NIXON:
PRODUCTION NOTES
Submitted By Jared Clayton

ABOUT "NIXON"
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
ASSEMBLING THE CAST
ORGANIZING THE PRODUCTION
WASHINGTON IN LOS ANGELES
THE SHOOT
WASHINGTON FINALE
ABOUT THE CAST
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS


"This is a man of many masks. Who can say they have seen his real face?"
--Adlai Stevenson on Richard Nixon

"It's the lie that gets you."
--Richard Nixon
OLIVER STONE directs Academy Award¨-winning actor ANTHONY HOPKINS in the title role of "Nixon."

Although he is one of the most chronicled public figures of the 20th century, Richard Milhous Nixon remains an enigma to many, his decisions, motives and behavior often shrouded in mystery. "Nixon" is a dramatized attempt to understand the man behind the tarnished presidential seal, who, to paraphrase his own words, scaled life's greatest heights and plunged into its deepest valleys.

"Nixon," with visual and thematic boldness, tells the extraordinary personal story of America's controversial 37th President: a man whose lifelong quest for public acceptance through political power constantly eluded him ... even when he held the highest office in the nation.

With the ill-fated 1972 Watergate break-in and its tragic aftermath -- culminating with the President's 1974 resignation -- as its focus, "Nixon" examines its subject's complex life: his difficult youth in Southern California as the son of a poor grocer and a stern Quaker mother; the shattering loss of two young brothers to the ravages of tuberculosis; his tender but often troubled relationship with wife Pat, who despised having to share her husband with the rest of the world.

We also see Nixon's incredible political life, during which he held the offices of Congressman at age 33, Senator at 37, and Vice-President at 39, before losing the Presidential election of 1960 and the California gubernatorial race in 1962, making his startling comeback six years later to win two terms as President.

The panorama of American life in this century is played out as a vast impressionistic backdrop to Nixon's emblematic life and career, allowing Stone the unique opportunity to re-examine events seen in some of his previous films -- including "Born on the Fourth of July" and "JFK" -- but from a completely different perspective.

The life of Richard Nixon unspools with the inevitability of classical tragedy, as his political career finally crumbles beneath the weight of his past, his ambitions, and his blindness to events occurring just outside his often remarkable range of vision.

Portraying Nixon's friends, family and enemies is a cast headed by JOAN ALLEN as Pat Nixon, POWERS BOOTHE as Alexander Haig, ED HARRIS as Howard Hunt, EDWARD HERRMANN as Nelson Rockefeller, BOB HOSKINS as J. Edgar Hoover, MADELINE KAHN as Martha Mitchell, E.G. MARSHALL as John Mitchell, DAVID PAYMER as Ron Ziegler, DAVID HYDE PIERCE as John Dean, PAUL SORVINO as Henry Kissinger, MARY STEENBURGEN as Hannah Nixon, J.T. WALSH as John Ehrlichman and JAMES WOODS as H.R. Haldeman.

Joining them is an ensemble corps that includes such noted actors as MASON ADAMS, ROBERT BELTRAN, TOM BOWER, COREY CARRIER, MICHAEL CHIKLIS, JULIE CONDRA, JOHN DIEHL, JOANNA GOING, DAVID BARRY GRAY, DAN HEDAYA, JOHN BEDFORD LLOYD, TONY LO BIANCO, JAMES PICKENS, TONY PLANA, GEORGE PLIMPTON, SAUL RUBINEK, BRIDGITTE WILSON, and MARLEY SHELTON.

From Hollywood Pictures, "Nixon" is an Illusion Entertainment/Cinergi production produced by Clayton Townsend, Oliver Stone and Andrew G. Vajna from a screenplay by Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson & Oliver Stone. Script consultancy is by noted Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Scheer, writer Christopher Scheer, author/historian John Newman and former Nixon associates Alexander Butterfield, John Dean and John Sears. The behind-the-scenes creative team includes such past Stone associates as Oscar-winning ("JFK") director of photography Robert Richardson, production designer Victor Kempster, costume designer Richard Hornung, editors Hank Corwin and Brian Berdan, two time Oscar-winning ("The Right Stuff," "Speed") sound mixer David MacMillan and five-time Academy Award¨-winner composer John Williams, who previously scored Stone's "Born on the Fourth of July" and "JFK." The co-producers are Eric Hamburg and Dan Halsted, with Richard Rutowski as associate producer.

