Contemporary Actors

Collection of Contemporary Actors

Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell

Kurt Russell starred in one of my favourite movies “Escape from New York” in 1981.   He began his career as a child actor and was featured in “It Happened At the World’s Fair” in 1962 with Elvis Presley.   His other movies include “Swing Shift” with his partner Goldie Hawn and “Guns in the Heather” which was made in the West of Ireland for Walt Disney.

TCM overview:

After getting his start as a child star in several movies for Walt Disney Studios, actor Kurt Russell managed to shed his wholesome image to play some of cinema’s most notorious and hard-edged tough guys. Russell first broke the Disney mold with an acclaimed portrayal of the King in the made-for-television biopic, “Elvis” (ABC, 1979), which many hailed as one of the finest performances of his career. Having partnered with director John Carpenter, he next essayed one of his most enduring characters, Snake Plissken, the antihero of Carpenter’s cult classic “Escape from New York” (1981). Russell delivered another solid performance as memorable hard-case R.J. MacReady in Carpenter’s gory remake of “The Thing” (1982). While making the troubled romantic comedy, “Swing Shift” (1984), Russell became romantically involved with co-star Goldie Hawn, with whom he forged a lasting partnership that resembled a marriage, but without the actual legal certificate. He was even considered by Hawn’s two children from a previous marriage, actress Kate Kudston, and her brother, Oliver, to be – at least in spirit – their father. Meanwhile, Russell thrived throughout the 1980s with “Big Trouble in Little China” (1986) and “Tequila Sunrise” (1988), which carried over into the next decade with “Backdraft” (1991), “Captain Ron” (1992) and a dead-on portrayal of Wyatt Earp in “Tombstone” (1993). Following box office success with “Stargate” (1994) and “Executive Decision” (1996), Russell offered up his most engaging performance in the tense thriller “Breakdown” (1997). Though he later faltered with “3000 Miles to Graceland” (2001) and “Poseidon” (2006), Russell nonetheless remained one of the most engaging actors in Hollywood.

Born on March 17, 1951 in Springfield, MA, Russell was later raised in Thousand Oaks, CA by his mother, Louise, a dancer, and his father, Bing, a character actor best known for playing Deputy Clem Foster on “Bonanza” (NBC, 1959-1973). Growing up around the entertainment industry gave the young Russell an opportunity to appear onscreen himself. Russell made his first television appearance with a guest starring role on the short-lived sitcom “Our Man Higgins” (ABC, 1962-63) before turning to hour-long drama with an episode of “The Eleventh Hour” (NBC, 1962-64). In short order, Russell found himself starring in his own series, “The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters” (ABC, 1963-64), in which he played the titular role of a 12-year-old boy who depicts his experiences with his family and the hardships faced after settling California in 1849. Following the cancellation of that series, the young actor appeared as a guest star on shows like “The Virginian” (NBC, 1962-1971) and “Gilligan’s Island” (CBS, 1964-67), before making his feature debut in “Follow Me, Boys!” (1966), one of several pictures for Walt Disney made by Russell early in his career. He played a Boy Scout who befriends a traveling saxophonist (Fred McMurphy) settling down in his small Midwestern town.

Russell continued making films for Disney with a supporting role in “The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit” (1968), followed by a starring role in “The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes” (1970), in which he played Dexter Riley, a student whose brain becomes a virtual hard drive after a computer he was trying to fix is struck by lightning. He revived the same character, now turned college student, who invents an invisibility spray coveted by a gang of thieves in the pseudo-sequel, “Now You See Him, Now You Don’t” (1972). As he entered his twenties, Russell made his last pictures with Disney – “Charley and the Angel” (1973) and “Superdad” (1974), co-starring Bob Crane – before making his final Disney movie under contract with “The Strongest Man in the World” (1975), playing for the last time troublesome college student Dexter Riley. He began making the segue to more adult roles with two failed series, “The New Land” (ABC, 1974) and “The Quest” (NBC, 1976), and completely shedding his nice kid image with a chilling portrayal of mass-murderer Charles Whitman in the television movie, “The Deadly Tower” (NBC, 1975).

A few years later, Russell delivered a career-defining performance as the King of Rock and Roll in director John Carpenter’s television biopic, “Elvis” (ABC, 1979). Though low-budget and missing certain key details, Carpenter’s movie opened to huge ratings and earned Russell an Emmy Award nomination, whole touching off a fruitful collaboration between actor and director over the next decade. Russell also married co-star, Season Hubley, who played Priscilla Presley, after the couple displayed undeniable chemistry onscreen. On the big screen, he became a bankable adult Hollywood star, thanks to a fine performance as a fast-talking charmer in Robert Zemeckis’ raucous, under-appreciated comedy, “Used Cars” (1980). He experienced greater popular success by reuniting with Carpenter for the cult classic sci-fi actioner, “Escape From New York” (1981), playing eye-patched antihero, Snake Plissken, a former solider-turned-criminal in a dystopian future where Manhattan has been turned into a maximum security prison, who is backed into saving the President of the United States (Donald Pleasence) after Air Force One crash lands on the island. Made on a shoestring budget of $6 million, “Escape” earned over $50 million at the box office. It also ushered in a new career trajectory for Russell, who managed to shed his family-friendly image from the previous decade for good.

After voicing the adult hound dog Copper in “The Fox and the Hound” (1981) for his former employer, Walt Disney Studios, Russell reunited with Carpenter for “The Thing” (1982), a gory remake of Howard Hawks’ 1951 film about a 12-man rescue team that discovers a parasitic alien life form that had been buried beneath the Earth for 100,000 years. Though admired by some critics despite the film’s excesses of violence and gore, “The Thing” wound up being a box office failure. It did, however, live on as another cult classic, while adding on to Russell’s impressive array of big screen tough guys. He next co-starred in Mike Nichols’ somber biopic, “Silkwood” (1983), playing the lover of nuclear plant work, Karen Silkwood (Meryl Streep), whose mysterious car accident death after her groundbreaking investigation into plant safety led to a reexamination of nuclear energy. Meanwhile, Russell took a turn toward romantic comedy with a co-starring role opposite Goldie Hawn in “Swing Shift” (1984), in which he played a factory worker denied enlistment during World War II, who falls for a woman (Hawn) working the production line while her husband is off fighting in Europe. Though conventional onscreen, “Swing Shift” was noted for the behind-the-scenes battles between Hawn, who also served as producer, and director Jonathan Demme over the film’s tone. It also marked the beginning of a long-running companionship between Russell and Hawn; though they never married, the couple remained a steadfast couple for several decades while Russell was considered by Hawn’s children, Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson, to be their father, even though they were never legally adopted by him.

Following a starring turn opposite Mariel Hemingway in the psychological thriller, “The Mean Season” (1985), Russell teamed up again with John Carpenter for “Big Trouble in Little China” (1986), doing a hilarious John Wayne-like turn as a tough-guy truck driver who tries to save his friend’s fiancée (Suzee Pai) from an ancient sorcerer (James Hong) hiding beneath San Francisco’s Chinatown. He next played a former star high school quarterback-turned-garage owner coaxed back into reigniting an old gridiron rivalry by a teammate (Robin Williams) in “The Best of Times” (1986). In their first film as a famous Hollywood couple, Russell and Hawn starred in “Overboard” (1987), a screwball comedy about a snobby heiress (Hawn) with amnesia who is tricked by a disgruntled carpenter (Russell) into believe she is his wife and the mother of four rambunctious boys, leading her to a hectic life of cleaning and cooking. Though not a major success, the film enjoyed a hefty video rental life and became something of a guilty pleasure for fans of silly but charming romantic comedies. Russell followed up by playing a celebrity cop who falls for the same woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) as his life-long friend – a retired drug dealer (Mel Gibson) – in Robert Towne’s hit crime drama, “Tequila Sunrise” (1988).

Russell received some of his worst reviews of his career with his next feature, “Tango & Cash” (1989), a buddy action comedy which paired him opposite Sylvester Stallone, as both are set-up for a crime they did not commit by a notorious drug dealer (Jack Palance). Panned by critics, the movie also earned Russell the first Razzie award nomination of his career, thanks to a scene in which he dressed in drag. Russell rebounded quite well with his next film, director Ron Howard’s “Backdraft” (1991), playing a stalwart firefighter who is suspected of being an inside man during a series of arsons investigated by a dogged fire inspector (Robert De Niro). He next played the crusty, seafaring “Captain Ron” (1992), who takes the family of a beleaguered Chicago businessman (Martin Short) on a cruise from the Caribbean. Noted for its finely-tuned comic performance from Russell and numerous quotable lines, “Captain Ron” earned status as a yet another Russell cult hit. After a good turn as a husband terrorized by a crazed cop (Ray Liotta) in “Unlawful Entry” (1992), Russell delivered his most convincing performance then to date in “Tombstone” (1993), playing famed U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp, whose involvement in the shootout at the O.K. Corral became the stuff of Old West legend.

