Dyan Cannon + Jane Fonda: Warren Beatty AFI Tribute

Jane Fonda: Warren Beatty gay by association?

Warren Beatty: AFI Life Achievement Award with Dyan Cannon & Diane Keaton + Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Dyan Cannon, and Elaine May were some of the Hollywood celebrities who spoke at the 36th AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony held at the Kodak Theatre on June 12 in Los Angeles. Warren Beatty was this year’s honoree.

At the ceremony, two-time Best Actress Oscar winner Jane Fonda (Klute, 1971; Coming Home, 1978) recalled meeting Beatty when they were set to co-star in Joshua Logan’s Tall Story (1960). Considering that Logan was gay, she assumed that the young and handsome budding actor with no film experience was also gay. Time would prove her wrong. And that little story got a big laugh from the attendees.

Perhaps just as funny – or not – is that Warner Bros. turned Beatty down, insisting that Logan cast a “name” actor in the lead; a necessity, the studio felt, as newcomer Fonda was little more than the daughter of a Hollywood celebrity (i.e., Henry Fonda), with unproven box office appeal.

Eventually, Tall Story‘s male lead went to Anthony Perkins (Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominee for Friendly Persuasion, 1956), who would became a sensation that year thanks to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

Punchline: Perkins, of course, was gay.

Punchline II: Tall Story was no big shakes either at the box office or with critics, whereas Elia Kazan’s Splendor in the Grass, released the following year, was a prestige production that earned Natalie Wood – by then an established leading lady – a Best Actress Academy Award nomination and turned Beatty into a movie “name.” It was also a Warner Bros. release.

In the U.S., the AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony honoring Warren Beatty will air on the USA Network at 9 p.m. PST on June 25.

See below more AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony images.

Jane Fonda photo: Kevin Winter / Getty Images for AFI.

Dyan Cannon.

Dyan Cannon

Born on Jan. 4, 1937, in Tacoma, Washington, Dyan Cannon – like Jane Fonda and, almost, Warren Beatty – also began her film career in 1960 (The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond, This Rebel Breed).

She would play opposite Beatty nearly two decades after her debut, in the 1978 blockbuster Heaven Can Wait, a remake of Alexander Hall’s Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941). Beatty, Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee Cannon, Julie Christie, and James Mason were featured in the old Robert Montgomery, Rita Johnson, Evelyn Keyes, and Claude Rains roles. (Montgomery’s prizefighter became Beatty’s football star.) Beatty and Buck Henry directed.

Apart from her two 1960 releases, Dyan Cannon’s movie career began in earnest in 1965. Since then, she has been featured in about 30 features, notably:

• The (somewhat) sexually daring Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), which earned her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.
  Director: Paul Mazursky.
  Cast: Natalie Wood. Robert Culp. Elliott Gould.
• Doctors’ Wives (1971), as one of the titular characters.
  Director: George Schaefer.
  Cast: Richard Crenna. Gene Hackman.
• The Love Machine (1971), from Jacqueline Susann’s bestseller.
  Director: Jack Haley Jr.
  Cast: John Phillip Law.
• The mystery thriller The Last of Sheila (1973), co-written by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim.
  Director: Herbert Ross.
  Cast: Richard Benjamin. Raquel Welch. James Mason.
• Deathtrap (1982), as a murder victim.
  Director: Sidney Lumet.
  Cast: Michael Caine. Christopher Reeve.

Dyan Cannon’s most recent big-screen effort was Susan Seidelman’s ensemble comedy-drama Boynton Beach Club (2005), interspersing several stories about love and sex after 60. Also in the cast of veterans: Brenda Vaccaro, Joseph Bologna, Michael Nouri, Sally Kellerman, Renée Taylor, and Len Cariou.

On television, she will next be seen in Bradford May’s TV movie A Kiss at Midnight (2008), with Faith Ford, Cameron Daddo, and Hal Linden.

Dyan Cannon director: Oscar-nominated ‘Number One’

Dyan Cannon was also nominated for an Academy Award for the 1975 live action short film Number One, which she wrote and directed. The short deals with children and sex, as two little girls hide in the boys’ bathroom and are later caught. Some parents go berserk upon hearing the news; others deal more sanely with the issue.

In the cast: Nan Martin, Allen Garfield, Gary Lockwood, Philip Boyer, and Cannon herself.

Dyan Cannon photo: Kevin Winter / Getty Images for AFI.

Diane Keaton.

