
John Cassavetes
Biography
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).
Acting (49 movies)

The Dirty Dozen
1967

Rosemary's Baby
1968

Two-Minute Warning
1976

The Killers
1964

Whose Life Is It Anyway?
1981

The Fury
1978

Opening Night
1977

Affair in Havana
1957

Edge of the City
1957

Minnie and Moskowitz
1971

Crime in the Streets
1956

The Night Holds Terror
1955

Machine Gun McCain
1969

Tempest
1982

Capone
1975

Husbands
1970

Love Streams
1984

Brass Target
1978

Devil's Angels
1967

Out of the Shadows: The Films of John Cassavetes
1993

Saddle the Wind
1958

Mikey and Nicky
1976

Incubus
1982

Anything for John
1993

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
2008

Marvin & Tige
1985

Virgin Island
1959

The Making of 'Husbands'
1971

Alexander The Great
1968

Bandits in Rome
1968

Taxi
1953

Heroes
1977

Operation Dirty Dozen
2006

Flesh & Blood
1979

Hedda Hopper's Hollywood
1960

Fräulein Berlin
1984

Movies Are My Life
1988

I'm Almost Not Crazy: John Cassavetes — The Man and His Work
1984

A Constant Forge
2000

Gena Rowlands: A Life on Film
2019

The Webster Boy
1962

No Right to Kill
1956

150 Miles of Rotting, Rutted, Lumpy, Dilapidated Pavement
2021

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
1969

Fourteen Hours
1951

Nightside
1973

Shadows
1960

John Cassavetes par Thierry Jousse
2024

"Cinéastes de notre temps": John Cassavetes
1969
Directing (12 movies)
| Title | Year | Job |
|---|---|---|
| Shadows | 1960 | Writer |
| Too Late Blues | 1961 | Writer |
| Too Late Blues | 1961 | Producer |
| Faces | 1968 | Producer |
| Faces | 1968 | Writer |
| Husbands | 1970 | Writer |
| Minnie and Moskowitz | 1971 | Writer |
| A Woman Under the Influence | 1974 | Writer |
| The Killing of a Chinese Bookie | 1976 | Writer |
| Opening Night | 1977 | Writer |
| Gloria | 1980 | Writer |
| Incubus | 1982 | Screenplay |
| Love Streams | 1984 | Screenplay |
| She's So Lovely | 1997 | Writer |






