His mother gave up her profession to settle down in Virginia and raise a family, although it was never in doubt that Beatty and his sister, the actress and dancer Shirley MacLaine, would themselves be raised to pursue stardom - each was urged to be successful and achieve from a very early age.
Beatty attended high school in Arlington, Virginia and then Northwestern University, but, not to be outdone by his rising-star big sister, dropped out after his first year to study acting under the legendary Stella Adler. He found his first screen role, in the TV sitcomThe Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959), to be "ridiculous" and quickly abandoned it to work on the Broadway stage, the highlight of which was his Tony-nominated performance in "A Loss of Roses".
Beatty's first major film role came in the drama Esplendor en la hierba (1961), as the confused Bud. Critics refused to take the handsome young Beatty seriously, and he strove to turn this around with his arty crime drama Acosado (1965), directed by Arthur Penn, which got favorable notices but did not find an audience. Next he starred in a light-weight comedy, Prométele cualquier cosa (1965), along with the lovely Leslie Caron and the charismatic Beatty, already a Lothario, began an affair with his married co-star which was cited in Caron's divorce proceedings.
Beatty teamed up again with Penn for the movie that would elevate his status in Hollywood, the classic Bonnie y Clyde (1967), in which he and co-star Faye Dunawayplayed the quirky outlaws Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. The movie's powerful performances, strong direction and controversially graphic violence made it a huge hit, and Beatty finally found himself taken seriously.
Over the next decade, Beatty starred in, produced and occasionally directed some of the most important films in Hollywood, some critically praised, such as Los vividores (1971); others prescient social commentaries, such as Shampoo (1975) which itself became an important event in popular culture; others were wonderful updates of Hollywood classics, such as El cielo puede esperar (1978). He capped this all off with his hugely ambitious recounting of the American radical journalist John Reed's experiences in Bolshevik Russia,Rojos (1981), for which Beatty, already nominated for acting Oscars several times, finally won as best director. Beatty was an intrinsic part of the renaissance of Hollywood in the 1970s, when films were being made every year that were important as well as successful.
Beatty's remarkable career stalled in the 1980s. In fact, he was absent from the screen for most of that decade, and when his next film after Rojos (1981) finally came, it was the legendarily disastrous Ishtar (1987), one of the biggest film catastrophes of not only the decade, but all time. Beatty's next movie, Dick Tracy (1990) was a summer blockbuster and received rave reviews from the critics as well. Following this came Bugsy (1991), a biopic of the life of gangster and Las Vegas visionary Bugsy Siegel, which was another box office failure. Beatty married his co-star, Annette Bening, and produced and starred with her in another costly disaster, Un asunto de amor (1994). Beatty revisited his "Ishtar" nadir with his expensive 2001 comedy Enredos de sociedad (2001), which was both a box office and critical debacle.
Fortunately, in the midst of all this bad news Beatty's creative best resurfaced in 1998 with his Bulworth (1998), an arch political satire about a liberal California senator forced to resort to the right-wing politics of the day to retain his seat. Disillusioned, Bullworth puts out a contract on his own life and while waiting to die decides to graphically show the ugliness that has become politics to the public, but his fatal plan is complicated when he falls for a beautiful young woman from South Central LA (Halle Berry). Bulworth (1998) was a reminder that Beatty was still capable of making movies that are remarkable, entertaining and successful.
In his prime Beatty was almost as famous for his love life as he was for his movie-making, having been connected with a galaxy of beautiful starlets, a "who's who" list reported to include Madonna, Cher, Natalie Wood, Lana Wood, Diane Keaton, Julie Christie, Leslie Caron, Goldie Hawn, Isabelle Adjani, Liv Ullmann, Carly Simon, Inger Stevens, Janice Dickinson, Joan Collins, Michelle Phillips, Kate Jackson, Britt Ekland, Jean Seberg, Mamie Van Doren, Carol Alt, Brigitte Bardot, Justine Bateman, and Elle Macpherson. Notorious for his alleged "love 'em and leave 'em" treatment of many of these women, an aging Beatty had the tables turned on him by the sultry diva, supermodel Stephanie Seymour, who unceremoniously dropped Beatty to pursue Axl Roseof rock band 'Guns N' Roses'. Soon after that, Beatty settled down with Bening, marrying on March 12, 1992. The couple has four children.