Though the movie itself was successful with both critics and audiences, “Tombstone” was plagued with problems during production, especially when original director, Kevin Jarre, was fired for refusing to cut down an over-long script. Though the rest of the film was helmed by George P. Cosmatos, Russell had claimed – especially in later years – to have directed some scenes himself. He delivered another memorable tough-guy turn in “Stargate” (1994), an action sci-fi combo in which he played a suicidal colonel teamed up with a nerdy Egyptologist (James Spader) to explore another world reached by an ancient cosmic traveling device. Following a reprisal of sorts in voicing Elvis for a brief scene in “Forrest Gump” (1994), Russell starred in the political thriller “Executive Decision” (1996), in which he portrayed a military intelligence analyst who tries to save 400 passengers aboard a hijacked 747. After a good 15 years, Russell once again played futuristic antihero Snake Plissken in John Carpenter’s follow-up, “Escape from L.A.” (1996). Despite the hype surrounding the reprisal, the film failed to live up to expectations, while also having a poor run at the box office. Aside from his starring role, Russell also served as a producer and co-screenwriter.

Russell delivered a good performance in the surprisingly tense Hitchcockian thriller, “Breakdown” (1997), playing a desperate husband trying to find his wife (Kathleen Quinlan), who was mysteriously kidnapped after their jeep breaks down in the middle of the New Mexico desert. Following this compelling addition to his oeuvre, Russell began appearing in a string of disappointing films that pushed him further and further from the public’s consciousness after spending a better part of his career at the forefront of Hollywood’s most bankable stars. He starred in the critically panned box office flop, “Soldier” (1998), playing a genetically enhanced officer tasked with protecting an innocent civilian village in a distant galaxy from being destroyed. Following a small role as a court psychologist in the Cameron Crow misfire “Vanilla Sky” (2001), Russell made another questionable choice by starring opposite Kevin Costner in “3000 Miles to Graceland” (2001), a much-maligned caper movie in which Russell revisited his Elvis roots by dressing up as the King alongside his partner in crime (Costner) to pull off a heist at a Las Vegas casino.

In 2003, Russell co-starred in the emotionally charged, James Ellroy’s adaptation, “Dark Blue,” playing a streetwise, but corrupt police veteran in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots. Russell delivered a commanding performance in the controversial, gray-shaded role and carried the movie on his shoulders until the plot gave way to conventional thriller territory. He again had a strong turn in “Miracle” (2004) playing Herb Brooks, the real-life coach of the United States Olympic hockey team; the same Cinderella team that pulled off the unimaginable defeat of the dominating teams from the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. Russell, an avid hockey enthusiast himself, practically channeled the complicated Brooks and delivered another knockout performance. Russell’s next effort was not as winning, however, though he did deliver his trademark charm in the superhero spoof “Sky High” (2005), in which he played Captain Stronghold, a super-powered father who sends his non-powered son (Michael Angarano) to a secret academy for superhero offspring. He next had a turn in the family film “Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story” (2005), playing a once gifted horseman who is given a lame horse and takes the mare on a quest to win the Breeders Cup Classic, thanks to the unwavering determination of his young daughter (Dakota Fanning).

After turning in several fine, low-key performances, Russell tried to step back into the limelight with the larger-than-life remake, “Poseidon” (2006), playing a middle-aged father struggling to escape a capsized ocean liner with a ragtag group of passengers. But “Poseidon” sank at the box office, leaving Russell still attempting to recapture past box office glory. In a hat-tip to Snake Plissken and other onscreen bad-asses of films past, Russell was a sadistic stunt driver named Stuntman Mike in the Quentin Tarantino-Robert Rodriguez double bill “Grindhouse” (2007). A compilation of two 90-minute horror flicks from both directors, “Grindhouse” was a throwback to the days of bloody, sex-fueled, low-rent double features that played in seedy 42nd Street theaters in New York City. In Tarantino’s offering, a slasher-cum-road rage flick called “Death Proof,” Russell was a crazed killer who tries to mow down young women – including Rosario Dawson and Zoë Bell – in a black Chevy Nova. Though unsuccessful at the box office, “Grindhouse” – which included the Rodriguez portion, “Planet Terror,” and fake movie trailers – was embraced by a majority of critics.

 The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

Sam Elliott, Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer & Bill Paxton
Sam Elliott, Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer & Bill Paxton
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Joanne Froggatt
Joanne Froggatt
Joanne Froggatt

Joanne Froggatt is currently riding high with her performance in the classic TV series “Downton Abbey” in which she plays maid ‘Anna Smith’.   Previously she was featured as the teenage ‘Zoe’ in “Coronation Street”.

TCM overview:

British actress Joanne Froggatt leapt from relative obscurity to worldwide fame in 2010 as the loyal maid Anna Smith in the popular U.K. drama series “Downton Abbey” (ITV/PBS, 2010- ). The role was the culmination of a series of critically regarded turns on British television that saw Froggatt tackle some exceptionally complex female characters, from a teenaged mother on “Coronation Street” (ITV, 1960- ) to child killer Myra Hindley in “See No Evil: The Moors Murders” (ITV, 2006). After proving her ability to carry a motion picture with the intense drama “In Our Name” (2010), Froggatt began her tenure on “Downton Abbey” as Anna Smith, whose romance with the ill-fated Mr. Bates (Brendan Coyle) was among the show’s emotional high points. Froggatt received widespread praise for her performance, which served as the official beginning of her transition from featured player to breakout star.

The daughter of sheep farmers, Froggatt was born Aug. 21, 1980 in the North Yorkshire village of Littlebeck, England. She developed an interest in performing at a very early age, requesting ballet lessons at two years old. After making her acting debut with a theater troupe in Scarborough, Froggatt convinced her parents to send her to the Redroofs Theatre School when she was 12 years old. Three years later, she postponed her desire to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts to make her television debut in “The Bill” (ITV, 1984-2010), and then segued into a recurring role as a teenaged mother on “Coronation Street.” Froggatt worked steadily on television throughout the late 1990s, eventually gaining considerable acclaim as a teenaged girl who witnessed the murder of her boyfriend in “Danielle Cable: Eyewitness” (ITV, 2003), which earned her a Best Actress nomination from the Royal Television Society.

In 2006, Froggatt played convicted killer Myra Hindley in “See No Evil: The Moors Murders,” a docudrama about a monstrous murder spree conducted by two English teens during the early 1960s. She followed with an equally controversial role in “Joanna Lees: Murder in the Outback” (Channel Ten/ITV, 2007), playing a woman implicated in the murder of her boyfriend (Laurence Bruels) during a trip to the Australian outback. That same year, she returned to the stage in a production of All About My Mother at the Old Vic Theatre, which she followed up with more work on television before making her feature film debut in “In Our Name” (2010). A moving drama about a female soldier (Froggatt) who struggled with paranoia after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq, the film earned Froggatt a British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer.

That same year, Froggatt began her supporting role as Anna Smith, head housemaid at “Downton Abbey,” which brought her to the attention of a worldwide audience. A well-liked member of the servant staff, Anna served as a confidant for Lady Mary Crawley after her ill-fated one-night stand with Kernal Pamuk. She later became romantically entangled with valet John Bates, but their romance was interrupted by his conviction for the murder of his wife, for which he received the death penalty. For her performance, Froggatt received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2012.

By Paul Gaita

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

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Michelle Fairley

Michelle Fairley

Michelle Fairley

Michalle Fairley was born in Coleraine, Northern Ireland in 1964.   She began her career on British television in such series as “Holby City”, “The Bill” and “Inspector Morse”.   She starred as ‘Mrs Granger’ in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” and now stars in “Game of Thrones”.

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Rutger Hauer
Rutger Hauer
Rutger Hauer

Rutger Hauer obituary in “The Guardian” in 2019

The source of much of the plangent poetry in Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi drama Blade Runner was the electrifying and ruminative performance by the Dutch actor Rutger Hauer, who has died aged 75 after a short illness. Hauer played Roy Batty, a replicant in a futuristic society who revolts against his foreshortened existence by going rogue and demanding a longer lifespan; when he discovers that this request is impossible to grant, he crushes his creator’s head in his hands.

Despite such extreme moments, Roy ended the film not as a villain but as a sympathetic creature tormented by his own mortality. Rather than killing his pursuer, played by Harrison Ford, Roy saves his life and then makes him an audience for a brief reminiscence – “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe” – before surrendering stoically to his own inevitable demise: “Time to die.”

Contrary to rumour, Hauer did not improvise that monologue, though he did cut most of the written version while adding a few lines of his own, including that final one.

Rutger Hauer
Rutger Hauer

Though the film was not a box-office success, Hauer’s appearance chimed neatly with the new wave futurism in vogue at the time, adding to the picture’s cult appeal. With his platinum hair, black leather trenchcoat, eyebrows so faint as to be non-existent and, at one point, a white dove as an accessory, he could have stepped off the set of that week’s Top of the Pops.

If Blade Runner secured his reputation internationally, it was the popular series of “Pure Genius” commercials for Guinness, which ran from 1987 until 1994, that made him a multimillionaire. He was chosen by the ad agency, Ogilvy & Mather, because of his physical resemblance to the beer in question.Advertisement

“The star’s blond hair was a symbol of the foamy head on a pint,” noted Campaign magazine. Though not a Guinness fan (“I’d rather drink milk”), he starred in more than 20 commercials that maintained an unvarying level of refrigerated quirkiness; in one, he mused on his former life on Mars, while in another he sat beside an aquarium window and assured viewers: “It’s not easy being a dolphin.” 

Hauer was born in Breukelen to Arend Hauer and Teunke (nee Mellema), actors who also ran a drama school in nearby Amsterdam. He abandoned education at 16 for the sea, scrubbing decks on freighters for a year. Stints as an electrician and a carpenter followed, and he briefly enrolled at acting school before being expelled for missing classes. A stretch in the army ended when he was discharged for “psychological unfitness”. He took up acting again in earnest, completed a three-year course and joined a touring theatre company.

