BIOGRAPHY
WARREN BEATTY
Warren Beatty Actor | Soundtrack | Producer
Date of Birth 30 March 1937, Richmond, Virginia, USA
Birth Name Henry Warren Beaty
Nicknames Pro
The Chief
Height 6' 2" (1.88 m)
Since starring in his first film, Splendor in the Grass (1961), Warren Beatty has been said to have demonstrated a greater longevity in movies than any actor of his generation. Few people have taken so many responsibilities for all phases of the production of films as producer, director, writer, and actor, and few have evidenced so high a level of integrity in a body of work.
In Rules Don't Apply (2016), he writes, produces, directs and stars in. Only Beatty and Orson Welles (Citizen Kane) have been nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as an actor, a director, a writer, and a producer for the same film. Beatty is the only person ever to have done it twice, for Heaven Can Wait (1978) and again for Reds (1981). Beatty has been nominated 15 times by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and 8 films he has produced have earned 53 Academy nominations. In 1982 he won the Academy Award for Directing and in 2000 was given the Academy's highest honor, the Irving G. Thalberg Award.
He was awarded Best Director from the Directors Guild of America and Best Writer three times from the Writers Guild of America. He has received the Milestone Award from the Producers Guild, the Board of Governors Award from the American Society of Cinematographers, the Directors Award from the Costume Designers Guild, the Life Achievement Award from the Publicists Guild, and the Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award from the Art Directors Guild. The National Association of Theater Owners has honored him as Director of the Year, as Producer of the Year and as Actor of the Year.
He has won 16 awards from the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics, the National Board of Review, and the Golden Globes. In 1992, he was made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in France; in Italy he received the David di Donatello award in 1968 and again in 1981 and its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998; in 2001, he received the Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Sebastian International Film Festival; in 2002, he received the British Academy Fellowship from BAFTA; and in 2011, he was awarded the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film.
In December 2004, Beatty received The Kennedy Center Honor in Washington, D.C. In addition, he is the recipient of the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, the HFPA Cecile B. DeMille Award and many others. Politically active since the 1960's, Beatty campaigned with Robert F. Kennedy in his 1968 presidential campaign. That same year he traveled throughout the United States speaking in favor of gun control and against the war in Vietnam. In 1972 he took a year off from motion pictures to campaign with George McGovern.
In 1981, Beatty was a founding board member of the Center for National Policy. He is a founding member of The Progressive Majority, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has participated in the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland.
Beatty serves on the Board of Directors of the Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation. He previously served on the Board of Trustees of The Scripps Research Institute for several years. He has received the Eleanor Roosevelt Award from the Americans for Democratic Action, the Brennan Legacy Award from the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, and the Philip Burton Public Service Award from The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.
In multiple forums he has addressed campaign finance reform, the increasing disparity of wealth, universal health care and the need for the Democratic Party to return to its roots.
In March of 2013, he was inducted into the California Hall of Fame.
Beatty was born in Richmond, Virginia. He and his wife, Annette Bening, live in Los Angeles and have four children.
His mother, Kathlyn Corinne (MacLean), was a drama teacher from Nova Scotia, Canada, and his father, Ira Owens Beaty, a professor of psychology and real estate agent, was from Virginia. His sister is actress Shirley MacLaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty). His ancestry is mostly English and Scottish.
Spouse (1)
Annette Bening (3 March 1992 - present) (4 children)
Films often portray edgy, iconoclastic anti-heroes
Known on-screen and off-screen for being highly charming to women
Method acting
His political views expounded by the "new" Jay Bulworth in the movie Bulworth (1998) are really his own.
He and older sister Shirley MacLaine attended Washington-Lee HS (as did Sandra Bullock).
Attended Northwestern University but dropped out after one year. Member Sigma Chi fraternity.
