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Quick Facts
- NAME: Frank Langella
- OCCUPATION: Actor
- BIRTH DATE: c. January 01, 1938
- EDUCATION: Syracuse University
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Bayonne, New Jersey
Best Known For
Actor Frank Langella portrayed Richard Nixon in the Broadway and film version of Frost/Nixon. He won a Tony Award and an Oscar nomination.
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Play NowFrank Langella. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 02:32, May 22, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/frank-langella-413152.
Frank Langella. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/frank-langella-413152 [Accessed 22 May 2013].
"Frank Langella." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 22 2013, 02:32 http://www.biography.com/people/frank-langella-413152.
"Frank Langella," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/frank-langella-413152 [accessed May 22, 2013].
"Frank Langella," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/frank-langella-413152 (accessed May 22, 2013).
Frank Langella [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 22] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/frank-langella-413152.
Frank Langella, http://www.biography.com/people/frank-langella-413152 (last visited May 22, 2013).
Frank Langella. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/frank-langella-413152. Accessed May 22, 2013.
One of his most notable roles was as one of the most famous fictional sleuths of all time. Serving as a producer, Langella helped bring 1987’s Sherlock’s Last Case to the stage. He starred as the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes with Donal Donnelly playing his faithful friend Doctor Watson.
On the big screen,
Contents
Langella experienced a series of missteps. He played a villain in the critically maligned Masters of the Universe (1987) and a politician in Robert Valim’s 1988 remake of his own film And God Created Woman, which failed to attract much of an audience.
Continued Sucess
Langella’s film career received a boost from his scheming supporting role in the presidential comedy Dave (1993). In the movie, he played a White House chief of staff who tries to seize power after the president (Kevin Kline) has a stroke. Langella’s character brings in a presidential lookalike to pretend to be the commander in chief. This political satire enjoyed both critical and commercial success. He went to a supporting role in another popular comedy, Junior (1994), which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito.
Back on Broadway, Langella earned raves for his performance in the 1996 revival of August Strindberg’s The Father. He starred in another revival later that year—this time tackling the popular Noel Coward comedy Present Laughter. While his theatrical career thrived, Langella’s film work varied during this period, with him often playing dark and sinister characters.
In 2002, Langella starred opposite Alan Bates in a revival of Ivan Turgenev’s Fortune’s Fool on Broadway. Both actors took home Tony Awards for their work on the production. Langella also attracted favorable reviews for 2004’s Match, which also starred Ray Liotta and Jane Adams.
Frost/Nixon
Back on the big screen, Langella impressed audiences and critics alike with his portrayal of CBS president William Paley in Good Night and Good Luck (2005). George Clooney directed this drama, which explored television journalist Edward R. Murrow’s battle against Senator Joseph McCarthy. The following year Langella played a famous fictional journalist—Perry White, editor of the Daily Planet—in the summer blockbuster Superman Returns (2006). That same year, Langella went to London to star in the West End production Frost/Nixon—a career changing move.
Frost/Nixon is based on the 1977 interviews done by journalist David Frost with former president Richard M. Nixon. Langella threw himself into researching for the role of Nixon, watching footage of the former president and visiting his childhood home. When it came time for Langella to take the stage, he said “I sort of put all the factual information away and allowed the visceral to take over,” he told The New York Times. He won raves for his nuanced and convincing performance as the disgraced commander in chief, which netted him his third Tony Award after the production to Broadway in 2007. Michael Sheen played journalist David Frost in both productions.
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Screen Presidents
View groupSee our group of screen presidents, which includes actors who have played real-life American presidents as well as faux chief executives. Biography.com's Screen President group includes Frank Langella, Morgan Freeman, Josh Brolin, Dana Carvey, Will Ferrell, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Harrison Ford, Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Day-Lewis and many more.
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View groupVampires prey off living creatures, stalking unsuspecting humans, sucking their blood and often turning them into vampires. Not alive but not quite dead, vampires are fictional creatures who have haunted and fascinated human populations for centuries. The notion of the fanged, transylvanian Count Dracula was first popularized in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, but the character has seen many iterations over the years. Today's TV shows and movies portray vampires as sexy, mysterious and even sympathetic characters with meaningful relationships to humans. Here is a group of some of the most famous blood-suckers of TV and film.
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Famous Lookalikes
View groupSometimes your mug isn't as original as you'd like it be. Considering there are over 7 billion people on this earth, someone's bound to be your doppelganger, and these historical figures and celebrities prove just that.
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