Diane Keaton

Diane Keaton (born Jan. 5, 1946, in Los Angeles) began her film career in Cy Howard’s comedy of manners Love and Other Strangers (1970). Since then, Keaton has been featured in nearly 40 movies, both big and small. Notable titles include:

• The blockbuster Father of the Bride (1991), in the old Joan Bennett role as the Mother of the Bride.
  Director: Charles Shyer.
  Cast: Steve Martin. Diane Keaton. Martin Short. Kimberly Williams-Paisley. Kieran Culkin. George Newbern.

Diane Keaton reprised her role in Shyer’s 1995 sequel – a remake of Father’s Little Dividend (1951) – Father of the Bride Part II.

• Crimes of the Heart (1986), as one of three troubled sisters.
  Director: Bruce Beresford.
  Cast: Sissy Spacek. Diane Keaton. Jessica Lange. Tess Harper. Sam Shepard. David Carpenter. Hurd Hatfield.
• Shoot the Moon (1982), as a wife whose husband is having an affair.
  Director: Alan Parker.
  Cast: Albert Finney. Diane Keaton. Karen Allen. Peter Weller. Dana Hill.
• Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), as a schoolteacher by day, sexually free spirit by the night.
  Director: Richard Brooks.
  Cast: Diane Keaton. Tuesday Weld. William Atherton. Richard Kiley. Richard Gere. Tom Berenger. Priscilla Pointer.
• Best Picture and Best Director Academy Award winner Annie Hall (1977), which also earned Keaton – playing a character based on herself – the Best Actress Oscar.
  Director: Woody Allen.
  Cast: Woody Allen. Diane Keaton. Tony Roberts. Shelley Duvall. Carol Kane. Paul Simon. Janet Margolin. Colleen Dewhurst. Christopher Walken.

Diane Keaton was also featured in real-life companion Woody Allen’s Play It Again Sam (1972), Sleeper (1973), Love and Death (1975), Interiors (1978), Manhattan (1979), and Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993).

• Best Picture Academy Award winner The Godfather (1972), as the wife-to-be of mobster’s son Michael Corleone.
  Director: Sidney Lumet.
  Cast: Marlon Brando. Al Pacino. James Caan. Robert Duvall. Diane Keaton. Talia Shire. Sterling Hayden. John Marley. Richard Conte. Abe Vigoda.

Diane Keaton was also featured in Coppola’s two sequels, Best Picture Oscar winner The Godfather: Part II (1974) and Best Picture Oscar nominee The Godfather: Part III (1990).

Diane Keaton Oscar nominations

Besides her win for Woody Allen’s semiautobiographical Annie Hall, Keaton was nominated for three other Best Actress Academy Awards:

• Something’s Gotta Give (2003).
  Director: Nancy Meyers.
  Cast: Diane Keaton. Jack Nicholson. Keanu Reeves. Frances McDormand. Amanda Peet. Paul Michael Glaser.
  Winner: Charlize Theron for Patty Jenkins’ Monster.
• Marvin’s Room (1996).
  Director: Jerry Zaks.
  Cast: Meryl Streep. Diane Keaton. Leonardo DiCaprio. Hume Cronyn. Gwen Verdon. Robert De Niro. Cynthia Nixon. Dan Hedaya.
  Winner: Frances McDormand for Joel and Ethan Coen’s Fargo.
• Reds (1981), under the direction of her real-life companion at the time.
  Director: Warren Beatty.
  Cast: Warren Beatty (as idealist American communist John Reed). Diane Keaton (as Reed’s lover, American journalist Louise Bryant). Jack Nicholson (as Eugene O’Neill). Maureen Stapleton (as Emma Goldman).
  Winner: Katharine Hepburn for Mark Rydell’s On Golden Pond.

Diane Keaton photo: Kevin Winter / Getty Images for AFI.

Elaine May.

Elaine May

Actress, screenwriter, and director Elaine May has sporadically worked on films since the late 1960s – e.g., in all three capacities on A New Leaf (1971), costarring Walter Matthau; as a director/screenwriter on Mikey and Nicky (1986), starring Peter Falk and John Cassavetes.

Elaine May has been nominated for two Academy Awards, both in the Best Adapted Screenplay category:

• Primary Colors (1998).
  Director: Mike Nichols.
  Cast: John Travolta (as the Bill Clinton-ish lead). Emma Thompson (Hillary Clinton-ish). Kathy Bates. Larry Hagman.
  Winner: Screenwriter/director Bill Condon for Gods and Monsters.
• Heaven Can Wait (1978), co-written by Warren Beatty.
  Director: Warren Beatty and Buck Henry.
  Cast: Warren Beatty. Julie Christie. Charles Grodin. Dyan Cannon. Jack Warden. James Mason.
  Winner: Oliver Stone for Alan Parker’s Midnight Express.

Notably, Elaine May is also featured in Herbert Ross’ all-star omnibus comedy California Suite (1978), in the segment costarring Walter Matthau.

