Being There
Encyclopedia
Being There is a 1979 American comedy-drama film
directed by Hal Ashby
. Adapted
from the 1971 novella
written by Jerzy Kosinski
, the screenplay was coauthored by Kosinski and Robert C. Jones
. The film stars Peter Sellers
, Shirley MacLaine
, Melvyn Douglas
, Jack Warden
, Richard A. Dysart, and Richard Basehart
.
Douglas won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
and Sellers was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role. The screenplay won the 1981 British Academy of Film and Television Arts
(Film) Best Screenplay Award and the 1980 Writers Guild of America
Award (Screen) for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium. It was also nominated for the 1980 Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
.
Being There was the last Peter Sellers film to be released while he was alive. The making of the film is portrayed in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
, a biographical film of Sellers' life.
) is a middle-aged man who lives in the townhouse of a wealthy man in Washington D.C. He seems simple-minded and has lived there his whole life tending the garden. His knowledge is derived entirely from what he sees on television. When his benefactor dies, Chance is forced to leave and discovers the outside world for the first time.
He wanders aimlessly, wearing his former employer's expensive clothes, and is taken for man of means. Chance passes by a TV shop and sees himself captured by a camera in the shop window. As he is watching, he is struck by a car owned by Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas
).
Rand's wife (Shirley MacLaine
) brings Chance to their home to recover. Drinking alcohol
for the first time in his life, Chance coughs as he tells them his name. "Chance the Gardener" is misheard as "Chauncey Gardiner." Judging by his appearance and manners, Rand assumes that Chauncey is an upper class, well-to-do, highly educated business man. Chance's style and seemingly insightful ways embody the qualities Rand admires. Chance's simplistic utterances about gardens are interpreted as allegorical statements about business and the state of the economy.
Rand is also the confidant and adviser of the U.S. President (Jack Warden
), whom he introduces to "Chauncey." Chance's remarks about how the garden changes with the seasons are interpreted by the President as economic and political advice, relating to his concerns about the mid-term unpopularity that many administrations face while in office. Chance, as Chauncey Gardiner, quickly rises to national public prominence. He becomes a media celebrity with an appearance on a television talk show, and is soon on the A-list of the most wanted in Washington society. Public opinion polls start to reflect just how much his "simple brand of wisdom" resonates with the jaded American public. At an upscale Washington cocktail lounge, two important, older, well-dressed men are discussing Chauncey; one says to the other, there is a rumor "he holds degrees in medicine as well as law."
Rand, dying of aplastic anemia
, encourages his wife to become close to Chance, knowing Eve is a fragile woman. However, the fact that Chance has given Rand an apparent acceptance of his illness and peace of mind with his imminent death makes the doctor hesitant to say anything. He also obviously sees that Chance possesses no guile, no intent to deceive, or any interest which would adversely impact Ben or Eve, or have any adverse effect upon Eve, or the estate, following Ben's death.
Just days before his death, Rand rewrites his will to include Chauncey. At his funeral, the President gives a long-winded read-out of various bon mots and quotes made by Rand over the years, which greatly impresses the pallbearer
s, who are members of the board of Rand's companies. They hold a whispered discussion over potential replacements for the President in the next term of office. As Rand's coffin is about to be interred in the family Masonic pyramid
-like mausoleum, they unanimously agree on "Chauncey Gardiner."
Oblivious to all this, Chance wanders through Rand's wintry estate. Ever the gardener, he straightens out a pine sapling and then walks off, across the surface of a small lake. The audience now sees Chance physically walking on water. He pauses, dips his umbrella into the water under his feet as if testing its depth, turns, and then continues to walk on the water as Rand's quote "Life is a state of mind" is voiced by the still eulogizing President.
reportedly engaged in quite a dogged quest to obtain the rights to bring the story to the screen and portray its lead character sending several postcards and letters signed "Chance" to Jerzy Kosinski
and Hal Ashby
.
