Mrs. StoneThe Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone is a 1961 British film made by Seven Arts-Warner Bros. It was directed by José Quintero and produced by Louis De Rochemont with Lothar Wolff as associate producer. The screenplay was written by Gavin Lambert and Jan Read and based on the novel by Tennessee Williams...
(1961).
After being outmaneuvered by
Woody AllenWoody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
and ultimately forced out of "What's New, Pussycat?," and afraid of being typecast as a milquetoast leading man, Beatty then at age 30, achieved critical acclaim and power as a producer and star of "
Bonnie and ClydeBonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow were well-known outlaws, robbers, and criminals who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934...
" (1967). This hit was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Beatty.
Beatty had produced and starred in
Bonnie and ClydeBonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow were well-known outlaws, robbers, and criminals who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934...
as a means of controlling the projects he was involved with. He hired the untested writers Robert Benton and David Newman, as well as director
Arthur PennArthur Hiller Penn was an American film director and producer with a career as a theater director as well. Penn amassed a critically acclaimed body of work throughout the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...
, and controlled every facet of production, including cast, script and final cut of the film.
Bonnie and Clyde became a blockbuster and cultural touchstone for the youth culture of the era. The film, along with Easy Rider, marked the beginning of the so-called “New Hollywood” era[citation needed], where studios gave unprecedented freedom to filmmakers to pursue their own idiosyncratic vision.
1970s and 1980s
Beatty worked under legendary director
Robert AltmanRobert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
in
McCabe & Mrs. MillerMcCabe & Mrs. Miller is a 1971 American Western film starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, and directed by Robert Altman. The screenplay is by Altman and Brian McKay from the novel McCabe by Edmund Naughton. The cinematography is by Vilmos Zsigmond and the soundtrack includes three songs by...
(1971) and starred in
The Parallax ViewThe Parallax View is a 1974 American thriller film directed by Alan J. Pakula and starring Warren Beatty, Paula Prentiss, Hume Cronyn and William Daniels. The film was adapted by David Giler, Lorenzo Semple Jr and an uncredited Robert Towne from the 1970 novel by Loren Singer...
(1974),
ShampooShampoo is a 1975 satirical film written by Robert Towne and directed by Hal Ashby. It stars Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn, with Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Tony Bill and in an early film appearance, Carrie Fisher....
(1975), which Beatty co-wrote with
Robert TowneRobert Towne is an American screenwriter and director. His most notable work may be his Academy Award-winning original screenplay for Roman Polanski's Chinatown .-Film:...
. Beatty and Towne were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film. In 1978, Beatty directed, produced, wrote and starred in
Heaven Can WaitHeaven Can Wait is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry. It is the second film adaptation of Harry Segall's stageplay of the same name, preceded by Here Comes Mr. Jordan and followed by Down to Earth...
(1978). The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. The box office success of
ShampooShampoo is a 1975 satirical film written by Robert Towne and directed by Hal Ashby. It stars Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn, with Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Tony Bill and in an early film appearance, Carrie Fisher....
and
Heaven Can WaitHeaven Can Wait is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry. It is the second film adaptation of Harry Segall's stageplay of the same name, preceded by Here Comes Mr. Jordan and followed by Down to Earth...
allowed Beatty to handpick his next project. He used this power to make
Reds (1981), an historical epic about the Communist journalist
John ReedJohn Silas "Jack" Reed was an American journalist, poet, and communist activist, best remembered for his first-hand account of the Bolshevik Revolution, Ten Days that Shook the World...
who observed the Russian
October RevolutionThe October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
– a project Beatty had begun researching and filming for as far back as 1970.
After a six-year hiatus following
Reds, Beatty starred alongside
Dustin HoffmanDustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
in 1987's big-budget film
IshtarIshtar is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Elaine May and starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as "Rogers and Clarke" – a duo of incredibly untalented lounge singers who travel to Morocco looking for work, and stumble into a four-party Cold War standoff.It also starred Isabelle Adjani...