Elaine May’s ‘Heaven’s Gate’: ‘Ishtar’

Notably, Elaine May directed Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman, and Isabelle Adjani in the 1987 mega-production Ishtar, a sort of reboot of the old Bing Crosby-Dorothy Lamour-Bob Hope Road movies of the 1940s.

Unlike its predecessors, however, Ishtar turned out to be a gigantic critical and box office bomb. May would never direct another movie.

Elaine May photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for AFI.

Actor-director-producer-etc. Warren Beatty, 71, has just become the 36th recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award. The ceremony took place on June 11 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

Among those present were Jane Fonda; Beatty’s Bonnie and Clyde co-players Faye Dunaway and Michael J. Pollard; Beatty’s Heaven Can Wait co-player Dyan Cannon; Beatty’s Reds co-stars Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson; Beatty’s Ishtar co-star Dustin Hoffman and director Elaine May; Beatty’s Bugsy co-star (and wife) Annette Bening and director Barry Levinson; former U.S. president Bill Clinton; former U.S. senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart; and sister Shirley MacLaine.

In addition to tributes from those present, the ceremony also featured taped tributes from Barbra Streisand, Gene Hackman, and Goldie Hawn.

An edited version of the Beatty AFI tribute will air on the USA Network at 9pm PDT on June 25.

Photos: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images for AFI (Ringwald, Pollard, Bening & Beatty, Fonda arrival, Dunaway), Kevin Winter / Getty Images for AFI (Hart & Huffington, Chase, Mendes, Downey Jr, Hefner, Garfunkel, Fonda podium, Cannon, Levinson, Beatty podium, Keaton, Pacino & Beatty, Nicholson, Brown, Waters), Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for AFI (Tarantino, Hoffman, May, Cheadle, Clinton, Carradine)

Warren Beatty: AFI Life Achievement Award honoree.

Dustin Hoffman & Keith Carradine + Mark Waters attend Warren Beatty AFI Tribute

Dustin Hoffman, Keith Carradine, Jane Fonda, Dyan Cannon, Diane Keaton, Mark Waters, and Elaine May were some of the Hollywood celebrities who spoke at the 36th AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony, which was held at the Kodak Theatre on June 12, ’08 in Los Angeles. Warren Beatty, known for his movies, romances, and politics, was this year’s honoree.

Among Beatty’s numerous film accolades in the last 47 years is his Best Director Academy Award for the political drama Reds (1981), about idealist American communist John Reed. Overall, Beatty has been shortlisted for a total of 14 Academy Awards in various categories – acting, screenwriting, directing, Best Picture (as a producer).

His four Oscar nods for acting were for the following:

• Best Picture nominee Bonnie and Clyde (1967), produced by Beatty.
  Director: Arthur Penn.
  Cast: Warren Beatty. Faye Dunaway. Gene Hackman. Estelle Parsons. Michael J. Pollard.
  Winner: Rod Steiger for Norman Jewison’s In the Heat of the Night.
• Best Picture nominee Heaven Can Wait (1978), produced by Beatty.
  Director: Best Director nominees Warren Beatty and Buck Henry.
  Cast: Warren Beatty. Julie Christie. Charles Grodin. Dyan Cannon. James Mason. Jack Warden.
  Winner: Jon Voight for Hal Ashby’s Coming Home.

Additionally, Warren Beatty and Elaine May were shortlisted for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar.

• Best Picture nominee Reds (1981), produced by Beatty.
  Director: Warren Beatty.
  Cast: Warren Beatty. Diane Keaton (as John Reed’s lover, American journalist Louise Bryant). Jack Nicholson (as Eugene O’Neill). Maureen Stapleton (as Emma Goldman). Paul Sorvino. Edward Herrmann. Gene Hackman. M. Emmet Walsh. Ian Wolfe. Jerzy Kosinski. Max Wright. R.G. Armstrong. William Daniels. George Plimpton. George Jessel as himself. Silent film veteran Bessie Love (The Aryan, Dress Parade). Uncredited: Miriam Margolyes.
  Winner: Henry Fonda for Mark Rydell’s On Golden Pond.

Additionally, Warren Beatty and Trevor Griffiths were shortlisted for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar.

• Best Picture nominee Bugsy (1991), which Beatty co-produced with Mark Johnson and Barry Levinson.
  Director: Barry Levinson.
  Cast: Warren Beatty. Annette Bening. Ben Kingsley. Harvey Keitel.
  Winner: Anthony Hopkins for Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs.

Warren Beatty’s last film was Peter Chelsom’s costly critical and box office bomb Town & Country, costarring Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, and Nastassja Kinski.

