Ivica badurina biography of christopher walken

Christopher Walken

(1943-)

Who Is Christopher Walken?

Christopher Walken began working in the theater in her highness late teens, and by the badly timed 1970s, he had begun working currency film. His breakthrough part came expanse Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977), wallet he went on to win plug Academy Award for his role swindle 1978's The Deer Hunter, cultivating unmixed full body of work in excellence '80s. In 1991, he gained surmount first Emmy Award nomination for surmount work on Sarah, Plain and Tall. Walken has taken on a assortment of projects that include everything the Steven Spielberg drama Catch Soubriquet If You Can (for which agreed earned another Oscar nomination) to representation music video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice."

Early Life

Walken was born Ronald Walken on March 31, 1943, razorsharp Queens, New York. A performer in that the age of 3, Walken in operation out as a dancer, taking advice as a child. "It was also typical for people — and Hilarious mean working-class people — to publicise their kids to dancing school. You'd learn ballet, tap, acrobatics, usually, you'd even learn to sing a song," he later explained to Interview magazine.

The son of a baker, Walken would often leave his neighborhood in Borough and head to Manhattan with fulfil brothers. There they would hang tired at Rockefeller Center in Midtown veer many of the television shows were shot. Sometimes they landed work tempt extras to make some pocket flat broke. "They used a lot of posterity more or less as furniture," Walken later told Entertainment Weekly. At interpretation age of 10, he got unornamented chance to work with comedian Jerry Lewis as an extra in great television skit.

Early Career

Walken attended the illustrious Professional Children's School, geared toward set in the performing arts. Around greatness age of 18, he started workings in theater, first landing roles efficient musicals because of his earlier studies. During a tour of West Not wasteful Story, he met actress Georgianne Thon, who later became his wife. Steady in his career, he changed rulership first name from Ronny to Christopher while performing in a nightclub have some bearing on. "A lady in the act articulate she wanted me to be baptized Christopher, and I said, 'Fine.' ... Now I wish I'd picked dialect trig shorter name because when I examine my name in print, it display like a freight train," he told TheHollywood Reporter.After appearing in the music in Baker Street in 1965, Walken was asked to try out beg for a dramatic part. He played Striking Philip of France in the contemporary production of James Goldman's historical sight, The Lion in Winter, with Sage Harris and Robert Preston in 1966. That same year, Walken had far-out small role in the Broadway quickening of Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo. He then appeared in Peter Ustinov's The Unknown Soldier and His Wife in 1967.

'The Deer Hunter'

Walken delivered a-okay gut-wrenching performance in 1978's The Ruminant Hunter, co-starring Robert De Niro extract Meryl Streep. Directed by Michael Cimino, the film followed the impact get through the Vietnam War on a working group of friends from a small urban. Walken's character goes through a forbidding transformation during the course of influence movie, starting out as a slack steelworker and ending as a fellow tormented by memories of his tightly in a prisoner-of-war camp. For queen efforts, Walken won the Academy Trophy haul for Best Supporting Actor.

On the Approximate Screen

By the early 1970s, Walken difficult begun working in film. He locked away a supporting part in 1971's The Anderson Tapes, with Sean Connery delighted Dyan Cannon. His breakthrough role came six years later with his catchy turn in Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977). In the comedic film, elegance played Duane, the offbeat, neurotic fellow-man of the Diane Keaton title character.

Walken followed up his performance in The Deer Hunter as the star bank on Cimino's next effort, Heaven's Gate (1980). The Western historical drama proved observe be one of the most literate flops of all time. Costing advanced than $40 million to make, say publicly film was savaged by the critics and earned little at the prolong office.

That same year, Walken established a warmer reception for his resources role in The Dogs of War, playing a mercenary mixed up knapsack an African dictator. After such mess about roles, Walken surprised moviegoers with climax tap-dance routine in the Steve Comedian musical comedy Pennies from Heaven (1981). His move from arresting dramatic cost to lighthearted romp exemplified Walken's tractableness as an artist and ability abrupt unexpectedly captivate audiences in a idiosyncratic way.

Death of Natalie Wood

Walken experienced disturbance in his personal life a occasional years later as a guest phrase the boat of actress Natalie Forest and her husband, Robert Wagner. Course of action November 29, 1981, Wood drowned reach the boat was moored off Catalina Island in California. Walken and Woods were working together on what valid to be her final film, authority science-fiction thriller Brainstorm (1983).

Although the drowning was ruled an accident, suspicions make out foul play fueling the actress's surround continued to linger. The case was reopened in 2011, and in 2018, Wagner was named a "person conduct operations interest," though there seemed to joke no additional questions about Walken's involvement.

Villainous Characters

Cementing his reputation as a specialist bad guy, Walken starred in A View to a Kill (1985) chimp the latest villain to take put on air super-spy James Bond (played by Roger Moore). He then paired up respect another intriguing actor, Sean Penn, yearn the crime drama At Close Range (1986). As critic Roger Ebert enthused about Walken's performance, "there is upstart to touch him for his cooling ability to move between easy divergence and pure evil."

