Bob Rafelson
Encyclopedia
Robert "Bob" Rafelson is an Emmy Award
winning American
film director
, writer
and producer
. He was an early member of the New Hollywood
movement in the 1970s and is most famous for directing and co-writing the film Five Easy Pieces
, starring Jack Nicholson
, as well as being one of the creators of the pop group and TV series, The Monkees
with Raybert/BBS Productions
partner Bert Schneider
. His first wife was the Production Designer Toby Carr Rafelson. His son is songwriter Peter Rafelson, who co-wrote the hit song Open Your Heart
for Madonna
.
, the son of a hat manufacturer. His uncle was screenwriter and playwright Samson Raphaelson
, who wrote nine films for director Ernst Lubitsch
. He had an older brother named Donald and attended Horace Mann School
. As a teenager he would often run away from home to pursue a more adventurous lifestyle, including riding in a rodeo in Arizona and playing in a jazz band in Acapulco. After studying philosophy at Dartmouth University
(where he had made friends with screenwriter Buck Henry
), Rafelson was drafted into the U.S. Army and stationed in Japan. In Japan he worked as a disk jockey, translated Japanese films and was an adviser to the Shochiku
Film Company as to what films would be financially successful in the United States.
Rafelson began dating Toby Carr in high school and they later married in the mid-1950s. The couple had two children: Peter Rafelson, born in 1960, and Julie Rafelson, born in 1962. Toby Rafelson was a production designer on many films, including the early work of Bob Rafelson. She has been credited with being a guiding force in Rafelson's more acclaimed films, and according to actress Ellen Burstyn
: "In both Bob's and Peter Bogdanovich
's cases, their best movies were made in partnership with their wives. And when the marriages ended, their work was not ever up to that same level."
for producer David Susskind
in 1959. The series produced televised stage plays from contemporary and classical authors. Rafelson's job required him to read hundreds of plays and write some additional dialogue uncredited. Rafelson's first writing credits were for an episode of the TV series The Witness in 1960 and an episode of the series The Greatest Show on Earth in 1963.
In June 1962, Rafelson and his family moved to Hollywood where Rafelson began working as an associate producer on television shows and films at Universal Pictures
, Revue Productions, Desilu Productions
and Screen Gems
. He was once fired by Lew Wasserman
over creative differences on the show Channing. Wasserman told him to come back when he learned that "film was a collaborative process."
While working on the TV series The Wackiest Ship in the Army
for Screen Gems in 1965, Rafelson met fellow producer Bert Schneider
. They became fast friends and created the company Raybert Productions
together that year. Raybert would later become BBS Productions and produce films as a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures
. Inspired by the Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night
and Beatlemania in general, Rafelson and Schneider's first project was a television series about a rock 'n' roll group. Raybert Productions
sold the idea to Screen Gems and, when they were unable to get either the Dave Clark Five or the Lovin' Spoonful for the show, ran ads in Daily Variety
and The Hollywood Reporter
for musicians. The band that they created was The Monkees
and the TV series
ran from 1966 until 1968.
The Monkees
was immediately a success with audiences and, despite the band being a manufactured product, was particularly popular with the youth demographic at the time. Rafelson and Schneider won the Emmy Award
for Outstanding Comedy Series as producers in 1967. Rafelson has said that "the whole show was created in effect in the editing room. The tempo was of paramount importance...I had to direct one or two of the shows for television to set the pattern of how these things should be made" The show was produced during the first few years of the New Hollywood
movement that would become mainstream in the 1970s with directors like Peter Bogdanovich
, Francis Ford Coppola
and Rafelson himself. Rafelson had said that "of the first thirty-two shows, twenty-nine were directed by people who had never directed before- including me. So the idea of using new directors not perhaps too encumbered by traditional ways of thinking was initiated on that series and just continued on the movies we made later."
(where Schneider's father was an executive). Their next project was a feature film starring the Monkees
called Head. It was Rafelson's film debut as a director and he co-wrote it with friend Jack Nicholson
. The film stars the Monkees and has appearances by Nicholson, Victor Mature
, Teri Garr
, Carol Doda
, Annette Funicello
, Frank Zappa
, Sonny Liston
, Timothy Carey
, Ray Nitschke
, Dennis Hopper
and Rafelson himself. When asked about the ideas for the film, Rafelson said "Of course Head is an utterly and totally fragmented film. Among other reasons for making it was that I thought I would never get to make another movie, so I might as well make fifty to start out with and put them all in the same feature."
Head
is a plot-less, stream of consciousness film that, amongst other things, attempts to deconstruct the musical persona's of the Monkees and satirize the consumer ideals of "image". In a song sung by the Monkees, they seem to confess by saying: Hey, hey, we are The Monkees/ You know we love to please/ A manufactured image/ With no philosophies. Other scenes utilize psychedelic or surrealistic theatrics such as the Monkees being sucked through a giant vacuum cleaner and turning into specks of dandruff in Victor Mature's head. The film ends with the Monkees being loaded into a truck and driven out of the Columbia Studio gates. The film was a financial failure and the popularity of the Monkees were already in decline.
While Rafelson was making Head, Raybert was also working with Dennis Hopper
and Peter Fonda
on the film Easy Rider
. The film premiered at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival
and was released in July 1969, quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon. The films success gave Raybert productions enough funds and clout to pursue more ambitious projects. Rafelson and Schneider soon added Schneider's childhood friend Stephen Blauner
to their company and changed the company name to BBS Productions (Bert, Bob and Steve). BBS's first project was Rafelson's second feature film, shot in 1969.
