ROD STEIGER, 1925 - 2002
From the docks of New York to the rural back roads of Mississippi to the war torn Russian steppes, Rod Steiger reveled in creating some of the most overpowering and difficult men on the screen. He could be a total scoundrel, embodying Machiavelli's idiom that "it's better to be feared than loved" in the movies. But as an actor he refused to be typecast and his wide range included characters who were secretly tormented (The Pawnbroker, 1965) or loners (Run of the Arrow, 1965) or eccentrics (The Loved One, 1965).
Along with Marlon Brando, Steiger helped bring the 'Method School' from the Group Theater and Actors Studio in New York to the screens of Hollywood. The Method technique, taught by Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg, insisted on complete immersion into the character's psyche and resulted in intense, dramatic performances and performers. Steiger made his first significant screen appearance as Brando's older brother in On the Waterfront (1954). Their climatic scene together in a taxicab is one of the great moments in American cinema.
It was a short leap from playing a crooked lawyer in On the Waterfront to playing the shady boxing promoter in The Harder They Fall (1956). Based on the tragic tale of true-life fighter Primo Carnera, The Harder They Fall details the corruption behind the scenes of professional boxing bouts. Steiger is a fight manager named Nick Benko who enlists newspaperman Eddie Willis (Humphrey Bogart in his final screen appearance) to drum up publicity for a fixed prizefight. While the boxing scenes were often brutally realistic, the most powerful dramatic moments took place between Steiger and Bogart on the sidelines.
As mob boss Al Capone (1959), Steiger got to play another man you loved to hate. He vividly depicted the criminal from his swaggering early days to his pathetic demise from syphilis. In Doctor Zhivago (1965), Steiger was the only American in the international cast, playing the hateful and perverse Komarovsky. During the production of Dr. Zhivago, Steiger often found himself at odds with director David Lean. Schooled in the British tradition, Lean valued the integrity of the script and demanded that actors remain faithful to the script. Steiger, on the other hand, relied on improvisation and spontaneity. When kissing the lovely Lara (played by Julie Christie), Steiger jammed his tongue into Christie's mouth to produce the desired reaction - disgust. It worked! While it might not have been Lean's approach, it brought a grittier edge to the prestige production and made Komarovsky is a detestable but truly memorable figure.
Steiger dared audiences to dislike him. As the smalltown southern Sheriff Gillespie in In The Heat of the Night (1967), Steiger embodied all the prejudices and suspicions of a racist. When a black northern lawyer, played by Sidney Poitier, arrives on the crime scene, Gillespie is forced to recognize his fellow man as an equal despite skin color. Here, Steiger's character started as a bigot and developed into a better man. He finally claimed a Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as Sheriff Gillespie.
Steiger was an actor's actor. A chameleon who didn't think twice about diving into challenging roles that others would shy away from. In the Private Screenings interview he did with host Robert Osborne he admitted that Paul Muni was one of his idols because of his total immersion into his roles. Steiger said, "I believe actors are supposed to create different human beings." And Steiger showed us a rich and diverse cross section of them.
by Jeremy Geltzer & Jeff Stafford
Incognito
Brief Synopsis
An art forger searches out the one art critic who knows the truth and can absolve him of a murder for which he is being framed.
Cast & Crew
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John Badham
Director
Hugo Bower
Michael Cochrane
Ian Richardson
Anna Korwin
Rod Steiger
Film Details
MPAA Rating
Genre
Crime
Thriller
Release Date
1998
Distribution Company
WB
Location
Amsterdam, Netherlands; Brussels, Belgium; London, England, United Kingdom; Paris, France
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 46m
Synopsis
An art forger searches out the one art critic who knows the truth and can absolve him of a murder for which he is being framed.
Director
John Badham
Director
Cast
Hugo Bower
Michael Cochrane
Ian Richardson
Anna Korwin
Rod Steiger
Heike Willmann
Irène Jacob
Bryan Matheson
Olivier Pierre
David Marrick
John Paul Morgan
Paul Brennen
Jon Cartwright
Walter Van Dyke
Jonathan Newth
Thomas Lockyer
Danielle Allan
Keith Anderson
Andrew Forbes
Lex Van Delden
Michael Dimitri
David Sibley
Peter Gale
John Tordoff
Pip Torrens
Joseph Blatchley
Frank Nendels
Jean-luc Caron
Dudley Sutton
Antonio Elliott
Togo Igawa
Adam Fogerty
Ricardo Montez
Simon Chandler
Miriam Karlin
Nora Connolly
Maja Otteson
Jason Patric
Stephen Webber
Crew
Rick Alexander
Rerecording
Lynda Armstrong
Makeup Artist
Joep Bannenberg
Consultant
Gary Barber
Executive Producer
Natalie Bayford
Adr Mixer
Frederic Bovis
Production Manager
Mark Boyle
Stunt Coordinator
Tim Boyle
Sound
David Boysen
Other
Anna Bright
Foley Editor
Paul Carden
Supervising Sound Editor
William P. Cartlidge
Coproducer
John Casali
Sound Recordist
Francesca Castellano
Production Coordinator
Gilles Castera
Location Manager
James Cornish
Storyboard Artist
Cammie Crier
Associate Producer
Denis Crossan
Director Of Photography
David Crozier
Sound Recordist
Tom Dahl
Rerecording
Noel Davis
Casting
Lisa Campbell Demaine
Production Coordinator
Brendan Donnison
Voice Casting
Richard Dunmore
Location Manager
Dave Elsey
Prosthetic Makeup
David Etherington
Technical Advisor
Michelle Fox
Production Associate
James Gemmill
Other
Larry Groupé
Original Music
Larry Groupé
Music Conductor
David Harris
Special Effects Supervisor
Jim Harrison
Music Editor
Christopher Hawkins
Technical Advisor
Sally Hayman
Production Coordinator
Trevor Hermes
Technical Advisor
Peter Heslop
Assistant Director
Ian Hickinbotham
Production Supervisor
Paul Higgins
Assistant Director
Damon Intrabartolo
Original Music
Colin Jamison
Hair Stylist
Doc Kane
Adr Mixer
Jordan Katz
Screenplay
Larry Keith
Technical Advisor
Martin Kenzie
Camera Operator
Lucette Legot
Production Coordinator
Jamie Leonard
Production Designer
Jody Levin
Post-Production Supervisor
Carol Lewis
Dialogue Editor
Nancy Macleod
Sound Effects Editor
Joe Mayer
Editor
Mel Metcalfe
Rerecording
Joe Milner
Supervising Sound Editor
Nic Milner
Camera Operator
Steven Mitchell
Scenic Artist
Frank Morriss
Editor
Justin Mortimer
Other
John Ottman
Original Music
John Ottman
Music
Colin Plenty
Location Manager
Jill Quertier
Set Decorator
Mark Raggett
Art Director
Michael D Roberts
Production
James G. Robinson
Producer
Julie Robinson
Script Supervisor
Larry Ross
Other
Joan Rowe
Foley Artist
Sean Rowe
Foley Artist
Pascal Salafa
Assistant Director
Mary Ruth Smith
Adr Editor
Eddie Stacey
Stunt Coordinator
Louise Stjernsward
Costume Designer
Kevin Tayler
Adr Mixer
Joe Title
Foley Editor
Bill Todman, Jr.