As the closing credits roll, an alternative cut of the film has bloopers from a scene that does not appear in the film are played: Sellers, lying on a gurney, tries in vain to recite the "message" given by the gang leader (one of the gang members is played by future Allman Brothers band bassist Oteil Burbridge
), which includes quite a bit of swearing, with a straight face, and ends up flubbing the lines and laughing instead. Such outtakes being shown in a major Hollywood production were very rare at the time, and Sellers reportedly disapproved of the decision to include them since, by all accounts, it was his desire with this film to display his skills as a serious dramatic actor. There is another cut of the film that has a shot of television static over the end credits.
There was serious disagreement between Lorimar Films, the production company, and Ashby with respect to the final scene of the film, before the end credits. The original screenplay ended with the Chance character wandering down from the Rand funeral site and simply regarding the trees and leaves near the lake. Ashby thought of the "walking on water" ending and incorporated it into the production and the final cut, but it nearly led to his being fired from the film. Ashby prevailed, and ending is now thought of as a brilliant satirical final comment.
Additionally, there was substantial unhappiness over the final award of sole screenplay credit to Kosinski, since it was widely recognized that Robert Jones, the film editor of many of Ashby's pictures, had substantially revised Kosinski's very literal screenplay adaptation of his novel and was really responsible for the screenplay that was produced.
The film makes continued use of actual television clips throughout. These clips are part of the ambient visual and audio background, presented as a natural occurrence of a television being on in the room where the scene is taking place. The clips were chosen by Dianne Schroeder, and are referenced in the film credits as "Special Television Effects". These clips are an essential element of the film. They provide a window into the mind of Chance, who knows nothing of the world outside the old man's home except from what he's learned on television. They are also a comment on the addictive quality of television, as the film's audience begins to realize that they are drawn to the clips just as Chance is.
Incidental music is used very sparingly in this film. What little original music is used was composed by Johnny Mandel
, and primarily features two recurrent piano themes based on Gnossienne
No. 4 and No. 5 by Erik Satie
. The other major piece of music used is the Eumir Deodato
jazz/funk arrangement of the opening fanfare from Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss
, in the scene where Chance leaves the house and ventures out into the world for the first time. This composition is widely known in its original Strauss orchestration.
mentions the final scene in his 2005 book The Great Movies II (p. 52), stating that his film students once suggested that Chance may be walking on a submerged pier
. Ebert writes, "The movie presents us with an image, and while you may discuss the meaning of the image, it is not permitted to devise explanations for it. Since Ashby does not show a pier, there is no pier — a movie is exactly what it shows us, and nothing more."
Sellers won the Golden Globe Award
for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in Being There. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor
as well at the 52nd Academy Awards
, but he lost to Dustin Hoffman
in Kramer vs. Kramer
.
Melvyn Douglas
won his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
, and Golden Globe Award
for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance.
The film is ranked number 26 on the AFI's 100 Years…100 Laughs list, a list released by American Film Institute
in 2000 of the top 100 funniest films in American cinema.
A parody
of the film, "Being Not All There", was published in Mad
magazine. It was illustrated by Mort Drucker and written by Larry Siegel
in regular issue #218, October 1980.
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
directed by Hal Ashby
Hal Ashby
Hal Ashby was an American film director and film editor.-Birth and early years:Born William Hal Ashby in Ogden, Utah, Ashby grew up in a Mormon household and had a tumultuous childhood as part of a dysfunctional family which included the divorce of his parents, his father's suicide and his...
. Adapted
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
from the 1971 novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
written by Jerzy Kosinski
Jerzy Kosinski
Jerzy Kosiński , born Józef Lewinkopf, was an award-winning Polish American novelist, and two-time President of the American Chapter of P.E.N.He was known for various novels, among them The Painted Bird and Being There...
, the screenplay was coauthored by Kosinski and Robert C. Jones
Robert C. Jones
Robert C. Jones , sometimes credited as Robert Jones, is a screenwriter and film editor. He received an Academy Award for the screenplay of the film Coming Home . As an editor, Jones has had notable collaborations with the directors Arthur Hiller and Hal Ashby...
. The film stars Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
, Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
, Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.Coming to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man , Douglas later transitioned into more mature and fatherly roles as in his Academy Award-winning performances in Hud...
, Jack Warden
Jack Warden
Jack Warden was an American character actor.-Early life:Warden was born John Warden Lebzelter in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Laura M. and John Warden Lebzelter, who was an engineer and technician. He was of Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry...
