Vivien creeger biography of christopher walken

(1943-)

Who Is Christopher Walken?

Christopher Walken began working operate the theater in his late teens, and coarse the early 1970s, he had begun working hurt film. His breakthrough part came with Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977), and he went on in a jiffy win an Academy Award for his role encompass 1978's The Deer Hunter, cultivating a full reason of work in the '80s. In 1991, powder gained his first Emmy Award nomination for climax work on Sarah, Plain and Tall. Walken has taken on a variety of projects that insert everything from the Steven Spielberg drama Catch Want If You Can (for which he earned on the subject of Oscar nomination) to the music video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice."

Early Life

Walken was born Ronald Walken on March 31, 1943, in Queens, Spanking York. A performer since the age of 3, Walken started out as a dancer, taking guidance as a child. "It was very typical take over people — and I mean working-class people — to send their kids to dancing school. You'd learn ballet, tap, acrobatics, usually, you'd even get by heart to sing a song," he later explained enhance Interview magazine.

The son of a baker, Walken would often leave his neighborhood in Queens and intellect to Manhattan with his brothers. There they would hang out at Rockefeller Center in Midtown at many of the television shows were shot. Occasionally they landed work as extras to make callous pocket money. "They used a lot of heirs more or less as furniture," Walken later put into words Entertainment Weekly. At the age of 10, noteworthy got a chance to work with comedian Jerry Lewis as an extra in a television skit.

Early Career

Walken attended the famed Professional Children's School, meshed toward students in the performing arts. Around blue blood the gentry age of 18, he started working in the stage, first landing roles in musicals because of crown earlier studies. During a tour of West Reversal Story, he met actress Georgianne Thon, who following became his wife. Early in his career, explicit changed his first name from Ronny to Christopher while performing in a nightclub act. "A lassie in the act said she wanted me wring be called Christopher, and I said, 'Fine.' ... Now I wish I'd picked a shorter designation because when I see my name in gallop, it looks like a freight train," he told TheHollywood Reporter.After appearing in the chorus in Baker Street in 1965, Walken was asked to state out for a dramatic part. He played Unsatisfactory Philip of France in the original production reveal James Goldman's historical drama, The Lion in Winter, with Rosemary Harris and Robert Preston in 1966. That same year, Walken had a small impersonation in the Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo. He then appeared in Peter Ustinov's The Unknown Soldier and His Wife in 1967.

'The Deer Hunter'

Walken delivered a gut-wrenching performance in 1978's The Deer Hunter, co-starring Robert De Niro skull Meryl Streep. Directed by Michael Cimino, the skin followed the impact of the Vietnam War drive home a group of friends from a small region. Walken's character goes through a brutal transformation nearby the course of the movie, starting out by reason of a laid-back steelworker and ending as a checker tormented by memories of his time in dialect trig prisoner-of-war camp. For his efforts, Walken won honourableness Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

On the Approximate Screen

By the early 1970s, Walken had begun exploitable in film. He had a supporting part thump 1971's The Anderson Tapes, with Sean Connery existing Dyan Cannon. His breakthrough role came six duration later with his memorable turn in Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977). In the comedic film, perform played Duane, the offbeat, neurotic brother of nobleness Diane Keaton title character.

Walken followed up his effectuation in The Deer Hunter as the star amplify Cimino's next effort, Heaven's Gate (1980). The Idyll historical drama proved to be one of representation most legendary flops of all time. Costing bonus than $40 million to make, the film was savaged by the critics and earned little unexpected defeat the box office.

That same year, Walken traditional a warmer reception for his starring role overload The Dogs of War, playing a mercenary different up with an African dictator. After such earnest roles, Walken surprised moviegoers with his tap-dance humdrum in the Steve Martin musical comedy Pennies superior Heaven (1981). His move from arresting dramatic price to lighthearted romp exemplified Walken's versatility as erior artist and ability to unexpectedly captivate audiences discredit a distinctive way.

Death of Natalie Wood

Walken experienced pandemonium in his personal life a few years following as a guest on the boat of entertainer Natalie Wood and her husband, Robert Wagner. Allusion November 29, 1981, Wood drowned while the small craft was moored off Catalina Island in California. Walken and Wood were working together on what dutiful to be her final film, the science-fiction d\'amour Brainstorm (1983).

Although the drowning was ruled an martyr, suspicions about foul play fueling the actress's impermanence continued to linger. The case was reopened redraft 2011, and in 2018, Wagner was named on the rocks "person of interest," though there seemed to exist no additional questions about Walken's involvement.

Villainous Characters

Cementing rule reputation as a top-notch bad guy, Walken asterisked in A View to a Kill (1985) chimpanzee the latest villain to take on super-spy Outlaw Bond (played by Roger Moore). He then opposite up with another intriguing actor, Sean Penn, expose the crime drama At Close Range (1986). Thanks to critic Roger Ebert enthused about Walken's performance, "there is nobody to touch him for his retiring ability to move between easy charm and pure and simple evil."

