Category Archives: Anatomy

By Brent Lang, TheWrap.com Ben Gazzara died Friday of pancreatic cancer, The New York Times reported.  The star of award films and plays such as “Anatomy of a Murder” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” was 81 years old. Gazzara employed his distinctive, guttural voice and powerful stare most memorably in a series of film collaborations with the director John Cassavetes. For the maverick director, Gazzara played a collection of bitter spouses and down-on-their heels gamblers and directors in films such as “The Killing of a Chinese Bookie” and “Opening Night.”  For the maverick director, Gazzara played a collection of bitter spouses and down-on-their heels gamblers and theater directors in films such as “The Killing of a Chinese Bookie” and “Opening Night.”  More from TheWrap: Super Bowl pregame: Feds seize, arrest online sporting-event pirates Like Peter Falk, his co-star in Cassavetes' “Husbands,” Gazzara was perfectly suited to the director's signature examinations of bruised men who struggle to articulate and come to grips with their emotions, fears and hopes in a rapidly changing world.  Fittingly, he died the same day that Cassavetes did more than twenty years ago.  Among his other notable film roles were an accused rapist in “Anatomy of a Murder” (1959), the smooth-talking pornographer Jackie Treehorn in the Coen Brothers' “The Big Lebowski” (1998), and a grandfather separating from his wife of 40 years in Todd Solondz's “Happiness”(1998).  More from TheWrap: Tony Oller offered starring role in 'Vigilandia' Less successful was his starring role opposite his then-lover Audrey Hepburn in Peter Bogdanovich's “They All Laughed” (1981) Continue reading →