Henry Warren Beaty was born on March 30, 1937, inRichmond, Virginia. His mother, Kathlyn Corinne (née MacLean), was a teacher fromNova Scotia. His father, Ira Owens Beaty, studied for a PhD in educational psychology and was a teacher and school administrator, in addition to working in real estate.[9] His grandparents were also teachers. The family wasBaptist.[10][11] During Warren's childhood, Ira Beaty moved his family from Richmond toNorfolk and then toArlington andWaverly, then back to Arlington, eventually taking a position at Arlington's Thomas Jefferson Junior High School in 1945. During the 1950s the family resided in theDominion Hills section of Arlington.[12] Beatty's older sister is actress, dancer and writerShirley MacLaine (who altered the phonetic spelling of her mother's maiden surname).[13] His uncle by marriage was Canadian politicianA.A. MacLeod.
Beatty became interested in movies as a child, often accompanying his sister to theaters. One film that had an important early influence on him wasThe Philadelphia Story (1940), which he saw when it was re-released in the 1950s. He noticed a strong resemblance between its star,Katharine Hepburn, and his mother, in both appearance and personality, saying that they symbolized "perpetual integrity".[4] Another film that influenced him wasLove Affair (1939), starring one of his favorite actors,Charles Boyer. He found it "deeply moving", and recalled that "[t]his is a movie I always wanted to make."[4] HeremadeLove Affair in 1994, starring alongside his wifeAnnette Bening and Katharine Hepburn.
Among his favorite TV shows in the 1950s was theTexaco Star Theatre, and he began to mimic one of its regular host comedians,Milton Berle. Beatty learned to do a "superb imitation of Berle and his routine", said a friend, and often used Berle-type humor at home. His sister's memories of her brother include seeing him reading books byEugene O'Neill or singing along toAl Jolson records.[4] InRules Don't Apply (2016), Beatty playsHoward Hughes, who is shown talking about and singing Jolson songs while flying his plane.[14]
MacLaine noted — on what made her brother want to become a filmmaker, sometimes writing, producing, directing and starring in his films: "That's why he's more comfortable behind the camera ... He's in the total-control aspect. He has to have control over everything."[4] Beatty doesn't deny that need; in speaking about his earliest parts, he said "When I acted in films I used to come with suggestions about the script, the lighting, the wardrobe, and people used to say 'Waddya want, to produce the picture as well?' And I used to say that I supposed I did."[15]
Beatty playedfootball atWashington-Lee High School in Arlington. Encouraged to act by the success of his sister, who established herself as a Hollywood star, he decided to work as a stagehand at theNational Theatre in Washington, D.C. during the summer before his senior year. After graduation, he was reportedly offered ten college football scholarships, but turned them down to study liberal arts atNorthwestern University (1954–55), where he joined theSigma Chi fraternity. Beatty left college after his first year and moved to New York City to study acting underStella Adler at theStella Adler Studio of Acting. He often subsisted on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and worked odd jobs, including dishwasher, piano player, bricklayer's assistant, construction worker, and, relatively briefly, asandhog.[16]
AuthorPeter Biskind points out that Kazan "was the first in a string of major directors Beatty sought out, mentors or father figures from whom he wanted to learn."[5] Years later during aKennedy Center tribute to Kazan, Beatty told the audience that Kazan "had given him the most important break in his career."[5] Biskind adds that they "were wildly dissimilar—mentor vs. protegé, director vs. actor, immigrant outsider vs. native son. Kazan was armed with the confidence born of age and success, while Beatty was virtually aflame with the arrogance of youth."[5] Kazan recalls his impressions of Beatty:
Warren—it was obvious the first time I saw him—wanted it all and wanted it his way. Why not? He had the energy, a very keen intelligence, and morechutzpah than any Jew I've ever known. Even more than me. Bright as they come, intrepid, and with that thing all women secretly respect: complete confidence in his sexual powers, confidence so great that he never had to advertise himself, even by hints.[21]
Mr. Beatty's career has had all the hallmarks of the conventional Hollywood golden boy. Ingratiating good looks, disarming youthfulness, a delight in the social life and no apparently strong feelings about his craft. This image has now been strikingly shattered with his emergence as a vividly individual actor and as a highly imaginative producer in the gangster ballad,Bonnie and Clyde ... At 28 [sic], the image of Warren Beatty, fun-loving playboy, is dead. Warren Beatty, a man of the cinema, is born.
