Ben Gazzara

Description

Ben Gazzara (born Biagio Anthony Gazzara on August 28, 1930, in New York City) is an American actor in television and motion pictures. <p>Born to Italian immigrants, Antonio Gazzara and Angela Consumano, Gazzara grew up on New York's tough Lower East Side. He attended New York City's famed Stuyvesant High School. He found relief from his bleak surroundings by joining a theater company at a very young age. Years later, he said that the discovery of his love for acting saved him from a life of crime during his teenage years. Despite his obvious talent, he went to City College of New York to study electrical engineering. After two years, he gave it up, and after a short intermission joined the Actor's Studio. <p>In the 1950s, he starred in various Broadway productions, most notably Tennessee Williams' Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, directed by Elia Kazan. However, he lost out on the film role to Paul Newman. As a young actor, Gazzara joined other Actors Studio members in the 1957 film, The...