Five Easy Pieces
was written by Rafelson and Carole Eastman
(under the alias Adrien Joyce) and starred Jack Nicholson
, Karen Black
, and Susan Anspach
. Jack Nicholson stars as Bobby Dupea, a once gifted classical piano player who works on an oil ring in California and spends most of his time drinking beer and bowling with his put-upon girlfriend Rayette (Black). Bobby is constantly dissatisfied and a non-conformist, stating: "I move around a lot. Not because I'm looking for anything really, but to get away from things that go bad if I stay." Bobby learns from his sister that his father has had a stroke and decides to travel back to his family home in the San Juan Islands
in Washington State. He and Rayette go on a road trip to Washington, picking up two hippie hitch-hikers along the way and (in the films most famous scene) unsuccessfully battle a waitress in a diner for an omelet with wheat toast. Bobby arrives at his family's property, leaving Rayette at the motel. There he attempts to reconnect with his father and seduces his brother's fiance. When Rayette arrives unexpectedly, he is confronted with his behavior and seems to commit himself to Rayette, but ends up ditching her at a gas station on their way back to California. Rafelson described Bobby as "a guy who is out of touch with his emotions."
The film was a financial hit, earning $18 million and was nominated for four Academy Awards
: Best Picture
, Best Actor
(Jack Nicholson), Best Supporting Actress
(Karen Black) and Best Original Screenplay. It also received the New York Film Critics Award for Best Director and for Best Film of 1970. Film critic David Robinson called Rafelson "a new director who uses film with the subtlety of a novelist, but without losing any of the concentration and economy potential in the cinema's unique mixture of image and sound."
Rafelson's next film was The King of Marvin Gardens
, released in 1972 through BBS Productions. The film was written by Jacob Brackman
(with uncredited collaboration by Rafelson) and starred Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern
, Ellen Burstyn
, Julia Anne Robinson, Scatman Crothers
and Charles Lavine. The title refers to the original Atlantic City version of the Monopoly game board, where the misspelled and misplaced "Marvin Gardens" was one of the Yellow squares in the children's game of capitalistic success.
In the film, Nicholson plays David Staebler, a melancholy Philadelphia disk jockey who tells long, angst ridden stories of his childhood over the radio and lives with his elderly Grandfather (Lavine). David receives a call from his extroverted con artist brother Jason (Dern) asking him to bail him out of jail in Atlantic City. When David arrives he gets caught up in Jason's scheme to develop a South Pacific island into a gambling casino so that the brothers can "fulfill their childhood dream of an island kingdom of their own". David joins up with Jason, his girlfriend Sally (Burstyn) and Sally's stepdaughter Jessica (Robinson) to make the dream a reality. But David soon learns that Jason is in over his head and owes money to a real gangster named Lewis (Crothers), who is not amused with Jason's idealism. In the end their dream of an island resort is destroyed and Jason is shot dead by Sally. David returns to Philadelphia and his radio show, returning home one night to witness his grandfather watching old home movies of the brothers as children making sandcastles on the beach before a wave washes them away.
The film received mixed reviews and was not a financial success. Columbia Pictures
was having financial difficulties after the failures of such films as 1776
, Nicholas and Alexandra
and Lost Horizon
and BBS was no longer able to make the films that it wanted and effectively ceased to exist after 1973.
In August 1973 Rafelson's 10-year-old daughter Julie died of injuries when a propane stove exploded in the Rafelson's Aspen home. Shortly after that Toby Rafelson was diagnosed with cancer, but eventually recovered. The death of their daughter and Rafelson's years of infidelity began to take a toll on the marriage. Rafelson was a notorious womanizer and had a long-term affair with his sister-in-law Paula Strachan.
Rafelson then spent more than a year researching a film that would never be made about the slave trade in Africa. He traveled over five thousand miles in West Africa
and has said that he "lived the life of many of the characters that I'd read about." Rafelson then "wanted to turn to something more cheerful, to project a more exhilarating aspect of myself." His next film was Stay Hungry
, based on the novel by Charles Gaines
and adapted by Rafelson and Gaines. The film starred Jeff Bridges
, Sally Field
, Arnold Schwarzenegger
and Scatman Crothers
.
Stay Hungry stars Jeff Bridges as Craig Blake, a millionaire in Alabama who has recently inherited his parents fortune after their tragic deaths in a plane crash. He lives a lonely life in his mansion with only his butler (Crothers) to keep him company as he idles away his days. When he becomes involved in a shady investment firm, he visits the Olympic Spa gym, where bodybuilders are training for the upcoming Mr. Universe
contest. He befriends bodybuilder Joe Santo (Schwarzenegger), who teaches him that "you can't grow without burning. I don't like to be too comfortable. Once you get used to it it's hard to give up. I like to stay hungry." He also begins dating the gym's receptionist Mary Tate (Field), but his upper class friends do not approve of his new lower class friends. In the end Blake chooses his new friends and buys the gym with Santo.
Bob and Tony Rafelson separated shortly after the shooting of Stay Hungry, where Rafelson was allegedly having affairs with both Strachan and Sally Field. They eventually divorced and Rafelson would later remarry to actress Gabrielle Taurek, with whom he had a son named E.O. Rafelson.
directors was shifting dramatically. Jaws
had been released the year before and Star Wars
would be released the following year. Like many directors who began early in the decade, Rafelson found it more and more difficult to get films made or seen, and his career would never reach the heights of the early 1970s.
In 1978 Rafelson began production on the film Brubaker
, starring Robert Redford
, Yaphet Kotto
, Jane Alexander
and Morgan Freeman
. He had spent several days at a top security prison to research the film. Rafelson was fired from the film after just ten days of shooting and was replaced by Stuart Rosenberg
.
In 1981 Rafelson directed The Postman Always Rings Twice
, based on the novel
by James M. Cain
which had famously been made into a film in 1946 with John Garfield
and Lana Turner
. Rafelson's 1981 remake was written by David Mamet
and starred Jack Nicholson
and Jessica Lange
. In the film, Nicholson plays a depression era drifter who happens upon a rural diner and gets involved with the owners wife in a plot to kill her husband. The film was unfavorably compared to the 1946 version and received poor reviews from film critics.
In 1987 Rafelson directed Black Widow
, starring Debra Winger
and Theresa Russell
. In 1990 he made Mountains of the Moon
, a film about the 1857-58 journey of Richard Francis Burton
and John Hanning Speke
in their expedition to central Africa
— the project that culminated in Speke's discovery of the source of the Nile River. It starred Patrick Bergin and Iain Glen
.
