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MASH
Background:
“The Oscars are some sort of masturbatory fantasy. People think: an Academy
Award -- now if I get a parking ticket I don’t have to pay it. I don’t put the
Award down. But, at my sanest, I would rather have a good three-man baseketball
game than sit here in my monkey suit.” Elliott Gould
Lofty, lanky, curly-haired actor who, after a career as a performer in stage
musicals, came to represent the sloppy angst of the young, upwardly itinerant
middle class during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Elliott Gould was one of
Hollywood’s hottest performers of the early ‘70s. Making his first impression in
film in the 1968 appealing period comedy Night They Raided Minsky’s, he was
quickly shot to prominence with his Oscar-nominating performance in Paul
Mazursky‘s Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) and his brilliant starring portrayal
of Capt. John Francis Xavier ‘Trapper John’ McIntyre in Robert Altman’s MASH
(1970), where he took home a Golden Laurel Award, as well as a Golden Globe and
BAFTA nominations. His rising status was further confirmed with roles in such
movies as Getting Straight (1970), The Long Goodbye (1973) and Busting (1974).
Gould’s career slowed down after a series of commercial and critical failures in
the mid to late 1970s, but he has remained steadily employed in supporting and
character roles in television and movies. He had a recurring role on the hit
show “Friends” (1994-2003) and offered fine turns in Bugsy (1991) and American
History X (1998). In a more recent time, he is well-known to moviegoers as
Reuben Tishkoff on the famous “caper” film Ocean’s Eleven (2001) and its
continuation Ocean’s Twelve (2004). He is set to reprise his role for the
upcoming sequel Ocean’s Thirteen (2007).
As for his private life, 6’ 3” tall Gould has been married three times. He was
married to producer/singer/actress Barbra Streisand from 1963 to 1971 and then
to actress Jennifer Bogart from 1973 to 1976. Gould and Bogart remarried in
1978, but divorced in 1979. He has two sons, Jason (actor, mother Barbra
Streisand) and Samuel (mother Jennifer Bogart), and one daughter, Molly (mother
Jennifer Bogart).
Gould became romantically involved with Jennifer O’Neill in the mid-1970s.
Barbra Streisand’s Ex
Childhood and Family:
Elliott Gould was born Elliott Goldstein on August 29, 1938 in Brooklyn, New
York to Eastern Europe Jewish immigrants, Lucille and Bernie Goldstein. His
lifelong participation in entertainment industry is partly the result of his
mother. She made her eight-year-old son take a number of lessons in singing,
performing, and dance, like ballet. She also signed Elliott up in New York’s
Professional Children’s School and later had him perform in temples, hospital,
and occasionally on television. Elliott was also a child model. As a teenager,
he sang and danced in the chorus of some Broadway musicals.
In 1962, during preparations for Broadway musical “I Can Get it For you
Wholesale,” Elliott met and subsequently fell in love with another up and coming
theatre performer, Barbra Streisand, whom he married a year later, on March 21,
1963. Their first child, son Jason Gould, was born on December 29, 1966.
Unfortunately, the marriage ended in divorce after eight years, on July 9, 1971.
He tried to build a new family by marrying actress Jennifer Bogart on December
8, 1973, but they divorced in 1976. They reconciled in June 9, 1978 and later
separated again a year later. Elliott and Jennifer have two children, daughter
Molly Gould (born 1971) and son Samuel Gould (born January 9, 1973).
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Career:
18-year-old Elliott Gould got his start singing and dancing in the chorus of
several Broadway musicals, such as 1957’s “Rumple” and 1960’s “Irma La Douce,”
before scoring his big break in Harold Rome’s musical about the garment
industry, “I Can Get It For You Wholesale” (1962), starring with Barbra
Streisand, whom he married the next year. Although the two received positive
reviews, the play did not and was quickly closed. Two years later, he had his
first taste in front of the film camera in the little-seen independent
production The Confession, playing a deaf-mute.