. It was critically panned and is regarded as one of the biggest
box office bombThe phrase box office bomb refers to a film for which the production and marketing costs greatly exceeded the revenue regained by the movie studio. This should not be confused with Hollywood accounting when official figures show large losses, yet the movie is a financial success.A film's financial...
s in film history. In 1989, he recorded the duet, "Now I'm Following You" with
MadonnaMadonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
for her 1990 album,
I'm BreathlessI'm Breathless: Music from and Inspired by the film Dick Tracy is the second soundtrack album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on May 22, 1990, by Sire Records...
.
1990s and 2000s
In 1990, he bounced back when he produced, directed and starred (alongside his
Ishtar co-star Hoffman) in the title role as the
comic stripA comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
character
Dick TracyDick Tracy is a comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a hard-hitting, fast-shooting and intelligent police detective. Created by Chester Gould, the strip made its debut on October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror. It was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate...
in the film of the same name. The film was one of the highest grossers of the year and also the highest-grossing film in Beatty's career to date.
In 1991, he starred as the real-life gangster
Bugsy SiegelBenjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was an American gangster who was involved with the Genovese crime family...
in the biopic
Bugsy which was critically acclaimed and made almost fifty million dollars at the U.S. box-office. His next film,
Love Affair (1994), failed to do well. In 1998 he wrote, produced, directed and starred in the
political satirePolitical satire is a significant part of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where such arguments are expressly...
BulworthBulworth is a 1998 American film co-written, co-produced and directed by the film's star, Warren Beatty. It was loosely based on the life of Beatty's friend, Tennessee political figure John Jay Hooker. It co-stars Halle Berry, Oliver Platt, Don Cheadle, Paul Sorvino, Jack Warden, and Isaiah...
which was critically appreciated and earned him another nomination for Best Original Screenplay. In 2001, he appeared in his last film to date,
Town and Country, which became the second-largest money loser of any movie ever made (after
The Adventures of Pluto NashThe Adventures of Pluto Nash is a 2002 science fiction comedy film directed by Ron Underwood and starring Eddie Murphy as the owner of a lunar nightclub investigating who was behind the arson that destroyed his club...
) based on contemporary dollars lost: it was made on a budget of approximately
USDThe United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
$90 million, but earned only $6.7 million domestically. Since then, Beatty has not acted in any films but has expressed interest in returning to cinema.
In 2006, Beatty was named Honorary Chairman of the
Stella AdlerStella Adler was an American actress and an acclaimed acting teacher, who founded the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City and the The Stella Adler Academy of Acting in Los Angeles with long-time protege Joanne Linville, who continues to teach and furthers Adler's legacy...
Studio of Acting, succeeding
Marlon BrandoMarlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
. In 2007, the
Hollywood Foreign Press AssociationThe Hollywood Foreign Press Association is an organization composed of working journalists who cover the United States film industry for a variety of outlets, including newspapers and magazines in Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Today, the 90 members of the HFPA represent at least 55...
awarded Beatty the
Cecil B. DeMille awardThe Cecil B. DeMille Award is an honorary Golden Globe Award bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment". It was first presented on February 21, 1952 at the 9th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony and is named in honor of its...
, presented at the Golden Globe ceremony by
Tom HanksThomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
. Beatty was honored with the
AFI Life Achievement AwardThe AFI Life Achievement Award was established by the Board of Directors of the American Film Institute on February 26, 1973 to honor a single individual for his or her lifetime contribution to enriching American culture through motion pictures and television....
in 2008.
Beatty is on the Board of Trustees at
The Scripps Research InstituteThe Scripps Research Institute is an American medical research facility that focuses on research in the basic biomedical sciences. Headquartered in La Jolla, California, with a sister facility in Jupiter, Florida, the institute is home to 3,000 scientists, technicians, graduate students, and...
