Warren Beatty has been an actor, director, writer, and producer in his six decade long career, and many of the films he had either created or been a part of have become classics. As an actor, he has created indelible characters such as Clive Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), John Reed in Reds (1981), and Dick Tracy (1990).

He was born Henry Warren Beaty in Richmond Virginia on March 30, 1937. He and his sister Shirley (who would later become an actress and change her last name to MacLaine) were raised by their parents. The father, Ira Beaty, was a psychology professor, and the mother, Kathlyn MacLean, was a drama teacher. Acting was an unrealized ambition of Beatty's parents, and as Ellis Amburn wrote in his book, Warren Beatty: The Sexiest Man Alive, "Ira managed to salvage some of this show-business dream by entertaining at home. A good storyteller, he could hold a roomful of people rapt spinning an anecdote, and his wife was an effective sidekick. Warren recalls that acting "was really something that I was aware of at an early age. The fact that I later became an actor is not exactly accidental."

Shirley MacLaine had made a name for herself in Hollywood and her brother decided to forgo a career as a professional football player, turning down ten different scholarships to attend Northwestern University's School of Speech and Drama, but dropped out after his freshman year. He went to New York where he worked a series of low-paying jobs, including playing piano in Manhattan dives, and surviving on peanut butter sandwiches while studying acting with the great Stella Adler. Eventually he won a role on a soap opera called Love of Life and he became a professional actor.

After appearing on different New York-based soap operas and prime-time programs like Studio One, Playhouse 90 and Suspicion, Beatty went to Hollywood, at the age of 21, to be a regular on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis; he did not enjoy that experience and returned to New York and the stage. Summer and winter stock performances got him noticed and he was discovered by playwright William Inge, who had written Come Back, Little Sheba, Picnic and Bus Stop. It would prove to be the most important break of his career.

Beatty's agent at MCA sent him over to meet Inge, who was preparing to make Splendor in the Grass (1961). "He seemed just perfect. Marked for success, the kind of boy everyone looked at knowing he was going to make it big. As it turned out, we didn't start the picture right away, so I began casting for my play A Loss of Roses. I asked to see him again for that. Danny Mann, the director, liked him immediately. He went right into the play." In 1960 Beatty won a Tony nomination.

Splendor in the Grass was Beatty's big break. Bosley Crowther, one of the toughest contemporary critics, wrote in his review, "[Beatty], a surprising newcomer, shapes an amiable, decent, sturdy lad whose emotional exhaustion and defeat are the deep pathos in the film. Except that he talks like Marlon Brando and has some small mannerisms of James Dean, Mr. Beatty is a striking individual. He can purge himself, if he will."

The film earned Beatty a Golden Globe Award nomination as Best Motion Picture Actor in a Drama and his career as a film actor took off and he became a hot topic in the press for both his professional and personal life. His dating exploits have become legend and were tabloid fodder for decades. At the same time, he was carving out a name for himself in films like The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961), Lilith (1964), Mickey One (1965) and Kaleidoscope (1966). In 1967, he scored a smash hit with Bonnie and Clyde.

Beatty acted as producer on the film and had a say in every facet of the production, hiring writers David Newman and Robert Benton as well as director Arthur Penn. He wanted to cast Bob Dylan as Clyde Barrow but eventually took the part himself. He also wanted to shoot it in black and white, but Warner Bros. objected as most films were being shot in color by 1967. The film itself seemed like such a long shot that Warner Bros. decided that since it was unlikely to make a profit, Beatty could have 40% of the gross. The film eventually made $50 million at the box office. As producer, Beatty had a hand in casting. He was dating Natalie Wood and tried to convince her to play Bonnie, but she refused. Jane Fonda also turned down the part because she was living in France and didn't want to return to the States. The part went to Faye Dunaway, who was brought to Beatty and Penn's attention by director Curtis Hanson, who brought them a slideshow of her modeling photographs.

The film went on to get ten Academy Award nominations – including Best Actor for Beatty, Best Actress for Dunaway, Best Supporting Actor for both Gene Hackman and Michael J. Pollard, and Best Director and Best Picture. It won Best Cinematography for Burnett Guffey and Estelle Parsons won for Best Supporting Actress.

Beatty went into the 1970s at the top of his game. Now in his early 30s, Beatty followed up his success three years later with McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), $ (1971), and The Parallax View (1974). For the latter film, Beatty once again starred and produced, hiring Alan J. Pakula to direct. The film revolved around a reporter who investigates the assassination of a senator and uncovers an international conspiracy involving multi-national corporations and their involvement in world events. Beatty himself had become involved in Democratic politics in the 1960s, campaigning for Robert Kennedy's tragic 1968 campaign and later organizing fundraising concerts for George McGovern and worked on the 1984 and 1988 campaigns of Senator Gary Hart. In 1999 Beatty seriously considered running for President, first as a Democrat, and then when the Reform Party began to show interest in him. Eventually he dropped out, but has remained active in liberal politics.

Two films Beatty made in the 1970s earned him a large fortune: Shampoo (1975) and Heaven Can Wait (1978). The former was loosely based on the life of hairstylist Jay Sebring, who had been murdered by the Manson Family (and whose romantic exploits rivaled Beatty's). The latter was a remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), which had originally starred Robert Montgomery as a boxer who dies unexpectedly and his soul is transferred into another man's body. Beatty changed the boxer to a football player and the result was a box office smash. The proceeds from these two films made it possible for Beatty to make his best film of the 1980s and perhaps of his career - Reds.

For many years, Beatty had been interested in the story of journalist John Reed who observed the Russian Revolution first-hand, describing it in his book Ten Days That Shook the World. For Reds, Beatty took over as director and cast his girlfriend at the time, Diane Keaton. Some parts of the movie were shot years before, including the interviews that are intercut into the film. Production itself took a year and was shot in several countries, including Finland and Spain. Beatty proved to be an exacting director, sometimes taking up to 80 takes of a single shot, which finally caused actress Maureen Stapleton to shout at him, "Have you lost your f*cking mind?" The production took a toll on Keaton as well, as she appeared in almost every scene. The resulting film cost what was then a staggering $33.5 million to make, earned twelve Academy Award nominations, and won three: Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the long-suffering Maureen Stapleton, Best Cinematography for Vittorio Storaro, and Beatty won for Best Director.

Ironically, Beatty's next film was Ishtar (1987) a total flop and one of the biggest box office disasters in modern history. Luckily for Beatty, his next film, 1990's Dick Tracy was another success. Co-starring Madonna, the film is Beatty's highest grossing film to date. He followed up that success with another, Bugsy (1991) in which he played legendary gangster Bugsy Siegel. The film made almost $50 million at the box office and brought Beatty together with Annette Bening. She would become his wife shortly afterward and the couple would have four children together. They would star together again in the less successful remake of Love Affair (1994) which is notable as Katharine Hepburn's final film.

Beatty returned to the world of politics again with Bulworth (1998) which earned Beatty another Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay. Warren Beatty's last film to date was 2001's Town and Country which was a box office failure. It lost approximately $83 million dollars. Beatty has often expressed interest in returning to film over the past eight years. While not currently active in Hollywood, Beatty was given the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in June 2008. He is involved in several charities and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Scripps Research Institute, as well as remaining active in California and national politics.

by Lorraine LoBianco

SOURCES:
Wikipedia.org
Warren Beatty: A Private Man by Suzanne Finstad
The Sexiest Man Alive: A Biography of Warren Beatty by Ellis Amburn
The New York Times review of Splendor in the Grass by Bosley Crowther, October 1, 1961
The Internet Movie Database