# Ben Gazzara ran for his life **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2012, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732 "2012-02-04T04:47:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/1 "2012-02-04T04:47:33Z")
> **[Ben Gazzara, 81, leaves a rich, gruff legacy in theater and film](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/culture-monster-blog/story/2012-02-03/ben-gazzara-81-leaves-a-rich-gruff-legacy-in-theater-and-film)** > > This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. Great stage, TV and movie actor; gruff old bastard. One of the real New York tough-guy theater folks and star of the earliest NY-based TV shows. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/2 "2012-02-04T04:53:23Z")
I’m drinking one for Gazzara tonight. This guy was a stallion. One of my cinema heroes, to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/3 "2012-02-04T04:59:54Z")
Forgot about\*\* Run for Your Life\*\*…How about\*\* Road House\*\*!!? I’ll have one for him tonight!!(Had a bit of a crush on him when I was young) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/4 "2012-02-04T05:02:09Z")
I thought he was dead. Which can be used with many of his generation, unfortunatey. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/5 "2012-02-04T05:10:27Z")
The dead keep adding up for me. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/6 "2012-02-04T05:34:44Z")
My favorite, for not good reason, is _Saint Jack_. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/7 "2012-02-04T07:08:21Z")
I could have sworn he died a few years ago. At any rate, RIP. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/8 "2012-02-04T07:27:35Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > My favorite, for not good reason, is _Saint Jack_. There is a good reason. It’s a good movie! He was good in and I liked him in everything I saw him in, but [Saint Jack](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079843/) is one of my favorites. Another favorite was a 2-part miniseries called [QB VII](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071039/). And of course [The Killing of a Chinese Bookie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074749/). And his small but interesting role The Big Lebowski. Oh I’ve never not liked him in anything. [John Cassavetes](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001023/), who directed Gazzara in 3 influential films, died on this same day, in 1989. I’ve never seen **Roadhouse**. I know what it is but I didn’t know he was in it! “Interactive erotic software. The wave of the future, Dude. One hundred percent electronic!” ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/9 "2012-02-04T07:42:27Z")
_Roadhouse_ was the first thing i ever saw Gazzara in. What a fucking awful movie. Gazzara was the comically evil bad guy, and i assumed at the time that he must be some B-movie actor who was scraping by on shitty roles. It was only later that i saw some of his better movies. I never saw him on the stage, though. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/10 "2012-02-04T12:42:31Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Another favorite was a 2-part miniseries called [QB VII](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071039/)." QB VII was the first thing I remember seeing Gazzara in. It was a case in which the filmed version was as good as the book. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/11 "2012-02-04T13:47:24Z")
I remember him as the defendant, Lieutenant Manion, in **Anatomy of a Murder**. The late Lee Remick played his wife, who may or may not have been raped by the murder victim, Barney Quill. Jimmy Stewart played the defense attorney, George C. Scott the prosecutor, and Eve Arden the secretary. What a cast! ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/12 "2012-02-04T18:14:48Z")
Worked with Ben Gazzara twice when he did Love Letters with Gena Rowlands. They were very close friends and I am sure she is mourning his loss. Ben was the stereotypical gruff 50’s actor - and you never saw him without a drink in his hand. But he was also a true professional - always on time, ready to go, and gave a great performance every show. He made it look easy and could fit into a role like it was a comfortable shoe. Here’s to you, Ben! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/13 "2012-02-04T18:16:27Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I could have sworn he died a few years ago. At any rate, RIP. [Jay Sherman’s Mom from _The Critic_] “No, dear, you’re thinking of Barbara Stanwyck.” [/Jay Sherman’s Mom from _The Critic_] ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/14 "2012-02-04T21:06:05Z")
Gone to join his great buddies John Cassavetes and Peter Falk. Hail and farewell, Mr Gazzara. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/15 "2012-02-04T21:31:12Z")
Funny, the only thing I remember Ben Gazzara in was the D grade film The Neptune Disaster. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/16 "2012-02-04T22:30:37Z")
_Buffalo 66_ and _Happiness_ are a must-see for any Gazarra fan who hasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/17 "2012-02-05T00:54:18Z")
\*Roadhouse \*is the first thing I think of when I think of Ben Gazzara. It’s one of my favorite bad movies. Ironic that he and Patrick Swayze should both die of pancreatic cancer. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ben-gazzara-ran-for-his-life/611732/18 "2012-02-05T18:23:33Z")
Gazzara, Peter Falk, and John Cassavetes hang out on the Dick Cavett Show in 1970.