Beatty has been nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including winning the Best Director Award and its highest honor, the Irving G. Thalberg Award. He has been nominated for 16 Golden Globe Awards and won six, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award, which he received in 2007. Only Beatty and Orson Welles have been nominated for producer, director, writer and actor in the same film. Welles did it once (for Citizen Kane), and Beatty did it twice (for Heaven Can Wait and Reds). - IMDb Mini Biography By: Larry-115 and Michael
Spouse
Annette Bening (3 March 1992 - present) (4 children)
Trade Mark
Films often portray edgy, iconoclastic anti-heroes
Known on-screen and off-screen for being highly charming to women
Method acting
Trivia
His political views expounded by the "new" Jay Bulworth in the movie Bulworth (1998) are really his own.
Younger brother of Shirley MacLaine.
He and sister Shirley MacLaine attended Washington-Lee HS (same school as Sandra Bullock).
Attended Northwestern University but dropped out after one year. Member Sigma Chi fraternity.
He was co-respondent in the 1966 divorce case involving the dancer-actress Leslie Caronand the producer Peter Hall.
He is the godfather of Steven Bauer and Melanie Griffith's son, Alexander.
Was the first choice to play Michael Corleone in El padrino (1972), but he turned it down.
Was originally cast as the president in Mars Attacks! (1996).
Was the first choice to play the lead in Tal como éramos (1973).
Received ten offers of football scholarship after graduating from high school. He turned them all down.
Lives on famed "Bad Boy Drive" a.k.a. Muholland Drive in Beverly Hills, CA. Nicknamed so because its famed residents are bad boy actors Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, and Beatty.
Is allergic to oysters.
Uncle of actress Sachi Parker.
Turned down the role of Bill in Kill Bill. Volume 1 (2003) because of the violent nature of the movie.
Tested for the role of Tony in West Side Story (1961).
Rumored to have been the subject of Carly Simon hit, 'You're So Vain'.
He has a photographic memory for phone numbers. He can dial a touch tone phone using the same hand technique as telephone operators.
In the films he produces, he usually plays characters who lose something important by the end of the film.
Recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, along with Elton John, Joan Sutherland,John Williams, and Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
Based his Shampoo (1975) character "George Roundy" on celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring.
Was an advisor on George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign.
Credited with founding the concept of a political fund-raising concert when he and his girlfriend Julie Christie backed the "Together with McGovern" concert in 1972 featuring Barbra Streisand, Carole King, James Taylor and even reuniting Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel (Simon and Garfunkel).
Was nominated for Broadway's 1960 Tony Award as best supporting or featured actor (dramatic) for "A Loss of Roses", later filmed as Rosas perdidas (1963) with Richard Beymer in Beatty's role.
He directed 7 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Jack Warden, Dyan Cannon, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Maureen Stapleton, Al Pacino and himself (in El cielo puede esperar (1978) and Rojos (1981). Maureen Stapleton won an Oscar for her performance in Rojos (1981).
Premiere Magazine ranked him as #29 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005).
Was slated to play the lead role in Francis Ford Coppola's dead project "Megaoplis".
John F. Kennedy wanted Beatty to play him in Patrullero PT 109 (1963), after learning that director Elia Kazan had said that if anybody were to play JFK, it should be Beatty since they had so much in common. As Kazan stated, "Warren had everything Jack had. Looks, intelligence, cunning and a commanding eye with the girls. Warren also suffered from lower back trouble". Kennedy himself suggested Beatty to Warner Bros to play him.Jack L. Warner asked Beatty to fly over to Washington to meet JFK and talk about the movie with him, but Beatty did not want to make the trip, nor play the part. Beatty found the script too weak, that there was a surprising lack of action. His assessment turned out to be right: Cliff Robertson played the part and the movie flopped. Months later, JFK and Beatty met and Kennedy had to concede that Beatty's decision not to make the movie had been right. Beatty and Kennedy remained very good friends up until Kennedy's death in 1963.