Executive Producer
David Tringham
Assistant Director
Lia Vollack
Music Editor
Nick Walker
Art Department
Ros Ward
Costume Supervisor
Scott Weber
Foley Mixer
Su Whitaker
Art Director
Kerry Dean Williams
Dialogue Editor
Film Details
MPAA Rating
Genre
Crime
Thriller
Release Date
1998
Distribution Company
WB
Location
Amsterdam, Netherlands; Brussels, Belgium; London, England, United Kingdom; Paris, France
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 46m
Articles
TCM Remembers - Rod Steiger
TCM Remembers - Rod Steiger
ROD STEIGER, 1925 - 2002
From the docks of New York to the rural back roads of Mississippi to the war torn Russian steppes, Rod Steiger reveled in creating some of the most overpowering and difficult men on the screen. He could be a total scoundrel, embodying Machiavelli's idiom that "it's better to be feared than loved" in the movies. But as an actor he refused to be typecast and his wide range included characters who were secretly tormented (The Pawnbroker, 1965) or loners (Run of the Arrow, 1965) or eccentrics (The Loved One, 1965).
Along with Marlon Brando, Steiger helped bring the 'Method School' from the Group Theater and Actors Studio in New York to the screens of Hollywood. The Method technique, taught by Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg, insisted on complete immersion into the character's psyche and resulted in intense, dramatic performances and performers. Steiger made his first significant screen appearance as Brando's older brother in On the Waterfront (1954). Their climatic scene together in a taxicab is one of the great moments in American cinema.
It was a short leap from playing a crooked lawyer in On the Waterfront to playing the shady boxing promoter in The Harder They Fall (1956). Based on the tragic tale of true-life fighter Primo Carnera, The Harder They Fall details the corruption behind the scenes of professional boxing bouts. Steiger is a fight manager named Nick Benko who enlists newspaperman Eddie Willis (Humphrey Bogart in his final screen appearance) to drum up publicity for a fixed prizefight. While the boxing scenes were often brutally realistic, the most powerful dramatic moments took place between Steiger and Bogart on the sidelines.
As mob boss Al Capone (1959), Steiger got to play another man you loved to hate. He vividly depicted the criminal from his swaggering early days to his pathetic demise from syphilis. In Doctor Zhivago (1965), Steiger was the only American in the international cast, playing the hateful and perverse Komarovsky. During the production of Dr. Zhivago, Steiger often found himself at odds with director David Lean. Schooled in the British tradition, Lean valued the integrity of the script and demanded that actors remain faithful to the script. Steiger, on the other hand, relied on improvisation and spontaneity. When kissing the lovely Lara (played by Julie Christie), Steiger jammed his tongue into Christie's mouth to produce the desired reaction - disgust. It worked! While it might not have been Lean's approach, it brought a grittier edge to the prestige production and made Komarovsky is a detestable but truly memorable figure.
Steiger dared audiences to dislike him. As the smalltown southern Sheriff Gillespie in In The Heat of the Night (1967), Steiger embodied all the prejudices and suspicions of a racist. When a black northern lawyer, played by Sidney Poitier, arrives on the crime scene, Gillespie is forced to recognize his fellow man as an equal despite skin color. Here, Steiger's character started as a bigot and developed into a better man. He finally claimed a Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as Sheriff Gillespie.
Steiger was an actor's actor. A chameleon who didn't think twice about diving into challenging roles that others would shy away from. In the Private Screenings interview he did with host Robert Osborne he admitted that Paul Muni was one of his idols because of his total immersion into his roles. Steiger said, "I believe actors are supposed to create different human beings." And Steiger showed us a rich and diverse cross section of them.
by Jeremy Geltzer & Jeff Stafford
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States on Video September 15, 1998
Released in United States Winter January 30, 1998
Director Peter Weller was fired two weeks into production because of "creative differences."
Began shooting June 24, 1996.
Completed shooting October 2, 1996.
Project paused production early July 1996 and resumed July 18, 1996 with director John Badham.
Alec Baldwin was once attached to the film.
Released in United States Winter January 30, 1998
Released in United States on Video September 15, 1998