ABOUT "NIXON"
There is perhaps no character in American history who has more loyal supporters and savage critics than Richard Nixon. Vilified by many as a warmongering incarnation of everything dysfunctional and brutish about American democracy, he is alternately heralded and feted as a terribly misunderstood man of great wisdom, skill and courage who did much to bring peace to a war-torn world. The truth, as usual, is much more complicated and subtle.

Richard Nixon was, to many who knew and worked with him, a very strange person. He was capable of quiet kindness, political courage and devout loyalty to family and friends, but he was just as likely to be cowardly, quirkily amoral or suddenly, explosively, unforgettably vicious. His aides tell of a sporadically brilliant man whose mind wandered about like a dog tracking many scents, gnawing at an idea only to drop it suddenly, chase a rabbit, and then return to the original bone.

For want of better terms, Nixon had a dark side and a light side that were diametrically opposed, and everyone who knew him saw both at one time or another -- including the public. A stark ambition united this split personality, lifting him up from poverty and anonymity and wedging him firmly into the American consciousness. Once launched, Nixon was like an out-of-control comet, wheeling about, spitting rocks and sulfur, lighting an arc across the night sky.

Whether as the bloodhound on the trail of "Communist" Alger Hiss, pulling the heartstrings of America with his shameless "Checkers" speech, or making peace overnight with a billion "Red" Chinese, Nixon loved to hit the two-strike, bottom-of-the-ninth homer. He always thought of himself as the underdog and a persistent self-destructive streak seemed designed to ensure that he always was.

A man of endless ironies, Nixon made his political grubstake as a Cold Warrior and McCarthyite attack dog at the height of American power, but ended his career as the president who nursed détente to the table, and effectively divided the Communist Bloc.

It is this fascinating, complex man that director Oliver Stone approaches in his newest film, "Nixon." The director is once again diving deep into the woods of American history -- and disturbing the many ghosts that live there. A dramatic blend of historical fact and interpretation, the film is rooted in both solid research and the dramatic license necessary to create a compelling, full-blooded motion picture that stands on its own as entertainment.

Americans -- historians included -- have such wildly diverse memories and understandings of Richard Nixon, some will be angered, offended or disappointed that "their" Richard Nixon is not on celluloid. Some will complain that the "monster" was treated with kid gloves, while others will find it blasphemous that a former president of the United States could be portrayed as occasionally drunk and incoherent, spouting obscenities. Historians will argue about the weight and importance given various incidents, policies, sources and conflicts.

The writers of "Nixon" have gone to great pains to insure the film's veracity to the fullest extent possible. Richard Nixon has to be considered one of the most investigated, scrutinized and exposed men of power history has known, a fact aiding the writers in their efforts. Using the myriad serious and reliable biographies, memoirs, government documents, tape-recorded conversations, congressional hearing transcripts, investigative works and oral histories that have been compiled over the last several decades, they have been able to sometimes use direct quotes taken from tapes, scenes vouched for by many participants and facts attested to by diverse and independent investigators and journalists.

The script of "Nixon" has been annotated by its authors, citing over 80 major historical works. (The annotation is available upon request and is being published by Hyperion as NIXON: An Oliver Stone Film.) Several controversial aspects of Nixon's life are dealt with in the film, although they by no means dominate the other aspects of his overall story. These include the mysterious wiping out of the 18-and- a-half minutes of tape, Nixon's drinking and pill taking, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's personal life and relationship with mobsters, and the periodic references in the film to "Track 2," a plot organized by the White House and CIA to assassinate Fidel Castro. (Track 1 was a parallel plan that was to be effected simultaneously, the insertion of CIA-trained troops into Cuba to lead an anti-Castro revolt -- what was to become the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.)