Along with Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Richard Attenborough and Kevin Costner, he is one of six people to win and Academy Award for "Best Director", though they are mainly known as actors.
Said that if they ever made a movie about his life story, Colin Farrell is the only person he thinks could play him.
Lived with Julie Christie from 1967 to 1973.
A relative of his on his mothers side was the last sitting Communist member of the Canadian Parliament.
Turned down the lead in Tal como éramos (1973), Beatty also rejected Dos hombres y un destino (1969) because he wanted to work with George Stevens on El único juego de la ciudad (1970). Turned down El golpe (1973) and El gran Gatsby (1974) so that he could devote his time to the George McGovern presidential campaign.
Beatty first espied future long-term lover Julie Christie at the 1966 Royal Command Performance of the film Nacida libre (1966) in London, which he attended with his then-girlfriend, Leslie Caron. Caron and Beatty were situated near Christie in the reception line for Queen Elizabeth II, and Beatty first saw Christie in person when he turned to watch the Queen shake hands with her. Beatty inveigled his friend Richard Sylbert to tell her to call him. She did, he flew up to the San Francisco location of the Petulia (1968) shoot and, after a rocky start, they became lovers. She made her first public appearance with Beatty at a sneak preview of Bonnie y Clyde (1967) for the Hollywood elite. It took them several months to rid themselves of their then-current lovers before they came together in a committed relationship, although they usually maintained separate households for the length of their long romance. Most of those who knew them said they shared a passion for the truth. Beatty told his friends he had asked Christie to marry him, but she refused as she did not want children. While filming Shampoo (1975) in 1974, Beatty bought his dream house and brought Christie over to view it. When she realized he had already assigned several rooms as nurseries, it dawned on her that their ideas for the future were too far apart to be able to maintain their relationship. She ended her long love affair with Beatty by phone, in the fall of 1974. His longest and most lasting relationship until he married Annette Bening, the mother of his four children, Beatty considered Christie his wife and told the press in 1971 that he would pay her alimony if they split up, if she wanted it. They did, but she didn't. When Beatty was awarded the Irving Thalberg Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in the year 2000, Christie was one of the friends and co-workers who appeared in a film tribute to her former lover.
Became close to Robert F. Kennedy during his 1968 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Beatty's relationship with Robert F. Kennedy was closer than the one Beatty had had with John F. Kennedy. Beatty was particularly valuable during the campaign in firing up volunteers for such mundane activities as door-to-door canvassing. Robert F. Kennedy was impressed by Beatty's thorough understanding of the issues. After the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in Beatty's hometown of Los Angeles, Beatty became a vocal gun control advocate.
Once worked as a cocktail lounge pianist.
Has produced two films that were nominated for Best Picture and had acting nominations in all four roles: Bonnie y Clyde (1967) and Rojos (1981)
After coming to New York at 19 to pursue an acting career, he temporarily supported himself by working as a sandhog during the building of a new tube of the Lincoln Tunnel between New York and New Jersey.
He is the only person to be nominated for 4 Academy Awards (Best Picture, Directing, Lead Actor & Screenplay) in the same year in two-times. First for El cielo puede esperar(1978), later for Rojos (1981).
Oliver Stone tried casting him twice - once as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street (1987) and then as Richard M. Nixon in Nixon (1995).
His performance as Clyde Barrow in Bonnie y Clyde (1967) is ranked #32 on the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes & Villains. This is ranking he shares with Faye Dunaway, who portrayed Bonnie Parker.
Turned down the role of Jack Horner in Boogie Nights (1997). He later said that it was one of the few choices in his career that he regretted. Burt Reynolds garnered an Academy Award nomination for his performance in the film.
Received the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award at The 72nd Annual Academy Awards(2000), presented to him by his friend and neighbor Jack Nicholson.
A political liberal, he personally campaigned for South Dakota Senator George McGovernin the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential primary in 1972.
¿Qué tal, Pussycat? (1965), a name he often called girlfriends, was written for him, but he turned down the role when Leslie Caron - his current flame - was turned down by producers for the other lead.
