Warren Beatty

American film star, also a producer, screenwriter and director. Younger brother of actress Shirley MacLaine, he was born in Richmond, Virginia. After leaving Northwestern University, he studied acting with Stella Adler. He worked in theater and television until he made his big-screen debut as a leading man in Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass (1961). His first films were Everybody Wants to Be Loved (1962) and Lilith (1965). In 1967, he became famous with Bonnie and Clyde, which was followed by two Oscar nominations. His best performances of those years were in Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) and Alan J. Pakula's The Parallax View (1974), after which he sought creative control over his films. Examples of this include Shampoo (1975), directed by Hal Ashby, the comedy Heaven Can Wait (1978), which earned four Oscar nominations, and Reds (1981). The latter is a historical recreation of the life of journalist John Reed and won an Oscar for Best Director and critical acclaim. During the 1980s and 1990s, he developed projects for other directors, such as the critically and commercially failed Ishtar (directed by Elaine May, 1987) or the adaptation of the comic Dick Tracy (1990), which he also starred in alongside singer Madonna. In 1991, he starred alongside his future wife Annette Bening in Bugsy, directed by Barry Levinson, a portrait of a Hollywood gangster that earned two Oscar nominations. Later he also worked with his wife on Love Affair (1994), a new version of An Affair to Remember. Beatty has been actively involved in supporting the U.S. Democratic Party (especially in the 1972 presidential election, backing candidate George McGovern); his most notable films are, overall, a sharp reflection on the values of American society.