Track 2, which was well-documented in the 1970s by the U. S. Senate's Church Committee Report on "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders," was a sordid affair which saw the White House directing the CIA to hire known mobsters like Johnny Roselli to oversee the assassination of Castro (with at least eight attempts failing miserably).

The film addresses Nixon's role as Vice President in establishing the U.S. government's overt and covert operations against Fidel Castro. Although Nixon's involvement has been well documented by historians over the years (including Arthur Schlesinger and Michael Beschloss), it has been little noted by the media and is not generally known by the American public. The film suggests that Nixon may have felt in later years that what he helped to start in the 1950s got out of hand in the 1960s, with catastrophic results. (Bob Haldeman has written of Nixon's constant references to the "Bay of Pigs," which Haldeman speculated was Nixon's code word for the Kennedy assassination. Four of the seven principal Watergate figures were involved in the Bay of Pigs, and Nixon directed Haldeman to tell CIA Director Richard Helms to help stop the FBI from pursuing Watergate because it would "open up the whole Bay of Pigs thing.")

Nowhere in "Nixon" is it claimed, however, that Richard Nixon himself played any role in Track 2 activities after he was defeated by Kennedy in 1960. In fact, a key scene has Nixon (who in fact was in Dallas the day of the assassination, leaving a few hours before) resisting the pressure of a group of influential Texans and Cubans entreating him to run against a President they darkly hint may not be as invulnerable as he seems.

But it is clear that Nixon had a strong suspicion within hours of the JFK assassination that it was the work of extremist right-wingers. The first thing he worriedly asked J. Edgar Hoover was "Was it one of the nuts?" ("Nuts" is the word Nixon usually used for the fringe conservatives.) It is a complex and dramatically important linchpin of the film that Nixon benefited greatly both from JFK's death and that of his younger brother five years later (when Nixon saw Robert Kennedy as his most likely -- and most formidable -- Democratic opponent).

Nixon, according to several sources, suffered from survivor's guilt -- he watched his older brother Harold and younger brother Arthur die of tuberculosis -- and the deaths of JFK and RFK, which cleared the way for Nixon's ultimate political ascendance, could only have added to this guilt.

In addition to a number of scholarly works -- such as Jonathan Aitken's Nixon: A Life, Stephen Ambrose's three-volume biography on Nixon, Tom Wicker's One of Us: Richard Nixon and the American Dream, Fawn Brodie's Richard Nixon: The Shaping of His Character, Roger Morris' Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician and Garry Wills' Nixon Agonistes -- useful sources for "Nixon" were memoirs (those of Nixon, Dean, Haldeman, Kissinger, Ehrlichman, Hunt, etc.), interviews (i.e. the Nixon-Frost sessions) and documentaries, such as "Watergate," shown on The Discovery Channel. Scenes were also drawn directly from official transcripts -- Nixon's resignation speech, for example -- and documentation kept by the participants themselves. Of course, the transcripts of those Nixon tape recordings that have been released to the public -- a tiny percentage of the total -- were also useful sources for Watergate-related dialogue.

The producers also met with a wide range of political people who lived through Nixon's era, including Alexander Haig, John Dean, E. Howard Hunt, Eugenio Martinez, Leonard Garment, Ron Ziegler, John Sears, Elliot Richardson, Steve Hess, Robert McNamara and Paul Nitze. Former Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Cabinet Alexander Butterfield, and former Special Counsel to the President John Dean, both served as two of the several technical advisors to "Nixon."

As stated on the first page of the script, "Nixon" is an attempt to understand the life of America's 37th President. It is neither hagiography nor horror show, but an effort to explore, with integrity and compassion, a most remarkable and disturbing man of our time.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Richard Nixon was a man who lived not one, but several lives, some of which ended in disaster, others in triumph. His final exit was in fact one of his greatest successes, as he was laid to rest extolled by fellow former Presidents, world leaders, politicians, historians and admirers. Several candidates for the 1996 Presidential race have lifted the Nixon banner high, aspiring to what they perceive to be his finest qualities.

