Bogdanovich, Peter,
1939 - 2021, American film director, actor, and critic, b. Kingston, N.Y.
Bogdanovich was the son of Serbian immigrants. He studied acting with Stella
Adlerin New York
and then in the early ‘60s became a film programmer at the
city’s Museum of Modern
Art, writing a series of books on major directors including
Orson Welles, Howard
Hawks, and
Alfred Hitchcock. In,
1966, he relocated to Los Angeles, initially directing films for famed
B-film producer Roger Corman. His breakthrough came with 1971’s
The Last Picture Show, which earned eight Academy Award
nominations, including one for his direction; Bogdanovich cowrote the script
with author Larry McMurtry who
wrote the original book. His other popular films of the period include
What’s Up, Doc (1972) and Paper
Moon (1973; Tatum O’Neal, Oscar for best supporting
actress). The director became infatuated with model/actress Cybill Shepherd,
who he met filming The Last Picture Show; he featured her
in Daisy Miller (1974) and At Long Last
Love (1975), two major flops. He next was involved with model
Dorothy Stratten, featured in his film They All Laughed
(1981), another failure. After a period of inactivity, he
successfully returned to directing in 1985, with the hit film
Mask, but followed with a sequel to The Last
Picture Show, Texasville (1990), that was
another box office dud. In the 21st century, Bogdanovich turned to acting,
portraying Dr. Melfi’s therapist on the hit series The
Sopranos, directing one episode, and also made a few
appearances on other series. He has also directed several documenaties on
film directors and stars. The Last Picture Show has been
added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.
See his The Killing of the Unicorn: Dorothy Stratten 1960-80
(1984), This Is Orson Welles (1992), Peter
Bogdanovich’s Movie of the Week (1999), Who the
Hell’s In It: Conversations with Hollywood’s Legendary
Actors (2004).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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