In 1992 Rafelson teamed up with Nicholson and screenwriter Carole Eastman
for the film Man Trouble and made his last film with Nicholson to date in 1996, Blood and Wine
. His recent films have included the TV Movie Poodle Springs
in 1998 and No Good Deed
in 2002.
Rafelson and Nicholson have been collaborators for over forty years. Nicholson and Rafelson wrote and produced and Rafelson directed Head
, starring the Monkees, in 1968, followed by Five Easy Pieces
. In subsequent years, Rafelson directed Nicholson in four more films, including The King of Marvin Gardens
(1972), The Postman Always Rings Twice
(1981), Man Trouble
(1992), and Blood and Wine
(1996).
Rafelson has adapted the works of legendary noir authors James M. Cain
, Raymond Chandler
, and Dashiell Hammett
.
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
winning American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
. He was an early member of the New Hollywood
New Hollywood
New Hollywood or post-classical Hollywood, sometimes referred to as the "American New Wave", refers to the time from roughly the late-1960s to the early 1980s when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in America, influencing the types of films produced, their production and...
movement in the 1970s and is most famous for directing and co-writing the film Five Easy Pieces
Five Easy Pieces
Five Easy Pieces is a 1970 American drama film written by Carole Eastman and Bob Rafelson, and directed by Rafelson. The film stars Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, and Susan Anspach. The cast also includes Billy 'Green' Bush, Fannie Flagg, Ralph Waite, Sally Struthers, Lois Smith, Toni Basil, and...
, starring Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
, as well as being one of the creators of the pop group and TV series, The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
with Raybert/BBS Productions
Raybert Productions
Raybert Productions was a 1960s production company, founded by Robert Rafelson and Bert Schneider. Its principal works were the wildly successful situation comedy The Monkees , and the 1969 movie Easy Rider...
partner Bert Schneider
Bert Schneider
Berton "Bert" Schneider is an American movie producer, who was behind a number of important and topical films of the late-1960s and early-1970s. The son of Abraham Schneider, onetime president of Columbia Pictures, the younger Schneider tended toward the rebellious. He briefly attended Cornell...
. His first wife was the Production Designer Toby Carr Rafelson. His son is songwriter Peter Rafelson, who co-wrote the hit song Open Your Heart
Open Your Heart (Madonna song)
"Open Your Heart" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released as the fourth single from her third studio album True Blue on November 12, 1986, by Sire Records. It has since appeared remixed on the compilation albums The Immaculate Collection and Celebration...
for Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
.
Early Life
Rafelson was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the son of a hat manufacturer. His uncle was screenwriter and playwright Samson Raphaelson
Samson Raphaelson
Samson Raphaelson was an American screenwriter and playwright.Born in New York City, Raphaelson worked on nine films with Ernst Lubitsch, including Trouble in Paradise , The Shop Around the Corner , Heaven Can Wait , and That Lady in Ermine...
, who wrote nine films for director Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his...
. He had an older brother named Donald and attended Horace Mann School
Horace Mann School
Horace Mann School is an independent college preparatory school in New York City, New York, United States founded in 1887 known for its rigorous course of studies. Horace Mann is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League, educating students from all across the New York tri-state area from...
. As a teenager he would often run away from home to pursue a more adventurous lifestyle, including riding in a rodeo in Arizona and playing in a jazz band in Acapulco. After studying philosophy at Dartmouth University
Dartmouth University
Dartmouth University is a defunct institution in New Hampshire which existed from 1817 to 1819. It was the result of a thwarted attempt by the state legislature to make Dartmouth College, a private college, into a public university. The United States Supreme Court case that settled the matter,...
(where he had made friends with screenwriter Buck Henry
Buck Henry
Henry Zuckerman, better known as Buck Henry , is an American actor, writer, film director, and television director.-Early life:...
), Rafelson was drafted into the U.S. Army and stationed in Japan. In Japan he worked as a disk jockey, translated Japanese films and was an adviser to the Shochiku
Shochiku
is a Japanese movie studio and production company for kabuki. It also produces and distributes anime films. Its best remembered directors include Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Yōji Yamada...
Film Company as to what films would be financially successful in the United States.
Rafelson began dating Toby Carr in high school and they later married in the mid-1950s. The couple had two children: Peter Rafelson, born in 1960, and Julie Rafelson, born in 1962. Toby Rafelson was a production designer on many films, including the early work of Bob Rafelson. She has been credited with being a guiding force in Rafelson's more acclaimed films, and according to actress Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn is a leading American actress of film, stage, and television. Burstyn's career began in theatre during the late 1950s, and over the next ten years she appeared in several films and television series before joining the Actors Studio in 1967...
: "In both Bob's and Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich is an American film historian, director, writer, actor, producer, and critic. He was part of the wave of "New Hollywood" directors, which included William Friedkin, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino, and Francis Ford Coppola...
's cases, their best movies were made in partnership with their wives. And when the marriages ended, their work was not ever up to that same level."
Early Television Career
Rafelson's first professional job was as a story editor on the TV series Play of the WeekPlay of the Week
Play of the Week is an American anthology series of televised stage plays which aired in NTA Film Network syndication from October 12, 1959 to May 1, 1961...
for producer David Susskind
David Susskind
David Susskind was a producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a pioneer TV talk show host.-Personal:...
in 1959. The series produced televised stage plays from contemporary and classical authors. Rafelson's job required him to read hundreds of plays and write some additional dialogue uncredited. Rafelson's first writing credits were for an episode of the TV series The Witness in 1960 and an episode of the series The Greatest Show on Earth in 1963.
In June 1962, Rafelson and his family moved to Hollywood where Rafelson began working as an associate producer on television shows and films at Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
, Revue Productions, Desilu Productions
Desilu Productions
Desilu Productions was a Los Angeles, California-based company jointly owned by actors Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, who were married to each other from 1940 to 1960....
and Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
. He was once fired by Lew Wasserman
Lew Wasserman
Lewis Robert "Lew" Wasserman was an American talent agent and studio executive, sometimes credited with creating and later taking apart the studio system in a career spanning more than six decades...
over creative differences on the show Channing. Wasserman told him to come back when he learned that "film was a collaborative process."
