Frank Langella

Infobox actor


imagesize =
birthname = Frank A. Langella Jr.
birthdate = birth date and age|1938|1|1 [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001449/]
birthplace = Bayonne, New Jersey
yearsactive = 1965 - present
spouse = Ruth Weil (1977-1996)
tonyawards = Best Featured Actor in a Play
1975 "Seascape"
2002 "Fortune's Fool"
Best Leading Actor in a Play
2007 "Frost/Nixon"
awards = NBR Award for Best Supporting Actor
1970 "Diary of a Mad Housewife"
1970 "The Twelve Chairs"

Frank A. Langella, Jr. (born January 1, 1938, according to the Internet Movie Database) is an American stage and film actor. He has won three Tony Awards, two for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Edward Albee's "Seascape" (1975), and Ivan Turgenev's "Fortune's Fool" (2002), and for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's "Frost/Nixon" (2007). Langella was nominated for two other Best Leading Actor in a Play Tonys; first in 1978 for the Edward Gorey-designed revival of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" and again in 2004 for Stephen Belber's "Match".

Personal life

Langella, an Italian American,cite news | last=Roberts | first=Sheila | title=Frank Langella Interview, Starting out in the Evening | publisher=MoviesOnline | date=2007-11-22 | url=http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_13501.html | accessdate=2007-12-04] was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, [cite web | author=Peter Marks| title=Frank Langella Stamps 'The Father' as His Own | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05E3DB1539F932A25751C0A960958260 | work=The New York Times | date=1996-02-11| accessdate=2008-04-10] the son of Frank A. Langella, Sr., a business executive, [cite web | author= | title=Frank Langella Biography | url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/98/Frank-Langella.html | work=filmreference | date=2008 | accessdate=2008-04-10] and graduated from Syracuse University in 1959 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama. He remains a brother of the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity. Prior to graduating Syracuse University, Frank Langella attended Washington Elementary School and Bayonne High School in Bayonne. [Coutros, Evonne E. "PLAYING A WICKED STREAK FOR ALL IT'S WORTH", The Record (Bergen County)", January 23, 1994.]

Career

Langella was best known early in his career for his success in the title role of the Broadway production of "Dracula." In a recent interview, Langella commented that people (in fact, mostly men) always complimented him on the sexual energy of his stage performance as the Count, telling him, "Boy, did my wife make love to me that night!" after seeing him onstage. Despite his initial misgivings about continuing to play the role, he was persuaded to star opposite Sir Laurence Olivier in the subsequent film version directed by John Badham. Langella reports that on his last day of shooting he hung the cloak on a costume rack firmly knowing he could never pick it up again for fear of being typecast. Langella reminisced on filming with Olivier. In the "The Complete Films of Laurence Olivier" (Jerry Vermilye, Citadel Press), Langella says.....

"The thing about him that's pretty wonderful is that when we were on the set together there was no such thing as the legend, the reputation, the past. There was only the moment, how we work this moment and 'Oh, dear boy, what do you think we should do about this?' and 'Oh, my God, will you help me out?' - all those wonderful things he does to make you feel relaxed."

He went on to play Sherlock Holmes in an HBO adaptation (1981) of William Gillette's famous stage play. He repeated the role on Broadway in 1987 in Charles Marowitz's play "Sherlock's Last Case." That same year (1987), Langella would also portray the villain Skeletor in "Masters of the Universe".

For years afterward, Langella largely avoided acting on film in order to seriously pursue theatre. He has done more film and television work in recent years after finding a niche; in 1993 he made a memorable three-episode appearance on ' as the devious Jaro Essa. He also appeared as Al Baker in "Dominance" a 2003 episode of ' and as a villainous pirate in the summer 1995 release "Cutthroat Island". He also had a recurring role as 'Pino' in the 2005 short-lived sitcom 'Kitchen Confidential'. He picked up the Peter Sellers role in Adrian Lyne's remake of "Lolita." More recently, he appeared in George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck" (2005) as former CBS chief executive William S. Paley and in Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns" (2006) as Daily Planet editor Perry White. He received the Boston Society of Film Critics Award in 2007 for his sensitive performance as an elderly novelist in "Starting Out in the Evening."

