Harvey Keitel

born on 13/5/1939 in Brooklyn, NY, United States

Harvey Keitel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Harvey Keitel

Keitel at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival
Born May 13 1939
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation Actor
Years active 1967present
Spouse(s) Daphna Kastner (2001present)
Lorraine Bracco (1982-1993)

Harvey Keitel (born May 13, 1939) is an American actor. Some of his more notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The Piano, Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant, James Mangold's Cop Land, Nicolas Roeg's Bad Timing, and Theo Angelopoulos's Ulysses' Gaze. His latest work was as Detective Lieutenant Gene Hunt on the American adaptation of Life on Mars.

Early life

Keitel (pronounced IPA: /katl/ ky-TEL-') was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, the son of Miriam and Harry Keitel, Jewish immigrants from Romania and Poland.[1] His parents owned and ran a luncheonette and his father also worked as a hat maker.

Keitel grew up in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, with his sister, Renee, and brother, Jerry. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School. At the age of 16, he decided to join the United States Marine Corps, a decision that took him to Lebanon, during Operation Blue Bat. After his return to the United States, he was a court reporter and was able to support himself before beginning his acting career.

Career

Keitel studied under both Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg and at the HB Studio, eventually landing roles in some Off-Broadway productions. During this time, Keitel met struggling filmmaker Martin Scorsese and gained a part in Scorsese's student production, Who's That Knocking at My Door. Since then, Scorsese and Keitel have worked together on numerous projects. Keitel had the starring role in Scorsese's Mean Streets but this proved to be Robert De Niro's breakthrough film. He later appeared with De Niro in Taxi Driver, playing the role of Jodie Foster's pimp.

Cast as "Captain Willard" in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, Keitel was involved with the first week of principal photography in the Philippines. Coppola was not happy with Keitel's take on Willard, stating that the actor "found it difficult to play him a passive onlooker".[2] After viewing the first week's footage, Coppola made the difficult decision to replace Keitel with a casting session favorite; Martin Sheen.

Throughout the 1980s, he continued to do plenty of work on both stage and screen, but usually in the stereotypical role of a thug. Keitel starred in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (which he co-produced) in 1992, where his performance as "Mr. White" took his career to a different level. Ridley Scott cast Keitel as the sympathetic policeman in Thelma and Louise in 1991. That same year he landed a role in Bugsy, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, then played another mobster, Deloris's gangster ex-boyfriend Vince LaRocca in Sister Act several months later. Since then, Keitel has chosen his roles with care, seeking to change his image and show off a broader acting range. One of those roles was the title character in Bad Lieutenant, about a self-loathing, drug- addicted police lieutenant trying to redeem himself. He also appeared in the movie The Piano in 1993, and played an efficient clean-up expert Winston "The Wolf" Wolfe in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. In 1996 he did a major role in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's film, From Dusk Till Dawn, and in 1997 he starred in the crime drama Cop Land, which also starred Sylvester Stallone, Ray Liotta, and Robert De Niro.

His later roles include the fatherly Satan in Little Nicky, a wise Navy man in U-571, diligent F.B.I. Special agent Sadusky in National Treasure, and the latter's sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets. In 1999, Keitel was replaced by Sydney Pollack on the set of Eyes Wide Shut, due to shooting conflicts. He has shown a willingness to help other start-up filmmakers by appearing in their first feature film. He did this not only for Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, but also Ridley Scott (The Duellists), Paul Schrader (Blue Collar), James Toback (Fingers), and Tony Bui (Three Seasons).

In 2002, at the Moscow International Film Festival, Keitel was honored with the Stanislavsky Award for the outstanding achievement in the career of acting and devotion to the principles of Stanislavsky's school.

He also appeared in the Steinlager Pure commercials in New Zealand in 2007. Unlike many American male actors, Keitel has appeared nude in several films, including full frontal nudity in Bad Lieutenant and The Piano.

In January 2008, Keitel played Jerry Springer in the New York City premiere of Jerry Springer: The Opera at Carnegie Hall. In 2008, Keitel was cast in the role of Detective Gene Hunt in ABC's short-lived US cover version of the successful English time-travel police drama series Life on Mars.[3]

In June 2009, he made a cameo appearance in the Jay-Z video for D.O.A (Death of Auto-tune), a nod to his Brooklyn origins.

Personal life

Keitel was formerly in a long-term relationship with actress Lorraine Bracco, known for playing the psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi in The Sopranos. He married actress Daphna Kastner in 2001. Keitel is the father of three children: daughter Stella (born 1985) from his relationship with Bracco; son Hudson (born 2001) from his relationship with Lisa Karmazin; and son Roman (born 2004) from his marriage to Kastner. He is godfather of close friend Michael Madsen's son Max.

Recurring directors

Keitel has worked with a wide list of reputable directors. Along his 40 year long career, Keitel has established a solid collaboration with some directors such as: Martin Scorsese (5), Paul Auster (3), Quentin Tarantino (3), James Toback (3), Jane Campion (2), Abel Ferrara (2), Brad Mirman (2), Manuel Pradal (2), Alan Rudolph (2), Ridley Scott (2), Jon Turteltaub (2), and Wayne Wang (2). Moreover, Keitel has worked for other acclaimed directors such as: Theodoros Angelopoulos, Dario Argento, Luc Besson, Fernando Colomo, Brian De Palma, Stanley Donen, Philip Kaufman, Spike Lee, Barry Levinson, Jack Nicholson, Robert Rodriguez, George A. Romero, Paul Schrader, Luis Sepúlveda and Bertrand Tavernier; and for TV productions with Stephen Frears, Clint Eastwood, and Joel Schumacher.