Warren Beatty’s women

Besides his movies and his support for the (generally) more liberal-minded elements within the United States’ Democratic party, Warren Beatty is also famous – or notorious, depending on your take – for his romantic liaisons.

Below is a partial list of his alleged sex/romantic partners – impossible to say, really, how many of these affairs were p.r.-engendered deals or rumor mill creations, or even who was the conqueror and who was the vanquished.

Natalie Wood. Leslie Caron. Joan Collins. Julie Christie. Diane Keaton. Britt Ekland. Jane Fonda. Carly Simon. Isabelle Adjani.

Goldie Hawn. Brigitte Bardot. Michelle Phillips. Bianca Jagger. Raquel Welch. Stella Stevens. Daryl Hannah. Madonna.

Warren Beatty has been married to Annette Bening since 1992.

His sister, Shirley MacLaine, won a Best Actress Academy Award for James L. Brooks’ Terms of Endearment (1983). She is also known for her one-woman shows and books on Hollywood and Atlantis (via her past lives).

Warren Beatty photo: Kevin Winter / Getty Images for AFI.

Dustin Hoffman.

Dustin Hoffman

Dustin Hoffman has been featured in movies since 1967, when he made a huge splash in Mike Nichols’ counterculture blockbuster The Graduate – in a role initially intended for either Robert Redford or Warren Beatty.

Hoffman has received seven Best Actor Academy Award nominations, winning twice, for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Rain Man (1988):

In 1987, Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty costarred opposite Isabelle Adjani in Elaine May’s epoch-making box office disaster Ishtar.

Two decades earlier (actually, in early 1968), they both vied for Best Actor Oscars, ultimately losing to Rod Steiger.

Dustin Hoffman photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez | Getty Images for AFI.

Keith Carradine.

Keith Carradine

The son of horror B movie legend John Carradine, and brother of David Carradine and Robert Carradine, Keith Carradine (born Aug. 8, 1949, in San Mateo, California) has been featured in about 50 movies since his debut in Robert Altman’s anti-Western McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie in the title roles.

Notable Keith Carradine movies include:

• The controversial – child prostitution – Pretty Baby (1978).
  Director: Louis Malle.
  Cast: Susan Sarandon. Keith Carradine. Brooke Shields. Frances Faye. Antonio Vargas. Diana Scarwid. Barbara Steele.
• The ensemble drama Welcome to L.A. (1976).
  Director: Alan Rudolph.
  Cast: Sissy Spacek. Keith Carradine. Geraldine Chaplin. Sally Kellerman. Lauren Hutton. Harvey Keitel. Viveca Lindfors. Denver Pyle. John Considine. Diahnne Abbott.
• Best Picture Oscar nominee Nashville (1975).
  Director: Robert Altman.
  Cast: Shelley Duvall. Barbara Harris. Geraldine Chaplin. Keith Carradine. Lily Tomlin. Ronee Blakley. Barbara Baxley. Ned Beatty. Karen Black. Michael Murphy. Scott Glenn. Jeff Goldblum. Keenan Wynn. Cameos: Julie Christie. Elliott Gould.

Keith Carradine won a Best Original Song Oscar for “I’m Easy,” which he composed for and sang in Nashville.

Keith Carradine photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for AFI.

Mark Waters.

Mark Waters

Director Mark Waters’ handful of film credits include:

• Mean Girls (2004).
  Director: Mark Waters.
  Cast: Lindsay Lohan. Rachel McAdams. Tina Fey. Lacey Chabert. Amanda Seyfried. Amy Poehler.
• Freaky Friday (2003).
  Director: Mark Waters.
  Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis. Lindsay Lohan. Mark Harmon. Harold Gould.

Mark Waters photo: Kevin Winter / Getty Images for AFI.

AFI Lifetime Achievement Award website.

Photos: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images for AFI (Ringwald, Pollard, Bening & Beatty, Fonda arrival, Dunaway), Kevin Winter / Getty Images for AFI (Mendes, Downey Jr, Hefner, Garfunkel, Fonda podium, Cannon, Levinson, Beatty podium, Keaton, Pacino & Beatty, Nicholson, Brown, Waters), Alberto E. Rodriguez | Getty Images for AFI (Tarantino, Hoffman, May, Clinton, Carradine)

Photos: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images for AFI (Ringwald, Pollard, Bening & Beatty, Fonda arrival, Dunaway), Kevin Winter / Getty Images for AFI (Hart & Huffington, Chase, Mendes, Downey Jr, Hefner, Garfunkel, Fonda podium, Cannon, Levinson, Beatty podium, Keaton, Pacino & Beatty, Nicholson, Brown, Waters), Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for AFI (Tarantino, Hoffman, May, Cheadle, Clinton, Carradine)