Ben Gazzara

Biagio Anthony Gazzara saw the light of day for the first time on August 28, 1930 in the Big Apple, and he was the son of Sicilian immigrants. The decision to become an actor was made after watching Laurette Taylor star in Tennessee Williams ‘ “The Glass Menagerie” . Although he tried to study engineering, eventually the idea of ​​pursuing acting led him to the Actors’ Studio. The improvisation of a play with other students such as George Peppard and George Kennedy based on “End as a Man”, a novel by Calder Willingham , would facilitate his Broadway debut in 1953 with precisely that work. Curiously, he would also give rise to his first film,  The Strange One, four years later. A 14-year-old boy wrote his first article in the school newspaper reviewing his electrifying work in the play. Peter Bodganovich could not imagine that over the years he would end up directing him in two films. In between the play and the film, he had continued to establish himself on the stage with more works by Williams, such as “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, where he was directed by Elia Kazan . He would also participate in quite a few television filming of plays.

Gazzara’s first undisputed hit film was  Anatomy of a Murder  ( Otto Preminger , 1959), where he played a defense attorney; he would always be proud to have been able to work alongside James Stewart . His origins allowed him to shoot in Italy with Anna Magnani , directed by Mario Monicelli ,  The Knaves Arrive  (1960); over the years he would frequently return to shoot in the country of his ancestors. In 1963, and for two years, he is a police sergeant in the television series  Arrest and Trial . And in 1965 he joins  Alma de acero , it will be three years that he will be in this series of lawyers.

After a war film by John Guillermin ,  The Remagen Bridge  (1969), comes  If Today Is Tuesday, This Is Belgium  (1969), where he coincides with the actor John Cassavetes . Soon the moment arrives to collaborate with John Cassavetes as director in  Husbands  (1970). The association will be fruitful as they repeat in  The Killing of a Chinese Bookie  (1976), and above all,  Opening Night  (1977), surely Gazzara’s best work on the screens. In addition, as actors they also coincided in  Capone (1975). Offers to work in films poured in on Gazzara, but he claimed to be guided by idealism, refusing to say which films he had turned down throughout his career, because he thought people would label him crazy.

As a supporting role, Gazzara is priceless, and he will be in a large number of films, many dispensable but some notable such as  Voyage of the Damned  ( Stuart Rosenberg , 1976), Saint Jack, King of Singapore (Peter Bodganovich, 1979),  All They Laughed  (Peter Bodganovich, 1981),  The Professor  ( Giuseppe Tornatore , 1986) and  The Plot  ( David Mamet 1997). In 1998, Vincent Gallo ( Buffalo ’66 ), the Coen brothers ( The Big Lebowski ), John Turturro ( Illuminata ) and Todd Solondz (happiness ). The following year it is Spike Lee ‘s turn , with  Nobody is safe from Sam . Lars von Trier will be the one who claims him for his magnificent  Dogville  (2003). He will not stop working until death reaches him, perhaps not in very striking titles, but always contributing his indisputable “know-how”.

His expressive face, slightly ironic, has remained indelible in the memory of the film buff, and of course, in the films he starred in; oddly enough, the awards weren’t very generous to him, he never knew what an Oscar nomination was. Ben Gazzara, who published his autobiography “In the Moment” in 2004, was married three times and has a daughter. His romance with Audrey Hepburn was very famous during the filming of Everyone Laughed . Since 1982 he has been together with Elke Stuckmann, who survives him.