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1967 Who's That Knocking at My Door J.R.
1967 Reflections in a Golden Eye Soldier Uncredited
1973 Mean Streets Charlie
1974 A Memory of Two Mondays (TV) Jerry
1974 Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore Ben
1975 That's the Way of the World Coleman Buckmaster
1976 Taxi Driver 'Sport' Matthew
1976 Buffalo Bill and the Indians Ed Goodman
1976 Mother, Jugs & Speed Tony Malatesta
1978 Blue Collar Jerry Bartowski
1978 The Duellists Feraud
1978 Fingers Jimmy Fingers
1979 Eagle's Wing Henry
1980 Bad Timing Inspector Netusil
1980 Saturn 3 Benson
1980 Deathwatch Roddy
1981 Copkiller Lt. Fred O'Connor
1982 That Night in Varennes Thomas Paine
1982 The Border Cat
1983 Exposed Rivas
1983 Corrupt Lt. Fred O'Connor
1984 Falling in Love Ed Lasky
1984 Nemo Mr. Legend
1985 El caballero del dragon (The Knight of the Dragon) Clever Spanish film
1986 Blindside Penfield Gruber
1986 Camorra (A Story of Streets, Women and Crime) Frankie
1986 Wise Guys Bobby DiLea
1986 The Men's Club Solly Berliner
1987 The Pick-up Artist Alonzo Scolara
1988 Down Where The Buffalo Go Carl BBC TV Movie
1988 The Last Temptation of Christ Judas Iscariot
1988 Grandi cacciatori Thomas
1989 The January Man Police Commissioner Frank Starkey
1990 The Two Jakes Julius 'Jake' Berman
1991 Thelma and Louise Hal
1991 Mortal Thoughts Det. John Woods
1991 Bugsy Mickey Cohen Nominated: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated: Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1992 Bad Lieutenant The Lieutenant Won: Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor
1992 Reservoir Dogs Mr. White  Larry Dimmick Also co-producer
1992 Sister Act Vince LaRocca
1993 Rising Sun Lt. Tom Graham
1993 Dangerous Game Eddie Israel
1993 Point of No Return Victor the Cleaner
1993 The Piano George Baines Won: Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1993 Young Americans John Harris
1994 Imaginary Crimes Ray Weiler
1994 Pulp Fiction Winston 'The Wolf' Wolfe
1994 Monkey Trouble Azro
1995 Get Shorty Himself Uncredited
1995 Smoke Augustus 'Auggie' Wren Nominated: Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
1995 Ulysses' Gaze A
1995 Blue in the Face Auggie Wren Also executive producer
1995 Clockers Det. Rocco Klein
1996 From Dusk till Dawn Jacob Fuller Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1996 Head Above Water George
1997 FairyTale: A True Story Harry Houdini
1997 Cop Land Ray Donlan
1997 City of Industry Roy Egan
1998 Finding Graceland Elvis
1998 Gunslinger's Revenge (Il mio West) Johnny Lowen
1998 Shadrach Vernon
1998 Lulu on the Bridge Izzy Maurer
1999 Three Seasons James Hager Also executive producer
1999 Holy Smoke! PJ Waters
1999 Presence of Mind The Master
2000 Prince of Central Park The Guardian
2000 U-571 CPO Henry Klough
2000 Little Nicky Satan
2001 The Grey Zone SS-Oberscharführer Eric Muhsfeldt Also executive producer
2001 Taking Sides Major Steve Arnold
2002 Red Dragon Jack Crawford
2002 Ginostra Matt Benson
2003 Crime Spree Frankie Zammeti
2003 Dreaming of Julia Che Also producer
2003 The Galindez File Edward Robards
2004 National Treasure Agent Peter Sadusky
2004 The Bridge of San Luis Rey Uncle Pio
2004 Puerto Vallarta Squeeze Walter McGrane
2005 Be Cool Nick Carr
2005 A Crime Roger Culkin
2005 The Shadow Dancer Weldon Parish
2006 The Path to 9/11 John O'Neill
2006 Arthur and the Minimoys Miro Voice
2006 The Stone Merchant The Merchant Ludovico Vicedomini
2007 One Last Dance Terrtano
2007 My Sexiest Year Zowie
2007 National Treasure: Book of Secrets Agent Peter Sadusky
2008 The Ministers Detective Joseph Bruno
2009 Inglourious Basterds Allied Commanding Officer Voice/Uncredited
2009 Chaos
2009 Wrong Turn at Tahoe Nino
2010 Little Fockers Randy Weir
2010 A Beginner's Guide to Endings TBA
2010 The Last Godfather Don Carini

References

  1. Karen Schoemer, Harvey Keitel Tries A Little Tenderness, The New York Times, 1993-11-07. URL accessed on 2009-06-21.
  2. Cowie 1990, p. 122.
  3. Scoop! Keitel Lands on Mars as Homicide Boss, TV Guide, 2008-07-24.

2012- the congress-in production

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Harvey Keitel

  • Harvey Keitel at the Internet Movie Database
  • Harvey Keitel at the Internet Broadway Database
  • Harvey Keitel at the Internet off-Broadway Database
  • Harvey Keitel Playboy Article Interview
This page was last modified 11.05.2011 23:08:22

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