Celebrity Biographies
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature for “for creating new poetic expressions within the tradition of the great American song.” The news surprised all those who had dared to make predictions about that year’s award. The emblematic singer-songwriter is closely related to cinema.
Born in Duluth, Minnesota, on May 24, 1942, Robert Allen Zimmerman descends from two Jewish families from the Ukraine and Lithuania. He spent his childhood hooked on the radio, especially stations dedicated to blues, country and rock and roll.
During his student days, at the University of Minnesota, he also began to take an interest in American folk. he began playing at the Ten O’Clock Scholar, a coffee shop near the university campus, and became involved in the local Dinkytown folk music circuit. When he started acting he changed his name to Bob Dylan.
Dropping out of college after his freshman year, he recorded his first album in March 1962. But it didn’t really break out until May 1963’s “The Freewheelin’,” which featured titles like “Blowin’ in the Wind.”
Filmmaker Sam Peckinpah recruited the musician for film, as a composer for Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid , where he also cast him in a supporting role, as a member of the leading outlaw’s band. The film was an absolute hit at the box office, but one of Dylan’s songs, “Knockin ‘on Heaven’s Door” is considered a classic, and has become one of the most covered of him.
The same year the film was shot, he made his directorial debut with the documentary Eat the Document , which included one of the most important tours of his career. In 1976 he dared with the drama, with the surreal Renaldo and Clara , filmed during a tour. It got very negative reviews. In the mid-80s, at a bad moment in his career, due to alcohol problems, Richard Marquand recruited him for Hearts of Fire , where he plays a veteran musician who takes a young promise under his wing. Although his message about the dark side of fame has his interest, it has a failed and conventional script, signed by Joe Eszterhas. Around this time he also made a cameo appearance on The Way Back., directed by and starring Dennis Hopper .
In Anonymous , he embodied another character close to himself, a decadent musician who is released from prison to give a benefit concert. He was accompanied by stars like Jessica Lange and the Spanish Penelope Cruz . In 2001 he won the Oscar for Best Original Song for “Thing Have Changed,” which was part of the Young Stars soundtrack .
The iconic artist has also been the subject of a well-crafted documentary, No Direction Home , directed by none other than Martin Scorsese . Also, the atypical film I’m Not There was inspired by his songs and his life.