Playing a Robin Hood figure in the TV adventure series Floris (1969), set in the middle ages, made him a star in his homeland; he reprised the part in the West German remake Floris von Rosemund (1975). When Paul Verhoeven, the director of the original show, moved into cinema, he took Hauer with him, casting the actor in five films beginning with Turkish Delight (1973), in which he played a sculptor embroiled in a volatile relationship. “I’m naked for three-quarters of the film,” he later said. “In Hollywood, they called it pornography.”

Rutger Hauer
Rutger Hauer

Next came Verhoeven’s lavish period drama Katie Tippel (1975) and his barbed wartime yarn Soldier of Orange (1977). Reviewing the latter, Janet Maslin in the New York Times identified the actor’s enigmatic essence: “Though the screenplay provides him with every opportunity to turn matinee idol, Mr Hauer shows little interest in making himself adorable, and that in itself is intriguing.”

After Verhoeven’s sexually explicit biker drama Spetters (1980), Hauer made his Hollywood debut in Nighthawks (1981), as a charming, callous terrorist hunted by two cops (Sylvester Stallone and Billy Dee Williams). “I had a lot of problems on that film, principally with Stallone,” he recalled. “I had to fight him on the level of what I thought was good enough for the part and what he thought was good enough. I was very angry, very aggressive, very alert, very awake. I don’t think I’ve been more motivated or done better work.”

In the wake of Blade Runner, he was in Nicolas Roeg’s underrated gold-rush saga Eureka and Sam Peckinpah’s disappointing swansong, The Osterman Weekend (both 1983). He was reunited with Verhoeven for the director’s first US venture, the gory medieval drama Flesh+Blood, and stayed in period dress for the more family-friendly Ladyhawke (both 1985) with Michelle Pfeiffer.

In the cat-and-mouse thriller The Hitcher (1986), he was a psychopath who hides a victim’s severed fingers in a portion of French fries and tears a woman in half by tying her to two trucks. “I think in my darker characters I go a little further than most American actors,” he said. “Maybe it’s because I’m not afraid of that side of myself.”

He mixed high and low culture projects with ease. He won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of an inmate at a Nazi death camp in the TV movie Escape from Sobibor (1987) and played a homeless alcoholic in The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1988), which won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival.

But he was a good fit, too, as a vampire in the original, unloved film of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), and returned to blood-sucking in 2013 for episodes of the HBO series True Blood. Though it was not true that the novelist Anne Rice had Hauer in mind when writing the main character of Lestat in her novel, Interview with the Vampire, she did concede that he “is surely how I see my beloved … hero”.

He worked solidly, often in straight-to-video material, but reached wider audiences through small parts in George Clooney’s directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), and the hits Sin City and Batman Begins (both 2005).

He played the title role in the exploitation thriller Hobo with a Shotgun (2011) and Van Helsing in Dario Argento’s Dracula 3D (2012), and was glimpsed more recently in Luc Besson’s intergalactic romp Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) and Jacques Audiard’s acclaimed western The Sisters Brothers (2018). He was also the subject of a 2006 documentary, Blond Blue Eyes, and wrote an autobiography, All Those Moments: Stories of Heroes, Villains, Replicants and Blade Runner, the following year.

He is survived by his wife, Ineke Ten Cate, an artist and actor, his daughter, Aysha, from his first marriage to Heidi Merz, which ended in divorce, and by his grandson, Leandro.

• Rutger Oelsen Hauer, actor, born 23 January 1944; died 19 July 2019Topics

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John Travolta
John Travolta
John Travolta
John Travolta
John Travolta
John Travolta

 

John Travolta has built up a considerable dossier of quality films since his movie debut in the mid 1970’s.   He achieved fame early at the age of 23 with “Saturday Night Fever” in 1978 followed the following year with “Grease”.   Although he has had lulls he has time after time come back with terrific performances in such movies as “Blow Out”, “Face/Off” and of course “Pulp Fiction”.

TCM overview:

The rollercoaster career of Hollywood star John Travolta decisively discredited the old adage that there are no second acts. The New Jersey native first gained fame as a suave, dim-witted Brooklyn high school student on the sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter” (ABC, 1975-79). Being in the right place in the right era, he became inextricably linked to pop culture trends, thanks to sensational starring roles in the disco drama “Saturday Night Fever” (1977) and the 1950s retro musical, “Grease” (1978). Travolta also had a hand in the country music revival of the early 1980s with his popular portrayal of a mechanical bull-riding oil rigger in “Urban Cowboy” (1980). Then for some reason, the biggest male movie star of the late-1970s languished throughout the next decade and beyond, his engaging talent virtually forgotten until a bold decision by Quentin Tarantino cast him in the cult mainstay “Pulp Fiction” (2004). Following the rousing response to Travolta’s darkly funny performance as a junkie hit man, he was overnight commanding millions of dollars for macho hits like “Get Shorty” (1995) and “Ladder 49” (2004) and becoming one-half of a celebrated Hollywood couple after marrying Kelly Preston. Critics raved when Travolta made a belated return to his musical roots in as a tubby Baltimore stage mom in the box-office smash “Hairspray” (2007). In fact, Travolta defined more than any other celebrity – save perhaps Cher and Frank Sinatra – the very idea that a so-called “has-been” could revive a career deemed long dead, coming back stronger than ever.

The youngest of six kids, John Joseph Travolta was born on Feb. 18, 1954, and raised in Englewood, NJ. In contrast to the round robin dinner table slapping of the “Saturday Night Fever” Manero family, Travolta’s home was a liberal, artistic haven, with his older siblings involved in local theater and his mother Helen’s solid background as a singer, actress, and drama teacher. Travolta wanted to be onstage from the start, and was fortunate to gain early exposure to theater, dance, and art films at home. His father Salvatore – co-owner of the family business Travolta Tire Exchange – had built a stage in the basement, but Travolta, nicknamed “Bone” because he was so skinny, hardly needed it, as he would perform for anyone, anywhere at the drop of a hat. His parents enrolled him in drama school in New York, where he learned the holy trinity of old-school entertainment: singing, acting and dancing. By the age of 12, he was appearing in local productions.

At 16, Travolta landed his first professional role in a summer stock production of “Bye Bye Birdie.” Following his junior year of high school, he dropped out to pursue entertainment, moving in with his sister Ann in Manhattan. He began building a resume with off-Broadway dramas and musicals, TV commercials, and even recorded a few pop singles for local record labels. In Hollywood, Travolta spent a couple of years trying to break into the business, but after a few guest spots on medical and cop dramas, returned to New York where he debuted on Broadway in “Grease.” He wasn’t Danny Zuko material yet, but while touring for nearly a year as a supporting player, he was determined that he would one day take the lead. Travolta landed on Broadway’s boards again in 1974 in the Tony-nominated musical “Over Here.” The same year, the budding pilot who had been squirreling away his acting money for flying lessons, finally earned his wings. Having grown up in the flight path of LaGuardia Airport, he was about the join the ranks of jet setters that used to pass overhead.

Travolta flew to New Mexico to play a small part in the film “Devil’s Rain” (1975), and upon his return was met with a casting call for an ABC sitcom called “Welcome Back Kotter.” He proved to be a perfect choice to play Vinnie Barbarino, an inner-city remedial high school student, resident stud, and head of a clique of wiseass underachievers called The Sweathogs. His feathered-haired sex appeal – combined with his faux naiveté and occasionally outrageous physical comedy – made him the breakout star of the ensemble cast, with his likeness appearing on an avalanche of merchandising tie-ins. The music industry smelled a pop star in the making, handing the actor a series of bland ballads including “Let Her In,” which reached No. 20 on the Billboard charts. The well-rounded entertainer continued to explore his range, first as a taunting bully to wide-eyed Sissy Spacek in Brian DePalma’s teen telekinesis classic “Carrie” (1976). The same year he was memorable as an immune-deficient teen in ABC’s legendary telefilm, “The Boy in the Plastic Bubble” (1976). While filming the melodrama, Travolta began a romantic relationship with his onscreen mother, Diana Hyland, who was 18 years his senior and an unexpected choice for a young heartthrob who likely had his pick of young romantic partners.

With “Saturday Night Fever” (1977), John Travolta transitioned from TV and pop music personality to full-fledged movie star. The choice Bee Gees soundtrack and flashy dance sequences were enough to bring in audiences seeking a peek into the high-energy, indulgent world of a New York City disco. But it was Travolta’s flawless, Oscar-nominated portrayal of a 20-year-old paint store clerk beginning to outgrow his roots that resonated so universally and provided the film’s depth. Tony Manero was the king of his local Brooklyn disco, but an emerging understanding of his dead-end life began to crumble his foundation, his desire for something better embodied by a love interest who knew firsthand of the promised land just across the river in Manhattan. The film worked on every level and quickly became a favorite of audiences and critics alike – not to mention how it fueled the dying embers of the fading disco trend with a best-selling but over-played soundtrack.