In his prime, Warren was almost as famous for his love life as he was for his movie-making, having been connected with a galaxy of female stars and starlets, a who's who list reported to include (in alphabetical order): Tracey Adams, Isabelle Adjani, Barbara Allen, Carol Alt, Diane Baker, Brigitte Bardot, Jaid Barrymore, Candice Bergen, Colleen Brennan, Bebe Buell, Maria Callas, Claudia Cardinale, Judy Carne, Leslie Caron, Cher, Greta Chi, Julie Christie, Connie Chung, Marina Cicogna, Pat Cleveland, Joan Collins, Janice Dickinson, Samantha Eggar, Britt Ekland, Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia, Morgan Fairchild, Jane Fonda, Germaine Greer, Melanie Griffith, Dayle Haddon, Daryl Hannah, Barbara Harris, Goldie Hawn, Brooke Hayward, Joey Heatherton, Christa Helm, Margaux Hemingway, Barbara Hershey, Elizabeth Hubbard, Lauren Hutton, Joyce Hyser, Iman, Kate Jackson, Bianca Jagger, Christine Kaufmann, Diane Keaton, Christine Keeler, Jacqueline Kennedy, Carole King, Bitten Knudsen, Diane Ladd, Jennifer Lee Pryor, Elle Macpherson, Madonna, Carole Mallory, Princess Margaret, Diane McBain, Linda McCartney, Marisa Mell, Robin Menken, Barbara Minty, Joni Mitchell, Sharon Mitchell, Constance Money, Mary Tyler Moore, Stacey Nelkin, Christina Onassis, Bernadette Peters, Michelle Phillips, Maya Plisetskaya, Juliet Prowse, Jeanne Rainer, Suze Randall, Vanessa Redgrave, Diana Ross, Jessica Savitch, Diane Sawyer, Jean Seberg, Edie Sedgwick, Serena, Cynthia Sikes, Carly Simon (who is rumored to have written "You're So Vain" about him), Lori Singer, Inger Stevens, Stella Stevens, Alexandra Stewart, Susan Strasberg, Barbra Streisand, Annette Stroyberg, Dewi Sukarno, Twiggy, Kathleen Tynan, Liv Ullmann, Mamie Van Doren, Vanity, Diane von Fürstenberg, Veruschka von Lehndorff, Raquel Welch, Lana Wood and Natalie Wood. Notorious for his alleged "love 'em and leave 'em" treatment of many of these women, an aging Beatty had the tables turned on him by sultry supermodel Stephanie Seymour, who unceremoniously dropped Warren to pursue Axl Rose of the rock band Guns N' Roses. Soon after that, he settled down with Annette Bening and they've been together ever since.
He is the godfather of Steven Bauer and Melanie Griffith's son, Alexander.
Was the first choice to play Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972), but he turned it down.
Was originally cast as the president in Mars Attacks! (1996).
Was the first choice to play the lead in The Way We Were (1973).
Received ten offers of football scholarship after graduating from high school. He turned them all down.
Lives on famed "Bad Boy Drive" a.k.a. Muholland Drive in Beverly Hills, CA. Nicknamed so because its famed residents are bad boy actors Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, and Beatty.
Is allergic to oysters.
Uncle of actress Sachi Parker.
Turned down the role of Bill in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) because of the violent nature of the movie.
Tested for the role of Tony in West Side Story (1961).
Rumored to have been the subject of Carly Simon's 1972 hit single "You're So Vain". After 43 years of speculation, Simon finally confirmed in November 2015 that the second verse of the song refers to Beatty. "Warren thinks the whole thing is about him!" she said.
He has a photographic memory for phone numbers. He can dial a touch tone phone using the same hand technique as telephone operators.
In the films he produces, he usually plays characters who lose something important by the end of the film.
Recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, along with Elton John, Joan Sutherland, John Williams, and Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
Based his Shampoo (1975) character "George Roundy" on celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring.
Was an advisor on George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign.
Credited with founding the concept of a political fund-raising concert when he and girlfriend Julie Christie backed the "Together with McGovern" concert in 1972 featuring Barbra Streisand, Carole King, James Taylor and even reuniting Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel (Simon & Garfunkel).
Was nominated for Broadway's 1960 Tony Award as best supporting or featured actor (dramatic) for "A Loss of Roses", later filmed as The Stripper (1963) with Richard Beymer in Beatty's role.
He directed seven different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Jack Warden, Dyan Cannon, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Maureen Stapleton, Al Pacino and himself (in Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Reds (1981). Maureen Stapleton won an Oscar for her performance in Reds (1981).
