about the quoted person:american actor and director. Born December 9, 1929 in New York City, John Cassavetes was the younger of two sons of Greek immigrants. After playing for a time in a Rhode Island stock company while trying to get parts on Broadway, his career got underway when he played a small part in a film, Taxi (1953). A year later he began acting in short teleplays. In 1956 Cassavetes began teaching method acting at a drama workshop in Manhattan. One of the group's improvisations had the makings of a film, Cassavetes thought, and he mentioned the project on Jean Shepherd's Night People radio show. While on the air, Cassavetes suggested that listeners interested in seeing an alternative to Hollywood cinema should send in money to fund his project. Shepherd's audience sent in donations totalling around $20,000; Cassavetes raised a similar amount from his show-business friends and from his own savings. With these funds he embarked (with his acting workshop and a volunteer crew) on his first film, Shadows. Unable to interest American distributors, Cassavetes screened Shadows to enthusiastic audiences in Europe (including the 1960 Venice Film Festival, where it received the Critics Award). In 1961 Shadows was released in America under the auspices of a British distributor. Impressed by the success of Shadows, Paramount hired Cassavetes to make a series of films but released him after the financial and critical failure of Too Late Blues, his first film for them. Unwilling to have his vision compromised by studio heads and producers, Cassavetes acted in several films - most notably Rosemary's Baby (1967) and The Dirty Dozen (1967), for which he was nominated for an Oscar. In the 1970s and 1980s, Cassavetes worked independently or with modest studio backing when it was offered with complete artistic control. Sadly, Cassavetes' final film was, as Cassavetes put it, the "aptly titled" Big Trouble (1986). Cassavetes reluctantly stepped in to direct in mid-production after Andrew Bergman, the film's writer and director, quit the project. Cassavetes considered it a disaster and was embarrassed to have his name attached to the film.

After a three-and-a-half year illness, John Cassavetes died February 3, 1989. His spirit continues to inspire countless independent and maverick filmmakers around the world.