Long planned a biopic of Howard Hughes to produce and star in. It has yest to be made and it's uncertain whether or not Beatty has actually completed a script or if he also plans on directing it.
Was offered the lead role in Jade (1995) but turned it down. David Caruso signed on to star instead.
Was offered the role of Richard Nixon twice in his career: with Oliver Stone in Nixon(1995) and with Ron Howard in El desafío - Frost contra Nixon (2008).
Claims he was offered the lead role in Rocky (1976).
Turned down a role in Bob, Carol, Ted y Alice (1969).
Has expressed interest in producing, directing and starring in a live action Pokemon movie, with himself playing the villain Giovanni, as Pokemon is his youngest's and second youngest's favorite cartoon.
His two favorite cartoon characters are Daffy Duck (who is his all time favorite) and Johnny Bravo.
He is the godfather of longtime friend Richard Sylbert daughter, Daisy Alexandra Sylbert-Torres.
Only three times in Academy Award history have director-collaborators been nominated for Best Directing Oscars: Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story (1961),Warren Beatty and Buck Henry for El cielo puede esperar (1978) and Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for No es país para viejos (2007). (Wise/Robbins and the Coens actually won the award).
Despite their political differences, he is good friends with John McCain and Nancy Reagan. He was also a longtime friend of Ronald Reagan since his early career in Hollywood. As President, Reagan invited Beatty to screen his film Rojos (1981) at the White House.
He and Clint Eastwood are the only actor-directors to earn Best Actor and Best Director Oscar nominations for the same film two separate times.
Played two characters whose names differ by one letter: Joe Grady in "The Only Game in Town" and Joe Frady in "The Parallax View".
In September 2000, Warren Beatty was set to star in Steven Zaillian's adaptation of the Geoffrey Wolff book "The Duke of Deception". Zaillian had completed the script and was set to direct for producer Scott Rudin and Paramount. However, Warren Beatty's procrastination pushed the project back and eventually Zaillian moved on. At the time, Beatty was also attached to star in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill", but he eventually left that project as well.
When Warren Beatty made his deal with Warner Bros. for "Bonnie and Clyde", they had such little faith in the future box office results from the $2.5 million production that they agreed to give the film's star and first-time producer Warren Beatty 40% of the box office gross. The deal worked out majorly for Beatty. Between 1967 and 1973 when the film played in theaters, it generated over $70 million worldwide at the box office, netting Beatty an estimated $28 million in earnings.
In 1989, while working on Dick Tracy (1990), Warren Beatty came across a script titled "Ocean of Storms". It was a love story about an aging astronaut who rejoins the lunar program for another shot at glory and falls for a female astronaut. The script was written by documentary producer Ben Young Mason & veteran writer, producer, director and actorTony Bill. Beatty bought the script through his Mulholland Productions and set it up at 20th Century Fox. He planned on producing and starring in this as his next project after he completed his commitments on Bugsy (1991). However like most Beatty projects it was stalled in development. By 1993 Beatty was working with Annette Bening on Un asunto de amor (1994) and was planning on making "Ocean of Storms" their next project. He was trying to convince Martin Scorsese to direct it and hired Wesley Strick to do a rewrite for Scorsese. Scorsese eventually passed on the project but Beatty continued to develop it over the years with rewrites from a slew of screenwriters including Robert Towne, Lawrence Wright, Stephen Harrigan and finally Aaron Sorkin. By 1999, Clint Eastwood and Warner Bros. had beaten Beatty to the punch by announcing their own aging astronaut movie Space Cowboys (2000). After the success of that film, and the box office flops of both Un asunto de amor (1994) and Bulworth (1998), Warren Beatty and 20th Century Fox decided to cancel their plans to make "Ocean of Storms".
He has English, as well as Scottish, Irish, and remote Danish, ancestry.
Has never directed or acted with his sister Shirley MacLaine in any films.
Became a father for the 2nd time at age 57 when his wife Annette Bening gave birth to their son Benjamin Beatty on August 23, 1994.
Became a father for the 3rd time at age 59 when his wife Annette Bening gave birth to their daughter Isabel Beatty on January 11, 1997.