.
Beatty is one of the few people to receive Oscar nominations in the Best Picture, Actor, Director, and Screenplay categories for a single film. This feat is all the more impressive since Beatty achieved it twice: in 1978 for
Heaven Can WaitHeaven Can Wait is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry. It is the second film adaptation of Harry Segall's stageplay of the same name, preceded by Here Comes Mr. Jordan and followed by Down to Earth...
, where he won nine of the awards; and again for
Reds in 1981, where he won the directing award. His writing credits have often been in dispute, however. In Peter Biskind's biography of Beatty,
Star, several distinguished writers with whom Beatty has collaborated (e.g., Bo Goldman, Robert Towne, James Toback, Robert Benton, et al.) have claimed that Beatty often requested or demanded writing credit where little or none was due.
Beatty's overall Academy Award nominations number 14: he received Best Picture nominations for
Bonnie and ClydeThe film was originally offered to François Truffaut, the best-known director of the New Wave movement, who made contributions to the script. He passed on the project to make Fahrenheit 451. The producers approached Jean-Luc Godard next...
,
BugsyBugsy is a 1991 American crime-drama film which tells the story of mobster Bugsy Siegel. It stars Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould, Joe Mantegna, Bebe Neuwirth, and Bill Graham....
,
Reds and
Heaven Can WaitHeaven Can Wait is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry. It is the second film adaptation of Harry Segall's stageplay of the same name, preceded by Here Comes Mr. Jordan and followed by Down to Earth...
, received writing nominations for
ShampooShampoo is a 1975 satirical film written by Robert Towne and directed by Hal Ashby. It stars Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn, with Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Tony Bill and in an early film appearance, Carrie Fisher....
,
Reds,
BulworthBulworth is a 1998 American film co-written, co-produced and directed by the film's star, Warren Beatty. It was loosely based on the life of Beatty's friend, Tennessee political figure John Jay Hooker. It co-stars Halle Berry, Oliver Platt, Don Cheadle, Paul Sorvino, Jack Warden, and Isaiah...
and
Heaven Can WaitHeaven Can Wait is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry. It is the second film adaptation of Harry Segall's stageplay of the same name, preceded by Here Comes Mr. Jordan and followed by Down to Earth...
, received Best Director nominations for
Heaven Can WaitHeaven Can Wait is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry. It is the second film adaptation of Harry Segall's stageplay of the same name, preceded by Here Comes Mr. Jordan and followed by Down to Earth...
and
Reds, and has received
Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
nominations for
Bonnie and ClydeThe film was originally offered to François Truffaut, the best-known director of the New Wave movement, who made contributions to the script. He passed on the project to make Fahrenheit 451. The producers approached Jean-Luc Godard next...
,
Heaven Can WaitHeaven Can Wait is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry. It is the second film adaptation of Harry Segall's stageplay of the same name, preceded by Here Comes Mr. Jordan and followed by Down to Earth...
,
Reds and
BugsyBugsy is a 1991 American crime-drama film which tells the story of mobster Bugsy Siegel. It stars Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould, Joe Mantegna, Bebe Neuwirth, and Bill Graham....
.
Tribune lawsuit
In May 2005, Beatty sued Tribune Co. for $30 million in damages, claiming he still maintains the rights to
Dick Tracy. Beatty received the rights in 1985 and claimed that Tribune moved to reclaim them in violation of various notification procedures. There was talk of a
sequelA sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
, and Beatty did express interest in reprising the part, but the sequel was sidelined by unexpected legal disputes. In March 2009, Tribune filed suit against Beatty, saying that Beatty had "made no productive use" of the rights for over a decade, causing them to revert back to Tribune.
