PETER BOGDANOVICH BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Director, actor, screenwriter, producer Peter Bogdanovich was born July 30, 1939 in Kingston, New York to a Serbian father and Jewish mother. At age fifteen he began studying acting with Stella Adler in New York City, appearing in summer stock and television, and by age twenty he had begun directing off-Broadway stage productions. He also wrote a series of three monographs on Orson Wells, Howard Hawks, and Alfred Hitchcock for the Museum of Modern Art, as well as multiple reviews for magazines such as Film Culture and Esquire. His writings were very much influenced by the French critics of the 1950's who wrote for Cahiers du Cinéma. He was especially impressed by French critic-turned-director François Truffaut.
In 1966 he followed in the footsteps of Truffaut by delving into the direction of films. Bogdanovich first served as second assistant director to Roger Corman for the action flick “The Wild Angels” (1966). His experience with the feature also included filming, editing, acting, and rewriting. Corman subsequently gave him his own films to write, direct, and produce, which he called “Targets” (1968) and “Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women” (1968). “Targets”, a thriller starring Boris Karloff, became a cult classic.
Thirty two year old Bogdanovich came out with his most famous in 1971, “The Last Picture Show”, a nostalgic film about the forgotten fifties. It was extremely lucrative, earning eight Oscar nods, including ones for Best Director and Best Writing. As well, critics hailed the Cybill Shepherd, Jeff Bridges coming-of-age story as brilliant, and the Library of Congress recently allocated the film as a National Treasure.
He followed up with another very successful movie, “What’s up, Doc?” (1972), which featured Barbara Streisand and Ryan O’Neal. The screwball comedy won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay. Next came the Depression era dramedy “Paper Moon” (1973), starring Ryan O’Neal and his ten year old daughter, Tatum O’Neal, who actually won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
A not too well received feature trailed, Bogdanovich’s version of Henry James’ classic by the same name, “Daisy Miller” (1974). It flopped at the box office, while also garnering negative critical reviews. This film signaled the decline of the director’s esteem in Hollywood. His follow up, “At Long Last Love” (1975), was hailed by critics and audiences alike as one the best worst pictures ever made. His silent-movie tribute, “Nickelodeon” (1976), became the director’s third consecutive flop.
After a three year break from filmmaking, Bogdanovich returned with the rather disappointing “Saint Jack” (1979) for Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Productions Inc. In 1981 he did a film with 1980’s Playboy Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten, titled “They All Laughed”. During filming, the director fell in love with already married Stratten. When she told her husband she was leaving him to be with Bogdanovich, he murdered her and then committed suicide. The negative publicity surrounding the actress caused distributors to resist buying the film, thus resulting in its failure and Bogdanovich’s bankruptcy. He then revisited his writing and published a memoir called The Killing of the Unicorn: Dorothy Stratten (1960-1980) (1984).
Although Bogdanovich would never achieve the same noteworthiness as he had had prior, he released a modest success, “The Mask”, in 1985. His next, “Texasville” (1990), which was the sequel to “The Last Picture Show”, turned out to be a box office and critical disappointment. He directed two more movies, “Noises Off…” (1992) and “The Thing Called Love” (1992), but they failed to win support. Consequently, he stayed on hiatus until 2001’s “The Cat’s Meow”, a mystery about the death of Hollywood pioneer Thomas Ince. It fared okay with critics, but its box office numbers were low.
While the director’s features seemed to be flops in his later career, he continued to act. He can be seen in television shows like “The Sopranos” (2000-2007) and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (2005-2007), as well as movies that include “Broken English” (2007) and “Queen of the Lot” (2010). Most recently, he’s done onscreen work on “The Tell-Tale Heart” (2012) and “Max Rose” (2012).
Filmography
2012 Max Rose
2011 A Pure LIfe
2012 The Tell-Tale Heart
2012 The Healer
2011 Rizzoli & Isles
2010 Queen of the Lot
2010 Abandoned
2008 Humboldt County
2007 The Doorman
2007 The Fifth Patient
2007 The Dukes
2007 The Simpsons
2007 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a Dream 2007 Dedication
2007 Broken English
2006 Infamous
2005 Law & Order: Criminal Intent
2004 Hustle
2004 The Mystery of Natalie Wood
2004 8 Simple Rules
2003 Out of Order
2001 The Cat's Meow
2001 Festival in Cannes
2000 Rated X
2000 The Sopranos
1999 Claire Makes It Big
1999 Coming Soon
1999 The Last Picture Show: A Look Back
1999 A Saintly Switch
1998 Naked City: A Killer Christmas
1998 Lick the Star
1998 54
1997 Bella Mafia
1997 Mr. Jealousy
1997 Highball
1997 Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Women
1997 The Price of Heaven
1996 To Sir, with Love II
1995 Never Say Goodbye Aids Benefit by Yoko Ono
1995 Fallen Angels
1994 Picture Windows
1993 The Thing Called Love
1992 Noises Off...
1990 Texasville
1988 Illegally Yours
1985 Mask
1984 City Girl
1981 They All Laughed
1979 Saint Jack
1977 Opening Night
1976 Nickelodeon
1975 At Long Last Love
1974 Daisy Miller
1973 Paper Moon
1972 What's Up, Doc?
1972 The Other Side of the Wind
1971 Directed by John Ford
1968 Targets
1968 Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women
1967 The Great Professional: Howard Hawks
1967 The Trip
1966 The Wild Angels
1958 Kraft Theatre
