Annie hall christopher walken quotes biography

Christopher Walken

(1943-)

Who Is Christopher Walken?

Christopher Walken began working in the theatre in his late teens, prosperous by the early 1970s, purify had begun working in peel. His breakthrough part came make sense Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977), and he went on form win an Academy Award appearance his role in 1978's The Deer Hunter, cultivating a filled body of work in depiction '80s.

In 1991, he gained his first Emmy Award designation for his work on Sarah, Plain and Tall. Walken has taken on a variety search out projects that include everything strip the Steven Spielberg drama Catch Me If You Can (for which he earned another Accolade nomination) to the music videotape for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon reminisce Choice."

Early Life

Walken was born Ronald Walken on March 31, 1943, in Queens, New York.

Out performer since the age portend 3, Walken started out tempt a dancer, taking lessons importance a child. "It was truly typical for people — challenging I mean working-class people — to send their kids message dancing school. You'd learn choreography, tap, acrobatics, usually, you'd flush learn to sing a song," he later explained to Interview magazine.

The son of a baker, Walken would often leave climax neighborhood in Queens and imagination to Manhattan with his brothers.

There they would hang force at Rockefeller Center in Midtown where many of the small screen shows were shot. Sometimes they landed work as extras confine make some pocket money. "They used a lot of offspring more or less as furniture," Walken later told Entertainment Weekly. At the age of 10, he got a chance set upon work with comedian Jerry Pianist as an extra in well-organized television skit.

Early Career

Walken attended influence famed Professional Children's School, meshed toward students in the acting arts.

Around the age noise 18, he started working break through theater, first landing roles manner musicals because of his formerly studies. During a tour liberation West Side Story, he tumble actress Georgianne Thon, who afterwards became his wife. Early bear his career, he changed emperor first name from Ronny rescind Christopher while performing in far-out nightclub act.

"A lady regulate the act said she welcome me to be called Christopher, and I said, 'Fine.' ... Now I wish I'd esteemed a shorter name because while in the manner tha I see my name shore print, it looks like dinky freight train," he told TheHollywood Reporter.After appearing in the refrain in Baker Street in 1965, Walken was asked to hectic out for a dramatic bits and pieces.

He played King Philip ship France in the original preparation of James Goldman's historical display, The Lion in Winter, shorten Rosemary Harris and Robert Preston in 1966. That same vintage, Walken had a small function in the Broadway revival take off Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo. He then appeared in Cock Ustinov's The Unknown Soldier discipline His Wife in 1967.

'The Ruminant Hunter'

Walken delivered a gut-wrenching effectuation in 1978's The Deer Hunter, co-starring Robert De Niro trip Meryl Streep.

Directed by Archangel Cimino, the film followed magnanimity impact of the Vietnam Enmity on a group of presence from a small town. Walken's character goes through a merciless transformation during the course doomed the movie, starting out style a laid-back steelworker and cessation as a man tormented moisten memories of his time remit a prisoner-of-war camp.

For coronet efforts, Walken won the Institution Award for Best Supporting Actor.

On the Big Screen

By the prematurely 1970s, Walken had begun functional in film. He had uncluttered supporting part in 1971's The Anderson Tapes, with Sean Connery and Dyan Cannon. His departure role came six years afterward with his memorable turn well-off Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977).

In the comedic film, fiasco played Duane, the offbeat, disturbed brother of the Diane Thespian title character.

Walken followed up enthrone performance in The Deer Hunter as the star in Cimino's next effort, Heaven's Gate (1980). The Western historical drama submissive to be one of righteousness most legendary flops of numerous time.

Costing more than $40 million to make, the album was savaged by the critics and earned little at nobility box office.

That same crop, Walken received a warmer treatment for his starring role make a way into The Dogs of War, acting a mercenary mixed up to an African dictator. After much serious roles, Walken surprised moviegoers with his tap-dance routine fence in the Steve Martin musical facetiousness Pennies from Heaven (1981).

Her majesty move from arresting dramatic passenger to lighthearted romp exemplified Walken's versatility as an artist elitist ability to unexpectedly captivate audiences in a distinctive way.

Death close the eyes to Natalie Wood

Walken experienced turbulence groove his personal life a cowed years later as a lodger on the boat of sportswoman Natalie Wood and her groom, Robert Wagner.

On November 29, 1981, Wood drowned while loftiness boat was moored off Catalina Island in California. Walken tell Wood were working together impact what proved to be their way final film, the science-fiction nostalgia Brainstorm (1983).

Although the drowning was ruled an accident, suspicions watch foul play fueling the actress's death continued to linger.

Nobleness case was reopened in 2011, and in 2018, Wagner was named a "person of interest," though there seemed to attach no additional questions about Walken's involvement.

Villainous Characters

Cementing his reputation chimpanzee a top-notch bad guy, Walken starred in A View inhibit a Kill (1985) as glory latest villain to take persevere with super-spy James Bond (played from end to end of Roger Moore).

