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
Revenant
Brief Synopsis
Gang members attack fashionable European vampires living at Los Angeles' Chateau Marmont Hotel.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Richard Elfman
Director
Gabriel Casseus
Craig Ferguson
Robert Pastorelli
Casper Van Dien
Udo Kier
Film Details
Also Known As
Modern Vampires
MPAA Rating
Genre
Comedy
Horror
Thriller
Release Date
1998
Location
Los Angeles, California, USA
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 35m
Synopsis
Gang members attack fashionable European vampires living at Los Angeles' Chateau Marmont Hotel.
Director
Richard Elfman
Director
Cast
Gabriel Casseus
Craig Ferguson
Robert Pastorelli
Casper Van Dien
Udo Kier
Kim Cattrall
Natasha Gregson Wagner
Rod Steiger
Greg Gootsan
Lead Man
Natasha Lyonne
Crew
Amy Agzarian
Accounting Assistant
Jason Andrew
Grip
David Anthony
Extras Agent/Coordinator
Tia Ardren
Assistant Director
Robert Backus
Boom Operator
Rick Baker
Special Makeup Effects
Lori Ball
Assistant Editor
Timothy Batts
Office Assistant
Larry Bock
Editor
Richard Boehm
Assistant Editor
Matthew Bright
Screenplay
Robin Brown
Director Of Photography
Dan Burton
Storyboard Artist
Carrie Campbell
Casting Associate
Dave Chameides
Steadicam Operator
Steven Chen
Office Assistant
Robyn Costa
Production Designer
Jean Costello
Production Coordinator
Sean Cottrel
Set Production Assistant
Don Daniel
Line Producer
Dawn Dreiling
Script Supervisor
Danny Elfman
Music
Gwen Field
Line Producer
Jordan Gertner
Co-Executive Producer
Charlotte Gimfolk
Set Decorator
Germaine Gray
Electrician
Fred Grossman
Production Accountant
Chris Hanley
Producer
H Michael Heuser
Executive Producer
Brent Jones
Stunt Coordinator
Charlie Kelly
Sound Mixer
Richard Kuhn
Key Grip
Sheri Lane
Photography
Francesca Lombardo
Craft Service
Francesco Lombardo
Props
Stacie B London
Art Director
Eduardo Lucero
Costume Designer
Starrs Mcburney
Assistant Camera Operator
Anne Mccarthy
Casting
James Navarro
Props Assistant
Ngoli Nylrenda
Best Boy
Shaun O'banion
Set Production Assistant
Wendy Palmer
Assistant Director
Kristen Payne
Set Production Assistant
Andrew Pearson
Assistant Production Coordinator
John Richardson
Assistant Director
Felix A. Rivera
Gaffer
Deandre Russell
Set Production Assistant
Freddie Saba
Electrician
Peter Schultz
Electrician
David Sirianni
Grip
Kenny Tong
Assistant Camera Operator
Lynn Van Kuilenburg
Location Manager
Mary Vernieu
Casting
Leah Wiederhorn
Office Assistant
Jay Wylie
Transportation Coordinator
Brad Wyman
Producer
Film Details
Also Known As
Modern Vampires
MPAA Rating
Genre
Comedy
Horror
Thriller
Release Date
1998
Location
Los Angeles, California, USA
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 35m
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
Robert Pastorelli (1954-2004)
Born on June 21, 1954 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Pastorelli had dreams of becoming a boxer, but when he was just 19, he was involved in a near fatal car accident that forced him to choose another career. By the late '70s, he chose acting. After doing some theater in New York, Pastorelli found work on both television: Barney Miller, Cagney & Lacey, Hill Street Blues; and film: Outrageous Fortune, Beverly Hills Cop II (both 1987), where his beefy frame and Runyonesque demeanor almost always had him play thugs and hoodlums.
In 1988, he found fame when he was cast opposite Candice Bergen as Eldin, the house painter who could never quite finish the job in Murphy Brown. Pastorelli's likable raffishness countered well with Bergen's icy charms, and he stayed on for six seasons.
After Murphy Brown, Pastorelli continued to play variations of the streetwise character, but this time to considerable comic effect in films like: Sister Act 2 (1994), Eraser, and Michael (both 1996). He returned to television impressively when he starred in the short-lived, but critically lauded Americanized version of the British Television hit Cracker. Pastorelli had just completed work on the Get Shorty (1995) sequel Be Cool with John Travolta, which is scheduled for release later this year. He is survived by a daughter.
by Michael T. Toole
Robert Pastorelli (1954-2004)
Robert Pastorelli, the rough and ready actor best known to television viewers for his portrayal of the devilish but lovable house painter Eldin on the long-running CBS comedy Murphy Brown (1988-97), was found dead on March 8 in his Hollywood Hills home. Authorities believe the cause of death was a drug overdose. He was 49.
Born on June 21, 1954 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Pastorelli had dreams of becoming a boxer, but when he was just 19, he was involved in a near fatal car accident that forced him to choose another career. By the late '70s, he chose acting. After doing some theater in New York, Pastorelli found work on both television: Barney Miller, Cagney & Lacey, Hill Street Blues; and film: Outrageous Fortune, Beverly Hills Cop II (both 1987), where his beefy frame and Runyonesque demeanor almost always had him play thugs and hoodlums.
In 1988, he found fame when he was cast opposite Candice Bergen as Eldin, the house painter who could never quite finish the job in Murphy Brown. Pastorelli's likable raffishness countered well with Bergen's icy charms, and he stayed on for six seasons.
After Murphy Brown, Pastorelli continued to play variations of the streetwise character, but this time to considerable comic effect in films like: Sister Act 2 (1994), Eraser, and Michael (both 1996). He returned to television impressively when he starred in the short-lived, but critically lauded Americanized version of the British Television hit Cracker. Pastorelli had just completed work on the Get Shorty (1995) sequel Be Cool with John Travolta, which is scheduled for release later this year. He is survived by a daughter.
by Michael T. Toole
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States July 9, 1999
Released in United States October 1998
Released in United States on Video October 19, 1999
Shown at Raindance Film Showcase in London October 22-31, 1998.
Straight-to-video release.
Began shooting June 21, 1997.
Completed shooting July 24, 1997.
Released in United States July 9, 1999 (San Francisco)
Released in United States October 1998 (Shown at Raindance Film Showcase in London October 22-31, 1998.)
Released in United States on Video October 19, 1999
