Who was John Cassavetes?

John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as an actor on television and in film, Cassavetes also became a pioneer of American independent cinema, writing and directing movies financed in part with income from his acting work. AllMovie called him "an iconoclastic maverick," while The New Yorker suggested that he "may be the most influential American director of the last half century."

As an actor, Cassavetes starred in notable Hollywood films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including "Edge of the City" (1957), "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), and "Rosemary's Baby" (1968). He began his directing career with the 1959 independent feature "Shadows" and followed with independent productions such as "Faces" (1968), "Husbands" (1970), "A Woman Under the Influence" (1974), "Opening Night" (1977), and "Love Streams" (1984). He intermittently continued to work on studio projects such as Elaine May's "Mikey and Nicky" (1976) and his own "Gloria" (1980).