Political work
A longtime activist in various liberal political causes, Beatty has, at various times, been extremely active in the presidential politics of the
Democratic PartyThe Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. In 1968, he hit the campaign trail for the first time, supporting Senator
Robert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
's bid for his party's presidential nomination. His involvement in the senator's campaign, which included stump speaking and fundraising, was cut short when Kennedy was shot and killed by
Sirhan SirhanSirhan Bishara Sirhan is a Jordanian citizen who was convicted for the assassination of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He is serving a life sentence at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California.Sirhan was a Christian Arab born in Jerusalem who strongly opposed Israel...
on the same night that he won a crucial primary in
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Four years later, Beatty joined the
campaignGeorge McGovern, a United States Senator from South Dakota, launched his second candidacy for the presidency of the United States in an ultimately unsuccessful bid for the 1972 presidential election.-Leading up to the announcement:...
of Senator
George McGovernGeorge Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
as an advisor. As part of the so-called "Malibu Mafia," a group of Hollywood celebrities who were part of the candidate's "inner circle," Beatty gave McGovern's campaign manager
Gary HartGary Hart is an American politician, lawyer, author, professor and commentator. He served as a Democratic Senator representing Colorado , and ran in the U.S...
advice about the handling of public relations and was instrumental in organizing a series of rock concerts which raised over $1 million for the senator's campaign.
In 1984, and again in 1988, Beatty was to play a similar role in Hart's own presidential campaigns. Hart, who had, by that time, become a senator himself, had become friends with Beatty during the 1972 campaign and the relationship had grown closer during the intervening decade. After Hart's second campaign imploded over allegations that he had committed adultery with a former beauty queen named
Donna RiceDonna Rice Hughes is the president and chair of Enough Is Enough, an American non-profit organization in the anti-pornography movement that seeks to make the Internet safer for families and children...
, a mutual friend of the two explained why they were so close: "Gary always wanted to have Warren's life and Warren always wanted to have Gary's. It was a match made in heaven."
Beatty seriously considered becoming a candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination during the summer of 1999 . After it became clear that the only two contenders for the Democratic Party's nomination were to be Vice President
Al GoreAlbert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
and former Senator
Bill BradleyWilliam Warren "Bill" Bradley is an American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, and former three-term Democratic U.S. Senator from New Jersey. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party's nomination for President in the 2000 election.Bradley was born and raised in a suburb of St....
of
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, Beatty made it generally known that he was dissatisfied with the two choices and began to drop hints that he might be willing to seek the nomination himself. After meeting with several powerful liberal activists and influential Democratic operatives, including pollster Pat Caddell, who had worked previously for Hart, McGovern, California governor Jerry Brown and President
Jimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, and adman
Bill HillsmanWilliam Gerard Hillsman, Jr. is an American political consultant and advertising executive. He works and lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota...
, who had worked on the campaigns of Senator
Paul WellstonePaul David Wellstone was a two-term U.S. Senator from the state of Minnesota and member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which is affiliated with the national Democratic Party. Before being elected to the Senate in 1990, he was a professor of political science at Carleton College...
and Governor
Jesse VenturaJames George Janos , better known as Jesse Ventura, is an American politician, the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003, Navy UDT veteran, former SEAL reservist, actor, and former radio and television talk show host...
, Beatty announced in September 1999 that he would not seek the nomination. However, he continued to be courted by members of a different political party, the
Reform PartyThe Reform Party of the United States of America is a political party in the United States, founded in 1995 by Ross Perot...
, who were looking for an alternative to
Pat BuchananPatrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan is an American paleoconservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought...
, a
conservativeConservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
who had switched parties after losing the
Republican PartyThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
's presidential nomination for the third time in a row. Despite frequent entreaties by Governor Ventura, real-estate magnate
Donald TrumpDonald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
, and syndicated columnist
Arianna HuffingtonArianna Huffington is a Greek American author and syndicated columnist. She is best known as co-founder of the news website The Huffington Post. A popular conservative commentator in the mid-1990s, she adopted more liberal political beliefs in the late 1990s...
, Beatty refused to enter the race and Buchanan eventually won the Reform Party's nomination.