Premiere Magazine ranked him as #29 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005).
Was slated to play the lead role in Francis Ford Coppola's dead project "Megaoplis".
John F. Kennedy wanted Beatty to play him in PT 109 (1963), after learning that director Elia Kazan had said that if anybody were to play JFK, it should be Beatty since they had so much in common. As Kazan stated, "Warren had everything Jack had. looks, intelligence, cunning and a commanding eye with the girls. Warren also suffered from lower back trouble". Kennedy himself suggested Beatty to Warner Bros to play him. Jack L. Warner asked Beatty to fly over to Washington to meet JFK and talk about the movie with him, but Beatty did not want to make the trip, nor play the part. He found the script too weak and that there was a surprising lack of action. His assessment turned out to be right: Cliff Robertson played the part and the movie flopped. Months later, JFK and Beatty met and Kennedy had to concede that Beatty's decision not to make the movie had been right. Beatty and Kennedy remained very good friends up until Kennedy's death in 1963.
Along with Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Richard Attenborough and Kevin Costner, he is one of six people to win and Academy Award for "Best Director", though they are mainly known as actors.
Said that if they ever made a movie about his life story, Colin Farrell is the only person he thinks could play him.
Cohabited with Julie Christie from 1967 to '74, albeit non-monogamously and with many on-again/off-again moments.
His uncle by marriage, A.A. MacLeod, was the last sitting Communist member of the Canadian Parliament.
Rejected Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) because he wanted to work with George Stevens on The Only Game in Town (1970), which had a long and tedious production and turned out to be a disastrous flop. (Then-companion Julie Christie also turned down "Horses" and opted to make the sub-par In Search of Gregory (1969) because it was to be shot on location in Europe nearby where Beatty was making the Stevens film.) He turned down The Sting (1973) and The Great Gatsby (1974) so that he could devote his time to George McGovern's presidential campaign.
Beatty first espied future long-term lover Julie Christie at the 1966 Royal Command Performance of Born Free (1966) in London, which he attended with his then-girlfriend Leslie Caron. Caron and Beatty were situated near Christie in the reception line for Queen Elizabeth II, and Beatty first saw her in person when he turned to watch the Queen shake hands with her. Beatty inveigled his friend Richard Sylbert to tell her to call him. She did, he flew up to the San Francisco location of the Petulia (1968) shoot and, after a rocky start, they became lovers. She made her first public appearance with Beatty at a sneak preview of Bonnie and Clyde (1967) for the Hollywood elite. It took them several months to rid themselves of their then-current lovers before they came together in a committed relationship, although they usually maintained separate households for the length of their long romance. Most of those who knew them said they shared a passion for the truth. Beatty told his friends he had asked Christie to marry him, but she refused as she did not want children. While filming Shampoo (1975) in 1974, Beatty bought his dream house and brought Christie over to view it. When she realized he had already assigned several rooms as nurseries, it dawned on her that their ideas for the future were too far apart to be able to maintain their relationship. She ended her long affair with him by phone in the fall of 1974. His longest and most lasting relationship until he married Annette Bening, the mother of his four children, Beatty considered Christie his wife and told the press in 1971 that he would pay her alimony if they split up, if she wanted it. They did, but she didn't. When he was awarded the Irving Thalberg Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in 2000, Christie was one of the friends and co-workers who appeared in a filmed tribute to him.
Became close to Robert F. Kennedy during his 1968 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Beatty's relationship with him was closer than the one Beatty had with John F. Kennedy. Beatty was particularly valuable during the campaign in firing up volunteers for such mundane activities as door-to-door canvassing. RFK was impressed by Beatty's thorough understanding of the issues. After Kennedy's assassination in Beatty's hometown of Los Angeles, he became a vocal gun control advocate.
Once worked as a cocktail lounge pianist.
Has produced two films that were nominated for Best Picture and had acting nominations in all four roles: Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Reds (1981)
After coming to New York at 19 to pursue an acting career, he temporarily supported himself by working as a sandhog during the building of a new tube of the Lincoln Tunnel between New York and New Jersey.