Became a father for the 4th time at age 63 when his wife Annette Bening gave birth to their daughter Ella Beatty on April 8, 2000.
Became a father for the 1st time at age 54 when his girlfriend [now wife] Annette Beninggave birth to their daughter Kathlyn Beatty on January 8, 1992.
He was a mentor to Actress Diane Keaton.
As of 2014, has appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar:Bonnie y Clyde (1967), El cielo puede esperar (1978), Rojos (1981) and Bugsy (1991).
He was the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of the superhero Green Lantern/Charlie Vicker (created in 1967). Beatty was 40 years old at the time.
Daughter Kathlyn revealed she was trans-gender at the age of 14. She changed her name from Kathlyn Elizabeth to Stephen Ira Beatty.
Along with Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier, Woody Allen, Kenneth Branagh and Roberto Benigni, he is one of only six people to receive Academy Award nominations for both Best Actor and Best Director for the same film: Welles for Ciudadano Kane (1941), Olivier forHamlet (1948), Allen for Annie Hall (1977), Beatty for Rojos (1981), Branagh for Enrique V (1989) and Benigni for La vida es bella (1997).
Personal Quotes
(On his attitude toward movie promotion): 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.
Charity is taking an ugly girl to lunch.
Lenin (V.I. Lenin) said that people vote with their feet. Well, that's what's happening. They either go, or they don't go. It's all politics. It's all demographics.
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.
On Stanley Kubrick: It was common knowledge that Stanley always knew something you didn't.
Marlon Brando was more than a uniquely gifted and influential actor. He was also an aroused citizen with broad social perspectives. Generous with his friendship and candid personal insights, he was an endlessly entertaining good neighbor. Annette [Annette Bening] and I will miss him very much.
[on former lover Madonna] She doesn't want to live off camera, much less talk.
(On doing stunts): You try to measure up the safety concerns with the adrenaline concerns, the narcissism concerns, and the ambition concerns, and hope you don't make a mistake. Usually I'd wear some kind of pad if I was going to fall.
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.
Salary
Splendor in the Grass (1961) $15.000
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961) $30.000
All Fall Down (1962) $60.000
All Fall Down (1962) $200.000
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) $200.000 + 40% gross
The Only Game in Town (1970) $750.000
Ishtar (1987) $6.000.000
Dick Tracy (1990) $9.000.000
Town & Country (2001) $10.000.000
Annette Bening (3 March 1992 - present) (4 children)
Trade Mark
Films often portray edgy, iconoclastic anti-heroes
Known on-screen and off-screen for being highly charming to women
Method acting
Trivia
His political views expounded by the "new" Jay Bulworth in the movie Bulworth (1998) are really his own.
Younger brother of Shirley MacLaine.
He and sister Shirley MacLaine attended Washington-Lee HS (same school as Sandra Bullock).
Attended Northwestern University but dropped out after one year. Member Sigma Chi fraternity.
He was co-respondent in the 1966 divorce case involving the dancer-actress Leslie Caronand the producer Peter Hall.
He is the godfather of Steven Bauer and Melanie Griffith's son, Alexander.
Was the first choice to play Michael Corleone in El padrino (1972), but he turned it down.
Was originally cast as the president in Mars Attacks! (1996).
Was the first choice to play the lead in Tal como éramos (1973).
Received ten offers of football scholarship after graduating from high school. He turned them all down.
Lives on famed "Bad Boy Drive" a.k.a. Muholland Drive in Beverly Hills, CA. Nicknamed so because its famed residents are bad boy actors Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, and Beatty.
Is allergic to oysters.
Uncle of actress Sachi Parker.
Turned down the role of Bill in Kill Bill. Volume 1 (2003) because of the violent nature of the movie.
Tested for the role of Tony in West Side Story (1961).
Rumored to have been the subject of Carly Simon hit, 'You're So Vain'.
He has a photographic memory for phone numbers. He can dial a touch tone phone using the same hand technique as telephone operators.
In the films he produces, he usually plays characters who lose something important by the end of the film.
Recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, along with Elton John, Joan Sutherland,John Williams, and Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
Based his Shampoo (1975) character "George Roundy" on celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring.