Despite his decision not to seek the presidency in 2000, Beatty intimated that he might still run at a later time, telling reporters that he would do so if he thought he "could make an impact on the debate". As
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
governor
Gray DavisJoseph Graham "Gray" Davis, Jr. is an American Democratic politician who served as California's 37th Governor from 1999 until being recalled in 2003...
' popularity with California voters dropped, Beatty campaigned against the
2003 special electionThe 2003 California gubernatorial recall election was a special election permitted under California state law. It resulted in voters replacing incumbent Democratic Governor Gray Davis with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger. The recall effort spanned the latter half of 2003...
. He was the keynote speaker at the California Nurses Association's 2005 convention, and recorded radio ads urging voters to reject
Governor Schwarzenegger'sArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
ballot proposals. The propositions were defeated at the ballot box, increasing speculation that Beatty might run against Schwarzenegger in the 2006 election. But, in early 2006, Beatty announced he would not seek the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Beatty's anticipated run for president in 2000 was lampooned by Gary Trudeau in his strip
DoonesburyDoonesbury is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau, that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, Michael Doonesbury, who has progressed from a college...
.
Personal life
Beatty married
Annette BeningAnnette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
on March 12, 1992, with whom he co-starred in the film
BugsyBugsy is a 1991 American crime-drama film which tells the story of mobster Bugsy Siegel. It stars Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould, Joe Mantegna, Bebe Neuwirth, and Bill Graham....
. Beatty and Bening have four children together.
Filmography
| Year |
Film |
Role |
Notes |
| 1961 |
Splendor in the Grass Splendor in the Grass is a 1961 romantic drama film that tells a story of sexual repression, love, heartbreak, and manic-depression, which the character Deanie suffers from...
|
Bud Stamper |
Golden Globe Award for Most Promising NewcomerThe Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama |
| The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone is a 1961 British film made by Seven Arts-Warner Bros. It was directed by José Quintero and produced by Louis De Rochemont with Lothar Wolff as associate producer. The screenplay was written by Gavin Lambert and Jan Read and based on the novel by Tennessee Williams...
|
Paolo di Leo |
|
| 1962 |
All Fall Down |
Berry-Berry Willart |
|
| 1964 |
Lilith Lilith is a film written and directed by Robert Rossen. It is based on a novel by J. R. Salamanca and stars Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, Peter Fonda, Kim Hunter and Gene Hackman...
|
Vincent Bruce |
|
| 1965 |
Mickey One Mickey One is a 1965 surrealistic dramatic film starring Warren Beatty and directed by Arthur Penn from a script by Alan Surgal. Its kaleidoscopic camerawork, film noir atmosphere, lighting and design aspects, Kafkaesque paranoia, philosophical themes and Warren Beatty's performance in the title...
|
Mickey One |
|
| Promise Her Anything Promise Her Anything is a 1965 British romantic comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller. The screenplay by William Peter Blatty is based on a story by Arne Sultan and Marvin Worth.-Plot:...
|
Harley Rummell |
|
| What's New Pussycat |
|
(executive producer) (uncredited) |
| 1966 |
Kaleidoscope Kaleidoscope is a 1966 British crime film starring Warren Beatty and Susannah York. Though not credited as such, the film is an adaptation of Ian Fleming's novel Casino Royale, albeit with the James Bond character removed.-Plot:...
|
Barney Lincoln |
|
| 1967 |
Bonnie and ClydeThe film was originally offered to François Truffaut, the best-known director of the New Wave movement, who made contributions to the script. He passed on the project to make Fahrenheit 451. The producers approached Jean-Luc Godard next...
|
Clyde Barrow |
(also producer)
Nominated – Academy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
Nominated – Academy Award for Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleBest Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:...