During shooting of “Fever,” Travolta was dealt a heavy card when the love of his life, Diana Hyland, now a cast member of “Eight is Enough” (ABC, 1977-1981) as mother of the large clan, died of cancer, reportedly in Travolta’s arms. Despite knowing she was fatally ill, she had been the one person who had insisted he take on the role of Manero. He suffered an equal blow in 1978 with the loss of his influential and supportive mother. Coming off such an intense double-dose of grief, the 22-year-old soldiered ahead with another career-defining role in the 1950s high school musical “Grease” (1978). The production was a bold undertaking for all involved, as American cinema was just coming off a run of character-based dramas and had not seen a big-screen musical in a decade. Travolta took the risk, finally realizing his early dream of playing greaser bad boy Danny Zuko, and wooing the proper Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John). The film was admittedly less substantive than “Saturday Night Fever,” but Travolta’s singing, dancing and dimpled charm cemented him as a bona fide movie star. “Grease” received five Golden Globe nominations and became Hollywood’s highest-grossing film musical of all time, with Travolta scoring his first major hit single with the film’s best-selling soundtrack, his duet with Newton-John, “You’re the One that I Want.”

Travolta continued to prove his talent as an icon of specific cultural movements in the well-received “Urban Cowboy” (1980), which chronicled a macho Texas refinery worker with a tumultuous young marriage and a mean competitive streak on his local honkytonk’s mechanical bull. The film spawned another hit soundtrack and jump-started a revival of country music and its accompanying cowboy hats and boots. Brian De Palma’s “Blow Out” (1981) offered Travolta one of his most complex roles yet – a dedicated film sound recordist who accidentally records a political assassination. Though the result was a richly shaded portrait of the hack artist as fallen idealist, “Blow Out” stalled at the box office, as did a pumped-up Travolta in “Staying Alive” (1983), the laughable Sylvester Stallone-directed sequel to “Saturday Night Fever.” In this version, Manero had moved to conquer Broadway, starring in an over-the-top, Hell-inspired production called “Satan’s Alley,” while at the same time, trying to woo two lady dancers at the same time, good girl (Cynthia Rhodes) and the diva star (Finola Hughes). In fact, the only memorable aspect of the movie, was the lead song, “Far From Over,” sung by Stallone’s brother, Frank.

After being the most popular film star of the 1970s, the versatile actor subsequently languished for nearly a decade in mostly forgettable, unpopular films. He could not, as the cliché goes, even get arrested in Hollywood. His most notable work during this phase was the horrible work-out film “Perfect” (1985) co-starring an equally scantily clad Jamie Lee Curtis. Better was the 1987 ABC-TV special, Harold Pinter’s “The Dumb Waiter,” a one-act, two-character play directed by Robert Altman, in which Travolta played a Cockney hit man. It was not until the 1989 sleeper hit “Look Who’s Talking,” that Travolta would become associated with a major box-office success, along with his Scientology buddy, Kirstie Alley. This romantic comedy featured the then popular gimmick of presenting a baby’s thoughts in voiceover (Bruce Willis) and generated two more gigs for the former superstar: “Look Who’s Talking Too” (1990) and “Look Who’s Talking Now” (1993).

During this period, Travolta met actress Kelly Preston and the pair married in 1991 in a Scientology ceremony that was later determined to be not legally binding, necessitating an additional ceremony. Travolta had been active with the church since a chance reading of its tome Dianetics in 1975, crediting his instant rise to success afterwards to its teachings. The couple had a son, Jett, in 1992, the same year that Travolta wrote and illustrated an airplane-themed children’s book called Propeller One-Way Night Coach. At that time in his career, Preston was the bigger name in film. He literally was a has-been at the age 40.

But then 1994 arrived. And with that year, Travolta’s career and street cred sprang back to life with Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” (1994). In the filmmaker’s jarringly funny and violent non-linear crime spree, Travolta was relatively heavy-set, long-haired and wearing earrings; his Vincent Vega being a strangely sympathetic hit man with a heroin habit and a disconcertingly innocent view of the world. Tarantino’s inventive style was highly-praised and the film’s influence on the independent film genre assured that Travolta would again be forever associated with a memorable moment in pop culture history. Overnight, the resuscitated star found himself deluged with scripts and deals, offering him the biggest paydays to date of his estimable career, as well as a second Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Travolta would in fact give props to Tarantino for giving rebirth to his career.

Older and wiser than his first time atop the A-list, Travolta was able to parlay his “Pulp Fiction” success into even greater stardom than he had known in his prime. He worked non-stop, taking advantage of film opportunities like Barry Sonnenfeld’s popular adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s “Get Shorty” (1995), in which he garnered acclaim for his portrayal of Chili Palmer, the ultra-cool hit man who becomes entranced by Hollywood. In “White Man’s Burden” (1995), Travolta starred with Harry Belafonte in an ambitious film about discrimination that won mixed critical notices and little audience support. He followed with John Woo’s action-adventure thriller “Broken Arrow” (1996), in which he played a pilot who masterminds an extortion plot against the U.S. government.

Off-screen, Travolta was by now a licensed pilot for a variety of classes of aircraft and kept a personal fleet of planes at his home in Florida. In 1996, he reportedly received an $8 million fee for “Phenomenon,” in which he played a man who develops superior abilities after being struck by a white light. The press virtually overlooked this indiscretion, and studios continued to line up for his services. In his spare time, Travolta continued to fly the friendly skies, eventually earning his shot at flying jumbo jets. The $8 million fee was a bargain compared to what Travolta was soon earning. He finished 1996 as a fallen angel in Nora Ephron’s “Michael,” before unleashing a juggernaut line-up in 1997-98. He was again paired with John Woo for “Face/Off,” a lyrical thriller about identity exchange that wove together sadistic cruelty and grotesque sentimentality with breathtaking assurance. Although most critics despaired over Costa-Gavras’ “Mad City” (1997) and panned Travolta’s singularly stupid character, he found himself on surer ground in Nick Cassavetes’ romantic drama, “She’s So Lovely” (1997), which matched him with far better results opposite Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn and afforded him a role of some nuance. He received $20 million to portray Governor Jack Stanton, a thinly veiled adaptation of then-President Bill Clinton, in Mike Nichols’ “Primary Colors” (1998). He also squeezed in performances as an attorney battling powerful corporations on behalf of toxic poisoning victims in “A Civil Action” and was part of a star-studded cast including Sean Penn, John Cusack, Gary Oldman and George Clooney in Terrence Malick’s war picture, “The Thin Red Line” (1998).

After appearing in the unsuccessful and highly ridiculed apocalyptic alien movie written by Ron L. Hubbard, “Battlefield Earth” (2000) which he also produced – and which many perceived as a vanity project and payback to Scientology – Travolta and Preston gave birth to a daughter Ella and redeemed his film career as another top-notch bad guy in the otherwise routine action thriller, “Swordfish” (2001). Unfortunately, the forgettable film was more notable for Halle Berry’s nude scene than for anything else. With the routine thriller “Basic” (2003), Travolta played a DEA agent investigating a mysterious disappearance. His subsequent role as the villainous money-launder Howard Saint in the comic book superhero adaptation “The Punisher” (2004) was a step in the right direction performance-wise, walking a fine line between a realistic performance and moments of high camp, but the film itself was not overwhelming.

Travolta delivered a strong performance in his follow-up, “Ladder 49” (2004), playing a veteran firefighter who tries to impart practical wisdom to a promising up-and-comer (Joaquin Phoenix). Although the part was not entirely suited to Travolta’s strengths, the actor made the most of the supporting role. He easily slipped back into character as Chili Palmer for the entertaining sequel “Be Cool” (2005), in which Chili segues from the movie biz into the music industry. After an unusual two-year hiatus from the big screen – he had been working incessantly since “Pulp Fiction” – Travolta emerged in “Wild Hogs” (2007), a wildly successful road comedy about four middle-aged men (Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy) who set out to prove their manhood with a freewheeling, cross-country motorcycle trip. Despite a bevy of bad reviews, “Wild Hogs” reaped a box office whirlwind, but with the musical “Hairspray” (2007), critics and audiences alike were in agreement that Travolta was still the real deal.

Playing a role originated by famed drag queen Divine in the original John Waters film, Travolta was outrageously entertaining as Edna Turnblad, the 1960s working-class Baltimore mom of wannabe TV dance star Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Bosky). The role necessitated an agonizing amount of prosthetics and makeup to transform Travolta into a Hefty Hideaway spokes model, but the veteran stage star still danced his way into a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The summer blockbuster went on to become the third top grossing musical of all time, with “Grease” still holding strong in first position. Meanwhile, Travolta made a rare foray into animated features, voicing the lead character in the popular and acclaimed “Bolt” (2008), a family adventure about a famous television dog who discovers that his fictional powers are of no use when he goes on a real-life cross-country journey to reunite with his co-star (voiced by Miley Cyrus). Travolta earned a Golden Globe nomination for performing the song “I Thought I Lost You,” however his latest professional achievement was overshadowed by personal tragedy when Jett died after suffering a seizure while on vacation with the family in the Bahamas. Travolta and Preston had in the past stated that the 16-year-old suffered from Kawasaki syndrome, an inflammation of the blood vessels possibly brought on by environmental toxins. A huge public outpouring of sympathy followed, with Travolta and Preston finally confirming in public that their son had autism and suffered from regular seizures. Meanwhile, Travolta sued two Bahamians he claimed had tried to extort him and his wife for $25 million in connection to their son’s death, though in the end the judge ruled the case a mistrial and Travolta declined to pursue it further.

