"I don't know exactly what it was that pushed me towards directing, but I think it was a naive notion that, if I directed, I would be able to play all the roles. A kind of greed." – director Peter Bogdanovich.

While the Golden Age of Hollywood is known for a host of innovative film directors, Peter Bogdanovich emerged in the l970s as a creative new force in film. In fact, he became known as one of the greatest "New Hollywood" directors of the l970s. He was also a writer, actor, critic, and a movie historian, who, like the Brazen Hussies was influenced the brilliance of many classic movies. But he didn’t copy them although he clearly was inspired by them and learned from them

Not all his films were great, a few were clunkers, but all were different. And some were downright wonderful and unforgettable. Bogdanovich started his movie career with Roger Corman’s low budget “The Wild Angels,”, in 1966. By the l970s, he and other innovative New Hollywood directors (including Woody Allen, Robert Altman, Hal Ashby and Robert Aldrich) were usher in a new, fresh era in film with often unexpected plots, humor and perspectives on life.

Bogdanovich directed "The Last Picture Show" (heartbreaking, luminous, powerful), "What's Up, Doc?" (his hilarious l972 comedy – as screwy as any l930s screwball comedy – starring perfectly paired Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal), the touching, funny and spot-on perfect depression-era-set "Paper Moon," the off-beat, uplifting "Mask" and many others. Bogdanovich also returned to acting here and there, with roles in "The Sopranos" and "Get Shorty."

It’s true, darlings, Peter Bogdanovich, who went to that great casting call in the sky on January 6, 2022, had a “messy” personal life and his creative life waned. But in his public appearances and his books – including Who the Hell's in It: Conversations with Hollywood's Legendary Actors and Peter Bogdanovich's Movie of the Week: 52 Classic Films for One Full Year – he comes across forever fascinated by, and still in love with, classic movies and those who made them and starred in them.

Here's a link to an absolutely fun and endearing interview from 2017 with Mr. Bogdanovich talking at a TCM Classic Film Festival (with host Ben Mankiewicz) about his career, including his start working on Roger Corman's very low budget The Wild Angels, in 1966, and sharing his often hilarious stories about people he interviewed or worked with - including Hitchcock and Orson Welles.