Birthday
Hollywood tough guy: Harvey Keitel turns 85
Harvey Keitel turns 85 today. photo
© Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/dpa
He often plays killers, cops and mafiosi – but Harvey Keitel also has another side. Now the character actor is 85 years old and is back with a television series.
A few weeks before his 85th birthday Harvey Keitel in the spotlight in Hollywood – side by side with his “Pulp Fiction” colleagues Uma Thurman, John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson. In mid-April, the stars celebrated the 30th anniversary of the cult film in the famous TCL Chinese Theater.
In 1994, Quentin Tarantino brought an ensemble of stars in front of the camera for the gangster film set in the drug and killer milieu of Los Angeles. The black comedy with its laconic dialogue and brutal action won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
Keitel, who turns 85 today, played the helper of a mafia boss who has to cover up crimes. In an iconic scene, Keitel imagines that he is “The Wolf” who solves problems. He then encourages the two somewhat stupid killers Vincent and Jules (John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson) to clean a blood-stained car and dispose of all the body parts. Keitel played a cold-blooded criminal in Tarantino’s debut film “Reservoir Dogs” (1992).
Sometimes villain, sometimes lover
Keitel perfected the villain role. With his slightly weathered face, gnarled nose, furrowed forehead and a grim look, he was long one of Hollywood’s ideal cast for corrupt police officers, hardened criminals and frustrated, violent men. He was the brutal pimp in Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” (1976), the treacherous Judas in “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988), and a drug-dealing cop in “Bad Lieutenant” (1992).
But he can also do it differently. In Jane Campion’s romance “The Piano” (1993), Keitel showed his versatility in a rare lover role. Holly Hunter took on the role of a mute Englishwoman who begins a passionate affair in New Zealand in the 19th century.
Keitel appeared melancholic alongside Michael Caine in the film “Eternal Youth” (2015) by the Italian Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino. Two old friends reflect on the happy moments in life in a Swiss mountain hotel. It’s also funny, as Keitel proved together with Robert De Niro in the comedy-drama “The Comedian” – or as a tattooed prisoner named Ludwig in Wes Anderson’s tragicomedy “Grand Budapest Hotel”.
New project
For his 85th birthday, Keitel returns with an unusual role in the six-part series “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” (seen in Germany from May 8th on Sky). It is based on the experiences of the Slovak Jew Lale Sokolov, inspired by the bestseller “The Tattooist of Auschwitz: The True Story of Lale Sokolov” (2018) by the New Zealand author Heather Morris.
Sokolov was sent to the Nazi death camp in 1942 and was required to tattoo identification numbers on the arms of fellow prisoners. There he met his future wife Gita. It was only when he was well over 80 that the widower confided his story to the writer Morris. Keitel plays the grizzled Holocaust survivor who looks back on his life.
Keitel himself was born in New York in 1939 as the youngest child of Jewish immigrants from Poland and Romania. He learned his craft as an actor in Lee Strasberg’s legendary Actors Studio. He initially appeared on stage in dozens of roles and appeared on Broadway.
The career path
He owes his entry into the film business primarily to Martin Scorsese. A newspaper ad brought them together. As a young actor in 1967, he responded to an advertisement from the then unknown directing student Scorsese. He was looking for actors for his first feature film “Who’s Knocking on My Door?” Keitel said in 2016 at the Locarno Film Festival, where he was honored with the “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his life’s work. After a few auditions he got the role.
After further films together – “Cauldron” (1973), “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” (1974), “Taxi Driver” (1976) and “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988) – Scorsese brought the actor in for his mafia thriller in 2019. The Irishman” back in front of the camera. Alongside Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, Keitel starred in the role of Italian gangster Angelo Bruno as the boss of a mafia clan in Philadelphia.
Keitel has not yet won an Oscar in his long film career. He was nominated for Hollywood’s highest award only once – in 1992 in the role of gangster Mickey Cohen in the mafia film “Bugsy”.
Keitel is a father of three. His daughter Stella comes from his long-term relationship with actress Lorraine Bracco. In 2001, his girlfriend at the time gave birth to a boy. In the same year he married the Canadian actress Daphna Kastner, with whom he also has a son.