Actor and film director who was regarded as a pioneer of American cinema verité.


Father of Nick Cassavetes, Alexandra Cassavetes and Zoe R. Cassavetes. Son of Katherine Cassavetes. A photograph of Cassavetes, taken during the production of his film Husbands (1970), appears on one stamp of a sheet of 10 USA 37¢ commemorative postage stamps, issued 25 February 2003, celebrating American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes. The stamp honors directing. Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 189-194. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988. In Ray Carney's "Cassavetes on Cassavetes" book, Cassavetes confessed to his parents that he wanted to be an actor. His father wasn't initially thrilled at the idea of his son being an actor, but told him that he had to work hard because he would be portraying human emotions truthfully. Auditioned for The Actors Studio when he was starting out as an actor, but was rejected. He and Gena Rowlands made 10 movies together: A Child Is Waiting (1963), Faces (1968/I) , Gloria (1980), Love Streams (1984), Minnie and Moskowitz (1971), Opening Night (1977), A Woman Under the Influence (1974), Gli intoccabili (1969), Two-Minute Warning (1976) and Tempest (1982) He and his good friend Ben Gazzara made 5 movies together: Husbands (1970), Capone (1975), If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969), Opening Night (1977) and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) Born to Nicholas John Cassavetes and Katherine Cassavetes. Son-in-law of Lady Rowlands. As of 2007, he is one of six directors who has directed his wife to a Best Actress Oscar nomination and is the only one to have directed her to two nominations (Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence (1974) & Gloria (1980)). The other five are Joel Coen directing Frances McDormand in Fargo (1996), Paul Newman directing Joanne Woodward in Rachel, Rachel (1968), Blake Edwards directing Julie Andrews in Victor Victoria (1982), Paul Czinner directing Elisabeth Bergner in Escape Me Never (1935) and Richard Brooks directing Jean Simmons in The Happy Ending (1969). Jules Dassin also directed his future wife Melina Mercouri in an Oscar-nominated performance (Pote tin Kyriaki (1960)), but they weren't married yet at the time of the nomination.