, Richard A. Dysart, and Richard Basehart
Richard Basehart
John Richard Basehart was an American actor. He starred in the 1960s television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson.-Career:...
.
Douglas won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
and Sellers was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role. The screenplay won the 1981 British Academy of Film and Television Arts
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
(Film) Best Screenplay Award and the 1980 Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
Award (Screen) for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium. It was also nominated for the 1980 Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
The Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture is one of the annual awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."†" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "‡" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "§" indicates a Golden Globe Award...
.
Being There was the last Peter Sellers film to be released while he was alive. The making of the film is portrayed in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers is a 2004 film about the life of English comic actor Peter Sellers, based on Roger Lewis' book of the same name...
, a biographical film of Sellers' life.
Plot
Chance (Peter SellersPeter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
) is a middle-aged man who lives in the townhouse of a wealthy man in Washington D.C. He seems simple-minded and has lived there his whole life tending the garden. His knowledge is derived entirely from what he sees on television. When his benefactor dies, Chance is forced to leave and discovers the outside world for the first time.
He wanders aimlessly, wearing his former employer's expensive clothes, and is taken for man of means. Chance passes by a TV shop and sees himself captured by a camera in the shop window. As he is watching, he is struck by a car owned by Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.Coming to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man , Douglas later transitioned into more mature and fatherly roles as in his Academy Award-winning performances in Hud...
).
Rand's wife (Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
) brings Chance to their home to recover. Drinking alcohol
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
for the first time in his life, Chance coughs as he tells them his name. "Chance the Gardener" is misheard as "Chauncey Gardiner." Judging by his appearance and manners, Rand assumes that Chauncey is an upper class, well-to-do, highly educated business man. Chance's style and seemingly insightful ways embody the qualities Rand admires. Chance's simplistic utterances about gardens are interpreted as allegorical statements about business and the state of the economy.
Rand is also the confidant and adviser of the U.S. President (Jack Warden
Jack Warden
Jack Warden was an American character actor.-Early life:Warden was born John Warden Lebzelter in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Laura M. and John Warden Lebzelter, who was an engineer and technician. He was of Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry...
), whom he introduces to "Chauncey." Chance's remarks about how the garden changes with the seasons are interpreted by the President as economic and political advice, relating to his concerns about the mid-term unpopularity that many administrations face while in office. Chance, as Chauncey Gardiner, quickly rises to national public prominence. He becomes a media celebrity with an appearance on a television talk show, and is soon on the A-list of the most wanted in Washington society. Public opinion polls start to reflect just how much his "simple brand of wisdom" resonates with the jaded American public. At an upscale Washington cocktail lounge, two important, older, well-dressed men are discussing Chauncey; one says to the other, there is a rumor "he holds degrees in medicine as well as law."
Rand, dying of aplastic anemia
Aplastic anemia
Aplastic anemia is a condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cells to replenish blood cells. The condition, per its name, involves both aplasia and anemia...
, encourages his wife to become close to Chance, knowing Eve is a fragile woman. However, the fact that Chance has given Rand an apparent acceptance of his illness and peace of mind with his imminent death makes the doctor hesitant to say anything. He also obviously sees that Chance possesses no guile, no intent to deceive, or any interest which would adversely impact Ben or Eve, or have any adverse effect upon Eve, or the estate, following Ben's death.
Just days before his death, Rand rewrites his will to include Chauncey. At his funeral, the President gives a long-winded read-out of various bon mots and quotes made by Rand over the years, which greatly impresses the pallbearer
Pallbearer
A pall-bearer is one of several funeral participants who helps carry the casket of a deceased person from a religious or memorial service or viewing either directly to a cemetery or mausoleum, or to and from the hearse which carries the coffin....
s, who are members of the board of Rand's companies. They hold a whispered discussion over potential replacements for the President in the next term of office. As Rand's coffin is about to be interred in the family Masonic pyramid
Eye of Providence
The Eye of Providence is a symbol showing an eye often surrounded by rays of light or a glory and usually enclosed by a triangle...
-like mausoleum, they unanimously agree on "Chauncey Gardiner."