He is the only person to be nominated for four Academy Awards (Best Picture, Directing, Lead Actor & Screenplay) in the same year in two-times. First for Heaven Can Wait (1978), later for Reds (1981).
Oliver Stone tried casting him twice--once as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street (1987) and then as Richard M. Nixon in Nixon (1995).
His performance as Clyde Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) is ranked #32 on the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes & Villains. This is ranking he shares with Faye Dunaway, who portrayed Bonnie Parker.
Turned down the role of Jack Horner in Boogie Nights (1997). He later said that it was one of the few choices in his career that he regretted. Burt Reynolds garnered an Academy Award nomination for his performance in the film.
Received the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award at The 72nd Annual Academy Awards (2000), presented to him by his friend and neighbor Jack Nicholson.
A political liberal, he personally campaigned for South Dakota Senator George McGovern in the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential primary in 1972.
What's New Pussycat (1965), a name he often called girlfriends, was written for him, but he turned down the role when Leslie Caron--his girlfriend at the time--was turned down by producers for the female lead.
Long planned a biopic of Howard Hughes to produce and star in. It has yest to be made and it's uncertain whether or not he has actually completed a script or if he also plans on directing it.
Was offered the lead role in Jade (1995) but turned it down. David Caruso signed on to star instead.
Was offered the role of Richard Nixon twice in his career: with Oliver Stone in Nixon (1995) and with Ron Howard in Frost/Nixon (2008).
Claims he was offered the lead role in Rocky (1976).
Turned down a role in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969).
Has expressed interest in producing, directing and starring in a live-action Pokemon movie, with himself playing the villain Giovanni, as Pokemon is his youngest's and second youngest's favorite cartoon.
His two favorite cartoon characters are Daffy Duck (who is his all-time favorite) and Johnny Bravo.
He is the godfather of longtime friend Richard Sylbert daughter, Daisy Alexandra Sylbert-Torres.
Only three times in Academy Award history have director-collaborators been nominated for Best Directing Oscars: Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story (1961), Warren Beatty and Buck Henry for Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men (2007) (Wise/Robbins and the Coens actually won the award).
Despite their political differences, he is good friends with John McCain and Nancy Reagan. He was also a longtime friend of Ronald Reagan since his early career in Hollywood. As President, Reagan invited Beatty to screen his film Reds (1981) at the White House.
He and Clint Eastwood are the only actor-directors to earn Best Actor and Best Director Oscar nominations for the same film two separate times.
Played two characters whose names differ by one letter: Joe Grady in The Only Game in Town (1970) and Joe Frady in The Parallax View (1974).
In September 2000 he was set to star in Steven Zaillian's adaptation of the Geoffrey Wolff book "The Duke of Deception". Zaillian had completed the script and was set to direct for producer Scott Rudin and Paramount. However, Beatty's procrastination pushed the project back and eventually Zaillian moved on. At the time Beatty was also attached to star in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill", but he eventually left that project as well.
When he made his deal with Warner Bros. for Bonnie and Clyde (1967), the studio had such little faith in the future box-office results from the $2.5-million production that it agreed to give the film's star and first-time producer 40% of the box-office gross. The deal worked out quite well for Beatty. Between 1967-73 when the film played in theaters, it generated over $70 million worldwide at the box office, netting Beatty an estimated $28 million.
In 1989, while working on Dick Tracy (1990), he came across a script titled "Ocean of Storms". It was a love story about an aging astronaut who rejoins the lunar program for another shot at glory and falls for a female astronaut. It was written by documentary producer Ben Young Mason and veteran writer, producer, director and actor Tony Bill. Beatty bought the script through his Mulholland Productions and set it up at 20th Century-Fox. He planned on producing and starring in this as his next project after he completed his commitments on Bugsy (1991). However, like most Beatty projects, it was stalled in development. By 1993 he was working with Annette Bening on Love Affair (1994) and was planning on making "Ocean of Storms" their next project. He was trying to convince Martin Scorsese to direct it and hired Wesley Strick to do a rewrite for Scorsese. Scorsese eventually passed on the project but Beatty continued to develop it over the years, with rewrites from a slew of screenwriters including Robert Towne, Lawrence Wright, Stephen Harrigan and finally Aaron Sorkin. By 1999 Clint Eastwood and Warner Bros. had beaten Beatty to the punch by announcing their own aging astronaut movie, Space Cowboys (2000). After the success of that film, and the box-office flops of both Love Affair (1994) and Bulworth (1998), Beatty and 20th Century-Fox decided to cancel their plans to make "Ocean of Storms".
