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John Cassavetes

John Cassavetes

Director · 1929 – 1989 · New York City, New York, USA

John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as an actor on television and in film, Cassavetes also became a pioneer of American independent cinema, writing and directing movies financed in part with income from his acting work. AllMovie called him "an iconoclastic maverick," while The New Yorker suggested that he "may be the most influential American director of the last half century." As an actor, Cassavetes starred in notable Hollywood films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including Edge of the City (1957), The Dirty Dozen (1967), and Rosemary's Baby (1968). He began his directing career with the 1959 independent feature Shadows and followed with independent productions such as Faces (1968), Husbands (1970), A Woman Under the Influence (1974), Opening Night (1977), and Love Streams (1984), in addition to intermittent studio work. Cassavetes' films employed an actor-centered approach which privileged character examination over traditional Hollywood storytelling or stylized production values. His films became associated with an improvisational, cinéma vérité aesthetic. He collaborated frequently with a rotating group of friends, crew members, and actors, including his wife Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara, and Seymour Cassel. For his role in The Dirty Dozen, Cassavetes received a Best Supporting Actor nomination. As a filmmaker, he was nominated for Best Original Screenplay for Faces (1968) and Best Director for A Woman Under the Influence (1974).

Movies24

  • Movie7.8

    Rosemary's Baby

    1968 · 4.5K votes

  • Movie7.6

    The Dirty Dozen

    1967 · 1.4K votes

  • Movie6.3

    The Fury

    1978 · 422 votes

  • Movie6.9

    Mikey and Nicky

    1976 · 210 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Capone

    1975 · 110 votes

  • Movie7.3

    Fourteen Hours

    1951 · 53 votes

  • Movie6.3

    Two-Minute Warning

    1976 · 102 votes

  • Movie6.9

    The Killers

    1964 · 209 votes

  • Movie7.6

    Opening Night

    1977 · 267 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Flesh & Blood

    1979 · 7 votes

  • Movie7.2

    Edge of the City

    1957 · 62 votes

  • Movie7.2

    Love Streams

    1984 · 150 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Husbands

    1970 · 167 votes

  • Movie6.3
  • Movie5.9
  • Movie5.6

    Incubus

    1982 · 120 votes

  • Movie6.1

    Gli intoccabili

    Machine Gun McCain

    1969 · 47 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Tempest

    1982 · 48 votes

  • Movie7.2
  • Movie6.8

    Movies Are My Life

    1988 · 4 votes

  • Movie5.4

    Brass Target

    1978 · 40 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Minnie and Moskowitz

    1971 · 106 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Whose Life Is It Anyway?

    1981 · 52 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Saddle the Wind

    1958 · 35 votes

Series24

  • TV7.5
  • TV5.8

    The Mike Douglas Show

    1961 · 11 votes

  • TV8.1

    Columbo

    1971 · 858 votes

  • TV7.0

    Golden Globe Awards

    1944 · 20 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Dick Cavett Show

    1968 · 22 votes

  • TV7.9
  • TV5.7

    Dr. Kildare

    1961 · 19 votes

  • TV5.4

    Studio One

    1948 · 13 votes

  • TV6.0
  • TV6.5

    The Virginian

    1962 · 35 votes

  • TV3.8

    Climax!

    1954 · 12 votes

  • TV7.9

    Combat!

    1962 · 119 votes

  • TV5.9
  • TV7.8

    Alfred Hitchcock Presents

    1955 · 266 votes

  • TV6.0
  • TV6.6
  • TV7.2

    Rawhide

    1959 · 49 votes

  • TV6.3

    Burke's Law

    1963 · 12 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Ed Sullivan Show

    1948 · 23 votes

  • TV7.8
  • TV7.0

    Omnibus

    1952 · 4 votes

  • TV6.0
  • TV6.5

    Kraft Suspense Theatre

    1963 · 4 votes

  • TV6.3