"It's a year after his death," says the filmmaker Oliver Stone about his reasons for making this film, "and Nixon remains one of the most fascinating and frustrating figures of 20th century American history. He's, in fact, a man of the century -- he lived through the promise of the California pioneers, the Depression, World War II, the Cold War, Vietnam, the war at home during those years, the end of the Cold War and world Communism. It's almost as if he embodies everything that's right and wrong about America in general and American politicians in particular. There's no question that he was brilliant, but he used it for less than noble ends. His potential was limitless, but ultimately was limited by powers that even he couldn't control.

"To some degree," Stone says, "Nixon" is about the illusion of power. Nixon himself said that he had been to the highest peaks and the lowest valleys. He is a giant of a tragic figure in the classical tradition. Humble origins, rising to the top, then crashing down in a heap of hubris."

Oliver Stone decided to take on the task of interpreting Richard Nixon's life on film after two other projects failed to come together for the director. "We (our company) had developed two consecutive projects about strong but fatally flawed political leaders -- General Manuel Noriega and Eva Peron -- which for one reason or another we decided not to proceed with. I was particularly interested in doing a character study of a powerful leader against a large historical backdrop, and Eric Hamburg -- who had come to work with us from Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton's staff in Washington, D.C. and was extremely helpful in getting the JFK Records Act passed in 1992 -- suggested Richard Nixon. Eric met with Stephen Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson and asked them to submit a treatment. The idea appealed to me. I thought the time was right for a serious examination of this extraordinary man."

Stone hired these two inspired writers with whom he wrote the script. Looking for Nixon as the screenplay by Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson and Stone was completed -- with further contributions by political columnist Robert Scheer, Christopher Scheer, political analyst and author John Newman and former Nixon counsel John Dean -- the director had a crucial casting matter to consider ... who would portray Richard M. Nixon?

This was no easy issue. Unlike figures of history past, Nixon, gone for only a year, is still very much alive in the public mind and imagination. Stone's task was to find an actor who could breathe life into his subject without falling into caricature, and someone with the physical and artistic stamina to handle a tremendously demanding role that would require 55 days of intense work in a schedule that was limited by budget considerations to 61 days. The script was a thick 170 pages.

Stone soon pinpointed the man he wanted ... Sir Anthony Hopkins, who has demonstrated over the course of his remarkable career on stage, screen and television the ability to tackle nearly any role in whatever genre, whether it be classical, comedic, contemporary or historical. And the fact that he was choosing an actor born in Wales to portray one of the most famous of American presidents was of little concern to Stone.

"Some of Tony's previous roles have shown a melancholy, lonely quality that was perfect for Nixon," continues Stone. "He also has the right look to play the man. But aside from everything, he's just a great actor who can, I believe, play anything he sets his mind to."

As for the actor, the modest Hopkins was not, at the outset, quite so confident as the director who was seeking his talents: "When my agent told me that Oliver Stone was sending me a script about Nixon, I said 'Well, I can't think of any English characters who were involved with all that.' He said, 'No, he wants you to play Nixon!' And I thought, well, this man is crazy, and even though I loved the script, I told Oliver that I didn't think I could possibly play Richard Nixon.

"The next thing I knew, Oliver turned up in London, and on my way to meet him for breakfast, I sensed that this wasn't just an opportunity to play a great part. I sensed that it would be a personal challenge to me, not just as an actor, but to me personally. A chance to see if I had the guts to do something truly ambitious and risky. I suddenly realized that it would be insane to turn it down. So 24 hours after we met for breakfast, I phoned him up when he returned to Los Angeles and told him that I wanted to do it. Oliver said 'You're sure?' I said 'Absolutely sure.' And he said 'You can't turn back now.' So I took a deep breath and moved toward a project which turned out to be the most exciting I've ever been involved with."

ASSEMBLING THE CAST
With Hopkins on board, Stone proceeded to populate his enormous cast of characters with an accomplished group of ensemble players, some of them major stars in their own right devoting just a day or two to become involved with what they perceived to be an important film.