Travolta returned to theaters in the summer of 2009 in a rare villainous turn as the mastermind of a subway hijacking in “The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3” (2009), Tony Scott’s remake of the classic 1974 thriller adapted from Morton Freedgood’s novel. Despite the star power of Travolta and Denzel Washington as the transit dispatcher trying to stop his destructive plan, the big budget film brought in disappointing box office returns. The versatile star opted for a family comedy for his next outing, starring opposite Robin Williams as a pair of business partners entrusted with the care of infant twins in “Old Dogs” (2009). Following that critically maligned comedy, Travolta returned to playing harder-edged characters in “From Paris with Love” (2010), where he portrayed a crazed special agent who partners with a low-level CIA operative (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) to stop a terrorist bombing plot.

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Ciaran McMenamin
Ciaran McMenamin

Ciaran McMenamin

Ciaran McMenamin was born in Enniskillen in Northern Ireland in 1975.   He is nest known for his performance in the hit TV series “Primeval”.   One of his early successes was in 1998 in the series “The Young Person’s Guide to Becoming a Rock Star”.   His films include “Titanic Town”, “County Kilburn” and “To End All Wars”.   Interview here.

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Billy Wirth
Billy Wirth
Billy Wirth

Billy Wirth is probably best remembered  for the 1987 cult classic “The Lost Boys”.   He has also appeared on television ins “Sex and the City”, “American Gladiators” and “CSI”.

IMDB entry:

Wirth attended Collegiate Prep School in Manhattan and Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Discovered by photographer Bruce Weber while at Brown University, he started modeling in New York City in the mid 80s for such magazines as Seventeen, GQ, Interview, and teen magazines. While at Brown he did his first Diet Pepsi Commercial before moving on to television and movies. His first television show was The Equalizer and moved to LA to start an acting career. His first movie was Seven Minutes In Heaven. Fifteen years later he is fine tuning his craft and has moved on to being behind the camera. Besides acting, he is also serious about writing,directing,and his artwork is showing in many California galleries. Having completed a Short Film, Kismet, in 1999, he moved on to his first full length Independent film, MacArthur Park, for which he was the writer, director and producer. The film was screened at the Sundance Film Festival 2001 (Grand Prize nominee), Taos Talking Picture Festival (Land Grant nominee), and Seattle International Film Festival 2001 as part of the Black Experience in Films. In the early 1990s Billy fronted a rock band in LA called Dust N’Bones. He works off and on with a band called “The Cronies” and they are still in the working stage of a new acoustic CD with music written by Wirth and Steven Costentino. Billy seems to have found his calling behind the scenes of movie making and at the present time is working on a documentary that combines the plight of the homeless, one of Billy’s long time interests, and behind the making of MacArthur Park. He changed management in 2007 by going with John Crosby Management of LA and will be working with manager looking for acting and directing projects. He has also opened his own online Art Gallery and completed a new film The Drone Virus, plus a feature for director Andrew Wagner called The Talent Given Us.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: maxie@billywirthfanclub.com

The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.

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Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp is one of the best of the current leading actors.   He was born in 1963 in Kentucky.   He came to fame for his performance ion the U.S. television series “21 Jump Street” in 1987.   His  films include “Cry-Baby”, “Pirates of the Carribbean” and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”.

TCM overview:

Johnny Depp spent a decade on the fringes of Hollywood as a favorite of independent directors like Tim Burton and Lasse Hallstrom, until his unbridled originality and penchant for extreme characterizations found a worldwide audience with “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003). Throughout the 1990s the actor built a strong critical and art house following portraying societal outsiders – from the anatomic anomaly “Edward Scissorhands” (1990) to cross-dressing B-movie director “Ed Wood” (1994) to twitchy drug-addled journalist Hunter S. Thompson in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” (1998). He was so adept in disappearing into characters and accents that many had long ago forgotten that this respected “actor’s actor” had initially gotten his start as a posterboy of both bad behavior – numerous real-life run-ins with the press and the occasional trashing of a hotel room – as well as good, getting his big break on the teenybopper favorite, “21 Jump Street” (Fox, 1987-1991). Depp’s reputation as an “actor’s actor” solidified with leads in mainstream films “Donnie Brasco” (1997) and “Blow” (2001), but when Disney cast him as Captain Jack Sparrow, the actor’s characterization of the plundering pirate captivated international moviegoers and made box office history. While Depp remained loyal to the offbeat and fantastical films of Tim Burton, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise turned the edgy and inventive leading man into a reluctant superstar.

John Christopher Depp II was born on June 9, 1963, in Owensboro, KY. The son of a waitress and a civil engineer and the youngest of four kids, Depp was a fourth generation Kentuckian with Cherokee roots. The family moved constantly while Depp was growing up, first from Kentucky to Florida when Depp was six years old and from house to motel to apartment endlessly thereafter, racking up over 20 addresses by the actor’s estimation. His father left the family when Depp was 15 years old, at which point Depp had already been in trouble with school and the law from the use of drugs and alcohol. He had also been playing guitar for several years, and having experienced some initial success playing club gigs (and sneaking into bars as an underage performer) Depp dropped out of Miramar High School in the 11th grade to become a guitar player. In a bout of remorse, he tried to return two weeks later, but his principal suggested he might make a better rock star than student. Depp pumped gas and worked construction jobs while his band The Kids paid their dues, recorded a demo, and eventually began to land prestigious opening slots for bands like The Talking Heads, Iggy Pop, and The Ramones. When Florida became too small for an ambitious rock band, the aging “Kids” renamed themselves Six Gun Method and headed to Los Angeles in search of a record deal.

Six Gun Method were struggling little fish in a big pond in the L.A. music scene of 1983, so poverty plus Depp’s youthful marriage to fellow musician Lori Anne Allison that same year only increased tension within the band. They managed to land a few gigs and during the day, they all worked at the same telemarketing company, selling pens for $100 dollars a week. Depp’s wife introduced him to a former boyfriend, Nicolas Cage, and Cage urged Depp to pursue acting. In need of a better job, Depp followed the leads to a casting audition for Wes Craven and came away with a role as the heroine’s doomed boyfriend in “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984) – in a quick blur, Depp being sucked into a demon bed became his auspicious cinematic start. Following his blood-soaked debut, he co-starred in the teen romp “Private Resort” (1985) and landed a small role in Oliver Stone’s Oscar-winning “Platoon” (1986). In the meantime, the band fell apart, his marriage ended, and Johnny Depp the accidental actor was about to become a teen idol.

With his mop of classic movie star hair, his deep serious eyes, and his beyond chiseled cheekbones, Depp as a teen idol was a no-brainer, and was just what Fox needed to complete the cast of its first original TV series, “21 Jump Street.” As Officer Tom Hanson, Depp played one of a unit of cops working undercover in high schools – ironic considering he had spent the better part of his youth on the other side of the law. The show was a hit with young audiences and Depp became an overnight sensation, his character’s leather jacket and rebellious attitude earning the actor a bad boy reputation that would follow him for years. It was an invaluable introduction to show business for the newcomer, but Depp was uncomfortable with his star status – to the point that one night, he was even caught defacing his own image on a billboard. After fulfilling his contract for three seasons, Depp was ready to move on and eager to distance himself from the career-limiting curse of teen idolhood.

Depp immediately seized the opportunity to satirize his image in John Waters’ musical “Cry-Baby” (1990). As a sneering, crooning, 1950’s juvenile delinquent, Depp established his offbeat sensibility and displayed a smoldering sexiness that could easily have paid his bills for the next two decades, but which he promptly left behind to play “Edward Scissorhands” (1990). A challenge for any actor, Depp was captivating in his nearly wordless portrayal of a mad inventor’s creation – a boy with scissors for hands who finds himself adopted by a well-meaning suburban family. Tim Burton’s gothic fable resonated strongly with audiences, Depp’s physical grace and expressive features reminiscent of the sympathetic silent characters like Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp, and worthy of a Golden Globe nomination. The film not only put him on the big screen map officially – it also introduced him to two very important people in his life. First, director Burton, with whom Depp would collaborations with on project after project, so fond of and in tune with each other were they. On a different note, “Scissorhands” also introduced Depp to co-star, Winona Ryder. The two quickly became an inseparable couple, and as a unit, developed into hip icons of the early 90s with their disheveled thrift store clothes, rock star friends and devil-may-care chain smoking. Depp even stamped his love for the actress permanently on his skin, resulting in the famous “Winona Forever” tattoo.

Onscreen, Depp continued his quest to explore distinctive material, starring in “Arizona Dream” (1992) as a young man unwillingly called upon by his uncle (Jerry Lewis) to take over the family car dealership. “Benny & Joon” (1993) presented Depp as a modern-day circus performer who, in the course of romancing a mentally disturbed woman (Mary Stuart Masterson), performs set pieces – again reminiscent of the great silent film stars, though this time more Keaton than Chaplin. That same year, in the title role of Lasse Hallstrom’s “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” Depp played it straight as a Midwesterner trapped in a small town by familial obligations. The film hearkened back to Depp’s own past, and the actor brought a gentleness and melancholy to his moving portrait of family dysfunction and unfulfilled ambitions. Most particularly touching were his scenes with mentally disabled younger brother Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio) and obese “Momma” (Darlene Cates).

