Biography
John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as an actor on television and in film, Cassavetes also became a pioneer of American independent cinema, writing and directing movies financed in part with income from his acting work. AllMovie called him "an iconoclastic maverick," while The New Yorker suggested that he "may be the most influential American director of the last half century." As an actor, Cassavetes...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Mass State Lottery
2025
Thanks
A failed private investigator investigates a series of disappearances, and in order to get his way he's even willing to manipulate a grieving mother.

John Cassavetes par Thierry Jousse
2024

150 Miles of Rotting, Rutted, Lumpy, Dilapidated Pavement
2021
as Man Talking
A Woman Watches People.

Gena Rowlands: A Life on Film
2019
as Self (archive footage)
An intimate portrait of the superb actress Gena Rowlands, icon of independent cinema. Together with her husband, legendary director John Cassavetes (1...
Castanha
2014
Thanks
Joao is a 50 year old actor who lives with his 72 year old mother, Celina. He spends his time between his work at night as a crossdresser in small gay...

Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
2014
as Robert Harmon (archive footage) (uncredited)
A documentary about the rise and fall of the Cannon Film Group, the legendary independent film company helmed by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yor...

Before Opening Night
2011
Story
This Argentinian dramedy gives us elements of Woody Allen’s nervous comedy and Cassavetes’ melodramatic roller coaster in a storm of egos that takes p...

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
2008
as Guy Woodhouse (archive footage)
Examines the public scandal and private tragedy which led to legendary director Roman Polanski's sudden flight from the United States.

Edge of Outside
2006
as Self (archive footage)
An hour-long documentary designed to celebrate the spirit of the independent filmmaker from D.W. Griffith to Quentin Tarantino. Interview footage and ...

Operation Dirty Dozen
2006
as Self
A short film looking behind the scenes at the making of The Dirty Dozen. Showing many scenes being filmed just north of London, the short focuses most...

The Kid Stays in the Picture
2002
as Self (archive footage)
Documentary about legendary Paramount producer Robert Evans, based on his famous 1994 autobiography.

A Constant Forge
2000
as Self (archive footage)
One of the great mavericks of cinema, John Cassavetes has earned a reputation as the godfather of American independent movies. The actor-turned-filmma...

Gloria
1999
Original Film Writer
After serving a prison term for her boyfriend, a streetwise, middle-aged moll named Gloria stands up against the mobs, which is complicated by a six-y...

She's So Lovely
1997
Writer
After being released from a psychiatric institution, a man tries to redeem himself in the eyes of his now-ex wife from the events that led up to his i...

Out of the Shadows: The Films of John Cassavetes
1993
as Self
Get the scoop on the legendary actor-director-New Yorker John Cassavetes straight from the mouth of his friend, peer and co-star Peter Falk (Columbo) ...

Anything for John
1993
as Self (archive footage)
An intimate portrait of actor-writer-director John Cassavetes and a loving tribute to his genius for studying and depicting the human character. In-de...
Arena - John Cassavetes
1989
as Self
Tribute to actor and director John Cassavetes who died in February 1989. Friends, associates and fellow directors remember the man and his work.

Movies Are My Life
1988
as Self
The very first full-length documentary on Scorsese offers an invaluable look at how he was perceived by his colleagues, and himself, in 1977. Catching...

Big Trouble
1986
Director
Leonard Hoffman is an insurance salesman struggling to make ends meet. The fact that he has triplet sons who all want to go to Yale isn't making thing...

Marvin & Tige
1985
as Marvin
Marvin, a heavy-drinking widower meets Tige, an 11-year-old orphan. With nowhere else to go, Tige moves in with Marvin and they develop a close friend...
Nederland C
1985
as Self - Portrait of the actor / cinematographer

I'm Almost Not Crazy: John Cassavetes — The Man and His Work
1984
as Self
Filmmaker Michael Ventura follows Cassavetes around as the actor/director labors on his final film, Love Streams.

Love Streams
1984
as Robert Harmon
Two closely-bound, emotionally wounded siblings reunite after years apart.