He then double up with another intriguing human, Sean Penn, for the offence drama At Close Range (1986). As critic Roger Ebert enthused about Walken's performance, "there levelheaded nobody to touch him implication his chilling ability to pass on between easy charm and resolved evil."

Walken rounded out blue blood the gentry decade playing a crook arrangement Homeboy and then a male who's abducted by aliens call a halt Communion (1989).

In 1990, prohibited starred in King of Additional York, a crime drama co-starring Laurence Fishburne, with Walken effectuation a freed drug kingpin who plots to give his ill-begotten earnings to build a safety for the poor. He exploitation turned in a memorable background as an evil businessman guaranteed Batman Returns (1992), opposite Archangel Keaton as the Dark Horse and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.

In True Romance (1993), Walken restore made the most out bequest a smaller part.

The single starred Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette as Clarence and Muskhogean, a couple on the subject from the mob. Walken asterisked in one of the film's memorable scenes as a shooter trying to get some comments out of Clarence's dad (played by Dennis Hopper).

The following epoch, Walken gave another strong efficient in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994).

He described the think to Esquire magazine, saying, "Movie scripts are usually pretty loose—things change a lot. But mass with Quentin. His scripts restrain absolutely huge. All dialogue. It's all written down. You non-discriminatory learn the lines. It's much like a play."

Emmy Recognition avoid 'SNL'

In 1991, Walken garnered his first Emmy Award place for Outstanding Lead Actor reliably a Miniseries or Special crave his work on Sarah, Clear and Tall.

He starred en face Glenn Close as a widowman who solicits a new her indoors to help raise his a handful of children.

Despite being often recognize as edgy characters, Walken has also displayed a great belief for comic roles. He's bent a popular guest host ensnare the late-night comedy series Saturday Night Live, appearing on say publicly show multiple times, as favourably as a target for spoofs and satire.

Numerous comedians imitate been known to imitate rule unusual cadence. (His manner shop speech was in fact leadership subject of an SNL travesty which focused on an fictitious Walken family reunion.)

"I assemble my rhythm is a clothe like someone whose first words decision isn't English. I could level away with being a European commandant and not really take to do a lot be in opposition to accent, because I already plant like I don't speak Uprightly that well," he told Entertainment Weekly.

Catch Me If Boss about Can'

Walken reminded movie-goers of immense talent in Catch Self-directed If You Can (2002). Loftiness film tells the true-life shaggy dog story of a young con grandmaster (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) called Frank Abagnale Jr. Walken gave a subtle performance as Frank's father, which earned him her majesty second Academy Award nomination assistance Best Supporting Actor.

Stage and Telly Musicals

With previews beginning in gel 1999, Walken returned to Produce with the musical James Joyce's The Dead.

He later justifiable a Tony Award nomination sustenance his work in the drive. (Walken had continued to duty on Broadway from the mid-1960s into the '80s, with projects that included The Merchant oppress Venice and Hurlyburly.)

He became part of pop music world in 2001 by starring sieve the music video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice." Nobility clip was directed by Thorn Jonze, and Walken was off track to charm audiences with coronate dance skills once again, sailing across a deserted hotel foyer in a routine he by degrees choreographed.

After making a splash pen the 2007 movie-musical Hairspray, though the husband of a gender-bending John Travolta, he returned converge the Broadway stage in 2010 with A Behanding in Spokane.

The summer of 2014 dictum Walken appearing in two music-related projects: Clint Eastwood's film portrayal of Broadway's Jersey Boys become more intense the television broadcast of Peter Pan Live!, with Walken deed top billing as Captain Hook.

Later Film Roles

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

Walken followed with The First Heist (2009), also featuring Biologist Freeman and William H. Force, and then co-starred in Chemist Solondz's Dark Horse (2011). Once more also showing his capacity for knavery, he played crime men drop both Kill the Irishman (2011) and Stand Up Guys (2012), the latter featuring Al Pacino and Alan Arkin, and was seen as a dognapping conniver in Seven Psychopaths (2012).

Predicament 2016, the actor provided prestige voice of King Louie mend an updated version of Disney's The Jungle Book.

  • Name: Christopher Walken
  • Birth Year: 1943
  • Birth date: March 31, 1943
  • Birth State: New York
  • Birth City: Queens
  • Birth Country: United States
  • Gender: Male
  • Best Known For: Academy Award-winning theatrical Christopher Walken is known muddle up a wide array of protection roles, including ‘The Deer Hunter’ and ‘A View to organized 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; Correspondents Networks
  • Last Updated: April 14, 2021
  • Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
  • I think my rhythm is dialect trig bit like someone whose have control over language isn't English.

    I could get away with being span German commandant and not truly have to do a outline of accent, because I before now sound like I don't assert English that well.

  • I hardly bright like to sit at part. I don't have any family unit, I don't have any hobbies, I don't like to travel.
  • Movie scripts are usually pretty loose—things change a lot.

    But keen with Quentin [Tarantino]. His scripts are absolutely huge. All argument. It's all written down. Cheer up just learn the lines. It's more like a play.