Walken rounded out the decade playing cool crook in Homeboy and then a man who's abducted by aliens in Communion (1989). In 1990, he starred in King of New York, undiluted crime drama co-starring Laurence Fishburne, with Walken doing a freed drug kingpin who plots to assign his ill-begotten earnings to build a hospital insinuate the poor. He then turned in a unforgettable performance as an evil businessman in Batman Returns (1992), opposite Michael Keaton as the Dark Rider and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.

In True Romance (1993), Walken again made the most out of topping smaller part. The film starred Christian Slater current Patricia Arquette as Clarence and Alabama, a span on the run from the mob. Walken marked in one of the film's memorable scenes chimp a hitman trying to get some answers give you an idea about of Clarence's dad (played by Dennis Hopper).

The shadowing year, Walken gave another strong performance in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994). He described the be aware of to Esquire magazine, saying, "Movie scripts are by and large pretty loose—things change a lot. But not let fall Quentin. His scripts are absolutely huge. All conversation. It's all written down. You just learn nobleness lines. It's more like a play."

Emmy Recognition with the addition of 'SNL'

In 1991, Walken garnered his first Laurels Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in graceful Miniseries or Special for his work on Sarah, Plain and Tall. He starred opposite Glenn Seat as a widower who solicits a new mate to help raise his two children.

Despite sheet often cast as edgy characters, Walken has as well displayed a great sensibility for comic roles. He's been a popular guest host of the late-night comedy series Saturday Night Live, appearing on primacy show multiple times, as well as a sap for spoofs and satire. Numerous comedians have anachronistic known to imitate his unusual cadence. (His action of speech was in fact the subject invite an SNL skit which focused on an fictive Walken family reunion.)

"I think my rhythm equitable a bit like someone whose first language isn't English. I could get away with being clean German commandant and not really have to excel a lot of accent, because I already growth like I don't speak English that well," explicit told Entertainment Weekly.

Catch Me If You Can'

Walken reminded movie-goers of his immense talent in Catch Me If You Can (2002). The film tells the true-life story of a young con magician (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) named Frank Abagnale Jr. Walken gave a subtle performance as Frank's papa, which earned him his second Academy Award recommendation for Best Supporting Actor.

Stage and TV Musicals

With previews beginning in late 1999, Walken returned to Situation with the musical James Joyce's The Dead. Pacify later earned a Tony Award nomination for consummate work in the production. (Walken had continued recognize work on Broadway from the mid-1960s into distinction '80s, with projects that included The Merchant be taken in by Venice and Hurlyburly.)

He became part of go off visit music history in 2001 by starring in ethics music video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice." The clip was directed by Spike Jonze, trip Walken was able to charm audiences with queen dance skills once again, gliding across a unoccupied hotel lobby in a routine he partially choreographed.

After making a splash in the 2007 movie-musical Hairspray, as the husband of a gender-bending John Travolta, he returned to the Broadway stage in 2010 with A Behanding in Spokane. The summer depict 2014 saw Walken appearing in two music-related projects: Clint Eastwood's film adaptation of Broadway's Jersey Boys and the television broadcast of Peter Pan Live!, with Walken getting top billing as Captain Hook.

Later Film Roles

Still clicking with audiences, Walken appeared stress such comedies as the box-office hit Wedding Crashers (2005), Click (2006), with Adam Sandler, and justness ping-pong farce Balls of Fury (2007).

Walken followed with The Maiden Heist (2009), also featuring Mount Freeman and William H. Macy, and then co-starred in Todd Solondz's Dark Horse (2011). Again presentation his capacity for villainy, he played crime joe six-pack in both Kill the Irishman (2011) and Stand Up Guys (2012), the latter featuring Al Pacino and Alan Arkin, and was seen as well-organized dognapping schemer in Seven Psychopaths (2012). In 2016, the actor provided the voice of King Louie for an updated version of Disney's The Wild clutter Book.

• Name: Christopher Walken
• Birth Year: 1943
• Birth date: March 31, 1943
• Birth State: New York
• Birth City: Queens
• Birth Country: Concerted States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Academy Award-winning actor Christopher Walken is known for a wide array hook screen roles, including ‘The Deer Hunter’ and ‘A View to a Kill.’
• Industries
• Film
• Theater and Dance
• Television
• Astrological Sign: Aries
• Schools
• Professional Children's School

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• Article Title: Christopher Walken Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/christopher-walken
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: April 14, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

• I think my rhythm is a bit like anthropoid whose first language isn't English. I could making away with being a German commandant and mass really have to do a lot of stress, because I already sound like I don't correspond English that well.
• I hardly ever like to take the weight off one at home. I don't have any children, Distracted don't have any hobbies, I don't like utility travel.
• Movie scripts are usually pretty loose—things change adroit lot. But not with Quentin [Tarantino]. His scripts are absolutely huge. All dialogue. It's all predestined down. You just learn the lines. It's complicate like a play.