"The remarkable thing about our cast," says Stone, "is that even though it's filled with 'big names,' not one of them has ever allowed themselves to become stereotyped in their careers. All of them are great character actors."

The performers set about researching their characters and the times in which they lived. Stone, Hopkins and James Woods, who portrays White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, made a research trip to Washington, D.C., where they spent time in the White House and other landmarks of the nation's capital and met with Nixon intimates. Joan Allen, cast as Pat Nixon, spent hours reading about Mrs. Nixon and watching videotapes in New York's Museum of Television and Radio Broadcasting. Some of the actors had the opportunity to speak -- either directly or over the telephone -- with the men they were to portray, including Powers Boothe (Alexander Haig), David Paymer (Ron Ziegler), David Hyde Pierce (John Dean) and Paul Sorvino (Henry Kissinger).

Hopkins, meanwhile, immersed himself in an ocean of books, films and videotapes, studying Nixon's mannerisms and voice, seeking subtleties of interpretation in addition to the most obviously recognizable. In his research, Hopkins found himself seeking a "place of empathy" which would allow him to portray Richard Nixon in three human dimensions. "I don't have any judgments, political or apolitical," explains Hopkins. "I'm just trying to play the human being that he was. I think the mechanism that got Nixon into the White House was also the mechanism that ended him. Whenever I watch his final walk to the helicopter after resigning the Presidency, I find that so moving and tragic. My interpretation of that look on his face is 'What the hell happened? Why have I blown it?' I think he blew it because he was tormented by the demons inside that he couldn't reconcile. Some people can overcome their inner demons and monsters, and Nixon was one who just couldn't. And that's his tragedy ... that's his pain."

"Nixon was a great man in his way," Hopkins continues, "but he seemed to be an alien in his own land. You know, Nixon is much more popular overseas than he is in the U.S. He was a man who was awkward in society. When he went to Washington he was disliked intensely, because of his political history. He was ruthless, he was tough. He destroyed Alger Hiss, he destroyed Helen Gahagan Douglas. Those were the rules he lived by. But to become the President of the United States from those humble beginnings in Yorba Linda and Whittier ... that's an extraordinary man. That's not a little guy. That's a man driven by some great passion, some great vision."

ORGANIZING THE PRODUCTION
While script and casting were crystallizing, producer Clayton Townsend was laying the groundwork for a rigorous production schedule which would call for the creative team to devote full energies in bringing a large chunk of American and world history to multi-dimensional life. And despite the huge organization that Townsend previously had to contend with on such past Stone projects as "Born on the Fourth of July," "The Doors," "JFK," "Heaven and Earth" and "Natural Born Killers," the producer was faced with his biggest challenges yet.

"In terms of sheer logistics, 'Nixon' is the toughest film I've ever done," notes Townsend. "We had to shoot an epic 170-page script on an economical budget in only 61 days." Although such locations as Washington, Virginia and North Carolina were originally contemplated, Stone and Townsend decided upon Los Angeles as the primary shooting site when they learned that extensive White House sets had recently been constructed and utilized for the Castle Rock Entertainment production of "The American President" on Stages 20, 26 and 30 at Sony Studios in Culver City, and Stage 15 of the nearby Culver Studios.

"We looked at the sets with our production designer, Victor Kempster, and we soon decided that these sets, with additional work, could function perfectly as our Nixon White House," continues Townsend. "And since so much of the film is set within the White House walls -- and Oliver likes to shoot in continuity as much as possible -- we decided to remain in the Southern California area for as much of the production as possible."

WASHINGTON IN LOS ANGELES
The obvious challenge for Victor Kempster and his talented art department team -- including art directors Don Woodruff, Richard Mays and Margery Zweizig and set decorator Merideth Boswell -- was to create interior and exterior environments that would be absolutely believable backdrops for the story primarily set in Washington, D.C. and its environs...almost entirely on Southern California soundstages and locations.