Was an advisor on George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign.
Credited with founding the concept of a political fund-raising concert when he and his girlfriend Julie Christie backed the "Together with McGovern" concert in 1972 featuring Barbra Streisand, Carole King, James Taylor and even reuniting Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel (Simon and Garfunkel).
Was nominated for Broadway's 1960 Tony Award as best supporting or featured actor (dramatic) for "A Loss of Roses", later filmed as Rosas perdidas (1963) with Richard Beymer in Beatty's role.
He directed 7 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Jack Warden, Dyan Cannon, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Maureen Stapleton, Al Pacino and himself (in El cielo puede esperar (1978) and Rojos (1981). Maureen Stapleton won an Oscar for her performance in Rojos (1981).
Premiere Magazine ranked him as #29 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005).
Was slated to play the lead role in Francis Ford Coppola's dead project "Megaoplis".
John F. Kennedy wanted Beatty to play him in Patrullero PT 109 (1963), after learning that director Elia Kazan had said that if anybody were to play JFK, it should be Beatty since they had so much in common. As Kazan stated, "Warren had everything Jack had. Looks, intelligence, cunning and a commanding eye with the girls. Warren also suffered from lower back trouble". Kennedy himself suggested Beatty to Warner Bros to play him.Jack L. Warner asked Beatty to fly over to Washington to meet JFK and talk about the movie with him, but Beatty did not want to make the trip, nor play the part. Beatty found the script too weak, that there was a surprising lack of action. His assessment turned out to be right: Cliff Robertson played the part and the movie flopped. Months later, JFK and Beatty met and Kennedy had to concede that Beatty's decision not to make the movie had been right. Beatty and Kennedy remained very good friends up until Kennedy's death in 1963.
Along with Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Richard Attenborough and Kevin Costner, he is one of six people to win and Academy Award for "Best Director", though they are mainly known as actors.
Said that if they ever made a movie about his life story, Colin Farrell is the only person he thinks could play him.
Lived with Julie Christie from 1967 to 1973.
A relative of his on his mothers side was the last sitting Communist member of the Canadian Parliament.
Turned down the lead in Tal como éramos (1973), Beatty also rejected Dos hombres y un destino (1969) because he wanted to work with George Stevens on El único juego de la ciudad (1970). Turned down El golpe (1973) and El gran Gatsby (1974) so that he could devote his time to the George McGovern presidential campaign.
Beatty first espied future long-term lover Julie Christie at the 1966 Royal Command Performance of the film Nacida libre (1966) in London, which he attended with his then-girlfriend, Leslie Caron. Caron and Beatty were situated near Christie in the reception line for Queen Elizabeth II, and Beatty first saw Christie in person when he turned to watch the Queen shake hands with her. Beatty inveigled his friend Richard Sylbert to tell her to call him. She did, he flew up to the San Francisco location of the Petulia (1968) shoot and, after a rocky start, they became lovers. She made her first public appearance with Beatty at a sneak preview of Bonnie y Clyde (1967) for the Hollywood elite. It took them several months to rid themselves of their then-current lovers before they came together in a committed relationship, although they usually maintained separate households for the length of their long romance. Most of those who knew them said they shared a passion for the truth. Beatty told his friends he had asked Christie to marry him, but she refused as she did not want children. While filming Shampoo (1975) in 1974, Beatty bought his dream house and brought Christie over to view it. When she realized he had already assigned several rooms as nurseries, it dawned on her that their ideas for the future were too far apart to be able to maintain their relationship. She ended her long love affair with Beatty by phone, in the fall of 1974. His longest and most lasting relationship until he married Annette Bening, the mother of his four children, Beatty considered Christie his wife and told the press in 1971 that he would pay her alimony if they split up, if she wanted it. They did, but she didn't. When Beatty was awarded the Irving Thalberg Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in the year 2000, Christie was one of the friends and co-workers who appeared in a film tribute to her former lover.