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama |
| 1970 |
The Only Game in Town The Only Game in Town is a 1970 American drama film, the last directed by George Stevens. It stars Elizabeth Taylor and Warren Beatty.The screenplay by Frank D...
|
Joe Grady |
|
| 1971 |
McCabe & Mrs. MillerMcCabe & Mrs. Miller is a 1971 American Western film starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, and directed by Robert Altman. The screenplay is by Altman and Brian McKay from the novel McCabe by Edmund Naughton. The cinematography is by Vilmos Zsigmond and the soundtrack includes three songs by...
|
John McCabe |
$$, also known as Dollars and in the UK as The Heist, is a 1971 American caper film starring Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn, and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The movie was written and directed by Richard Brooks and produced by M.J. Frankovich. The supporting cast includes Gert Fröbe, Robert...
|
Joe Collins |
|
| 1973 |
Year of the Woman |
|
(documentary) |
| 1974 |
The Parallax View The Parallax View is a 1974 American thriller film directed by Alan J. Pakula and starring Warren Beatty, Paula Prentiss, Hume Cronyn and William Daniels. The film was adapted by David Giler, Lorenzo Semple Jr and an uncredited Robert Towne from the 1970 novel by Loren Singer...
|
Joseph Frady |
|
| 1975 |
Shampoo Shampoo is a 1975 satirical film written by Robert Towne and directed by Hal Ashby. It stars Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn, with Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Tony Bill and in an early film appearance, Carrie Fisher....
|
George Roundy |
(also producer and co-writer with Robert Towne)
Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original ScreenplayThe Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay is one of the three film writing awards given by the Writers Guild of America Award....
Nominated – Academy Award For Best Original Screenplay
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| The Fortune The Fortune is a 1975 American comedy film starring Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty, and directed by Mike Nichols. The screenplay by Adrien Joyce focuses on two bumbling con men who plot to steal the money of a wealthy young heiress.-Plot:...
|
Nicky Wilson |
|
| 1978 |
Heaven Can Wait Heaven Can Wait is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry. It is the second film adaptation of Harry Segall's stageplay of the same name, preceded by Here Comes Mr. Jordan and followed by Down to Earth...
|
Joe Pendleton |
(also director with Buck Henry Henry Zuckerman, better known as Buck Henry , is an American actor, writer, film director, and television director.-Early life:...
, producer, and co-writer)
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Saturn Award for Best ActorThe Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed, who felt that films within those genres...
Saturn Award for Best WritingThe following is a list of people who have won the Saturn Award for Best Writing.-Multiple Winners:*James Cameron - 3 awards*Christopher Nolan - 3 awards*William Peter Blatty - 3 awards-External links:* http://www.saturnawards.org/past.html#writing...
Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted ScreenplayThe Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is one of the three screenwriting Writers Guild of America Awards, one that is specifically for film...
Nominated – Academy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
Nominated – Academy Award for Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Director
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated – Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best DirectionThe following is a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Direction:-Multiple Winners:*James Cameron - 5 awards*Steven Spielberg - 4 awards*Peter Jackson - 3 awards*Bryan Singer - 2 awards...
|
| 1981 |
Reds |
John Reed |
(also director, producer, and co-writer)
Academy Award for Best Director
David di Donatello for Best Producer-1956:*Angelo Rizzoli - Le grandi manovre *Goffredo Lombardo - Pane amore e... *Nicolò Theodoli - Racconti romani *Angelo Rizzoli - Le grandi manovre...
Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Director
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best DirectorThis is the complete list of the winners of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Director given by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
National Board of Review Award for Best DirectorAn incomplete list of the winners of the National Board of Review Award for Best Director made by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures:-1940s:-1950s:-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original ScreenplayThe Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay is one of the three film writing awards given by the Writers Guild of America Award....
Nominated – Academy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
Nominated – Academy Award for Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleBest Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:...