At the same time, in 1993 Depp launched the Viper Room, a low-key Sunset Strip rock club popular with famous and non-famous music lovers who came for lounge music-themed martini nights and live bands. Depp donned his guitar and made occasional appearances with P, an informal group including Depp, Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers), actor Sal Jenco, and a roster of local guests including Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Steve Jones (Sex Pistols). The world at large learned of The Viper Room on Halloween 1993, when actor River Phoenix died from an overdose of heroin and cocaine – a “speedball” – outside the club. The press made the event into a sensationalized story of the excesses of young Hollywood, and Depp reacted with a statement condemning the media for turning Phoenix’s death into a circus. Meanwhile, his over three year relationship with Ryder was coming to an end and the actor sought solace in a period of drugs and heavy drinking. He recorded and played live dates with ex-Pogue Shane McGowan in early 1994, which was not likely to cure him of his bender but most likely lessened the pain of all the loss he had recently experienced.

In 1994, Depp reteamed with Burton and won considerable critical acclaim for “Ed Wood” (1994), which chronicled the career of the angora sweater-wearing “Plan 9 from Outer Space” (1959) cross-dressing filmmaker and his friendship with fading horror icon, Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau). Depp brought a bouncy, post-war optimism and unflagging confidence to the portrayal, and his handling of the absurd comedy was pure genius as he chomped cigars in high heels and skirts – apparently fearless when diving into a characterization. He followed up “Ed” with a rare role that actually embraced his good looks, donning a mask and Castilian accent for “Don Juan DeMarco” (1995). The film afforded him the opportunity to act opposite the legendary Marlon Brando, who played the therapist to Depp’s Don Juan, a modern day patient with delusions of being the world-renowned 14th century Spanish libertine, with the outfit to match. Though the film did little to further his career, he looked good and worked with Brando. That was apparently enough for Depp, as it would be for any actor worth his salt.

The actor who, despite a wild image, often appeared to be a serial monogamist, announced his engagement to English model Kate Moss the same year. The two made headlines in 1994 during a stay at The Mark hotel in New York, when what was described by the actor as simply a “bad night” resulted in destruction of furniture in the couple’s suite and Depp’s arrest for felony criminal mischief. The charges were dropped, but the press had a field day, painting Depp and Moss as a tempestuous couple on a rampage. In a brief foray back into music, Depp’s band P released an album, and though the members kept the side project fairly low profile, the single “Michael Stipe” did enjoy a bit of airplay.

In John Badham’s “Nick of Time” (1995), Depp was a surprising sight as a father racing the clock to rescue his kidnapped daughter, but the stylized thriller ultimately failed to deliver the unique results audiences came to expect from Depp. He rebounded with Jim Jarmusch’s artfully filmed “Dead Man” (1996), playing a mild-mannered accountant mixed up in a whorehouse shooting and forced to go on the lam across 1840’s western frontier with a bullet in his chest. Jarmusch’s and Depp’s subtle sense of absurd humor proved to be highly compatible. Adding to his cast of oddball outsiders, Depp essayed the title role in Mike Newell’s “Donnie Brasco” (1997), an FBI undercover agent who infiltrates a crime family, befriends its volatile leader, and begins to morph a little too well into his surroundings. Depp won praise for his layered portrayal of the real-life Joe Pistone – and especially for his interplay with co-star Al Pacino, who served as Depp’s mentor onscreen and off.

The year 1997 marked Depp’s feature directorial debut with “The Brave,” a film he co-wrote with older brother D. P. Depp and in which he starred as a father who agrees to play the victim in a snuff film to earn money for his family. The film also featured Brando and Clarence Williams III, but earned mostly negative reviews following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Depp returned to the recording studio to lend guitar work to Oasis’ Be Here Now album before tackling the mighty portrayal of Raoul Duke, the drug-crazed alter ego of Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson in Terry Gilliam’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” (1998). Depp gave a hilarious and eye-popping performance that seamlessly blended with the film’s lush, undulating, fantastical feel, and the film earned Gilliam a Golden Palm nomination at Cannes. That year, Depp and Moss finally called it quits, after a break-up and reconciliation the previous tempestuous year and press speculation of drug use.

Depp may have chosen “The Astronaut’s Wife” – the first of his three 1999 thrillers – for the opportunity to play good boy-gone-wrong under alien influence, but the result was sadly a rare one-note performance. From one movie resembling Roman Polanski’s “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968), he moved to “The Ninth Gate” (1999), which was actually directed by Polanski. As a rumpled, bespectacled book dealer in search of a 17th-century volume allegedly co-authored by Satan, Depp was the soft, unassertive core of a film thought by most – but not all – to be a journey to nowhere. The film was forgettable, but shooting in France was not, for it was there that he met French singer- songwriter Vanessa Paradis and essentially never went back stateside again, except for work. The lovers had a daughter named Lily Rose Melody on May 27, 1999, providing the renegade drifter of sorts with an instant attitude adjustment in Depp, who now waxed poetic that the love of his daughter had caused him to finally understand the world. Several months prior to the birth, however, he had landed in a London jail after threatening a paparazzi whom he felt was being disrespectful of Paradis’ pregnancy.

With “Sleepy Hollow” (1999), based on the Washington Irving legend, Depp again paired perfectly with the imaginative gothic vision of Tim Burton. The studio nixed his notion of playing Ichabod Crane with a long pointy nose, though he did insist on going against the heroic archetype with his prissy, neurotic characterization. It became Depp’s biggest box office hit to date, but he followed up with a pair of films that barely saw the light of box office day – Julian Schnabel’s “Before Night Falls” (2000), the story of Cuban poet-novelist Reinaldo Arenas – in which Depp again cross-dressed – and the period drama “The Man Who Cried” (2001) where he starred as Christina Ricci’s gypsy love interest in post World War II France. Between films, Depp returned to the recording studio, co-writing two tracks with Paradis and playing guitar on one track of her 2000 release Bliss. He also directed music videos for the singles “Que Fait la Vie?” and “Pourtant.”

Depp returned to the screen to take on another interpretation of a real-life figure in Ted Demme’s “Blow” (2001), where he chronicled the rise and fall of George Jung, a major cocaine trafficker for Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar during the 1970s. In the moody thriller “From Hell” (2001), Depp took on the role of Inspector Frederick Abberline, a London detective and opium addict embroiled in the Jack the Ripper murders of the 1880s. Depp and girlfriend Paradis welcomed their second child, John III (Jack), into the family on April 9, 2002, and by all accounts, restless Depp seemed to be settling into a satisfying real life role as a family man abroad with a steady stream of moderately successful, artfully-oriented films.

In 2003, Disney executives got their first peek at the dailies for “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” and began rounds of panicked phone calls. They initially had not had high hopes for the film, as earlier attempts to build a narrative around the popular Disney World ride had failed. Convinced by director Gore Verbinski that Depp could be trusted, they fretted over the film’s release and were stunned when the finished product was a runaway blockbuster. Capping his teeth with gold and basing his performance on the swaggering, dissipated rock star Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Depp was a lively tour de force, finding himself in the unique position of not only being nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for a comedic performance, but for appearing in a commercial blockbuster at long last. The film was the fourth highest grossing of the year and Hollywood wrongly assumed that the now mainstream viable star would be accepting scripts for blockbusters. Predictable only for being unpredictable, Depp’s next appearance was in indie icon Robert Rodriguez’s “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” (2003), the third of the filmmaker’s trilogy and one that positioned Depp as a corrupt CIA agent who lures El Mariachi out of seclusion for a dangerous mission.

Depp drew little attention for his uninspired turn in the Stephen King adaptation “Secret Window” (2004), playing an author caught up in accusations of plagiarism and stalked by his accuser. However, with his follow-up, the actor mesmerized critics as Peter Pan scribe J.M. Barrie in the highly-praised “Finding Neverland” (2004). Depp delivered a subtle but deeply emotional performance as the playwright who, despite his age and wisdom, wished to never grow up. Depp earned his second Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his performance. He also unloaded The Viper Room and launched his production company, Infinitum Nihil, in June of 2004, taking on the role of CEO and cutting a first look deal with Initial Entertainment.

Considering his infamous history of pulling off outrageous characterizations, Depp was an ideal choice to play magical candy maker Willie Wonka in Burton’s adaptation of Ronald Dahl’s “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory” (2005), a remake of 1971’s “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” Burton’s darker interpretation hewed closer to the book, while Depp’s Wonka was both inspired and a bit more unsettling. The film received favorable reviews and Depp, the new superstar of family entertainment, raked in box office receipts of $475 million dollars. That same year he provided the voice of Victor Van Dort, a Victorian lad whisked away to the underworld to wed a mysterious undead woman in Burton’s stop-motion animated feature “Corpse Bride” (2005).

Depp was pleased to revive Captain Jack Sparrow for the inevitable sequel, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (2006), a harrowing, energetic and worthy addition to the swashbuckling franchise. Depp outweighed co-star Orlando Bloom and displayed fine chemistry with a game Keira Knightley in a story that pitted the three against undead pirate Davy Jones – and sometimes themselves – in a quest to find a valued treasure that would enable control over supernatural forces. “Dead Man’s Chest” broke several box-office records, including biggest single-day gross and biggest opening weekend ever, paving the way for the third installment, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (2007). “At World’s End” focused on the desperate quest undertaken by heroes Will Turner (Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Knightley), both allied with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush reprising his role from the first “Pirates”), to rescue Sparrow from the trap of Davy Jones’ Locker. Detractors criticized the film as convoluted and the weakest of the franchise, but Depp’s built-in fanbase brought in over $300 million.