At age 30, Beatty produced and acted inBonnie and Clyde, released in 1967.[24] He assembled a team that included the writersRobert Benton andDavid Newman, and the directorArthur Penn. Beatty selected most of the cast, includingFaye Dunaway,Gene Hackman,Estelle Parsons,Gene Wilder andMichael J. Pollard. Beatty also oversaw the script and spearheaded the delivery of the film. Beatty chose Gene Hackman because he had acted with him inLilith in 1964 and felt he was a "great" actor.[25] Upon completion of the film, he credited Hackman with giving the "most authentic performance in the movie, so textured and so moving", recalls Dunaway.[25] Beatty had been so impressed by Gene Wilder after seeing him in a play, that he cast him without an audition for what became Wilder's screen debut. Beatty already knew Pollard: "Michael J. Pollard was one of my oldest friends", Beatty said. "I'd known him forever; I met him the day I got my first television show. We did a play together on Broadway."[25]
Bonnie and Clyde became a critical and commercial success, despite the early misgivings by studio headJack Warner who put up the production money. Before filming began, Warner said, "What does Warren Beatty think he's doing? How did he ever get us into this thing? This gangster stuff went out withCagney."[25] The film was nominated for tenAcademy Awards, includingBest Picture andBest Actor, and sevenGolden Globe Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor.[20] Beatty was originally entitled to 40% of the film's profits but gave 10% to Penn, and his 30% share earned him more than US$6 million.[26] AfterBonnie and Clyde, Beatty acted withElizabeth Taylor inThe Only Game in Town (1970), directed by George Stevens;McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), directed byRobert Altman; andDollars (1971), directed by Richard Brooks.
Beatty in a promo photo forBonnie and Clyde (1967)
In 1978, Beatty directed, produced, wrote and acted inHeaven Can Wait (1978) (sharing co-directing credit withBuck Henry). The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Adapted Screenplay. It also won three Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture and Best Actor.
A film [Reds] of this scope and size demands incredible work from the director, and when you consider that Beatty also served as producer, writer and star, it's hard to believe so much work could come from one man. As a film, it's a marvelous view of America in the 1912–19 era, and Beatty brought some superior performances from a large cast.
Beatty's next film wasReds (1981), a historical epic about American Communist journalistJohn Reed who observed the RussianOctober Revolution – a project Beatty had begun researching and filming for as far back as 1970. It was a critical and commercial success, despite being an American film about an American Communist, made and released at the height of the Cold War. It received 12 Academy Award nominations – including four for Beatty (for Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Original Screenplay), winning three. Beatty won for Best Director,Maureen Stapleton won for Best Supporting Actress (playing anarchistEmma Goldman), andVittorio Storaro won for Best Cinematography.[31] The film received seven Golden Globe nominations, including Best Motion Picture, Director, Actor and Screenplay. Beatty won theGolden Globe Award for Best Director.
FollowingReds, Beatty did not appear in a film for five years until 1987'sIshtar, written and directed byElaine May.[32] Following severe criticism in press reviews by the new British studio chiefDavid Puttnam just prior to its release, the film received mixed reviews and was unimpressive commercially.[33] Puttnam attacked several other over-budget American films greenlighted by his predecessor and was fired shortly thereafter.[34]
In 1991, he produced and starred as the real-life gangsterBugsy Siegel in the critically acclaimed and commercially successful filmBugsy, directed byBarry Levinson, which was nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor; it later won two of the awards for Best Art Direction andBest Costume Design.[39] The film also received eight Golden Globe Award nominations, including Best Motion Picture and Best Actor, winning for Best Motion Picture. Beatty's next film,Love Affair (1994), directed byGlenn Gordon Caron, received mixed reviews and was a commercial failure.
In May 2005, Beatty suedTribune Media, claiming he still maintained the rights toDick Tracy.[42] On March 25, 2011, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson ruled in Beatty's favor.[43]
In 2010, Beatty directed and reprised his role asDick Tracy in the 30-minute television specialDick Tracy Special, which premiered onTCM. Themetafictional special features an interview with Tracy and film critic and historianLeonard Maltin, the latter of whom discusses the history and creation of Tracy. Tracy talks about how he admiredRalph Byrd andMorgan Conway who portrayed him in several films, but says he didn't care much for Beatty's portrayal of him orhis film.[44] The production of the special allowed Beatty to retain the rights to the character.[45] At CinemaCon In April 2016, Beatty reiterated that he intends to make aDick Tracy sequel.[46] In 2023, Beatty reprised the role of Tracy and played the character opposite himself inDick Tracy Special: Tracy Zooms In, a follow-up to theDick Tracy Special that also aired on TCM. The 30-minute special, which mostly consists of aZoom interview withBen Mankiewicz and a returning Maltin in which Tracy criticizes aspects of the 1990 film adaptation to Beatty's face and suggests that a younger actor should take over the role of Tracy, concludes with Beatty and Tracy meeting in person and suggesting that Dick Tracy will return in the future.[45][47]
Rules Don't Apply (2016)
Who else is better equipped to understand the symbiosis between show business and politics and to assert that when a certain degree of wealth and power have been achieved, the ordinary rules of human behavior can be flouted?... Fools and idiots abound, but demonic, systemic evil does not. Mr. Beatty obviously loves Hollywood, which has been good to him.
