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Cinequest presents its highest honor, the Maverick Spirit Award, to legendary actor Elliott Gould on March 2 at the California Theatre, following the 9:30 p.m. screening of Dorfman starring Gould and Sara Rue (Rules of Engagement and Less than Perfect). Gould plays Burt Dorfman, Deb Dorfman's (Sara Rue) father, in this romantic comedy, directed by Palo Alto native, Brad Leong (Director of Palo Alto). Previous guest recipients include Kevin Spacey, Sir Ben Kingsley, Spike Lee, William H. Macy, Diablo Cody, and Alec Baldwin.
"I am a common denominator; there are many people who identify with me. They see the same thing in me that I see in myself, which is: an everyday, regular person, compared to most of your Hollywood stars or most of the corporate entities being projected." - Elliott Gould
Elliott Gould's story began in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of 8, while enrolled in The Professional Children's School of Manhattan, he began appearing in local television programs as well as commercials. After hoofing his way into the chorus of a few stage shows, his big break came when he was cast as the lead of the Broadway play, I Can Get It For You Wholesale, which also featured a then unknown singer named Barbra Streisand. They married some time later and had a son, Jason.
In 1965, Elliott made his film debut in William Deterle's Quick, Let's Get Married, after which came a role in The Night They Raided Minsky's. His breakout performance came in 1969, where he played Ted in Paul Mazursky's Zeitgeist film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
The next decade solidified Gould's place as a Hollywood staple, with starring roles in Robert Altman's M*A*S*H, Getting Straight, the Alan Arkin-directed adaptation of Jules Feiffer's Little Murders (which Gould also produced), Move and Ingmar Bergman's The Touch. With director Robert Altman, Gould also transformed the detective genre in Altman's The Long Goodbye, playing a modern-day version of Raymond Chandler's world-weary gumshoe, Philip Marlowe. Gould's performance was hailed as the perfect contemporary interpretation of Chandler's iconic anti-hero. From there, key roles in Daryl Duke's The Silent Partner, Peter Hyam's Capricorn One , another Altman film California Split, and Richard Attenborough's A Bridge Too Far, firmly established Gould as a significant contributor to arguably one of cinema's greatest eras, the 1970s.
Following his huge contribution to 70s filmmaking, the next couple of decades found him in television, once again creating provocative characters like Dr. Howard Sheinfeld on the much-underrated sit-com E/R or in TV movies such as The Rules of Marriage and Vanishing Act.
His triumphant return to film in Barry Levinson's gangster epic Bugsy (1991), once again proved Gould's artistic resilience and versatility and led to brilliant turns in Charles Burnett's The Glass Shield and as a therapist in Billy Crystal's Sessions. But it would be his role on the popular sitcom Friends, as Monica and Ross' father, Jack Geller, that would introduce Gould to a whole new generation of fans and would lead to working with a new generation of directors: Tony Kaye's American History X, Noah Baumbach's Kicking and Screaming and Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's 11, 12, and 13.
Gould is a bit reluctant to define himself as an actor, but says that "when I became successful, I let myself be defined. You are what the other person thinks you are, but the most important thing is what you think. I see. I have vision. I feel." His keen insight into what it takes to be such a successful actor is obviously working. He's been at it for four decades now and shows no signs of slowing down.
Event Details: Join us for this very special evening with one of film's genuine icons, Elliott Gould, at the March 2nd screening of Dorfman, at 9:30 p.m. at the California Theatre. Following the screening, Mr. Gould will be presented with a Cinequest Maverick Spirit Award and will most assuredly entertain fans with a lively and insightful Q&A. Tickets to the screening and Maverick Spirit Award event are $10.
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