Saturday, February 4, 2012

Here's to Ben

As you may have read, Ben Gazzara, always a favorite here, died yesterday from pancreatic cancer. The acclaimed actor was 81.

Per the obit in the Times today:

He grew up in a building at 29th Street and First Avenue, where, he wrote in his autobiography, he slept on the fire escape in summer and occasionally heard screams from the patients at Bellevue psychiatric hospital.

Here's the trailer for "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie," the 1976 John Cassavetes mob drama.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow had no idea. RIP Ben.
Believe it or not, I attended the "world Premier" of Bookie when it came out, and (I kid you not) I actually had an official "The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie" bumper sticker on my car that they handed out at the opening. (I thought I was so hip and cool and indie with that thing on my Karmann Ghia.

Marty Wombacher said...

A great actor and how ironic that he died on the same date that John Cassavetes did back in 1989. R.I.P.

VH McKenzie said...

Have always loved Ben Gazarra -- long life, tho' eh?

And @anonymous, the Karmann Ghia alone must have made you hip and cool and indie!

Caleo said...

He was a great actor and that was a great film. Just watched it again a few months ago. Film in the Seventies was so many orders of magnitude better than it is now that it's hard to take anything made today seriously.
Ben and Cassavetes, what a combo.

Anonymous said...

@Marty
Wow. didn't know Cassavetes death was same date. Weird.
@Caleo
Yeah 70s really was a golden age (Thank you, Dennis Hopper). but stuff has gotten a lot better in recent years after getting through the dark ages of the 80's at least.
@VH
Yeah I loved that car, all the way up till the time that some kids, who had been cornered by the cops after stealing a van, bailed-out of the van as they were driving up a parking ramp (a ramp leading to the parking lot of the local police station; if you can believe it). The van rolled over the side of the rampway and landed on my Ghia parked below. Easy come easy go. Yo.