Peter Bogdanovich, a name synonymous with the New Hollywood era, was a multifaceted figure in cinema – a director, writer, actor, critic, and film historian. His journey, marked by both meteoric rise and dramatic fall, is a compelling study in artistic ambition and the volatile nature of Hollywood success. Born in Kingston, New York, to European immigrants who fled Nazi persecution, Bogdanovich’s early life was steeped in a rich cultural heritage. His father, Borislav Bogdanovich, was a Serbian Orthodox Christian artist, and his mother, Herma Robinson, hailed from a wealthy Austrian Jewish family. This diverse background likely contributed to Bogdanovich’s broad artistic sensibilities and intellectual curiosity.
From Aspiring Actor to Influential Film Critic
Peter Bogdanovich’s initial foray into the arts was as an actor in the 1950s. He honed his craft under the tutelage of the renowned Stella Adler, appearing in television roles and summer stock productions. However, his passion for cinema soon took center stage. In the early 1960s, Bogdanovich gained prominence as a film programmer at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City. A voracious cinephile, reportedly watching up to 400 films annually in his youth, he used his MOMA platform to champion American directors he felt were overlooked or underappreciated. He was instrumental in reviving interest in the works of John Ford and Howard Hawks, and he brought attention to forgotten pioneers like Allan Dwan. His deep dive into the oeuvres of these masters laid the groundwork for his own directorial aspirations and cemented his reputation as a serious film scholar. His book on John Ford, born from his MOMA retrospective notes, further solidified his critical standing.
Bogdanovich’s critical sensibilities were heavily influenced by the French critics writing for Cahiers du Cinéma in the 1950s, particularly François Truffaut. These critics, who championed the auteur theory – the idea that the director is the primary creative force behind a film – inspired Bogdanovich to see filmmaking as a personal and artistic endeavor. Before transitioning to directing, he established himself as a respected film writer with insightful articles in Esquire Magazine.
Stepping Behind the Camera: The New Hollywood Breakthrough
Inspired by the Cahiers du Cinéma critics like Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, and Éric Rohmer, who spearheaded the French New Wave by directing their own films, Peter Bogdanovich embarked on his directorial career in 1968. He began his directing journey under the mentorship of low-budget film maestro Roger Corman. Working with Corman, he directed Targets (1968), a film that garnered critical praise for its innovative blend of genres and social commentary. His other film from this period, Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968), is less remembered and considered a less successful endeavor.
A pivotal moment in Peter Bogdanovich’s career occurred when he interviewed Orson Welles on the set of Mike Nichols’ Catch-22 (1970). This encounter blossomed into a lifelong friendship and profoundly influenced Bogdanovich’s understanding of filmmaking. He became a leading authority on Welles, authoring the seminal book This is Orson Welles (1992), among other writings. Alongside Kevin Brownlow, Bogdanovich is regarded as a leading English-language chronicler of cinema history, particularly through his invaluable book Who the Devil Made It: Conversations with Legendary Film Directors, a collection of insightful interviews with some of the greatest directors of all time.
The Triumph of The Last Picture Show and Early Success
At the age of 32, Peter Bogdanovich achieved widespread acclaim with The Last Picture Show (1971). Critics hailed him as a “Wellesian wunderkind” for this poignant coming-of-age drama set in a small Texas town in the 1950s. The film received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Director for Bogdanovich, and won two for supporting actors Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson. The Last Picture Show not only solidified Bogdanovich’s position as a major directorial talent but also launched the career of Cybill Shepherd, a 19-year-old model he cast in a leading role. Their professional relationship soon evolved into a personal one, leading to his divorce from Polly Platt, his long-time artistic collaborator and set designer, and the mother of his children.
Following The Last Picture Show, Bogdanovich delivered another significant hit with What’s Up, Doc? (1972), a screwball comedy heavily inspired by Howard Hawks’ classics Bringing Up Baby (1938) and His Girl Friday (1940). Starring Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal, the film showcased Bogdanovich’s versatility and his ability to blend homage with his own directorial style. Despite drawing inspiration from past cinematic eras, Bogdanovich firmly established himself as a leading figure in the New Hollywood movement, alongside contemporaries like Francis Ford Coppola and William Friedkin. Together, they formed The Directors Company, a production deal with Paramount Pictures that granted them significant creative freedom within budget constraints. Under this banner, Bogdanovich produced Paper Moon (1973), another critical and commercial success.
Paper Moon, a Depression-era comedy starring Ryan O’Neal and his then-ten-year-old daughter Tatum O’Neal (who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress), proved to be the pinnacle of Peter Bogdanovich’s directorial career. However, the collaborative nature of The Directors Company, requiring profit sharing, led to Bogdanovich’s dissatisfaction. The company produced only two more films: Coppola’s critically acclaimed The Conversation (1974), which received a Best Picture nomination and a Best Director nod for Coppola, and Bogdanovich’s Daisy Miller (1974), which marked a turning point in his career, albeit in a negative direction.
