Ben Gazzara, Veteran Character Actor, Dies At 81
Feb. 4, 2012, 3:15 p.m.
Ben Gazzara—a veteran character actor known for his films with director John Cassavetes, playing Brick in the original “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” on Broadway, and playing Jackie Treehorn in "The Big Lebowski"—has died.
Ben Gazzara—a veteran dramatic character actor known for his films with director John Cassavetes, playing Brick in the original “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” on Broadway, and playing Jackie Treehorn in The Big Lebowski—died on Friday in Manhattan. Gazzara suffered from pancreatic cancer; he was 81.
Gazzara was born Biagio Anthony Gazzara on the East Side of Manhattan on Aug. 28, 1930. Both his parents had immigrated from Italy, and they often spoke Italian at home. According to his autobiography, he grew up in a building at 29th Street and First Avenue, where he slept on the fire escape in summer and occasionally heard screams from the patients at Bellevue psychiatric hospital.
Gazzara studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in Manhattan, and was an early proponent of the method acting style. He channeled that into two major starring roles on Broadway in the '50s: as Brick Pollitt in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" in 1955, and as Johnny Pope, the drug addict in "A Hatful of Rain." That role earned him his first of three Tony Award nominations. His last Broadway appearance was in the revival of “Awake and Sing!” in 2006.
In 1965, he moved to television to star in Run for Your Life,—he was twice nominated for Emmys during the show's three-year run. He is probably most closely tied to maverick director Cassavetes, for whom he worked on three films: "Husbands, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie and Opening Night. He collaborated with director Peter Bogdanovich, who cast Gazzara in leading roles in Saint Jack and They All Laughed..
He also worked with Spike Lee on Summer of Sam, David Mamet on The Spanish Prisoner, Todd Solondz on Happiness, Lars von Trier on Dogville, and the Coen Brothers for The Big Lebowski—Gazzara played Jackie Treehorn, the white-suited porn movie producer of such films as "Logjammin'." To give an idea of how indelible a role it was—despite being small—there is even a webpage solely dedicated to examining Gazzara's one scene in the film.