Hollywood’s number one expatriate returned to the box office for the Christmas release of “Sweeney Todd” (2007), the highly anticipated film adaptation of Steven Sondheim’s macabre musical. Bringing the bloody British saga of a wronged man’s revenge to the big screen was the brain child of Burton, and promised to deliver he and Depp’s signature hybrid of gloom and wit, though the R rating would mean that the Sparrow fans would be left at home with a babysitter. Having conquered every other medium, accent and quirk, Depp, in singing debut, did not disappoint, earning him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role.

Depp returned to the screen two years later to portray famed Chicago bank robber John Dillinger in Michael Mann’s period docudrama, “Public Enemies” (2009). Depp’s long overdue return to a dapper, non-freakish character was a breath of fresh air, though Mann’s emphasis on visuals and pyrotechnics left Depp’s potential to explore the notorious outlaw character unrealized. Regardless, the fedora-heavy crime film brought in over $100 million in receipts. Later that year, Depp was one of three actors tapped by filmmaker Terry Gilliam to substitute in the starring role left behind by the tragic death of actor Heath Ledger in “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” (2009). Depp shared duties with Jude Law and Colin Farrell in the role of a tarnished “white knight” who comes to the aide of the immortal doctor in an attempt to keep his daughter out of the clutches of the devilish Mr. Nick (Tom Waits). The actor began the next year with another of his by now signature extreme character roles as the Mad Hatter in “Alice in Wonderland” (2010). Reteaming with director Burton for the seventh time, Depp’s highly affected Hatter played more childish than insane, ultimately being eclipsed by the scene-stealing performance of Burton’s wife, Helena Bonham Carter, as the stark raving mad Queen of Hearts. Burton’s take on Lewis Caroll’s fantasy tale may have leaned more towards action-adventure, but audiences flocked to the 3-D feature in droves, and the turn provided Depp with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.

Near the end of that year, Depp paired with fellow film superstar Angelina Jolie for the action-thriller “The Tourist” (2010). Turning the dial way back, Depp’s low-key portrayal of a frumpy Midwesterner caught up in a deadly game of mistaken identity with femme fatale Jolie failed to ignite much chemistry with his co-star, or impress the majority of critics. However, despite some reviewers’ charges of sleepwalking through his performance, the role nonetheless garnered Depp yet another Golden Globe nomination for the year – oddly, in the same Musical/Comedy category as his Mad Hatter turn. Even as Depp basked – however reluctantly – in the glow of his awards nominations, audiences awaited his next effort, this time as the voice of a chameleon suffering from an acute case of identity crisis in “Rango” (2011). Directed by “Pirates” helmer Gore Verbinski, the animated family adventure boasted an all-star cast, including Ray Winstone, Alfred Molina and Ned Beatty. Depp also found time to swagger on deck once more in his fourth outing as lovable, laughable rogue Captain Jack Sparrow in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” (2011), this time directed by musical veteran Rob Marshall, and adding Depp’s “Blow” co-star Penelope Cruz to the cast’s motley crew.

Returning to the world of Hunter S. Thompson for the underwhelming, if mildly entertaining, book adaptation “The Rum Diary” (2011), Depp next camped it up as out-of-touch vampire Barnabas Collins in Burton’s cheeky and somewhat misguided “Dark Shadows” (2012), a riff on the vintage TV show of the same name. Sticking to reworkings of classic characters, he next surfaced as Tonto, the Native American ally to Armie Hammer’s masked cowboy crusader in Verbinski’s “The Lone Ranger” (2013), a would-be blockbuster that flopped mightily and left Depp overdue for a clear-cut well-received movie.

 The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.
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James Caan
James Caan
James Caan

James Caan is regarded as one of the leading actors of film in the 1970’s.   He was born in the Bronx, New York in 1970,  His first major film role was in 1964 when he played a punk in the Olivia De Havilland movie “Lady In A Cage”.   Stardom came with his role as the brain damaged football player in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Rain People” in 1968.   Coppola cast him as one of the Corlone brothers in the iconic “The Godfather” in 1971 with Marlon Brando and Al Pacino.   Caan and Pacino’s career really took off and throughout the 1970’s both enjoyed major stardom.   Caan’s films at this time included “Rollerball”, “A Bridge Too Far” and “Come A Horseman”.   Caan though turned down some major box office hits such as “Blade Runner”, “Kramer V’s Kramer” and “Apocalypse Now”.   He stopped acting on fim between 1982 and 1987 and then resumed his career in a more low key fashion in such films as “The Way of the Gun”, “The Yards” and “This Is My Father”.

TCM overview:

Despite an up-and-down career that was mired by excess and irrational behavior, actor James Caan was a gifted performer who was as capable of pulling heart strings as he was of breaking someone’s kneecaps. Caan emerged from the cauldron of New York City’s thriving acting scene in the 1950s to become a noted player on the stage and on television. Though he graduated to films soon after his salad days in New York after swearing off television for the next several years, he had his first big breakthrough on the small screen, playing dying football player Brian Piccolo in “Brian’s Song” (ABC, 1971). His performance in what was considered to be one of the best television movies ever made earned Caan considerable acclaim, as well as an Emmy Award nomination. But the following year put Caan on the map permanently, with his energetic portrayal of the hot-headed Sonny Corleone in “The Godfather” (1972), a role with which he was forever identified – most notably in the numerous mobster roles he played in the ensuing decades. While he had several bright spots as a leading man throughout the years, including as a television regular on “Las Vegas” (NBC, 2003-08) and as the victim of an obsessive fan in the disturbing film, “Misery” (1990), Caan settled into a niche as character actor more often than not, performing some variation of the mobster role that made him famous.

Born on March 26, 1939 in The Bronx, NY, Caan was raised in Sunnyside, Queens one of three children by his father, Arthur, a butcher and his mother, Sophie. Both his parents were Jewish immigrants from Germany who fled the Nazis before the war. He attended P.S. 150 – Christopher Street School in Brooklyn, where he caused untold amounts of trouble and was eventually kicked out, though whether or not dropping a fellow student out of a window on a bet contributed to his departure remained unclear. Caan eventually made his way to the Rhodes Preparatory School, where he continued raising hell while stuffing the ballot box to become president of the student body, as well as playing several sports, including baseball, basketball and football. After graduating a year before his fellow classmates, Caan attended Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI. He majored in economics and continued playing football, but soon found himself homesick. Caan soon transferred to Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, which is where he discovered acting.

With the prospect of entering the meat delivery business with his father as his one career option, he began taking acting seriously, studying with such esteemed coaches as Wyn Handman at the American Place Theatre and Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse. After spending several years honing his craft in the classroom, he had one of his first parts in “La Ronde,” Arthur Schnitzler’s examination of early 20th century class division and sexual mores. He made the jump to the small screen with episodes of various popular television shows, including “Naked City” (ABC, 1958-1963), “The Untouchables” (ABC, 1959-1963) and the anthology series “Alcoa Premiere” (ABC, 1961-63), which featured a new one-hour drama every week. Following episodes of “Doctor Kildare” (NBC, 1961-66) and “Ben Casey” (ABC, 1961-66), Caan began his film career with an uncredited walk-on as an anonymous soldier in the Billy Wilder comedy “Irma La Douce” (1963). He made his official film debut in the campy thriller “Lady in a Cage” (1964), playing a ruthless thug who terrorizes a wealthy widow (Olivia de Havilland).

Within just a few years after making his screen debut, Caan landed his first leading role, starring in Howard Hawk’s tense race car drama, “Red Line 7000” (1965). He followed with a supporting turn as a young gunslinger opposite John Wayne and Robert Mitchum in Hawks’ gritty, but redemptive Western, “El Dorado” (1967). Now determined to carve a career in film, Caan starred in the psychological thriller, “Games” (1967), which he followed with a turn as an American astronaut who journeys to the moon only to discover the Russians beat the United States to the punch in the early Robert Altman feature, “Countdown” (1968). After starring in forgettable movies like “Journey to Shiloh” (1968) and “Perlas Ng Silangan” (1969), Caan was a brain-damaged hitchhiker who encounters a disillusioned housewife (Shirley Knight) trying to escape the trappings of her domestic life in one of Francis Ford Coppola’s first features, “The Rain People” (1969).

Continuing along in features, he starred as the titular former high school basketball player in the failed adaptation of John Updike’s “Rabbit, Run” (1970). In the long-forgotten romantic comedy “T.R. Baskin” (1971), he was the short-time beau of a naïve young woman from the country (Candice Bergen) trying to make it in Chicago. Though he vowed to stay away from television, Caan eventually returned to the small screen for what became his breakout role; playing cancer-stricken professional football player Brian Piccolo in “Brian’s Song” (ABC, 1971). Based on Piccolo’s life and career, Caan delivered a moving performance as the Chicago Bear running back whose brief life was enhanced by his close friendship with football legend Gayle Sayers (Billy Dee Williams). Their mutual respect and admiration helped both through trying times – Piccolo helped Sayers in his struggles with injuries and racism, while Sayers was by Piccolo’s side throughout his fatal illness. Widely hailed as one of the most affecting television movies of all time, “Brian’s Song” was a significant boost for Caan, who earned an Emmy nomination for leading actor.