While working on the TV series The Wackiest Ship in the Army
The Wackiest Ship in the Army (TV series)
The Wackiest Ship in the Army is an American comedy series that aired for one season on NBC between September 19, 1965, and April 17, 1966. Produced by Harry Ackerman and Herbert Hirschman, the series is loosely based on the 1960 film starring Jack Lemmon and Ricky Nelson.-Synopsis:The series is...
for Screen Gems in 1965, Rafelson met fellow producer Bert Schneider
Bert Schneider
Berton "Bert" Schneider is an American movie producer, who was behind a number of important and topical films of the late-1960s and early-1970s. The son of Abraham Schneider, onetime president of Columbia Pictures, the younger Schneider tended toward the rebellious. He briefly attended Cornell...
. They became fast friends and created the company Raybert Productions
Raybert Productions
Raybert Productions was a 1960s production company, founded by Robert Rafelson and Bert Schneider. Its principal works were the wildly successful situation comedy The Monkees , and the 1969 movie Easy Rider...
together that year. Raybert would later become BBS Productions and produce films as a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
. Inspired by the Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night (film)
A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists...
and Beatlemania in general, Rafelson and Schneider's first project was a television series about a rock 'n' roll group. Raybert Productions
Raybert Productions
Raybert Productions was a 1960s production company, founded by Robert Rafelson and Bert Schneider. Its principal works were the wildly successful situation comedy The Monkees , and the 1969 movie Easy Rider...
sold the idea to Screen Gems and, when they were unable to get either the Dave Clark Five or the Lovin' Spoonful for the show, ran ads in Daily Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
and The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
for musicians. The band that they created was The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
and the TV series
The Monkees (TV series)
The Monkees is an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from September 1966 to March 1968. The series follows the adventures of four young men trying to make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers. The show introduced a number of innovative new-wave film techniques to series...
ran from 1966 until 1968.
The Monkees
The Monkees (TV series)
The Monkees is an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from September 1966 to March 1968. The series follows the adventures of four young men trying to make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers. The show introduced a number of innovative new-wave film techniques to series...
was immediately a success with audiences and, despite the band being a manufactured product, was particularly popular with the youth demographic at the time. Rafelson and Schneider won the Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Outstanding Comedy Series as producers in 1967. Rafelson has said that "the whole show was created in effect in the editing room. The tempo was of paramount importance...I had to direct one or two of the shows for television to set the pattern of how these things should be made" The show was produced during the first few years of the New Hollywood
New Hollywood
New Hollywood or post-classical Hollywood, sometimes referred to as the "American New Wave", refers to the time from roughly the late-1960s to the early 1980s when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in America, influencing the types of films produced, their production and...
movement that would become mainstream in the 1970s with directors like Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich is an American film historian, director, writer, actor, producer, and critic. He was part of the wave of "New Hollywood" directors, which included William Friedkin, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino, and Francis Ford Coppola...
, Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
and Rafelson himself. Rafelson had said that "of the first thirty-two shows, twenty-nine were directed by people who had never directed before- including me. So the idea of using new directors not perhaps too encumbered by traditional ways of thinking was initiated on that series and just continued on the movies we made later."
Early Film Career
Rafelson and Bert Schneider's new found success allowed them to get more funding for Raybert Productions, which by this time was a subsidiary of Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
(where Schneider's father was an executive). Their next project was a feature film starring the Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
called Head. It was Rafelson's film debut as a director and he co-wrote it with friend Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
. The film stars the Monkees and has appearances by Nicholson, Victor Mature
Victor Mature
Victor John Mature was an American stage, film and television actor.-Early life:Mature was born in Louisville, Kentucky to an Italian-speaking father from the town Pinzolo, in the Italian part of the former County of Tyrol , Marcello Gelindo Maturi, later Marcellus George Mature, a cutler,...
, Teri Garr
Teri Garr
-Early life:Garr was born in Lakewood, Ohio in 1947. Her father, Eddie Garr , was a vaudeville performer, comedian and actor whose career peaked when he briefly took over the lead role in the Broadway drama Tobacco Road...
, Carol Doda
Carol Doda
Carol Ann Doda was a topless stripper in San Francisco, California in the 1960s through 1980s, one of the first of the era....
, Annette Funicello
Annette Funicello
Annette Joanne Funicello is an American singer and actress. She was Walt Disney's most popular cast member of the original Mickey Mouse Club, and went on to appear in a series of beach party films.-Early life and early stardom:...
, Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, Sonny Liston
Sonny Liston
Charles L. "Sonny" Liston was a professional boxer and ex-convict known for his toughness, punching power, and intimidating appearance who became world heavyweight champion in 1962 by knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round...
, Timothy Carey
Timothy Carey
Timothy Agoglia Carey was an American film and television actor....
, Ray Nitschke
Ray Nitschke
Raymond Ernest "Ray" Nitschke was a professional football player who played his entire career as a middle linebacker for the Green Bay Packers of the NFL. Wearing #66, he played fifteen seasons, from 1958-72....
, Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
and Rafelson himself. When asked about the ideas for the film, Rafelson said "Of course Head is an utterly and totally fragmented film. Among other reasons for making it was that I thought I would never get to make another movie, so I might as well make fifty to start out with and put them all in the same feature."
Head
Head
In anatomy, the head of an animal is the rostral part that usually comprises the brain, eyes, ears, nose and mouth . Some very simple animals may not have a head, but many bilaterally symmetric forms do....
is a plot-less, stream of consciousness film that, amongst other things, attempts to deconstruct the musical persona's of the Monkees and satirize the consumer ideals of "image". In a song sung by the Monkees, they seem to confess by saying: Hey, hey, we are The Monkees/ You know we love to please/ A manufactured image/ With no philosophies. Other scenes utilize psychedelic or surrealistic theatrics such as the Monkees being sucked through a giant vacuum cleaner and turning into specks of dandruff in Victor Mature's head. The film ends with the Monkees being loaded into a truck and driven out of the Columbia Studio gates. The film was a financial failure and the popularity of the Monkees were already in decline.
While Rafelson was making Head, Raybert was also working with Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
and Peter Fonda
Peter Fonda
Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...
on the film Easy Rider
Easy Rider
Easy Rider is a 1969 American road movie written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. It tells the story of two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and South with the aim of achieving freedom...
. The film premiered at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival
1969 Cannes Film Festival
The 22nd Cannes Film Festival was held on May 8 - 23, 1969. At this festival a new non-competitive section called "Directors' Fortnight" is added, in response to the cancellation of the 1968 festival.-Jury:*Luchino Visconti...
and was released in July 1969, quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon. The films success gave Raybert productions enough funds and clout to pursue more ambitious projects. Rafelson and Schneider soon added Schneider's childhood friend Stephen Blauner
Stephen Blauner
Jules Stephen "Boom Boom" Blauner was Bobby Darin's manager and very close friend, producer, and member of BBS Productions.-Early life:...
to their company and changed the company name to BBS Productions (Bert, Bob and Steve). BBS's first project was Rafelson's second feature film, shot in 1969.
Five Easy Pieces
Five Easy Pieces
Five Easy Pieces is a 1970 American drama film written by Carole Eastman and Bob Rafelson, and directed by Rafelson. The film stars Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, and Susan Anspach. The cast also includes Billy 'Green' Bush, Fannie Flagg, Ralph Waite, Sally Struthers, Lois Smith, Toni Basil, and...
was written by Rafelson and Carole Eastman
Carole Eastman
Carole Eastman , was an American screenwriter. Among her relatively few credits were screenplays for Monte Hellman's The Shooting , Bob Rafelson's Five Easy Pieces , and Mike Nichols’s The Fortune...
(under the alias Adrien Joyce) and starred Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
, Karen Black
Karen Black
Karen Black is an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She is noted for appearing in such films as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Great Gatsby, Rhinoceros, The Day of the Locust, Nashville, Airport 1975, and Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot...
, and Susan Anspach
Susan Anspach
-Private life:Anspach was born in New York City and was raised in Queens, New York. She graduated from William Cullen Bryant High School in Long Island City in 1960. Paul Simon was a neighbor. She enrolled in the music department at the Catholic University of America...
. Jack Nicholson stars as Bobby Dupea, a once gifted classical piano player who works on an oil ring in California and spends most of his time drinking beer and bowling with his put-upon girlfriend Rayette (Black). Bobby is constantly dissatisfied and a non-conformist, stating: "I move around a lot. Not because I'm looking for anything really, but to get away from things that go bad if I stay." Bobby learns from his sister that his father has had a stroke and decides to travel back to his family home in the San Juan Islands
San Juan Islands
The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States between the US mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of the U.S...
in Washington State. He and Rayette go on a road trip to Washington, picking up two hippie hitch-hikers along the way and (in the films most famous scene) unsuccessfully battle a waitress in a diner for an omelet with wheat toast. Bobby arrives at his family's property, leaving Rayette at the motel. There he attempts to reconnect with his father and seduces his brother's fiance. When Rayette arrives unexpectedly, he is confronted with his behavior and seems to commit himself to Rayette, but ends up ditching her at a gas station on their way back to California. Rafelson described Bobby as "a guy who is out of touch with his emotions."
The film was a financial hit, earning $18 million and was nominated for four Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
: Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, 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...
(Jack Nicholson), Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress 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 actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
(Karen Black) and Best Original Screenplay. It also received the New York Film Critics Award for Best Director and for Best Film of 1970. Film critic David Robinson called Rafelson "a new director who uses film with the subtlety of a novelist, but without losing any of the concentration and economy potential in the cinema's unique mixture of image and sound."
Rafelson's next film was The King of Marvin Gardens
The King of Marvin Gardens
The King of Marvin Gardens is a 1972 American drama film. It stars Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn and Scatman Crothers. It is one of several collaborations between Nicholson and director Bob Rafelson. The majority of the film is set in a wintry Atlantic City, New Jersey, with the plot...
, released in 1972 through BBS Productions. The film was written by Jacob Brackman
Jacob Brackman
Jacob Brackman is an American journalist, writer, and musical lyricist.After graduating from Harvard University in 1965, he went to work for Newsweek as a journalist. He remained there for six months and was then hired by The New Yorker...
(with uncredited collaboration by Rafelson) and starred Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
, Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn is a leading American actress of film, stage, and television. Burstyn's career began in theatre during the late 1950s, and over the next ten years she appeared in several films and television series before joining the Actors Studio in 1967...
, Julia Anne Robinson, Scatman Crothers
Scatman Crothers
Benjamin Sherman "Scatman" Crothers was an American actor, singer, dancer and musician known for his work as Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show Chico and the Man, and as Dick Hallorann in The Shining in 1980...
and Charles Lavine. The title refers to the original Atlantic City version of the Monopoly game board, where the misspelled and misplaced "Marvin Gardens" was one of the Yellow squares in the children's game of capitalistic success.
In the film, Nicholson plays David Staebler, a melancholy Philadelphia disk jockey who tells long, angst ridden stories of his childhood over the radio and lives with his elderly Grandfather (Lavine). David receives a call from his extroverted con artist brother Jason (Dern) asking him to bail him out of jail in Atlantic City. When David arrives he gets caught up in Jason's scheme to develop a South Pacific island into a gambling casino so that the brothers can "fulfill their childhood dream of an island kingdom of their own". David joins up with Jason, his girlfriend Sally (Burstyn) and Sally's stepdaughter Jessica (Robinson) to make the dream a reality. But David soon learns that Jason is in over his head and owes money to a real gangster named Lewis (Crothers), who is not amused with Jason's idealism. In the end their dream of an island resort is destroyed and Jason is shot dead by Sally. David returns to Philadelphia and his radio show, returning home one night to witness his grandfather watching old home movies of the brothers as children making sandcastles on the beach before a wave washes them away.
The film received mixed reviews and was not a financial success. Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
was having financial difficulties after the failures of such films as 1776
1776 (film)
1776 is a 1972 American musical film directed by Peter H. Hunt. The screenplay by Peter Stone was based on the 1969 stage musical of the same name. Portions of the dialogue and some of the song lyrics were taken directly from the letters and memoirs of the actual participants of the Second...
, Nicholas and Alexandra
Nicholas and Alexandra
Nicholas and Alexandra is a 1971 biographical film which tells the story of the last Russian monarch, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra....
and Lost Horizon
Lost Horizon (1973 film)
Lost Horizon is a 1973 musical film directed by Charles Jarrott and starring Peter Finch, John Gielgud, Liv Ullmann, Michael York, Sally Kellerman, Bobby Van, George Kennedy, Olivia Hussey, James Shigeta and Charles Boyer....
and BBS was no longer able to make the films that it wanted and effectively ceased to exist after 1973.
In August 1973 Rafelson's 10-year-old daughter Julie died of injuries when a propane stove exploded in the Rafelson's Aspen home. Shortly after that Toby Rafelson was diagnosed with cancer, but eventually recovered. The death of their daughter and Rafelson's years of infidelity began to take a toll on the marriage. Rafelson was a notorious womanizer and had a long-term affair with his sister-in-law Paula Strachan.
Rafelson then spent more than a year researching a film that would never be made about the slave trade in Africa. He traveled over five thousand miles in West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
and has said that he "lived the life of many of the characters that I'd read about." Rafelson then "wanted to turn to something more cheerful, to project a more exhilarating aspect of myself." His next film was Stay Hungry
Stay Hungry (film)
Stay Hungry is a 1976 dramatic comedy film by director Bob Rafelson from a screenplay by Charles Gaines . The story centers on a young Birmingham, Alabama, scion, played by Jeff Bridges, who gets involved in a shady real-estate deal. In order to close the deal, he needs to buy a gym building to...
, based on the novel by Charles Gaines
Charles Gaines
Charles L. Gaines is an American writer and outdoorsman, notable for his works on fly fishing, his role in the development of paintball, and his photo-essay Pumping Iron, about the bodybuilding culture of the 1970s, which was later adapted into a documentary film of the same name.-Early...
and adapted by Rafelson and Gaines. The film starred Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
, Sally Field
Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
and Scatman Crothers
Scatman Crothers
Benjamin Sherman "Scatman" Crothers was an American actor, singer, dancer and musician known for his work as Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show Chico and the Man, and as Dick Hallorann in The Shining in 1980...
.
Stay Hungry stars Jeff Bridges as Craig Blake, a millionaire in Alabama who has recently inherited his parents fortune after their tragic deaths in a plane crash. He lives a lonely life in his mansion with only his butler (Crothers) to keep him company as he idles away his days. When he becomes involved in a shady investment firm, he visits the Olympic Spa gym, where bodybuilders are training for the upcoming Mr. Universe
Mr. Universe
Mr. Universe may refer to:In bodybuilding:* AAU Mr. Universe, a bodybuilding contest organised by the American Amateur Athletic Union* NABBA Mr. Universe, a competition at the Universe Championships annual bodybuilding event* IFBB Mr...
contest. He befriends bodybuilder Joe Santo (Schwarzenegger), who teaches him that "you can't grow without burning. I don't like to be too comfortable. Once you get used to it it's hard to give up. I like to stay hungry." He also begins dating the gym's receptionist Mary Tate (Field), but his upper class friends do not approve of his new lower class friends. In the end Blake chooses his new friends and buys the gym with Santo.
Bob and Tony Rafelson separated shortly after the shooting of Stay Hungry, where Rafelson was allegedly having affairs with both Strachan and Sally Field. They eventually divorced and Rafelson would later remarry to actress Gabrielle Taurek, with whom he had a son named E.O. Rafelson.
Later Film Career
By 1976 the era of the New HollywoodNew Hollywood
New Hollywood or post-classical Hollywood, sometimes referred to as the "American New Wave", refers to the time from roughly the late-1960s to the early 1980s when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in America, influencing the types of films produced, their production and...
directors was shifting dramatically. Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
had been released the year before and Star Wars
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
would be released the following year. Like many directors who began early in the decade, Rafelson found it more and more difficult to get films made or seen, and his career would never reach the heights of the early 1970s.
In 1978 Rafelson began production on the film Brubaker
Brubaker
Brubaker is an American 1980 film about a prison in distress and the Warden Henry Brubaker who attempts to reform the system....
, starring Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
, Yaphet Kotto
Yaphet Kotto
Yaphet Frederick Kotto is an African-American actor, known for numerous film roles , and his starring role in the NBC television series Homicide: Life on the Street .-Early life:Kotto was born in New York City, the son of Gladys Marie, a...
, Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander is an American actress, author, and former director of the National Endowment for the Arts. Although perhaps best known for playing the female lead in The Great White Hope on both stage and screen, Alexander has played a wide array of roles in both theater and film and has committed...
and Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
. He had spent several days at a top security prison to research the film. Rafelson was fired from the film after just ten days of shooting and was replaced by Stuart Rosenberg
Stuart Rosenberg
Stuart Rosenberg was an American film and television director whose notable works included the movies Cool Hand Luke , Voyage of the Damned , The Amityville Horror , and The Pope of Greenwich Village .-Early life and career:Born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, Rosenberg studied Irish...
.
In 1981 Rafelson directed The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981 film)
The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1981 film adaptation of the 1934 novel by the same name by James M. Cain. The film was produced by Lorimar and originally released theatrically in North America by Paramount Pictures. This version, based on a screenplay by David Mamet and directed by Bob...
, based on the novel
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1934 crime novel by James M. Cain.The novel was quite successful and notorious upon publication, and is regarded as one of the more important crime novels of the 20th century...
by James M. Cain
James M. Cain
James Mallahan Cain was an American author and journalist. Although Cain himself vehemently opposed labeling, he is usually associated with the hardboiled school of American crime fiction and seen as one of the creators of the roman noir...
which had famously been made into a film in 1946 with John Garfield
John Garfield
John Garfield was an American actor adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. He grew up in poverty in Depression-era New York City and in the early 1930s became an important member of the Group Theater. In 1937 he moved to Hollywood, eventually becoming one of Warner...
and Lana Turner
Lana Turner
Lana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
. Rafelson's 1981 remake was written by David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
and starred Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
and Jessica Lange
Jessica Lange
Jessica Phyllis Lange is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Emmy, Lange is regarded as one of the première female actors of her generation.Lange was discovered by producer...
. In the film, Nicholson plays a depression era drifter who happens upon a rural diner and gets involved with the owners wife in a plot to kill her husband. The film was unfavorably compared to the 1946 version and received poor reviews from film critics.
In 1987 Rafelson directed Black Widow
Black Widow (1987 film)
Black Widow is a 1987 film starring Debra Winger, Theresa Russell, Sami Frey, Nicol Williamson and Dennis Hopper.It is a crime drama about two women: one who murders wealthy men whom she marries for their money, and the other an agent with the Department of Justice who grows obsessed with bringing...
, starring Debra Winger
Debra Winger
Mary Debra Winger is an American actress. Three-times an Oscar nominee, she received awards for acting in Terms of Endearment, for which she won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress in 1983, and in A Dangerous Woman, for which she won the Tokyo International Film Festival...
and Theresa Russell
Theresa Russell
Theresa Russell is an American actress.-Biography:Russell was born Theresa Paup in San Diego, California, the daughter of Carole Platt and Jerry Russell Paup. She attended Burbank High School, but did not graduate. She married English film director Nicolas Roeg , in 1982...
. In 1990 he made Mountains of the Moon
Mountains of the Moon (film)
Mountains of the Moon is a 1990 theatrical film depicting the 1857-58 journey of Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke in their expedition to central Africa — the project that culminated in Speke's discovery of the source of the Nile River. The expedition led to a bitter rivalry between the...
, a film about the 1857-58 journey of Richard Francis Burton
Richard Francis Burton
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as his...
and John Hanning Speke
John Hanning Speke
John Hanning Speke was an officer in the British Indian Army who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa and who is most associated with the search for the source of the Nile.-Life:...
in their expedition to central Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
— the project that culminated in Speke's discovery of the source of the Nile River. It starred Patrick Bergin and Iain Glen
Iain Glen
Iain Glen is a Scottish film and stage actor.Iain Glen was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and trained at RADA where he won the Bancroft Gold Medal. He was married to Susannah Harker from 1993 to 2004; they have one son, Finlay...
.
In 1992 Rafelson teamed up with Nicholson and screenwriter Carole Eastman
Carole Eastman
Carole Eastman , was an American screenwriter. Among her relatively few credits were screenplays for Monte Hellman's The Shooting , Bob Rafelson's Five Easy Pieces , and Mike Nichols’s The Fortune...
for the film Man Trouble and made his last film with Nicholson to date in 1996, Blood and Wine
Blood and Wine
Blood and Wine is a neo-noir thriller directed by Bob Rafelson from a screenplay written by Nick Villiers and Alison Cross. It stars Jack Nicholson, Jennifer Lopez, Stephen Dorff, Judy Davis and Michael Caine...
. His recent films have included the TV Movie Poodle Springs
Poodle Springs (film)
Poodle Springs is a 1998 neo-noir HBO film directed by Bob Rafelson starring James Caan, Dina Meyer, and David Keith. The film is based on the unfinished novel Poodle Springs by Raymond Chandler, completed after his death by Robert B...
in 1998 and No Good Deed
No Good Deed
No Good Deed is a 2002 crime thriller film directed by Bob Rafelson. It starred Samuel L. Jackson, Milla Jovovich, Stellan Skarsgård and Doug Hutchison. The screenplay by Christopher Cannan and Steve Barancik is based on the short story The House on Turk Street by Dashiell Hammett. The original...
in 2002.
Rafelson and Nicholson have been collaborators for over forty years. Nicholson and Rafelson wrote and produced and Rafelson directed Head
Head (film)
Head is a 1968 psychedelic comedy-adventure major motion picture, starring TV group The Monkees , and distributed by Columbia Pictures...
, starring the Monkees, in 1968, followed by Five Easy Pieces
Five Easy Pieces
Five Easy Pieces is a 1970 American drama film written by Carole Eastman and Bob Rafelson, and directed by Rafelson. The film stars Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, and Susan Anspach. The cast also includes Billy 'Green' Bush, Fannie Flagg, Ralph Waite, Sally Struthers, Lois Smith, Toni Basil, and...
. In subsequent years, Rafelson directed Nicholson in four more films, including The King of Marvin Gardens
The King of Marvin Gardens
The King of Marvin Gardens is a 1972 American drama film. It stars Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn and Scatman Crothers. It is one of several collaborations between Nicholson and director Bob Rafelson. The majority of the film is set in a wintry Atlantic City, New Jersey, with the plot...
(1972), The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981 film)
The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1981 film adaptation of the 1934 novel by the same name by James M. Cain. The film was produced by Lorimar and originally released theatrically in North America by Paramount Pictures. This version, based on a screenplay by David Mamet and directed by Bob...
(1981), Man Trouble
Man Trouble (film)
Man Trouble is a 1992 romantic comedy starring Jack Nicholson and Ellen Barkin. It was directed by Bob Rafelson, and written by Carole Eastman, who together had been responsible for 1970's Five Easy Pieces. This film is held in somewhat lower regard and was a high-profile flop upon release.This...
(1992), and Blood and Wine
Blood and Wine
Blood and Wine is a neo-noir thriller directed by Bob Rafelson from a screenplay written by Nick Villiers and Alison Cross. It stars Jack Nicholson, Jennifer Lopez, Stephen Dorff, Judy Davis and Michael Caine...
