Stage and film veteran Ben Gazzara, whose career spanned five decades and included a stint directing television, has died at age 81 in New York. According to The New York Times , Gazzara succumbed to pancreatic cancer today in Manhattan, where he lived. Let’s bid a fond farewell to the Emmy-winning, Golden Globes-nominated Gazzara by remembering some of his most indelible work. After getting his start in the 1950s in television and on stage in productions like Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955, for which he originated the role of Brick. Film highlights include Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder (1959), although he may be best known for his collaborations with John Cassavetes ( Husbands , The Killing of a Chinese Bookie , Opening Night ) and later highlights in Road House , Buffalo ’66 , The Big Lebowski , and Todd Solondz’s Happiness . For me and many of my generation the Gazzara role I’ve rewatched a zillion times is his turn as Jackie Treehorn in The Big Lebowski ; Click here for the film’s memorable (but nonembeddable) Jackie Treehorn scene and let’s take a brief hopscotch through the actor’s filmography over the years.
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R.I.P. Ben Gazzara