After the inauspicious debut, Gould did not appear in another movie until 1968’s
The Night They Raided Minsky’s, a charming period comedy directed by William
Friedkin and starring Jason Robards and Britt Ekland. His movie career’s gained
a true momentum a year later when director Paul Mazursky had the actor play the
role of Ted Henderson in the glossy but groveling Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. For
his bright performance, he was handed a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination,
as well as received a BAFTA nod for Best Actor and a Golden Laurel nomination
for Male New Face. The actor further made good reputation with his starring role
as Capt. John Francis Xavier ‘Trapper John’ McIntyre in Robert Altman’s MASH
(1970), opposite Donald Sutherland. The role brought him a 1971 Golden Laurel
for Best Comedy Performance-Male, and two nominations, a Golden Globe for Best
Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy and a BAFTA Film for Best Actor. He
offered other fine leading roles in Richard Rush’s Getting Straight (1970) and
Altman’s The Long Goodbye (1973, as the detective Philip Marlowe).
Gould’s career decelerated after a string of commercial and critical
disappointments in the mid to late 1970s, but he maintained his busy schedule
throughout the 1970s by starring in many movies, most notably Altman’s
California Split (1974, opposite George Segal), Peter Hyams’ Busting (1974) and
Capricorn One (1978), Richard Attenborough’s A Bridge Too Far (1977) and the
Anthony Page-helmed The Lady Vanishes (1979). During 1975-1980, he also found
himself hosting several episodes of “Saturday Night Live.”
Next, Gould starred in Disney’s movies The Last Flight of Noah’s Ark (1980) and
The Devil and Max Devlin (1981), supported Roger Moore in The Naked Face (1984)
before starring in the CBS comedy series “E/R,” as Dr. Howard Sheinfeld from
1984 to 1985. The following year, he made his next attempts in TV comedy with
“Together We Stand,” playing David Randall, and HBO’s “Sessions” (1991), as Dr.
Bookman, but both were also short-lived. The actor recaptured some recognition
in features with a short but flashy performance as an aging hoodlum in Warren
Beatty’s 1991 film Bugsy. The next year, he rejoined Robert Altman for the
piercing Hollywood satire The Player, starring Tim Robbins.
Gould continued to have a slew of supporting roles in movies that were never
release, or went directly to videos, including Beyond Justice (1992), Wet and
Wild Summer (1992), Amore! (1993) and Cover Me (1995). It was not until the 1998
controversial American History X that he acted in a movie that prettified any
critical eulogize, although it was widely-known for Edward Norton’s vehicle.
Fortunately, Gould was able to retain a recurring role as Jack Geller, father to
Ross and Monica, in the highly-successful television sitcom “Friends,” a role he
played from 1994 to 2003. He also found himself making guest appearances in
several popular shows such as “L.A. Law” (1993), “Lois & Clark: The New
Adventures of Superman” (ABC, 1994), “Diagnosis Murder” (CBS, 1996) and “Touched
by an Angel” (CBS, 1998).
In 2000, Gould appeared in more low-profile movies like the festival-screened
comedy Playing Mona Lisa and Picking Up the Pieces, which was refused theatrical
release because it parodied unfaithfulness and death-by-dismemberment. He
bounced back a year later with a notable supporting performance as Reuben
Tishkoff, an ex-casino owner, in the remake of the Rat Pack caper comedy Ocean’s
Eleven, which brought him a MTV Movie nod for Best On-Screen Team and a Phoenix
Film Critics Society nod for Best Acting Ensemble. Directed by Steven Soderbergh,
the movie had an all-star cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Julia
Roberts. In 2004, he reprised the role of Reuben Tishkoff for the sequel Ocean’s
Twelve. 2005-2006 saw the actor team up with Joel Edgerton, Robin Tunney and
Cybill Shepherd in the drama feature Open Window, as John, and appear in
episodes of “Agatha Christie’s Poirot” (2005) and Showtime’s “Masters of Horror”
(2006). He recently also has completed a family film Little Hercules in 3-D
(2006), starring Judd Nelson.
The 69-year-old actor is set to return to his Reuben Tishkoff role for the third
installment Ocean’s Thirteen (2007) and play Bill in the drama film The
Redemption of Sarah Cain (2007), opposite Lisa Pepper, Abigail Mason, Soren
Fulton andDanielle Chuchran. On the small screen, he will be cast as uncle Abe
in the miniseries drama ‘St. Urbain’s Horseman” (2007), based on the novel by
Mordechai Richler.
Awards:
