Henry Warren Beaty
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Warren Beatty is the only person to have been nominated by the Academy as actor, director, writer, and producer for the same film twice: Heaven Can Wait 1978 and Reds 1981. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for Reds and has been nominated 15 times. Beatty produced films that earned 53 Academy nominations and received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 2000.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Warren Beatty — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Warren Beatty by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Warren Beatty — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Warren Beatty was born on March 30, 1937, in Richmond, Virginia, to Kathlyn Corinne Maclean, a drama teacher from Nova Scotia, and Ira Owens Beaty, a psychology professor and real estate agent. His sister is actress Shirley MacLaine. Beatty’s ancestry is mostly English and Scottish. He attended Washington-Liberty High School, where he received ten football scholarship offers but turned them all down. He later studied at Northwestern University and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting.
Beatty made his film debut in Splendor in the Grass 1961. He then produced and starred in Bonnie and Clyde 1967, negotiating a 40% gross deal that netted him an estimated $28 million. Beatty wrote, produced, directed, and starred in Heaven Can Wait 1978 and Reds 1981, earning Oscar nominations in all four categories for both films – a feat unmatched by any other individual. He won Best Director for Reds in 1982. Other notable works include Shampoo 1975, based on hairdresser Jay Sebring, Bugsy 1991, and Bulworth 1998, in which his political views mirrored his own. Beatty also directed seven actors to Oscar-nominated performances, including Maureen Stapleton who won for Reds.
Beatty married Annette Bening in 1992; they have four children: Kathlyn born 1992, Benjamin 1994, Isabel 1997, and Ella 2000. Kathlyn later transitioned to male and changed his name to Stephen Ira Beatty. Prior to his marriage, Beatty had a long relationship with Julie Christie from 1967 to 1974. He was also linked to many celebrities, including Madonna, Diane Keaton, and Carly Simon, who confirmed in 2015 that the second verse of You’re So Vain refers to Beatty.
Beatty remains the only person in Academy history to earn Oscar nominations as actor, writer, director, and producer for two separate films: Heaven Can Wait and Reds. He received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 2000 and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2004. His films Bonnie and Clyde and McCabe & Mrs. Miller were selected for the National Film Registry. Beatty took full creative control and earned $28 million from Bonnie and Clyde, demonstrating his box office success.
The complete filmography of Warren Beatty — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Warren Beatty — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Warren Beatty — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
Charity Is Taking an Ugly Girl to Lunch.
I’m Old, I’m Young, I’m Intelligent, I’m Stupid. My Tide Goes in and Out.
Movies Are Fun, but They’re Not a Cure for Cancer.
When Asked Why He Never Married Any of His Many Girlfriends: Just Because You Need a Quart of Milk Doesn’t Mean You Have to Go Out and Buy a Whole Cow.
In a Way, I’d Rather Ride Down the Street on a Camel Than Give What Is Sometimes Called an in Depth Interview. I’d Rather Ride Down the Street on a Camel Nude. in a Snowstorm. Backwards.
My Notion of a Wife at Forty Is That a Man Should Be Able to Change Her, Like a Bank Note, for Two Twenties.
For Me, the Highest Level of Sexual Excitement Is in a Monogamous Relationship.
You’ve Achieved Success in Your Field When You Don’t Know Whether What You’re Doing Is Work or Play.
Polygamy Is Dumb Fun. Monogamy Requires Much More Sensitivity.
A Director Needs to Be in Control, but He Really Shouldn’t Be in Complete Control, Because Then Things Could Be Very Boring, and He Wouldn’t Take Advantage of Unexpected Developments and Opportunities. There Are People Who Storyboard Everything. I Don’t Do That. I’ll Storyboard Some Stuff, but Mainly I’m Ready for the Unexpected. I Think That’s Important. You Can’t Plan Too Much. I Always Think of a Quote from Napoleon When They Asked Him to Explain the Intricacies of His Battle Plan. He Said, ‘Well Here’s the Plan. First We Go There, and Then We See What Happens.’
It’s Best Not to Act and Direct at the Same Time. When I Direct Myself, I Do More Takes Than If I’m Being Directed by Someone Else. Rather Than Stop and Look at It, I Just Do It Again. and I Like to Have My Fellow Actors Feel That They’re Directing It at the Same Time. I Try to Lead Them into Thinking It’s Sort of a Fake Democracy, When It’s Actually, Ultimately, Kind of a Fascist Dictatorship, One Would Have to Admit.
Little-known facts about Warren Beatty — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
The studio had so little faith in the $2.5-million production of Bonnie and Clyde 1967 that it agreed to give star and first-time producer Beatty 40% of the box-office gross, which netted him an estimated $28 million between 1967 and 1973.
Beatty is one of six actors to win the Academy Award for Best Director while primarily known as an actor, alongside Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Richard Attenborough, and Kevin Costner.
Carly Simon’s 1972 hit You’re So Vain was rumored to be about Beatty for decades until she confirmed in 2015 that the second verse refers to him, saying, Warren thinks the whole thing is about him!
If a movie were made about his life, Beatty has said Colin Farrell is the only person he thinks could play him.
Beatty lives on Mulholland Drive in Beverly Hills, nicknamed Bad Boy Drive for its residents Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, and Beatty.
Beatty has never directed or acted with his sister Shirley MacLaine in any films.
John F. Kennedy wanted Beatty to play him in PT 109 1963 after director Elia Kazan suggested they had much in common, but Beatty declined due to the weak script; the film flopped with Cliff Robertson in the role.
Beatty and Clint Eastwood are the only actor-directors to earn Best Actor and Best Director Oscar nominations for the same film two separate times.
His 40% gross deal from Bonnie and Clyde 1967 would be equivalent to about $150 million in 2016, making it one of the largest back-end deals in Hollywood history.
Beatty based his Shampoo 1975 character George Roundy on celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring.
Despite political differences, Beatty is good friends with John McCain and Nancy Reagan, and was a longtime friend of Ronald Reagan, who screened Reds 1981 at the White House.
Beatty first saw future lover Julie Christie at a 1966 Royal Command Performance; he arranged for a friend to tell her to call him, and they became lovers after a rocky start.
Beatty was the first choice to play Michael Corleone in The Godfather 1972 but turned it down.
He turned down the role of Jack Horner in Boogie Nights 1997, later saying it was one of the few career choices he regretted; Burt Reynolds earned an Oscar nomination for the part.
Beatty’s romantic history includes a lengthy list of celebrities, including Brigitte Bardot, Cher, Madonna, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, among others.
Beatty became close to Robert F. Kennedy during his 1968 presidential campaign and became a vocal gun control advocate after Kennedy’s assassination in Los Angeles.
The film What’s New Pussycat 1965 was written for him, but he turned it down when producers rejected his then-girlfriend Leslie Caron for the female lead.
He served as a pallbearer at the funeral of Senator John McCain.
The political views expressed by Jay Bulworth in Bulworth 1998 are Beatty’s own.
Beatty is credited with founding the concept of a political fund-raising concert when he and Julie Christie backed the Together with McGovern concert in 1972 featuring Barbra Streisand, Carole King, and James Taylor.
Cher once said of Beatty: Warren has probably been with everybody I know.
Beatty has a photographic memory for phone numbers and can dial a touch-tone phone using the same hand technique as telephone operators.
He rejected Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969 to work with George Stevens on The Only Game in Town 1970, and turned down The Sting 1973 and The Great Gatsby 1974 to campaign for George McGovern.
Beatty received ten football scholarship offers after high school but turned them all down.
He lived off-and-on with Julie Christie from 1967 to 1974.
Four of Beatty’s films have been nominated for Best Picture: Bonnie and Clyde 1967, Heaven Can Wait 1978, Reds 1981, and Bugsy 1991; he directed two of those nominees.
Beatty’s prolific intimate life is often cited as the reason he worked so little over the decades 23 movies in 55 years; at one point, he was allegedly making love to six women a day.
Britt Ekland said of Beatty: He could handle a woman like a lift. He knew exactly where to locate the top button. One flick and we were on our way.
Beatty received the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award at the 72nd Annual Academy Awards 2000, presented by his friend and neighbor Jack Nicholson.
He directed seven actors to Oscar-nominated performances in Heaven Can Wait 1978 and Reds 1981, including Maureen Stapleton who won for Reds.
After moving to New York at age 19 to pursue acting, Beatty temporarily supported himself as a sandhog during construction of a new tube of the Lincoln Tunnel.
His two favorite cartoon characters are Daffy Duck his all-time favorite and Johnny Bravo.
Prominent women who claim to have rejected his advances include Barbara Windsor, Gloria Steinem, Kathleen Turner, Kim Novak, and Rosanna Arquette, among others.
Two of Beatty’s films have been selected for the National Film Registry: Bonnie and Clyde 1967 and McCabe & Mrs. Miller 1971.
He was offered the role of Richard Nixon twice: in Nixon 1995 by Oliver Stone and in Frost/Nixon 2008 by Ron Howard.
Beatty remains the only person to be twice nominated by the Academy as actor, writer, director, and producer for the same film Heaven Can Wait and Reds.
He turned down the role of Bill in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 2004 due to the violent nature of the movie.
He is the godfather of Steven Bauer and Melanie Griffith’s son, Alexander.
Beatty was the original choice to play billionaire John Gates in Indecent Proposal 1993.
Diane Keaton and Mary Tyler Moore fought over Beatty in the early 1980s; he was involved with both during that period.
A political liberal, Beatty personally campaigned for Senator George McGovern in the 1972 New Hampshire Democratic primary.
His children with Annette Bening include Kathlyn born 1992, Benjamin 1994, Isabel 1997, and Ella 2000.
He was slated to play the lead in Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, but the project was shelved after 9/11; by the time it revived, Beatty was too old for the part.
In the films he produces, Beatty usually plays characters who lose something important by the end.
Contrary to popular belief, Beatty dumped Madonna, not the other way around; her song Take a Bow is about him.
He turned down lead roles in numerous films, including The Graduate 1967, Cabaret 1972, and Mrs. Doubtfire 1993.
His daughter Kathlyn transitioned to male at age 14 and changed his name to Stephen Ira Beatty.
Beatty turned down the title role in the political comedy Dave 1993.
In 1989, Beatty bought the script Ocean of Storms about an aging astronaut, but after years of development with Martin Scorsese and various writers, the project was canceled following the success of Space Cowboys 2000 and the box-office failures of Love Affair 1994 and Bulworth 1998.
He tested for the role of Tony in West Side Story 1961.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Warren Beatty.
Celebrities similar to Warren Beatty — same craft, ranked by reach.
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