Warren Beatty is an American actor, director, producer, screenwriter and singer. Nominated for an Academy Award fourteen times. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in the films Bonnie and Clyde, Shampoo, and Heaven Can Wait. Received an Academy Award for staging the historical drama Reds.
Childhood and youth
Warren Beatty was born March 30, 1937 in Richmond, Virginia, in a family of teachers. In childhood, he often moved with his family, grew up in Arlington.
Warren became interested in theater in his teens, played in school productions with his older sister Shirley, who later became known in Hollywood under the name McClain and was nominated for an Academy Award six times.
During his school years, Warren Beatty was a high-profile football player and received offers from several colleges for training in sports scholarships. But inspired by the example of his sister, who by that time had already become a popular actress, he did not continue his athletic career and entered Northwestern University, where he studied theatrical art. After the first year, the young man dropped out and moved to New York.
Carier start
In the mid-fifties, Warren Beatty began working on television, appearing in small roles in several popular TV shows of the time. He also performed successfully in the theater, in 1960 received a nomination for the Tony Award in the category "Best Actor in a Play".
In his youth, Warren Beatty was worried that he could be recruited into the army in the event of a new war involving the United States, which would damage his acting career. Therefore, in 1960 he enlisted in the ranks of the California National Guard, where he served for a year and was demobilized in 1961.
In the same year, he made his debut on the big screen in the drama Elia Kazan "Splendor in the Grass." For this work, Warren Beatty was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and several other awards.
First successes
In subsequent years, the young actor appeared in many successful Hollywood projects. He starred in the melodrama Roman Spring to Mrs. Stone, the dramas Everything Falls Down and Lilith, the crime movie Mickey One, the romantic comedy Promise Her Something, and the crime comedy Kaleidoscope.
All these films were successful at the box office and received generally positive reviews from critics, making Warren Beatty one of the main young stars of American cinema. In 1965, the actor founded his own production company.
Career heyday
Being one of the most famous and commercially successful actors of his time, Warren Beatty took great risks. He produced the film "Bonnie and Clyde", which almost no one believed in at the production stage, since the peak of the popularity of violent gangster films came in the thirties. However, Beatty convinced the studio to allocate funds for him to shoot.
He not only played a major role, but also took an active part in the filming process, calling director Arthur Penn into the project, with whom he had already worked on the film Kaleidoscope, and personally inviting actors Gene Hackman and Gene Wilder to the picture.
“Bonnie and Clyde” proved to be excellent at the box office and received ten Academy Award nominations, in particular in the categories of “Best Film” and “Best Actor”. It is believed that it was the success of this picture that marked the beginning of the “New Hollywood” era, when studios began to allocate money for more risky, original projects.
In subsequent years, the actor appeared in Robert Altman’s Western "McCabe and Mrs. Miller", the robbery film "Dollars", the political thriller "Parallax Conspiracy" and the comedies "The Only Fun in the Town" and "Fate."
In 1975, the satirical comedy "Shampoo" was released. Warren Beatty not only played a major role and produced the film, he also co-wrote the script. Hal Ashby's film was nominated for many awards and brought the actor a second Oscar nomination.
Director and producer
In 1978, the directorial debut of Warren Beatty was released. He co-authored the script, produced, starred and directed the fantasy comedy "Heaven Can Wait." He staged a picture of Beatty together with Buck Henry, screenwriter for the films Graduate and Trick-22.
The film received many Academy Award nominations, and Warren Beatty became the second person in the history of the award to receive nominations as an actor, producer, director and screenwriter after Orson Welles. After Warren repeated this achievement again. Today, Heaven Can Wait is on many lists of the best comedies in history.
The second directorial work for Beatty was the historical drama "Reds" about the American journalist-communist John Reed. The project has been under development for almost ten years. The picture proved to be excellent at the box office, despite the rather sensitive topic for the Americans during the Cold War. The film also received twelve Oscar nominations. Beatty received the award for best director following the ceremony.
After this project in feature films, Warren Beatty disappeared from the screens for a long six years. His next role was the Ishtar adventure comedy, where he appeared with Dustin Hoffman and Isabelle Adjani. The picture failed at the box office, largely due to the many times the production budget exceeded.
In 1990, the premiere of the film "Dick Tracy" was held, the main role was played by Warren Beatty. The actor also produced and directed the film. The adaptation of the famous comic book series proved to be excellent at the box office and received positive reviews from critics. A year later, Beatty played the famous gangster Bugsy Malone in Barry Levinson's film Bugsy, for this work he was again nominated for an Oscar.
Three years later, the actor appeared in the romance "Love Story", which received negative reviews from critics. In 1998, Warren Beatty directed the satirical comedy Bulworth, again playing the lead role in his own project. For the script for the picture, Beatty was once again nominated for an Oscar.
Resignation and return
In 2001, the actor played one of the main roles in the romantic comedy "City and Village", written by Buck Henry. A film with a budget of ninety million dollars was able to collect at the box office only ten. After this setback, Warren Beatty left the film industry for fifteen years.
In 2016, the film “Out of the rules” was released. Beatty played the role of the famous millionaire Howard Hughes, also acted as screenwriter and director of the picture. The project has been in development for almost forty years. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, but failed at the box office.
In 2017, Warren Beatty found himself in the middle of an embarrassment at the Oscars when he mistakenly received the wrong envelope with the name of the project that won the Best Movie nomination.
Ratings and Impact
Warren is considered one of the most influential figures in Hollywood history, he received many honorary awards for career achievements. Many of the people who worked with him call Beatty one of the best producers in history.
Also on the account of the actor and director are many state awards, including the Order of the Arts of France.
Personal life
In his youth, the actor was considered one of the main macho of Hollywood. In the press constantly appeared photo Warren Beatty with a new passion. In particular, he met with actress Joan Collins and singer Carly Simon.
Now Warren Beatty is married to the famous actress Annette Benning, a couple since 1992, they have four children.