In the mid-1970s, Beatty signed a contract withWarner Bros. to star in, produce, write, and possibly direct a film aboutHoward Hughes.[49] The project was put on hold when Beatty beganHeaven Can Wait. Initially, Beatty planned to film the life story ofJohn Reed and Hughes back-to-back, but as he was getting deeper into the project, he eventually focused primarily on the Reed filmReds. In June 2011, it was reported that Beatty would produce, write, direct and star in a film about Hughes, focusing on an affair he had with a younger woman in the final years of his life.[50] During this period, Beatty interviewed actors to star in his ensemble cast. He met withAndrew Garfield,Alec Baldwin,Owen Wilson,Justin Timberlake,Shia LaBeouf,Jack Nicholson,Evan Rachel Wood,Rooney Mara, andFelicity Jones.[51] The film would eventually be released under the titleRules Don't Apply, a fictionalized true-life romantic comedy set in 1958 Hollywood and Las Vegas.[52] Beatty wrote, co-produced, directed and starred alongsideAlden Ehrenreich andLily Collins, with supporting cast including Baldwin,Annette Bening,Matthew Broderick,Candice Bergen,Ed Harris andMartin Sheen.[53] It was released on November 23, 2016, and was Beatty's first film in 15 years.[54][b] Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics" gave the film a 55% "Rotten" rating.[55] The film was also a commercial disappointment.[56]
In 2017, Beatty reunited with hisBonnie and Clyde co-starFaye Dunaway at the89th Academy Awards, in celebration of the film's 50th anniversary. After being introduced byJimmy Kimmel, they walked out onto the stage to present theBest Picture Award. They had been given the wrong envelope, leading Dunaway to incorrectly announceLa La Land as Best Picture, instead of the actual winner,Moonlight.[57][58] This became a social media sensation, trending all over the world.[59] In 2018, Beatty and Dunaway returned to present Best Picture at the90th Academy Awards, earning a standing ovation upon their entrance, making jokes about the previous year's flub. Without incident, Beatty announcedThe Shape of Water as the winner.[60]
Beatty has been married to actressAnnette Bening since 1992. They have four children, including actressElla Beatty.[61]
Prior to marrying Bening, Beatty was notorious for his large number of romantic relationships that received generous media coverage, having been linked to over 100 female celebrities.[62] Early in his career, Beatty was engaged toJoan Collins; he later referred to the engagement as "an exaggeration."[63][64][65][18]Cher, who briefly dated him, stated that "Warren has probably been with everybody I know."[66][67]Leslie Caron said "Warren always had girlfriends who resembled his sister [Shirley MacLaine]". Caron thought he was too self-centered, and refused his marriage proposals.[68]Carly Simon revealed in 2015 that the second verse of her 1972 song "You're So Vain" was about a previous romantic relationship with Beatty.[69]
Beatty is a longtime supporter of theDemocratic Party. In 1972, he was part of the "inner circle" of SenatorGeorge McGovern's presidential campaign. He traveled extensively and was instrumental in organizing fundraising.[73] Despite differences in politics, Beatty was also a friend of Republican SenatorJohn McCain, with whom he agreed on the need for campaign finance reform. He was chosen by McCain to be one of the pallbearers at the senator's funeral in 2018.[74]
^Beatty changed the original spellingBeaty, pronounced/ˈbeɪti/BAY-tee,[1][2][3] in 1957. Both Warren Beatty and his sister,Shirley MacLaine, have said they consider only this pronunciation correct, and Warren was fond of saying the name should rhyme with "weighty", not "Wheaties".[4][5] But the pronunciation/ˈbiːti/BEE-tee is so common that it is also or exclusively recorded in some reliable reference works.[6][7]
Ellis Amburn,The Sexiest Man Alive: A Biography of Warren Beatty, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2002.ISBN0-06-018566-X.
Peter Biskind,Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-drugs-and-rock-'n'-roll Generation Saved Hollywood, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1998.ISBN0-684-80996-6.
Suzanne Finstad,Warren Beatty: A Private Man, Random House, New York, 2005.ISBN1-4000-4606-8.
Mark Harris,Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of New Hollywood, Penguin Press, New York, 2008.ISBN978-1-59420-152-3.
Suzanne Munshower,Warren Beatty: His Life, His Loves, His Work, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1990.ISBN0-8065-0670-9.
Stephen J. Ross, "Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics", Oxford Press, New York, 2011.ISBN978-0-19-518172-2.
Peter Swirski, "1990s That Dirty Word, Socialism: Warren Beatty'sBulworth".Ars Americana Ars Politica. Montreal, London: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2010.ISBN978-0-7735-3766-8.
David Thomson,Warren Beatty: A Life and Story, Secker and Warburg, London, 1987.ISBN0-436-52015-X.
David Thomson,Warren Beatty and Desert Eyes, Doubleday and Co., Inc., New York, 1987.ISBN0-385-18707-6.
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