HOW WARREN BEATTY SEDUCED AMERICA

Famously a Don Juan, Warren Beatty was the most ambitious and successful Hollywood star over the course of a five decades long career. Several of his films have become classics, including Bonnie and Clyde, Shampoo, Heaven Can Wait, Reds (for which he won the best director Oscar), Bugsy, and Bulworth. Aside from Orson Welles, Beatty is the only person ever nominated for four Academy Awards for a single film — and unlike Welles, Beatty was so honored twice, for Heaven Can Wait and Reds. He used star power, commercial success, savvy, and charm to bend Hollywood moguls to his will, establishing an unprecedented level of independence while still working within the studio system.

Beatty exercised unique control over his projects, often hiring screenwriters out of his own pocket (and frequently collaborating with them), producing, writing, directing, and acting in his own films. He became an auteur before anyone in Hollywood knew what the word meant. He was arguably one of the most successful and creative figures in the popular arts in America during the second half of the twentieth century.