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Faye Dunaway
I’m still the little southern girl from the wrong side of the tracks who really didn’t feel like she belonged.
— Faye Dunaway
AN Army brat who bounced from base to base growing up, Faye Dunaway was performing with the Lincoln Center Repertory Group by the age of 21. Four years later, she created a stir off-Broadway in Hogan’s Goat. That same year, 1967, the cool, high-cheekboned blonde took Hollywood by storm with her performance as Bonnie to Warren Beatty’s Clyde in Bonnie and Clyde. The film earned her international recognition, a reputation for being difficult to work with, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She had a noisy affair with Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni, with whom she starred in a trashy film, A Place for Lovers. Though a torrent of film work flowed her way after the success of Bonnie and Clyde, Dunaway’s memorable characterization of the cigar-gnawing, gun-toting outlaw would not be surpassed until she starred in Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, in 1974. As the poisonous and artfully conniving Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray, she stole the show with an emotionally powerful, twitchy performance that earned her another Best Actress nomination. Dunaway finally nailed the honor two years later for her fine piece of work in Network.
With her blazing green eyes and cheekbones a person could camp out under, Dunaway was the heir apparent, both physically and melodramatically, to Joan Crawford. When Dunaway played Crawford in Mommie Dearest (1981), she portrayed Crawford’s eye-rolling histrionics to a T. Not surprisingly, Dunaway confessed to Crawford’s daughter Christina (author of Mommie Dearest) during filming that she was haunted by Joan’s ghost. The thoroughly campy portrayal was Dunaway’s last widely viewed, meaty role. Subsequent outings (1983’s The Wicked Lady, 1984’s Supergirl) traded a bit too heavily on her “grande dame” image, but in 1987, she breathed life into her flagging career with a fearless and exceptional turn as wealthy, world-weary boozehound Wanda Wilcox in the Charles Bukowski-scripted Barfly.
Dunaway’s reputation for dissension on the set took a new turn, in 1994, when she was canned just prior to the opening of an L.A. stage production of Sunset Boulevard. It coulda been her comeback. When Andrew Lloyd Webber announced that her singing was not up to par, she sued for six million dollars — and lost. Dunaway had better luck portraying opera diva Maria Callas in a touring production of Terrence McNally’s Master Class — she hopes to reprise the role in a screen adaptation.
Occupation: Actress
Date of Birth: January 14, 1941
Place of Birth: Bascom, Fla., USA
Sign: Sun in Capricorn, Moon in Leo
Relations: Ex-husbands: Peter Wolf (rock singer), Terry O’Neill (photographer); kid: Liam
Education: Attended Florida State University; earned a BFA from Boston University in 1962.
Faye Dunaway: Credits
MOVIES
Actor
The Yards — 2000
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc — 1999
The Thomas Crown Affair — 1999
Drunks — 1997
Twilight of the Golds — 1997
The Chamber — 1996
Dunston Checks In — 1996
Albino Alligator — 1996
Don Juan DeMarco — 1995
Arizona Dream — 1993
Double Edge — 1992
The Gamble — 1991
On a Moonlit Night — 1990
Bandini — 1990
The Handmaid’s Tale — 1990
The Two Jakes — 1990
Silhouette — 1990
Midnight Crossing — 1988
Burning Secret — 1988
Casanova — 1987
Raspberry Ripple — 1987
Beverly Hills Madam — 1986
13 at Dinner — 1985
Ordeal by Innocence — 1984
Supergirl — 1984
Ellis Island — 1984
Wicked Lady — 1983
Mommie Dearest — 1981
Evita Peron — 1981
The First Deadly Sin — 1980
The Champ — 1979
The Eyes of Laura Mars — 1978
Network — 1976
Voyage of the Damned — 1976
The Disappearance of Aimee — 1976
Three Days of the Condor — 1975
The Four Musketeers — 1975
Chinatown — 1974
The Three Musketeers — 1974
The Towering Inferno — 1974
Oklahoma Crude — 1973
La Maison sous les Arbres/The Deadly Trap — 1972
Doc — 1971
The Deadly Trap — 1971
Little Big Man — 1970
Puzzle of a Downfall Child — 1970
The Extraordinary Seaman — 1969
A Place for Lovers — 1969
The Thomas Crown Affair — 1968
The Arrangement — 1968
Bonnie and Clyde — 1967
Hurry, Sundown — 1967
The Happening — 1967
BOOKS
Looking for Gatsby
TV
Tekwar — 1995 (Voice only)
It Had to Be You — 1993 (Series)
Silhouette — 1990 (Movie)
Cold Sassy Tree — 1989 (Performer, Producer)
Casanova — 1987 (Movie)
Beverly Hills Madam — 1986 (Movie)
Thirteen at Dinner — 1985 (Movie)
Ellis Island — 1984 (Movie)
Evita Peron — 1981 (Movie)
The Disappearance of Aimee — 1981 (Movie)
After the Fall — 1974 (Movie)
COMMERCIALS
Norell perfume — 1997
Dunaway, Faye Web sites
Mr. Showbiz Celebrities: Faye Dunaway audio video chat games
Biogrpahy, profile, credits and links to recent news stories.
http://mrshowbiz.go.com/people/fayedunaway/
Last reviewed by ccrowe21
Detroit News: Interview with Dunaway
Find out her views on Jane Fonda and Peter Wolf, and why she’s most at peace in solitude these days.
http://detnews.com/menu/stories/24686.htm
Last reviewed by Lady_Tasha
USA Today: Still Driven but Able To Enjoy the Ride chat commerce
Review of Faye’s autobiography incorporates a short interview with some memorable quotes.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/enter/books/leb123.ht…
Last reviewed by hvrijsse
Photo Gallery:
Topics: Actress, Celebrities
Tags: Academy Award nomination, Best Actress, Faye Dunaway, Hogan's Goat, Hollywood, Mommie Dearest, Warren Beatty's Clyde
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