Langella is still best known as an accomplished stage actor, most recently appearing in Peter Morgan's "Frost/Nixon" which received enthusiastic reviews during a run at the Donmar Warehouse and Gielgud Theatre in London before moving to New York's Bernard B. Jacobs Theater in April 2007. Langella has reprised his Tony Award winning role as Richard Nixon in the upcoming film adaptation directed by Ron Howard, to be released later this year. He made his first splash on stage in New York in William Gibson's "A Cry of Players," playing a young, highly fictionalized William Shakespeare, opposite Anne Bancroft at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre in 1968. He has also appeared in notable off-Broadway productions, including in the title role of Robert Kalfin's Chelsea Theater Center production of The Prince of Homburg, which was filmed by PBS for the Theatre in America series. [cite book | last=Napoleon | first=David | title=Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater | location= | publisher=Iowa State University Press | year=1991 | isbn=0813817137] He is scheduled to star as Sir Thomas More in the upcoming Broadway revival of "A Man for All Seasons", which will begin running in October 2008. [ [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117986277.html?categoryid=15&cs=1&nid=2563 Frank Langella to be 'Man' on B'way - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety ] ]

Filmography

* "Diary of a Mad Housewife" (1970) ... as George Prager
* "The Twelve Chairs" (1970) ... as Ostap Bender
* "The Mark of Zorro" (1974) ... as Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro
* "Dracula" (1979) ... as Count Dracula
* "Sherlock Holmes" (1981) (TV)(HBO) ... as Sherlock Holmes
* "Sphinx (1981)" ... as Akmed Khazzan
* "Masters of the Universe" (1987) ... as Skeletor
* "" (1992) ... as Santangel
* "Body of Evidence" (1993) ... as Jeffrey Roston
* "Dave" (1993) ... as White House Chief of Staff Bob Alexander
* "Brainscan" (1994) ... as Detective Hayden
* "Cutthroat Island" (1995) ... as Dawg Brown
* "Eddie"... as Wild Bill Burgess
* "The Greatest Pharaohs" (1996)... himself
* "Lolita" (1997) ... as Clare Quilty
* "Small Soldiers" (1998) ... as Archer (voice)
* "The Ninth Gate" (1999) ... as Boris Balkan
* "Sweet November (2001 film)" ... as Edgar Price
* "The Beast" (2001) ... as Jackson Burns
* "Red Dragon" (2002) (scenes deleted) ... as The Dragon (voice)
* "House of D" (2004) ... Reverend Duncan
* "The Novice" (2004) ... as Father Tew
* "Back in the Day" (2005) ... as Lt. Bill Hudson
* "Now You See It..." (2005) ... as Max
* "Sweet William" (2005) ... as Professor Driskoll
* "Good Night, and Good Luck." (2005) ...as William S. Paley
* "Superman Returns" (2006) ... as Perry White
* "10.5 Apocalypse" (2006)...as Dr. Earl Hill
* "Starting Out in the Evening" (2007) … as Leonard Schiller
* "Frost/Nixon" (2008) ... as fmr. President Richard M. Nixon
* "The Box" (2008) ... as Arlington Steward
* "The Caller" (2008) ... as TBA
* "All Good Things" (2009) ... as TBA

References

External links

*
* memoryalpha
* [http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Star_File.aspx?ci=35913 Star File: Frank Langella] at [http://www.broadway.com Broadway.com]

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title=Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
years=1974-1975
for "Seascape"
before= -
after=Judd Hirsch
for "Knock Knock"succession box
title=Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play
years=1995-1996
for "The Father"
before=Ralph Fiennes
for "Hamlet"
after= David Morse for "How I Learned to Drive" and Christopher Plummer for "Barrymore"succession box
title=Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play
years=2006-2007
for "Frost/Nixon"
before=Richard Griffiths
for "The History Boys"
after=Mark Rylance
for "Boeing Boeing"