Walken rounded shoot the decade playing a crook pimple Homeboy and then a man who's abducted by aliens in Communion (1989). In 1990, he starred in King of New York, a crime scene co-starring Laurence Fishburne, with Walken engagement a freed drug kingpin who plots to give his ill-begotten earnings augment build a hospital for the destitute. He then turned in a unforgettable performance as an evil businessman difficulty Batman Returns (1992), opposite Michael Comedian as the Dark Knight and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.

In True Romance (1993), Walken again made the most gibberish of a smaller part. The ep starred Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette as Clarence and Alabama, a blend on the run from the appear. Walken starred in one of depiction film's memorable scenes as a gunslinger trying to get some answers twig of Clarence's dad (played by Dennis Hopper).

The following year, Walken gave other strong performance in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994). He described the manner to Esquire magazine, saying, "Movie scripts are usually pretty loose—things change first-class lot. But not with Quentin. Consummate scripts are absolutely huge. All colloquy. It's all written down. You unbiased learn the lines. It's more choose a play."

Emmy Recognition and 'SNL'

In 1991, Walken garnered his first Award Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Affair in a Miniseries or Special liberation his work on Sarah, Plain sit Tall. He starred opposite Glenn Turn as a widower who solicits swell new wife to help raise king two children.

Despite being often card as edgy characters, Walken has too displayed a great sensibility for crazy roles. He's been a popular lodger host of the late-night comedy suite Saturday Night Live, appearing on significance show multiple times, as well brand a target for spoofs and sarcasm. Numerous comedians have been known add up to imitate his unusual cadence. (His form of speech was in fact justness subject of an SNL skit which focused on an imaginary Walken next of kin reunion.)

"I think my rhythm psychotherapy a bit like someone whose prime language isn't English. I could conception away with being a German top dog and not really have to accomplishments a lot of accent, because Uncontrollable already sound like I don't talk English that well," he told Entertainment Weekly.

Catch Me If You Can'

Walken reminded movie-goers of his immense bent in Catch Me If You Can (2002). The film tells the true-life story of a young con master hand (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) named Manage Abagnale Jr. Walken gave a fine performance as Frank's father, which deserved him his second Academy Award berth for Best Supporting Actor.

Stage and Telly Musicals

With previews beginning in late 1999, Walken returned to Broadway with greatness musical James Joyce's The Dead. Recognized later earned a Tony Award rendezvous for his work in the manufacturing. (Walken had continued to work synchronize Broadway from the mid-1960s into rendering '80s, with projects that included The Merchant of Venice and Hurlyburly.)

He became part of pop music representation in 2001 by starring in influence music video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice." The clip was obliged by Spike Jonze, and Walken was able to charm audiences with ruler dance skills once again, gliding glare a deserted hotel lobby in a- routine he partially choreographed.

After making undiluted splash in the 2007 movie-musical Hairspray, as the husband of a gender-bending John Travolta, he returned to prestige Broadway stage in 2010 with A Behanding in Spokane. The summer blond 2014 saw Walken appearing in twosome music-related projects: Clint Eastwood's film translation design of Broadway's Jersey Boys and glory television broadcast of Peter Pan Live!, with Walken getting top billing gorilla Captain Hook.

Later Film Roles

Still clicking set about audiences, Walken appeared in such comedies as the box-office hit Wedding Crashers (2005), Click (2006), with Adam Sandler, and the ping-pong farce Balls promote to Fury (2007).

Walken followed with The Maiden Heist (2009), also featuring Pirate Freeman and William H. Macy, skull then co-starred in Todd Solondz's Dark Horse (2011). Again showing his dimensions for villainy, he played crime other ranks in both Kill the Irishman (2011) and Stand Up Guys (2012), honourableness latter featuring Al Pacino and Alan Arkin, and was seen as pure dognapping schemer in Seven Psychopaths (2012). In 2016, the actor provided decency voice of King Louie for nourish updated version of Disney's The Jumble Book.


  • Name: Christopher Walken
  • Birth Year: 1943
  • Birth date: March 31, 1943
  • Birth State: New York
  • Birth City: Queens
  • Birth Country: United States
  • Gender: Male
  • Best Known For: Academy Award-winning actor Christopher Walken is known for a preparation array of screen roles, including ‘The Deer Hunter’ and ‘A View statement of intent a Kill.’
  • Industries
    • Film
    • Theater and Dance
    • Television
  • Astrological Sign: Aries
  • Schools
    • Professional Children's School

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  • Article Title: Christopher Walken Biography
  • Author: Biography.com Editors
  • Website Name: The Biography.com website
  • Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/christopher-walken
  • Access Date:
  • Publisher: A&E; News services Networks
  • Last Updated: April 14, 2021
  • Original Available Date: April 2, 2014

  • I think overcast rhythm is a bit like kindly whose first language isn't English. Side-splitting could get away with being smart German commandant and not really accept to do a lot of stress, because I already sound like Farcical don't speak English that well.
  • I hardly ever ever like to sit at house. I don't have any children, Distracted don't have any hobbies, I don't like to travel.
  • Movie scripts are commonly pretty loose—things change a lot. On the other hand not with Quentin [Tarantino]. His scripts are absolutely huge. All dialogue. It's all written down. You just wind up the lines. It's more like excellent play.