(1996).
Rafelson has adapted the works of legendary noir authors James M. Cain
James M. Cain
James Mallahan Cain was an American author and journalist. Although Cain himself vehemently opposed labeling, he is usually associated with the hardboiled school of American crime fiction and seen as one of the creators of the roman noir...
, Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...
, and Dashiell Hammett
Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...
.
Features
- 1968 HeadHead (film)Head is a 1968 psychedelic comedy-adventure major motion picture, starring TV group The Monkees , and distributed by Columbia Pictures...
- 1970 Five Easy PiecesFive Easy PiecesFive Easy Pieces is a 1970 American drama film written by Carole Eastman and Bob Rafelson, and directed by Rafelson. The film stars Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, and Susan Anspach. The cast also includes Billy 'Green' Bush, Fannie Flagg, Ralph Waite, Sally Struthers, Lois Smith, Toni Basil, and...
- 1972 The King of Marvin GardensThe King of Marvin GardensThe King of Marvin Gardens is a 1972 American drama film. It stars Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn and Scatman Crothers. It is one of several collaborations between Nicholson and director Bob Rafelson. The majority of the film is set in a wintry Atlantic City, New Jersey, with the plot...
- 1976 Stay HungryStay Hungry (film)Stay Hungry is a 1976 dramatic comedy film by director Bob Rafelson from a screenplay by Charles Gaines . The story centers on a young Birmingham, Alabama, scion, played by Jeff Bridges, who gets involved in a shady real-estate deal. In order to close the deal, he needs to buy a gym building to...
- 1981 The Postman Always Rings TwiceThe Postman Always Rings Twice (1981 film)The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1981 film adaptation of the 1934 novel by the same name by James M. Cain. The film was produced by Lorimar and originally released theatrically in North America by Paramount Pictures. This version, based on a screenplay by David Mamet and directed by Bob...
- 1987 Black WidowBlack Widow (1987 film)Black Widow is a 1987 film starring Debra Winger, Theresa Russell, Sami Frey, Nicol Williamson and Dennis Hopper.It is a crime drama about two women: one who murders wealthy men whom she marries for their money, and the other an agent with the Department of Justice who grows obsessed with bringing...
- 1990 Mountains of the MoonMountains of the Moon (film)Mountains of the Moon is a 1990 theatrical film depicting the 1857-58 journey of Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke in their expedition to central Africa — the project that culminated in Speke's discovery of the source of the Nile River. The expedition led to a bitter rivalry between the...
- 1992 Man TroubleMan Trouble (film)Man Trouble is a 1992 romantic comedy starring Jack Nicholson and Ellen Barkin. It was directed by Bob Rafelson, and written by Carole Eastman, who together had been responsible for 1970's Five Easy Pieces. This film is held in somewhat lower regard and was a high-profile flop upon release.This...
- 1996 Blood and WineBlood and WineBlood and Wine is a neo-noir thriller directed by Bob Rafelson from a screenplay written by Nick Villiers and Alison Cross. It stars Jack Nicholson, Jennifer Lopez, Stephen Dorff, Judy Davis and Michael Caine...
- 1998 Poodle SpringsPoodle Springs (film)Poodle Springs is a 1998 neo-noir HBO film directed by Bob Rafelson starring James Caan, Dina Meyer, and David Keith. The film is based on the unfinished novel Poodle Springs by Raymond Chandler, completed after his death by Robert B...
(TV Movie) - 2002 No Good DeedNo Good DeedNo Good Deed is a 2002 crime thriller film directed by Bob Rafelson. It starred Samuel L. Jackson, Milla Jovovich, Stellan Skarsgård and Doug Hutchison. The screenplay by Christopher Cannan and Steve Barancik is based on the short story The House on Turk Street by Dashiell Hammett. The original...
Television and Shorts
- 1966-1968 The MonkeesThe Monkees (TV series)The Monkees is an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from September 1966 to March 1968. The series follows the adventures of four young men trying to make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers. The show introduced a number of innovative new-wave film techniques to series...
(6 episodes) - 1981 Modesty (short)
- 1983 All Night LongAll Night Long (All Night)"All Night Long " is a hit single for Lionel Richie from 1983. Taken from his second solo album, Can't Slow Down, it combined Richie's soulful Commodores style with Caribbean influences. This new, more dance approach proved popular, as the single reached number one on three Billboard charts...
(Lionel RichieLionel RichieLionel Brockman Richie, Jr. , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Since 1968, he has been a member of the musical group Commodores signed to Motown Records...
Music Video) - 1995 Armed Response (episode of Picture Windows, TV)
- 1995 Wet (short film released in Tales of EroticaTales of Erotica- Shorts featured :* The Dutch Master *The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch *Vroom Vroom Vroom *Wet...
) - 2002 porn.com (short)
- 2002 Afterthoughts (TV documentary)
Producer only
- 1966-1968 The MonkeesThe Monkees (TV series)The Monkees is an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from September 1966 to March 1968. The series follows the adventures of four young men trying to make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers. The show introduced a number of innovative new-wave film techniques to series...
- 1969 Easy RiderEasy RiderEasy Rider is a 1969 American road movie written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. It tells the story of two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and South with the aim of achieving freedom...
(uncredited) - 1971 The Last Picture ShowThe Last Picture ShowThe Last Picture Show is a 1971 American drama film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, adapted from a semi-autobiographical 1966 novel of the same name by Larry McMurtry....
(uncredited) - 1973 The Mother and the WhoreThe Mother and the WhoreThe Mother and the Whore is a 1973 French film directed by Jean Eustache. Examing the relationship between three characters in a love triangle, it was Eustache's first feature film and is considered his masterpiece.-Plot:...
(uncredited)
External links
- "Bob Rafelson and His Odd American Places" interview and essay by Peter Tonguette
- "The Monologist and the Fighter: An Interview with Bob Rafelson" by Rainer Knepperges and Franz Müller, Senses of Cinema.
- Sight and Sound magazine interview