As noted by producer Townsend, the White House sets originally constructed for "The American President" presented an excellent foundation for Kempster and his staff to extensively re-dress and re-build for the Nixon White House according to historical detail. "Fortunately for us," says Kempster, "the 'American President' designer did quite a nice job on the residential wing, so we mostly had to re-decorate that one, and build the Lincoln Sitting Room from scratch, because that wasn't part of their scenery.

"The Oval Office and West Wing we had to re-do quite a bit, because 'The American President' is a contemporary romantic fantasy, and our film had to be rooted in the reality of history."

The results of the painstakingly detailed work were so amazingly authentic that even technical advisor Alexander Butterfield -- who worked in the White House every day for five years as Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Cabinet -- did a double take the first time he saw it. "I was amazed, dumbfounded. I couldn't believe what I was seeing -- the Roosevelt Room first, then the Oval Office, then the Cabinet Room -- everything to scale and precisely as I remembered it. Not only the sofas, desks, tables and chairs, but the little things, too -- the clocks, the President's pens, paintings, textiles and patterns. I was honestly transported back in time to the early '70s. I couldn't stand there and look around without feeling certain that I was in Washington. In fact, the entire first week of shooting in the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room had me confused. On the set, I was in Washington. I couldn't think otherwise. Yet, whenever I left the soundstage and emerged out into the sunlight, there I was on the Sony Studio property ... in the middle of Los Angeles."

Kempster and his art department heads benefited from a research trip to Washington, during which "we were treated beautifully by people at the White House. We had a very extensive tour there, and spent a lot of time measuring and examining small details." They also spent hours of research in the White House Archives, studying photographs of the White House rooms during the Nixon Administration.

(It certainly didn't hurt matters that set decorator Merideth Boswell, who hails from Arkansas, is an old family friend of Bill Clinton.)

Perhaps the art department's most amazing feat would be their awesome full-scale re-creation of the Lincoln Memorial interior sanctuary on Stage 30 of Sony Studios. Renovation and highly visible scaffolding on the actual Lincoln Memorial in Washington made it impossible for the filmmakers to shoot the scene there in its entirety, but the set on Stage 30 was to be an awesomely effective substitute.

The actual statue of President Lincoln -- 19 feet tall, and 33 feet from its imposing base, exactly as is Daniel Chester French's original -- was sculpted from polyurethane foam. Head sculptor Fred Arbegast utilized not only the exact dimensions of the real article in Washington, but one of Lincoln's actual death masks for detailing on the head. Some of the major entry columns and six of the side columns were also sculpted by Arbegast and his crew of five in Styrofoam.

THE SHOOT
Principal photography on "Nixon" commenced on May 1, 1995 inside the Oval Office set at Sony Studios -- an Oval Office dressed exactly as Nixon's, with its imperial golds and blues, bird statues on the shelves, Presidential desk sparsely outfitted. For Anthony Hopkins, a lifelong America-phile, it was a true day of destiny. Stone had already decided in the pre-production phase to eschew "mask" makeup for Hopkins' Nixon, choosing instead to allow the actor to create Nixon from the inside out, with subtle physical alterations.

Says the director, "I didn't want the audience to sit there and say 'Wow, what a fantastic makeup job! He looks exactly like Nixon!,' instead of concentrating on the character and story. We wanted to suggest Nixon rather than a nightclub impressionist's act, which would only distract the audience.

"In fact, we did experiment for several tests and at great expense with Nixonian prosthetics -- the jowls and prominent nose -- but you always risk the Madame Tussaud pitfall. Tony is a strong enough actor so that you don't need those effects."

And so, working with a hairpiece, Nixon-esque upper teeth, brown contact lenses and more prominent eyebrows, key makeup artist John Blake and key hair stylist Cydney Cornell transformed Anthony Hopkins on a daily basis into Richard Nixon. The technical advisors and visitors to the set who had known and worked with Richard Nixon -- Alex Butterfield, John and Maureen Dean, former campaign manager John Sears, E. Howard Hunt -- were astonished to find that through body language, gestures and voice, the late President was resurrected before their eyes.