Caan’s triumph in “Brian’s Song” was mere prelude for his next performance in Coppola’s opening installment of his legendary crime saga, “The Godfather” (1972). Though he originally auditioned to play the cold and calculating Michael Corleone, a role that eventually went to then-unknown Al Pacino, Caan was deemed more suited to play the hot-headed Sonny, the eldest son of crime family head Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) and next in line to take over. Sonny’s impetuous nature opens the floodgates to violence when he inadvertently paves the way for a hit on his father, which in turn leads to bloody retaliation while the Don recovers. In one memorable scene among many, he delivers a savage beating on his brother-in-law, Carlo (Gianni Russo), who is caught abusing Sonny’s sister, Connie (Talia Shire). But Sonny’s vengeance ultimately leads to his downfall when Carlo sells him out to a rival family, who take him down in a hail of bullets at a toll both by a gang of Mafia hit men. More than the sum of its parts, “The Godfather” was a huge hit while being hailed as a cinematic masterpiece at the same time. Numerous awards and nominations were bestowed upon the landmark film, including a Best Supporting Actor nod for Caan at the Academy Awards.

Building off his newfound fame derived from playing Sonny Corleone – a role with which he would be forever identified – Caan starred in the loose adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novella, “The Gambler” (1974). Caan played a well-respected literature professor hopelessly addicted to gambling, which gets him into serious trouble with a local bookie (Paul Sorvino). That same year, he co-starred with Alan Arkin in “Freebie and the Bean” (1974) before moving on to play a sailor who falls for Marsha Mason in “Cinderella Liberty” (1975). As Billy Rose, he oozed charm as well as displayed a passable singing voice opposite Barbra Streisand’s reprisal of Fanny Brice in “Funny Lady” (1975), the entertaining, but familiar sequel to “Funny Girl” (1968). But most of his post-“Godfather” turns during the 1970s were either less-than-prestigious or box office duds. His one bright spot was starring in the futuristic sci-fi sports actioner, “Rollerball” (1975), playing a legendary veteran of a brutal sport caught up in a world where violence has been outlawed, resulting in an oppressed population needing an outlet to satisfy their bloodlust. Though not the biggest hit at the time of its release, “Rollerball” became a cult classic for later generations.

From “Rollerball” on throughout the rest of the century, Caan struggled to return to his heyday of the early 1970s. Though he failed for the most part, there were occasional turns where the Caan of old emerged. Meanwhile, he suffered several personal setbacks due in large part to his restless and unruly behavior, problems with substance abuse, and multiple marriages plagued by rumors of abuse. Caan was lost among an all-star ensemble cast that included Sean Connery, Robert Redford, Michael Caine and Gene Hackman in Richard Attenborough’s epic war film, “A Bridge Too Far” (1977). He gave a solid performance as an easy-going cowboy in the uneven contemporary Western, “Comes a Horseman” (1978), followed by a solid turn opposite Marsha Mason in the film adaptation of Neil Simon’s autobiographical play, “Chapter Two” (1979), which was unable to duplicate its Broadway success. Caan delivered one of his best performances in years with Michael Mann’s feature debut, “Thief” (1981), playing a professional jewel thief who longs for a normal life, but only after he pays off a crime boss (Robert Prosky) with one last job.

That year marked a turning point in Caan’s personal life, when his beloved sister, Barbara, died of cancer. Devastated by her loss, Caan spent the ensuing years trying to recover and even declined to speak of her death decades after. Meanwhile, his career began to spiral, with Caan suffering a box office dud playing the ghost of Sally Field’s lovable, but philandering choreographer husband – modeled on Bob Fosse – in “Kiss Me Goodbye” (1982). Frustrated with the direction his career was taking, Caan unofficially retired from the business and spent the next five years away from filmmaking. Instead, he split the majority of his time between his children and sinking deeper into drug addiction. He also watched his bank account dwindle, thanks to a shady accountant who helped relieve him of some money. But he re-emerged in the latter half of the decade to play a disillusioned Army sergeant who tries to dissuade a young private (D.B. Sweeney) from fighting in Vietnam in Francis Ford Coppola’s mediocre, “Gardens of Stone” (1987). He followed with a turn as a cop who is angry and resentful of an alien race integrated into human society in “Alien Nation” (1988).

As Caan entered the 1990s, the features in which he starred were more hit and miss, with many projects falling on the latter side of the ledger. Though noted for his sympathetic turn as a successful writer held captive by a deranged fan (Kathy Bates) in “Misery” (1990), he failed to win any converts with his song-and-dance routine alongside Bette Midler in “For the Boys” (1991). Caan delivered an inevitable spoof on his gangster image in “Honeymoon in Vegas” (1992), a modest hit that claimed to be nothing more than a slice of madcap entertainment. After starring as a coach of an unruly college football team in “The Program” (1993), Caan won critical plaudits for his turn as the cranky father of a small-time business man (Dennis Quaid) in “Flesh and Bone” (1993). It was around this time that Caan became fodder for the tabloid news. First, he was one of the first stars to be associated with notorious Hollywood madam, Heidi Fleiss. Just a month later, he was questioned for 10 hours by police when he woke up in a friend’s apartment with an aspiring actor, Mark Alan Schwartz, dead on the lawn after falling several stories from the fire escape. Schwartz’s death was later determined to be accidental.

While his marriage to third wife, Ingrid Hajek, was deteriorating, Caan was noted for his longtime friendship to Ronald Lorenzo, a drug trafficker who was sentenced to 11 years hard time in federal prison. In early 1994, he was arrested in North Hollywood on a misdemeanor for allegedly waving a loaded semiautomatic pistol in the face of rapper Derek Lee, a charge that was later dropped due to lack of evidence. Making life even more difficult were accusations of physical abuse, when a woman named Leesa Anne Roland sued Caan for battery, accusing that he beat her in a Century City hotel. The suit was later dismissed. Meanwhile, a year after being linked to Heidi Fleiss, Caan checked into the Exodus Recovery Center in Marina Del Rey, CA to treat his addiction to cocaine. Though tarnished, he continued to work regularly, emerging from the ashes to star alongside his son, Scott, who was making his acting debut in the crime drama, “A Boy Called Hate” (1995). In director Wes Anderson’s own debut, “Bottle Rocket” (1996), Caan played an eccentric con man who enlists three aimless young men (Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson) to perform a daring, but ill-conceived heist.

Though long associated with violent films, Caan was a surprise choice to co-star opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the action thriller “Eraser” (1996), which he followed by appearing opposite Adam Sandler and Damon Wayans in the action comedy “Bulletproof” (1996). After a barely noticed turn in the stark Western, “North Star” (1996), Caan returned to television for his first small screen role since “Brian’s Song,” playing famed gumsh Phillip Marlowe in the less-than-stellar adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s unfinished novel, “Poodle Springs” (HBO, 1998). Having appeared to have put his controversial private life behind him, Caan turned out a series of solid journeyman performances, playing a Mafioso in “Mickey Blue Eyes” (1999), a movie stunt man targeted for murder in “In the Shadows” (2000), a mob-tied lawyer in “The Way of the Gun” (2000), and a corrupt New York Transit Authority employee in “The Yards” (2000). After reviving his 1974 gambler for the contrived “Luckytown” (2001), Caan found himself back on television again, playing a former outlaw-turned-prison warden in “Warden of Red Rock” (Showtime, 2001).

Caan returned to the small screen as his career advanced, not only finding more available work, but also more challenging material. He starred as a Navy captain trying to cover up the causes of an explosion aboard the U.S.S. Iowa that killed 47 sailors in the fact-based docudrama, “A Glimpse of Hell” (FX, 2001). In “The Lathe of Heaven” (A&E, 2002), he was a demented psychiatrist who uses a young man’s (Lukas Haas) ability to alter reality with his dreams to remake the world to match his vision of perfection. He next turned in a performance as a small town sheriff investigating the death of his son with the police officer (Johnathon Schaech) who may have killed him in “Blood Crime” (USA Network, 2002). After a career that had now spanned several decades, Caan made his debut as the star of a television series, “Las Vegas” (NBC, 2003-08), playing tough-as-nails casino security chief “Big Ed” Deline, who is also a loving family man despite his past as a director of counter intelligence for the CIA. Though not exactly Emmy material, “Las Vegas” debuted to strong ratings and favorable reviews throughout its run. Caan lasted four years and was replaced by Tom Selleck for the show’s final season.

Caan had a few tricks left in his movie career when he turned in a tough comedic performance as the flummoxed birth father of a man raised by North Pole elves (Will Farrell) in the goofy holiday charmer, “Elf” (2003). In “City of Ghosts” (2003), actor Matt Dillon’s directing debut, he was a shady businessman whose front man and partner (Dillon) comes looking for him in Cambodia. After a small turn as the unnamed Big Man in Lars Van Trier’s “Dogville”(2004), Caan joined his co-stars Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall to reprise their famous roles for the video game, “The Godfather: The Game” (2005). Once free from his obligations to “Las Vegas” in 2007, the actor was able to star in more projects, including a return to the Mafia world for “Wisegal” (Lifetime, 2008), a fact-based crime drama about the rise of a female mobster (Alyssa Milano). He then appeared as the President of the United States in “Get Smart” (2008), the big screen adaptation of the beloved 1960s television series, starring Steve Carell as the awkward government agent Maxwell Smart.

 The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.
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ABOUT ME

Anyone who knows me are aware that I am a bit of a movie buff. Over the past few years I have been collecting signed photographs of my favourite actors. Since I like movies so much there are many actors whose work I like.

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