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best ScreenplayThe Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture is one of the annual awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."†" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "‡" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "§" indicates a Golden Globe Award...
|
| 1984 |
George Stevens: A Filmmakers Journey |
|
(documentary) |
| 1987 |
Ishtar Ishtar is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Elaine May and starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as "Rogers and Clarke" – a duo of incredibly untalented lounge singers who travel to Morocco looking for work, and stumble into a four-party Cold War standoff.It also starred Isabelle Adjani...
|
Lyle Rogers |
(also producer) |
| 1990 |
Dick Tracy |
Dick TracyDick Tracy is a comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a hard-hitting, fast-shooting and intelligent police detective. Created by Chester Gould, the strip made its debut on October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror. It was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate...
|
(also producer and director) |
| 1991 |
Madonna: Truth or Dare Madonna: Truth or Dare is a 1991 American documentary film chronicling the life of American singer-songwriter Madonna during her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour...
|
himself |
(documentary) |
| Bugsy Bugsy is a 1991 American crime-drama film which tells the story of mobster Bugsy Siegel. It stars Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould, Joe Mantegna, Bebe Neuwirth, and Bill Graham....
|
Bugsy SiegelBenjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was an American gangster who was involved with the Genovese crime family...
|
(also producer)
National Board of Review Award for Best ActorAn incomplete list of the winners of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Award for Best Actor :-1940s:-1950s:-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
Nominated – Academy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
Nominated – Academy Award for Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama |
| 1992 |
Writing with Light: Vittorio Storaro |
|
(documentary) |
| 1994 |
Love Affair Love Affair is a 1994 romantic drama film made by Mulholland Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by Glenn Gordon Caron and produced by Warren Beatty from a screenplay by Robert Towne and Beatty, based on the 1939 screenplay by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden...
|
Mike Gambril |
(also producer and co-writer) |
| 1998 |
Bulworth Bulworth is a 1998 American film co-written, co-produced and directed by the film's star, Warren Beatty. It was loosely based on the life of Beatty's friend, Tennessee political figure John Jay Hooker. It co-stars Halle Berry, Oliver Platt, Don Cheadle, Paul Sorvino, Jack Warden, and Isaiah...
|
Sen. Jay Billington Bulworth |
(also producer, director and co-writer)
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ScreenplayThe Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay is one of the annual film awards given by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted ScreenplayThe 11th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, given on 1 March 1999, honored the finest achievements in 1998 filmmaking.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Ian McKellen - Gods and Monsters*Best Actress:**Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth*Best Cinematography:...
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best ScreenplayThe Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture is one of the annual awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."†" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "‡" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "§" indicates a Golden Globe Award...
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original ScreenplayThe Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay is one of the three film writing awards given by the Writers Guild of America Award....
|
| 1999 |
The Book That Wrote Itself |
|
(cameo) |
| 2001 |
Town & Country Town & Country is a 2001 film starring Goldie Hawn, Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton and Garry Shandling and directed by Peter Chelsom. It is a romantic comedy in which Beatty plays New York City architect Porter Stoddard, with Keaton as his wife and Hawn and Shandling as their best friends. It holds...
|
Porter Stoddard |
|
| 2003 |
Dean Tavoularis Dean Tavoularis is an American motion picture production designer whose work appeared in numerous box office hits such as The Godfather films, Apocalypse Now, The Brink's Job, One from the Heart and Bonnie and Clyde.-Biography:...
: The Magician of Hollywood |
|
(documentary) |
| 2005 |
One Bright Shining Moment |
|
(documentary) |
| 2012 |
Untitled Howard Hughes film |
Howard HughesHoward Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
|
|
Further reading
- Ellis Amburn, The Sexiest Man Alive : A Biography of Warren Beatty, HarperCollins Publishers Inc., New York, 2002. ISBN 0-06-018566-X
- Suzanne Finstad, Warren Beatty : A Private Man, Random House, Inc., New York, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-4606-8
- Peter Biskind, Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced America, Simon & Schuster, Inc. New York, 2010. ISBN 978-0743246583
External links