Early career Gazzara guest-starred in shows including
Treasury Men in Action and
Danger. He received acclaim for his
off-Broadway performance in
End as a Man in 1953. The production was transferred to
Broadway and ran until 1954. In 1954, Gazzara (having modified his original surname from "Gazzarra") made several appearances in
NBC's
legal drama Justice, based on case studies from
the Legal Aid Society of New York. He also guest-starred on shows including
Medallion Theatre and
The United States Steel Hour.
Broadway success in 1955 Gazzara became a Broadway sensation when he portrayed the role of Brick in
Tennessee Williams's
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955–56) opposite
Barbara Bel Geddes, directed by
Elia Kazan. Gazzara turned down the role in the film version. The studio planned to offer the role to
James Dean, but the part was given to
Paul Newman after Dean's death. He followed it with another long run in
A Hatful of Rain (1956). Gazzara was in the 1963 Actors Studio production of
Strange Interlude on Broadway.
Film work He joined other Actors Studio members in the 1957 film
The Strange One produced by
Sam Spiegel. He had a Broadway flop with
The Night Circus (1958) and continued to guest-star on shows like
Playhouse 90,
Kraft Television Theatre,
Armchair Theatre and
DuPont Show of the Month. His second film was a high-profile performance as a soldier on trial for avenging his wife's rape in
Otto Preminger's courtroom drama
Anatomy of a Murder (1959). Gazzara told
Charlie Rose in 1998 that he went from being mainly a stage actor who often would turn up his nose at film roles in the mid-1950s to, much later, a ubiquitous character actor who turned very little down. "When I became hot, so to speak, in the theater, I got a lot of offers", he said. "I won't tell you the pictures I turned down, because you'll say, 'You are a fool'—and I was a fool." He went to
Italy to make a comedy,
The Passionate Thief (1960), with
Anna Magnani and
Totò. Back in the US he did a TV movie,
Cry Vengeance!, and was second-billed in
The Young Doctors (both 1961). He was also the mystery guest on ''
What's My Line? (September 6, 1961). He starred in Convicts 4 (1962). He returned to Italy to make The Captive City (1962) with David Niven. Gazzara was the male lead in A Rage to Live'' (1965) with
Suzanne Pleshette.
Television star , October 30, 2009 Gazzara became well known in several television series, beginning with
Arrest and Trial, which ran from 1963 to 1964 on ABC. He also appeared in the TV special
A Carol for Another Christmas (1964) and had a short Broadway run in
A Traveller without Luggage in 1964. He also guest-starred on
Kraft Suspense Theatre. He gained fame in the TV series
Run for Your Life which ran from 1965 to 1968 on NBC, in which he played a terminally ill man trying to get the most out of the last two years of his life. For his work in the series, Gazzara received two
Emmy nominations for "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" and three
Golden Globe nominations for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama." When the series ended Gazzara had a cameo in ''
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969) and a lead in the wartime action film The Bridge at Remagen'' (1969).
John Cassavetes Some of the actor's most formidable characters were those he created with his friend
John Cassavetes in the 1970s. They collaborated for the first time on Cassavetes's film
Husbands (1970), in which he appeared alongside
Peter Falk and Cassavetes. Gazzara starred in a television movie,
Pursuit (1972), the directorial debut of
Michael Crichton. He also made the television movies
When Michael Calls (1972),
Fireball Forward (1972), and
The Family Rico (1972). He acted in
The Sicilian Connection (1972) in
Italy, and did a science fiction film
The Neptune Factor (1973). There were more television films, ''
You'll Never See Me Again (1973) and Maneater'' (1973). He starred in the television miniseries
QB VII (1974), which won six primetime
Emmy Awards. The six-and-a-half-hour series was based on a book by
Leon Uris and co-starred
Anthony Hopkins. He then played gangster
Al Capone in the biographical film
Capone (1975). Cassevetes was in the support cast. Gazzara appeared on Broadway in
Hughie (1975) then worked again for Cassavetes as director in
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), in which Gazzara took the leading role of the hapless strip-joint owner, Cosmo Vitelli. He starred in an action movie,
High Velocity (1976), and was one of many stars in
Voyage of the Damned (1976). Gazzara returned to Broadway for a production of ''
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Colleen Dewhurst in 1976. A year later, he starred in yet another Cassavetes-directed movie, Opening Night'', as stage director Manny Victor, who struggles with the mentally unstable star of his show, played by Cassavetes' wife
Gena Rowlands. He made an acclaimed TV movie
The Death of Richie (1977).
Peter Bogdanovich Gazzara's career received a boost when
Peter Bogdanovich cast him in the title role of
Saint Jack (1979). His increased profile helped him be cast in the male lead of
Bloodline (1979) and the
Korean War epic
Inchon (1980) co-starring
Laurence Olivier and
Richard Roundtree. He made another movie for Bogdanovich,
They All Laughed (1981).
1980s–1990s Gazzara made some films in Europe:
Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981),
The Girl from Trieste (1982),
A Proper Scandal (1984),
My Dearest Son (1985). He starred with Rowlands in the critically acclaimed AIDS-themed TV movie
An Early Frost (1985), for which he received his third
Emmy nomination. He had a villainous role in the oft-televised
Patrick Swayze film
Road House, which the actor jokingly said is probably his most-watched performance. Gazzara appeared in 38 films, many for television, in the 1990s. He worked with a number of renowned directors, such as the
Coen brothers (
The Big Lebowski),
Spike Lee (
Summer of Sam),
David Mamet (
The Spanish Prisoner),
Walter Hugo Khouri (
Forever),
Vincent Gallo (''
Buffalo '66), Todd Solondz (Happiness), John Turturro (Illuminata), and John McTiernan (The Thomas Crown Affair). He was on Broadway in Shimada (1992). In his seventies, Gazzara continued to work. In 2003, he appeared in Nobody Don't Like Yogi
, an off-Broadway play by Tom Lysaght about Yogi Berra that had a solid run and national tour, and was also in a revival of Awake and Sing! (2006). He was in the ensemble cast of the experimental film Dogville, directed by Lars von Trier of Denmark and starring Nicole Kidman, as well as the television film Hysterical Blindness (he received an Emmy Award for his role). In 2005, he played Agostino Casaroli in the television miniseries Pope John Paul II. He completed filming his scenes in the film The Wait'' in early 2012, shortly before his death. In addition to acting, Gazzara worked as an occasional television director; his credits include the
Columbo episodes
A Friend in Deed (1974) and
Troubled Waters (1975). Gazzara was nominated three times for the
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play—in 1956 for
A Hatful of Rain, in 1975 for the paired short plays
Hughie and
Duet, and in 1977 for a revival of ''
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'', opposite
Colleen Dewhurst. == Personal life ==