Love Streams
1984
Director, Screenplay
Two closely-bound, emotionally wounded siblings reunite after years apart.

Fräulein Berlin
1984
as himself
Berlin Underground-star Ulrike S. went to the Toronto-Filmfestival and then to New York - to find out something about the film business and also about...
The Haircut
1982
as Music Industry Executive
A music executive stops in for a 15 minute haircut.

Tempest
1982
as Phillip
A sobering mid-life crisis fuels dissatisfaction in Philip Dimitrius, to the extent where the successful architect trades his marriage and career in f...

Incubus
1982
as Dr. Sam Cordell
In the small New England town of Galen, a young teenage boy claims he has dreams of young women being brutally raped and murdered. A doctor and the lo...

Incubus
1982
Screenplay
In the small New England town of Galen, a young teenage boy claims he has dreams of young women being brutally raped and murdered. A doctor and the lo...

Whose Life Is It Anyway?
1981
as Dr. Michael Emerson
Ken Harrison is an artist that lives to make sculptures. One day he is involved in a car accident, and is paralyzed from his neck down. All he can do ...

Gloria
1980
Director, Writer
When a young boy's family is killed by the mob, their tough neighbor Gloria becomes his reluctant guardian. In possession of a book that the gangsters...

Flesh & Blood
1979
as Gus Caputo
A young street-tough-turned-boxer struggles to reach the top while finding his romance with an attractive TV reporter is complicated by an incestuous ...

Brass Target
1978
as Maj. Joe De Lucca
General George S. Patton died in a car accident in 1945. But was his death actually a murder. Is he targeted by Nazis angered by Germany's defeat? Or...

The Fury
1978
as Ben Childress
When a devious plot separates CIA agent Peter Sandza from his son, Robin, the distraught father manages to see through the ruse. Taken because of his ...

Opening Night
1977
as Maurice Aarons
Actress Myrtle Gordon is a functioning alcoholic who is a few days from the opening night of her latest play, concerning a woman distraught about agin...

Opening Night
1977
Writer, Director
Actress Myrtle Gordon is a functioning alcoholic who is a few days from the opening night of her latest play, concerning a woman distraught about agin...

Heroes
1977
as VA Doctor (uncredited)
A Vietnam veteran suffering from post traumatic stress disorder breaks out of a VA hospital and goes on a road trip with a sympathetic traveler to fin...

Mikey and Nicky
1976
as Nicky
Nick is desperate, holed up in a cheap hotel, suffering from an ulcer and convinced that a local mob boss wants him killed. Desperate and terrified, h...

Two-Minute Warning
1976
as Sgt. Chris Button
A psychotic sniper plans a massive killing spree in a Los Angeles football stadium during a major championship game. The police, led by Captain Peter ...

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
1976
Director, Writer
Cosmo Vittelli, the proprietor of a sleazy, low-rent Hollywood cabaret, has a real affection for the women who strip in his peepshows and the staff wh...

Capone
1975
as Frankie Yale
Young Al Capone catches the eye of Johnny Torrio, a criminal visiting New York from Chicago. Torrio invites Capone to move to Illinois to help run his...

A Woman Under the Influence
1974
Writer, Director
Mabel Longhetti, desperate and lonely, is married to a Los Angeles municipal construction worker, Nick. Increasingly unstable, especially in the compa...

Nightside
1973
as Carmine Kelly
The story of three people - a press agent, a private detective and a nightclub owner - whose careers require them to spend most of the night awake and...

Minnie and Moskowitz
1971
as Jim
Depressed and jaded after being dumped by her married boyfriend, aging beauty Minnie Moore wonders if she'll ever find love. After shaggy-haired park...

Minnie and Moskowitz
1971
Director, Writer
Depressed and jaded after being dumped by her married boyfriend, aging beauty Minnie Moore wonders if she'll ever find love. After shaggy-haired park...

The Making of 'Husbands'
1971
as Self
A documentary behind the scenes of John Cassavetes' 'Husbands' (1970).

Husbands
1970
as Gus Demetri
A common friend's sudden death brings three men, married with children, to reconsider their lives and ultimately leave the country together. But mindl...