Oblivious to all this, Chance wanders through Rand's wintry estate. Ever the gardener, he straightens out a pine sapling and then walks off, across the surface of a small lake. The audience now sees Chance physically walking on water. He pauses, dips his umbrella into the water under his feet as if testing its depth, turns, and then continues to walk on the water as Rand's quote "Life is a state of mind" is voiced by the still eulogizing President.
Cast
- Peter SellersPeter SellersRichard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
as Chance the Gardener, a.k.a. Chauncey Gardiner - Shirley MacLaineShirley MacLaineShirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
as Eve Rand - Melvyn DouglasMelvyn DouglasMelvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.Coming to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man , Douglas later transitioned into more mature and fatherly roles as in his Academy Award-winning performances in Hud...
as Ben Rand - Jack WardenJack WardenJack Warden was an American character actor.-Early life:Warden was born John Warden Lebzelter in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Laura M. and John Warden Lebzelter, who was an engineer and technician. He was of Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry...
as The President - Richard A. Dysart as Dr. Robert Allenby
- Richard BasehartRichard BasehartJohn Richard Basehart was an American actor. He starred in the 1960s television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson.-Career:...
as US Soviet Ambassador - David ClennonDavid ClennonDavid Clennon is an American actor perhaps best known for his portrayal of Miles Drentel in the ABC series Thirtysomething, a role he reprised on Once and Again....
as Thomas Franklin - Ruth Attaway as Louise
- Denise DuBarryDenise DuBarryDenise DuBarry is an American actress, businesswoman, film producer, and philanthropist. She co-founded Thane International, Inc. a global leader in the direct response industry along with her husband, Bill Hay in 1990...
as Johanna Franklin - Sam WeismanSam WeismanSam Weisman is an American film director. He has directed the films D2: The Mighty Ducks, Bye Bye Love, George of the Jungle, The Out-of-Towners, What's the Worst That Could Happen?, and Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star....
as Colson - Arthur Rosenberg as Morton Hull
- Jerome HellmanJerome HellmanJerome Hellman is an American film producer. He is perhaps best known for being the producer of the 42nd recipient of the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1969, Midnight Cowboy...
as Gary Burns - James NobleJames NobleJames Noble was the first U.S. Senator from the U.S. state of Indiana.Noble was born near Berryville, Virginia and moved with his parents to Campbell County, Kentucky when he was 10...
as Kaufman - Fran BrillFran BrillFrances Joan "Fran" Brill , is an American actress and puppeteer, best known for her roles on Sesame Street.Brill was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Linette and Joseph M. Brill. Her father was a physician...
as Sally Hayes - Elya Baskin as Karpatov
Production
In the intervening span of several years between the novel's publication and the film's production, Peter SellersPeter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
reportedly engaged in quite a dogged quest to obtain the rights to bring the story to the screen and portray its lead character sending several postcards and letters signed "Chance" to Jerzy Kosinski
Jerzy Kosinski
Jerzy Kosiński , born Józef Lewinkopf, was an award-winning Polish American novelist, and two-time President of the American Chapter of P.E.N.He was known for various novels, among them The Painted Bird and Being There...
and Hal Ashby
Hal Ashby
Hal Ashby was an American film director and film editor.-Birth and early years:Born William Hal Ashby in Ogden, Utah, Ashby grew up in a Mormon household and had a tumultuous childhood as part of a dysfunctional family which included the divorce of his parents, his father's suicide and his...
.
As the closing credits roll, an alternative cut of the film has bloopers from a scene that does not appear in the film are played: Sellers, lying on a gurney, tries in vain to recite the "message" given by the gang leader (one of the gang members is played by future Allman Brothers band bassist Oteil Burbridge
Oteil Burbridge
Oteil Burbridge, in Washington, D.C.), is a Grammy Award-nominated American multi-instrumentalist, specializing on the bass guitar, trained in playing jazz and classical music from an early age. He has achieved fame primarily on bass guitar during the current resurgence of the Allman Brothers Band...
), which includes quite a bit of swearing, with a straight face, and ends up flubbing the lines and laughing instead. Such outtakes being shown in a major Hollywood production were very rare at the time, and Sellers reportedly disapproved of the decision to include them since, by all accounts, it was his desire with this film to display his skills as a serious dramatic actor. There is another cut of the film that has a shot of television static over the end credits.
