He did so in 165 films and television shows before retiring quietly in 2013, and he always understood the assignment; some projects were great, others less so, but Beatty always shone Here are a few of his highlights, and where you can watch them.
He’s then singled out for the most excruciating humiliation by the locals, who make sport of harassing and assaulting the out-of-towners: he’s raped at gunpoint and forced to “squeal like a pig,” in one of the most disturbing scenes of its era.
His character, Del Reese, is a power broker — the lawyer for a Nashville star and an organizer for an enigmatic presidential candidate — and Beatty, as in many of his best performances, is not afraid to underplay, speaking softly and wielding his power only when necessary.
But Beatty doesn’t play the scene like a whistle-blower; he focuses on the character’s packed schedule, memorably treating Bernstein less as a fellow truth-seeker than an interloper and an inconvenience.
Such is the case with his work in Elaine May’s combination of crime movie and character study, most of which plays as a two-hander between the stars Peter Falk and John Cassavetes, both in top form.
Join Times theater reporter Michael Paulson in conversation with Lin-Manuel Miranda, catch a performance from Shakespeare in the Park and more as we explore signs of hope in a changed city.
Beatty had a big year in 1976, which not only saw the release of “All the President’s Men” and “Mikey and Nicky” , but also of this scathing media satire by Sidney Lumet and Paddy Chayefsky.
director, Beatty deploys inventive profanity and wormy authoritarianism, and worst of all, he makes an enemy of Walter Matthau’s Miles Kendig — who then spends the rest of the movie using his spycraft to humiliate his former boss.
Like many of his peers, Beatty embraced TV in his later years, with a memorable two-season turn on “Homicide: Life on the Street” and an Emmy-nominated role in the TV movie “Last Train Home.” But his most widely seen television work came via a handful of appearances on the sitcom smash “Roseanne” — in which he played Ed Conner, father to John Goodman’s Dan.
“Rudy” is rightly described as the ultimate sports weepie, and it’s Beatty who helps deliver the emotional wallop of its conclusion.
As Lotso, the cuddly teddy bear who welcomes the film’s gang of toys to Sunnyside Daycare, Beatty at first projects a welcoming, wholesome warmth — qualities later revealed as a false front for the bitter, nasty vindictiveness at the character’s center.