Became close to Robert F. Kennedy during his 1968 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Beatty's relationship with Robert F. Kennedy was closer than the one Beatty had had with John F. Kennedy. Beatty was particularly valuable during the campaign in firing up volunteers for such mundane activities as door-to-door canvassing. Robert F. Kennedy was impressed by Beatty's thorough understanding of the issues. After the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in Beatty's hometown of Los Angeles, Beatty became a vocal gun control advocate.
Once worked as a cocktail lounge pianist.
Has produced two films that were nominated for Best Picture and had acting nominations in all four roles: Bonnie y Clyde (1967) and Rojos (1981)
After coming to New York at 19 to pursue an acting career, he temporarily supported himself by working as a sandhog during the building of a new tube of the Lincoln Tunnel between New York and New Jersey.
He is the only person to be nominated for 4 Academy Awards (Best Picture, Directing, Lead Actor & Screenplay) in the same year in two-times. First for El cielo puede esperar(1978), later for Rojos (1981).
Oliver Stone tried casting him twice - once as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street (1987) and then as Richard M. Nixon in Nixon (1995).
His performance as Clyde Barrow in Bonnie y Clyde (1967) is ranked #32 on the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes & Villains. This is ranking he shares with Faye Dunaway, who portrayed Bonnie Parker.
Turned down the role of Jack Horner in Boogie Nights (1997). He later said that it was one of the few choices in his career that he regretted. Burt Reynolds garnered an Academy Award nomination for his performance in the film.
Received the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award at The 72nd Annual Academy Awards(2000), presented to him by his friend and neighbor Jack Nicholson.
A political liberal, he personally campaigned for South Dakota Senator George McGovernin the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential primary in 1972.
¿Qué tal, Pussycat? (1965), a name he often called girlfriends, was written for him, but he turned down the role when Leslie Caron - his current flame - was turned down by producers for the other lead.
Long planned a biopic of Howard Hughes to produce and star in. It has yest to be made and it's uncertain whether or not Beatty has actually completed a script or if he also plans on directing it.
Was offered the lead role in Jade (1995) but turned it down. David Caruso signed on to star instead.
Was offered the role of Richard Nixon twice in his career: with Oliver Stone in Nixon(1995) and with Ron Howard in El desafío - Frost contra Nixon (2008).
Claims he was offered the lead role in Rocky (1976).
Turned down a role in Bob, Carol, Ted y Alice (1969).
Has expressed interest in producing, directing and starring in a live action Pokemon movie, with himself playing the villain Giovanni, as Pokemon is his youngest's and second youngest's favorite cartoon.
His two favorite cartoon characters are Daffy Duck (who is his all time favorite) and Johnny Bravo.
He is the godfather of longtime friend Richard Sylbert daughter, Daisy Alexandra Sylbert-Torres.
Only three times in Academy Award history have director-collaborators been nominated for Best Directing Oscars: Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story (1961),Warren Beatty and Buck Henry for El cielo puede esperar (1978) and Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for No es país para viejos (2007). (Wise/Robbins and the Coens actually won the award).
Despite their political differences, he is good friends with John McCain and Nancy Reagan. He was also a longtime friend of Ronald Reagan since his early career in Hollywood. As President, Reagan invited Beatty to screen his film Rojos (1981) at the White House.
He and Clint Eastwood are the only actor-directors to earn Best Actor and Best Director Oscar nominations for the same film two separate times.
Played two characters whose names differ by one letter: Joe Grady in "The Only Game in Town" and Joe Frady in "The Parallax View".
In September 2000, Warren Beatty was set to star in Steven Zaillian's adaptation of the Geoffrey Wolff book "The Duke of Deception". Zaillian had completed the script and was set to direct for producer Scott Rudin and Paramount. However, Warren Beatty's procrastination pushed the project back and eventually Zaillian moved on. At the time, Beatty was also attached to star in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill", but he eventually left that project as well.
When Warren Beatty made his deal with Warner Bros. for "Bonnie and Clyde", they had such little faith in the future box office results from the $2.5 million production that they agreed to give the film's star and first-time producer Warren Beatty 40% of the box office gross. The deal worked out majorly for Beatty. Between 1967 and 1973 when the film played in theaters, it generated over $70 million worldwide at the box office, netting Beatty an estimated $28 million in earnings.
