Allen Garfield

The Guy Who Sweated Better Than Anyone

Allen Garfield didn't seek the audience's sympathy. Before stepping onto a set, he made a living as an amateur boxer and sports writer in New Jersey. That roughness from the underworld stuck to his skin.

He studied at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg. But unlike other students who sought heroism, he specialized in nervous, corrupt men or men overwhelmed by circumstances. His look, far from Hollywood's beauty standards, allowed him to inhabit the margins of commercial cinema.

He was a method actor who never seemed to be acting.

In 1974 he played Bernie Moran in The Conversation. In this Francis Ford Coppola film, he embodied envy and mediocrity opposite the genius of Gene Hackman. Garfield made the viewer feel the dampness of his shirt and the urgency of his words.

And his presence in New Hollywood was constant. He worked with Robert Altman on Nashville for 1975, playing the manager of a country music star. The shoot was a controlled chaos in which Garfield improvised much of his dialogue.

Because he understood cinema as an extension of the dirtier side of reality.

In 1980 he appeared in The Stunt Man. For this role, he received praise from specialized critics who saw in him a supporting actor capable of stealing the scene from Peter O’Toole. He got the industry to notice his talent for dark comedy.

The Obsession With His Real Last Name

At one point in his life, he decided his stage name wasn't enough. Allen Garfield was born Allen Goorwitz, and in the credits of several films from the late seventies and early eighties, he insisted on appearing under his original last name.

He sought a truth that went beyond the screen.

He shot The State of Things in 1982 under the direction of Wim Wenders. It was a collaboration that was repeated years later in Until the End of the World in 1991. In both productions, he proved that his style fit perfectly with the sensibility of European auteur cinema.

But general audiences will always remember him for Beverly Hills Cop II. In 1987 he played police chief Harold Lutz. That movie grossed more than $150 million in the United States alone and gave him a massive visibility that his earlier work had not achieved.

Forced Retirement and Silence

A stroke in 1999 disrupted his work pace. He had to step away from demanding shoots and focus on his personal recovery. His last notable film appearance was in Chiefs in 2002.

He spent his final years living at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Los Angeles. There he lived alongside other industry veterans while his health gradually declined.

Allen Garfield died on April 7, 2020 from complications related to COVID-19. He was 80 years old.