The Downward Spiral: Critical and Commercial Failures
Daisy Miller (1974), an adaptation of the Henry James novella starring Cybill Shepherd, signaled the beginning of Peter Bogdanovich’s decline as a commercially successful and critically lauded director. The film was panned by critics and bombed at the box office. His next venture, At Long Last Love (1975), a musical featuring Cole Porter songs and starring Cybill Shepherd and Burt Reynolds, was even more disastrous. Critics derided it as one of the worst films ever made, a sentiment echoed in The Golden Turkey Awards. Despite featuring the popular Burt Reynolds, the film was another box office failure, further damaging Bogdanovich’s reputation.
Bogdanovich’s decision to film the musical numbers for At Long Last Love live, a technique not used since the early days of sound films, was widely ridiculed. None of the lead actors were known for their singing prowess, and Bogdanovich himself had produced a poorly received album of Cybill Shepherd singing Cole Porter songs prior to the film. The public perception of Peter Bogdanovich shifted from that of a cinematic prodigy to an arrogant director undone by his own hubris.
In an attempt to recapture his earlier success, Bogdanovich once again looked to the past with Nickelodeon (1976), a comedy set in the early days of Hollywood. Reuniting Ryan O’Neal and Tatum O’Neal from Paper Moon and adding Burt Reynolds to the mix, the film was intended to be a nostalgic crowd-pleaser. Despite casting newcomer Jane Hitchcock instead of the increasingly unpopular Cybill Shepherd, Nickelodeon failed to recapture the magic of Paper Moon and underperformed at the box office.
Personal Tragedy and Career Setbacks
After a three-year hiatus, Peter Bogdanovich returned with Saint Jack (1979), a critically and financially underwhelming film produced by Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Productions. Bogdanovich’s relationship with Cybill Shepherd had ended in 1978, and the Playboy production deal was reportedly part of a settlement related to a lawsuit Shepherd filed against Hefner. Then came They All Laughed (1981), a low-budget ensemble comedy starring Audrey Hepburn and Dorothy Stratten, the 1980 Playboy Playmate of the Year. During filming, Bogdanovich fell in love with Stratten, who was tragically murdered by her estranged husband, Paul Snider, shortly after leaving him for Bogdanovich.
They All Laughed was unable to secure distribution due to the negative publicity surrounding Dorothy Stratten’s murder, despite being one of Audrey Hepburn’s few films after her semi-retirement. Heartbroken and determined to have the film seen, Bogdanovich bought the rights, but its limited release garnered weak reviews and resulted in significant financial losses, driving him into bankruptcy.
Writing and Later Career
In the aftermath of this tragedy and professional downfall, Peter Bogdanovich returned to writing. He penned a memoir, The Killing of the Unicorn: Dorothy Stratten (1960-1980) (1984), as a response to a Pulitzer Prize-winning article that had been critical of him and Hugh Hefner in the Dorothy Stratten case. The article served as the basis for Bob Fosse’s film Star 80 (1983), in which a character resembling Bogdanovich was portrayed.
While his career as a prominent director was effectively over, Bogdanovich achieved modest success with Mask (1985), a critically acclaimed film. However, Texasville (1990), a sequel to The Last Picture Show, was a critical and commercial disappointment. He directed a few more theatrical films in the early 1990s, but they failed to reignite his career. He returned to the big screen with The Cat’s Meow (2001), a fictionalized account of the death of Thomas H. Ince, which received modest critical praise but was another box office flop. In addition to directing television movies, Bogdanovich returned to acting, notably with a recurring role on The Sopranos.
Personal Life and Lasting Legacy
Peter Bogdanovich’s personal life continued to attract public scrutiny, particularly his marriage to Dorothy Stratten’s younger sister, Louise Stratten, who was significantly younger than him. This relationship drew comparisons to the film Vertigo, with some suggesting Bogdanovich was attempting to recreate Dorothy in Louise. The marriage ended in divorce in 2001.
In his later years, Peter Bogdanovich’s career trajectory mirrored that of his hero Orson Welles, in that he never quite recaptured the early acclaim he received. However, unlike Welles, Bogdanovich’s reputation never fully recovered from its peak in the early 1970s. Some speculate that his career decline was inevitable after his personal and professional split from Polly Platt, whose creative contributions to his early successes are often cited.
Despite the later setbacks, Peter Bogdanovich’s contribution to cinema remains significant. The Last Picture Show was inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1998, a testament to its cultural importance. Peter Bogdanovich’s legacy is complex – a brilliant filmmaker who reached great heights early in his career but whose personal choices and subsequent projects led to a decline. Nevertheless, his early films continue to be celebrated, and his work as a film historian has enriched our understanding of cinematic history. He remains a fascinating and important figure in American cinema, forever associated with the creative ferment and turbulent changes of the New Hollywood era.