His father was American, from Virginia, and his mother was Canadian, from Nova Scotia. He is of mostly English and Scottish descent.
Has never directed or acted with his sister Shirley MacLaine in any films.
Became a father for the second time at age 57 when wife Annette Bening gave birth to their son Benjamin Beatty on August 23, 1994.
Became a father for the third time at age 59 when wife Annette Bening gave birth to their daughter Isabel Beatty on January 11, 1997.
Became a father for the fourth time at age 63 when wife Annette Bening gave birth to their daughter Ella Beatty on April 8, 2000.
Became a father for the first time at age 54 when girlfriend [now wife] Annette Bening gave birth to their daughter Kathlyn Beatty on January 8, 1992.
He was a mentor to Diane Keaton.
As of 2014 has appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Heaven Can Wait (1978), Reds (1981) and Bugsy (1991).
He was the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of the superhero Green Lantern/Charlie Vicker (created in 1967).
Eldest daughter Kathlyn transitioned to male at the age of 14 and changed her name from Kathlyn Elizabeth to Stephen Ira Beatty.
Along with Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier, Woody Allen, Kenneth Branagh, Clint Eastwood and Roberto Benigni, he is one of only seven men to receive Academy Award nominations for both Best Actor and Best Director for the same film: Welles for Citizen Kane (1941), Olivier for Hamlet (1948), Allen for Annie Hall (1977), Beatty for both Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Reds (1981), Branagh for Henry V (1989), Eastwood for Unforgiven (1992) and Benigni for Life Is Beautiful (1997).
His 40% of the box-office gross from Bonnie and Clyde (1967) netted him somewhere in the neighborhood of $28 million. The film played in theaters for six years. Based on the value of $28 million and its buying power in 1973, it would be the equivalent of having an estimated $150 million in 2016. This makes it one of the largest back-end deals for a movie star in Hollywood history.
His mother, Kathlyn Corinne (MacLean), was a drama teacher from Nova Scotia, Canada, and his father, Ira Owens Beaty, a PhD. of educational psychology, public school administrator and real estate dealer, was from Virginia.
Christopher Ciccone claimed in his memoir that he once saw a suspicious Beatty rifling through the wastebasket in Madonna's home office at 3 a.m. looking for evidence she was cheating on him.
Turned down the leads in Act One (1963), Youngblood Hawke (1964), The Graduate (1967), Getting Straight (1970), Cabaret (1972), Blume in Love (1973), All That Jazz (1979), Splash (1984), Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), Misery (1990) and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).
He showed interest in playing Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy (1969) but John Schlesinger thought Beatty was too famous to be believable as a naive street hustler.
Was the original choice to play billionaire John Gates in Indecent Proposal (1993).
Beatty and Jane Fonda did a screen test for the roles that eventually went to Troy Donahue and Connie Stevens in Parrish (1961).
Considered for the role of Superman/Clark Kent in Superman (1978).
Turned down title role in the political comedy Dave (1993).
Claimed that director Luchino Visconti begged him to star in The Leopard (1963) but he wasn't interested so Alain Delon was cast instead.
Unequivocally the most selective and least prolific star in cinema history. Beatty has only made 23 movies to date in a film career spanning 55 years. One popular theory as to why he turned down so many roles, at least until his marriage in 1992, is that he didn't like interrupting his prolific intimate life by going to work.
Notable women who rejected his advances include Carmen Phillips, Kim Novak and Sean Young. Fran Drescher claims to have turned down an offer to join Beatty and Isabelle Adjani for a ménage à trois (mentioned in her autobiography).
Britt Ekland on Beatty: He knew exactly where to locate the top button. One flick and we were on our way.
Cher on Beatty: Warren has probably been with everybody I know.
Warren Beatty is still the only person in Academy Award history that was twice nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as an actor, writer, director and producer of the same film (Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Reds (1981)). [2016].
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