There was serious disagreement between Lorimar Films, the production company, and Ashby with respect to the final scene of the film, before the end credits. The original screenplay ended with the Chance character wandering down from the Rand funeral site and simply regarding the trees and leaves near the lake. Ashby thought of the "walking on water" ending and incorporated it into the production and the final cut, but it nearly led to his being fired from the film. Ashby prevailed, and ending is now thought of as a brilliant satirical final comment.
Additionally, there was substantial unhappiness over the final award of sole screenplay credit to Kosinski, since it was widely recognized that Robert Jones, the film editor of many of Ashby's pictures, had substantially revised Kosinski's very literal screenplay adaptation of his novel and was really responsible for the screenplay that was produced.
The film makes continued use of actual television clips throughout. These clips are part of the ambient visual and audio background, presented as a natural occurrence of a television being on in the room where the scene is taking place. The clips were chosen by Dianne Schroeder, and are referenced in the film credits as "Special Television Effects". These clips are an essential element of the film. They provide a window into the mind of Chance, who knows nothing of the world outside the old man's home except from what he's learned on television. They are also a comment on the addictive quality of television, as the film's audience begins to realize that they are drawn to the clips just as Chance is.
Incidental music is used very sparingly in this film. What little original music is used was composed by Johnny Mandel
Johnny Mandel
Johnny Mandel is an American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. Among the musicians he has worked with are Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Barbra Streisand, and Shirley Horn.-Life:...
, and primarily features two recurrent piano themes based on Gnossienne
Gnossienne
"Gnossienne" is the name given to several piano pieces by the French composer Erik Satie in the late 19th century.-Characteristics:Satie's coining of the word "gnossienne" was one of the rare occasions when a composer used a new term to indicate a new "type" of composition. Satie had and would use...
No. 4 and No. 5 by Erik Satie
Erik Satie
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
. The other major piece of music used is the Eumir Deodato
Eumir Deodato
Eumir Deodato is a Brazilian pianist, composer, record producer and arranger, primarily based in the jazz realm but who historically has been known for eclectic melding of big band and combo jazz with varied elements of rock/pop, R&B/funk, Brazilian/Latin, and symphonic or orchestral music.Mainly,...
jazz/funk arrangement of the opening fanfare from Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
, in the scene where Chance leaves the house and ventures out into the world for the first time. This composition is widely known in its original Strauss orchestration.
Reception
Film critic Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
mentions the final scene in his 2005 book The Great Movies II (p. 52), stating that his film students once suggested that Chance may be walking on a submerged pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
. Ebert writes, "The movie presents us with an image, and while you may discuss the meaning of the image, it is not permitted to devise explanations for it. Since Ashby does not show a pier, there is no pier — a movie is exactly what it shows us, and nothing more."
Sellers won the Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in Being There. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
as well at the 52nd Academy Awards
52nd Academy Awards
The 52nd Academy Awards were presented April 14, 1980 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The ceremonies were presided over by Johnny Carson, who in noting the long duration of the production, joked that President Jimmy Carter was working hard for their "release" from the ceremonies, a...
, but he lost to Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
in Kramer vs. Kramer
Kramer vs. Kramer
Kramer vs. Kramer is a 1979 American drama film adapted by Robert Benton from the novel by Avery Corman, and directed by Benton. The film tells the story of a married couple's divorce and its impact on everyone involved, including the couple's young son...
.
Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.Coming to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man , Douglas later transitioned into more mature and fatherly roles as in his Academy Award-winning performances in Hud...
won his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
, and Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance.
The film is ranked number 26 on the AFI's 100 Years…100 Laughs list, a list released by American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
in 2000 of the top 100 funniest films in American cinema.
A parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of the film, "Being Not All There", was published in Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
magazine. It was illustrated by Mort Drucker and written by Larry Siegel
Larry Siegel
Larry Siegel is a comedy writer who was one of the "Usual Gang of Idiots" at Mad from 1958 to 1990.At Mad, Siegel had an aggressive writing style that did not shy away from being occasionally provocative or inflammatory to make a point. He was fond of attacking purveyors of bad taste, such as...
in regular issue #218, October 1980.