In 1989, while working on Dick Tracy (1990), Warren Beatty came across a script titled "Ocean of Storms". It was a love story about an aging astronaut who rejoins the lunar program for another shot at glory and falls for a female astronaut. The script was written by documentary producer Ben Young Mason & veteran writer, producer, director and actorTony Bill. Beatty bought the script through his Mulholland Productions and set it up at 20th Century Fox. He planned on producing and starring in this as his next project after he completed his commitments on Bugsy (1991). However like most Beatty projects it was stalled in development. By 1993 Beatty was working with Annette Bening on Un asunto de amor (1994) and was planning on making "Ocean of Storms" their next project. He was trying to convince Martin Scorsese to direct it and hired Wesley Strick to do a rewrite for Scorsese. Scorsese eventually passed on the project but Beatty continued to develop it over the years with rewrites from a slew of screenwriters including Robert Towne, Lawrence Wright, Stephen Harrigan and finally Aaron Sorkin. By 1999, Clint Eastwood and Warner Bros. had beaten Beatty to the punch by announcing their own aging astronaut movie Space Cowboys (2000). After the success of that film, and the box office flops of both Un asunto de amor (1994) and Bulworth (1998), Warren Beatty and 20th Century Fox decided to cancel their plans to make "Ocean of Storms".
He has English, as well as Scottish, Irish, and remote Danish, ancestry.
Has never directed or acted with his sister Shirley MacLaine in any films.
Became a father for the 2nd time at age 57 when his wife Annette Bening gave birth to their son Benjamin Beatty on August 23, 1994.
Became a father for the 3rd time at age 59 when his wife Annette Bening gave birth to their daughter Isabel Beatty on January 11, 1997.
Became a father for the 4th time at age 63 when his wife Annette Bening gave birth to their daughter Ella Beatty on April 8, 2000.
Became a father for the 1st time at age 54 when his girlfriend [now wife] Annette Beninggave birth to their daughter Kathlyn Beatty on January 8, 1992.
He was a mentor to Actress Diane Keaton.
As of 2014, has appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar:Bonnie y Clyde (1967), El cielo puede esperar (1978), Rojos (1981) and Bugsy (1991).
He was the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of the superhero Green Lantern/Charlie Vicker (created in 1967). Beatty was 40 years old at the time.
Daughter Kathlyn revealed she was trans-gender at the age of 14. She changed her name from Kathlyn Elizabeth to Stephen Ira Beatty.
Along with Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier, Woody Allen, Kenneth Branagh and Roberto Benigni, he is one of only six people to receive Academy Award nominations for both Best Actor and Best Director for the same film: Welles for Ciudadano Kane (1941), Olivier forHamlet (1948), Allen for Annie Hall (1977), Beatty for Rojos (1981), Branagh for Enrique V (1989) and Benigni for La vida es bella (1997).
Personal Quotes
(On his attitude toward movie promotion): 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.
Charity is taking an ugly girl to lunch.
Lenin (V.I. Lenin) said that people vote with their feet. Well, that's what's happening. They either go, or they don't go. It's all politics. It's all demographics.
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.
On Stanley Kubrick: It was common knowledge that Stanley always knew something you didn't.
Marlon Brando was more than a uniquely gifted and influential actor. He was also an aroused citizen with broad social perspectives. Generous with his friendship and candid personal insights, he was an endlessly entertaining good neighbor. Annette [Annette Bening] and I will miss him very much.
[on former lover Madonna] She doesn't want to live off camera, much less talk.
(On doing stunts): You try to measure up the safety concerns with the adrenaline concerns, the narcissism concerns, and the ambition concerns, and hope you don't make a mistake. Usually I'd wear some kind of pad if I was going to fall.
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.
Salary
Splendor in the Grass (1961) $15.000
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961) $30.000
All Fall Down (1962) $60.000
All Fall Down (1962) $200.000
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) $200.000 + 40% gross
The Only Game in Town (1970) $750.000
Ishtar (1987) $6.000.000
Dick Tracy (1990) $9.000.000
Town & Country (2001) $10.000.000
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