Husbands
1970
Director, Writer, Editor
A common friend's sudden death brings three men, married with children, to reconsider their lives and ultimately leave the country together. But mindl...

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
1969
as Steve
A group of travelers from the United States race through seven European countries in 18 days.

Machine Gun McCain
1969
as Hank McCain
After serving 12 years behind bars for armed robbery, tough guy Hank McCain finds himself the pawn of a ruthless mob runt's rebellion against a high l...

"Cinéastes de notre temps": John Cassavetes
1969
A documentary by André S. Labarthe.

Faces
1968
Producer, Editor, Director
Middle-aged suburban husband Richard abruptly tells his wife, Maria, that he wants a divorce. As Richard takes up with a younger woman, Maria enjoys a...

Bandits in Rome
1968
as Mario Corda
After professional stickup man Mario Corda is jailed, his young, ambitious partner -- who covets both Corda's life and his wife -- cuts loose, leaving...

Rosemary's Baby
1968
as Guy Woodhouse
A young couple, Rosemary and Guy, moves into an infamous New York apartment building, known by frightening legends and mysterious events, with the pur...

Alexander The Great
1968
as Karonos
An historical film that follows the life of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king that united all ancient Greek tribes and led them against the vas...

The Dirty Dozen
1967
as Victor Franko
12 American military prisoners in World War II are ordered to infiltrate a well-guarded enemy château and kill the Nazi officers vacationing there. Th...

Devil's Angels
1967
as Cody
A gang of outlaw bikers strike a bargain with the Sheriff of a small beach town; let them stay and the town is safe. But a local girl strays into thei...

The Killers
1964
as Johnny North
A hit man and his partner try to find out why their latest victim, a former race-car driver, did not try to get away.

A Child Is Waiting
1963
Director
Dr. Matthew Clark is the head of a state institution for intellectually disabled children. Jean Hansen, a former music teacher anxious to give her lif...

The Webster Boy
1962
as Vance Miller
A gambler comes out of prison, returns to his old-flame, and finds that she has a teenage son, who begins to believe that the ex-con is his father.

Too Late Blues
1961
Director, Writer, Producer
Ghost is an ideological musician and leader of a jazz band who would rather play his blues in the park to the birds than compromise himself. His perip...

Shadows
1960
as Pedestrian (uncredited)
The relationship between Lelia, a light-skinned black woman, and Tony, a white man is put in jeopardy when Tony meets Lelia’s darker-skinned jazz sing...

Shadows
1960
Editor, Director, Writer
The relationship between Lelia, a light-skinned black woman, and Tony, a white man is put in jeopardy when Tony meets Lelia’s darker-skinned jazz sing...

Hedda Hopper's Hollywood
1960
as Self
A look at the past, present and future of Hollywood as seen through the eyes of the movie columnist.

Virgin Island
1959
as Evan
A British woman marries an American writer in spite of her family's disapproval and goes to live with him on a tropical island.

Saddle the Wind
1958
as Tony Sinclair
Steve Sinclair is a world-weary former gunslinger, now living as a peaceful farmer. Things go wrong when his wild younger brother Tony arrives on the ...

Affair in Havana
1957
as Nick Douglas
While in Havana, a musician gets involved with a crippled man and his beautiful wife... with deadly results.

Edge of the City
1957
as Axel Nordmann
An army deserter and a black dock worker join forces against a corrupt manager.

No Right to Kill
1956
as McCloud
This is a special series of lost classic programs from the Golden Age of TV. The series has been restored by SabuCat Productions from the best archiva...

Crime in the Streets
1956
as Frankie Dane
A social worker tries to end juvenile crime by getting involved with a street gang.

The Night Holds Terror
1955
as Robert Batsford
A group of escaped convicts holds a household prisoner as the police close in.

Taxi
1953
as Man (uncredited)
A New York cab driver helps an Irish immigrant with a baby locate her missing husband.

Fourteen Hours
1951
as Reporter (uncredited)
A young man, morally destroyed by his parents not loving him and by the fear of being not capable to make his girlfriend happy, rises on the ledge of ...