"Anthony Hopkins has very definitely captured the essence or aura of Nixon," notes Butterfield. "First of all, his years of voice training have given him the ability to nail down the precise pitch and tone of Nixon's voice ... this in addition to mastering the American accent. Secondly, he has the posture of Nixon, the gestures and mannerisms, down pat. Many viewers may not know of Nixon's odd way of gesturing and others may not recall them. But those who knew Nixon well may be astounded."

Also of note was special makeup artist Gordon Smith's remarkable work on Paul Sorvino as Henry Kissinger and Bob Hoskins as J. Edgar Hoover, as well as Blake and Cornell's designs for the remainder of the huge cast, many of whom strongly resemble their real-life counterparts.

Adding to the historical accuracy of "Nixon" were the costumes designed by Richard Hornung, more than 5,000 in all, covering a 60-year-long stretch of styles and fashions for both men and women. "My favorite period was the early '60s," says Hornung, "but the '70s was the ugliest time ever for fashion. And it was hard finding enough clothes that were conservative enough for what those working in the White House had to wear, because so many colors and shapes of early '70s design were so outlandish. So we had to make nearly everything for Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen, James Woods and many of the other actors."

Cinematically, Oliver Stone and his longtime collaborator, cinematographer Robert Richardson, sought to develop a style unique to the project. "'Nixon' is different from anything we've done previously, including 'JFK' and 'Natural Born Killers,'" says Stone. "Falling back on what we've done before would be uninteresting to me, Bob Richardson and everyone else on the crew. It's exciting to experiment and re-invent. We're using the widescreen format, which allows for dynamic compositions and interesting spatial use of the screen, but I think we've fallen into a style somewhere between "JFK" and "Natural Born Killers."

Also visually inspired by "Nixon" was production designer Kempster, who in addition to the White House sets, had to create dozens of other environments to the story's vast backdrop.

These included an exact re-creation of the television studio in which Nixon debated John F. Kennedy in 1960, filmed at Video Image, a company which would also provide computerized composites for "Nixon" which would place Anthony Hopkins in the same frame as actual historical personages; the musty, atmospheric Beijing office of Mao Tse-Tung, created in a ballroom of downtown L.A.'s Park Plaza Hotel; and also at Sony Studios, Nixon's private office in Washington's Old Executive Office Building (O.E.O.B.), a Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel suite in which Nixon and his campaign team watch his Presidential candidacy fall to John F. Kennedy, and the podium from which Nixon delivered his triumphant speech upon being named the Republican Party's candidate for the 1968 race; the "California Deco" grounds of Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia doubled for San Diego's Del Mar track, where a reluctant Nixon is met by J. Edgar Hoover and gangster Johnny Roselli.

One of the most notable re-creations was an entirely convincing White House gate, constructed at one of the entrances into El Dorado Park in Long Beach. Local residents -- particularly those who had visited the real thing in the nation's capital -- were amazed to discover that their local recreation area was such a dead ringer with the addition of those wood-and-plaster gates.

Outside of the Los Angeles area, the "Nixon" company alighted to the Circle K Ranch in the Santa Ynez mountains of the California Central Coast region, which had both the look and surrounding topography to suggest a large spread in the hills outside of Dallas, Texas.

And in the town of Redlands, on a road running between citrus groves, location manager Jeff Flach discovered the ideal location for the Nixon family's East Whittier grocery store/filling station and white frame house. A realistic image of a California that existed 60 years ago, production designer Victor Kempster built the evocative grocery store from ground up, and totally reconstructed an abandoned home to resemble the environment where Richard Nixon spent his most formative years. Nearby, in Riverside, the magnificent Mission Inn was utilized to present the backdrop for a brief scene re-creating the 1940 marriage of Richard Nixon and Patricia Ryan...who indeed took their vows at the very same Mission Inn 55 years ago. Another image of the past was conjured up in Fillmore, with a 1952 Nixon -- with Pat by his side -- campaigning for congressman from the back of a vintage train. (John Dean has a cameo appearance in a close-up shot as a man in the crowd listening to Nixon.)

The last days of filming in Los Angeles were done on the harbor off the coast of San Pedro, with the beautiful 1930s-era yacht Electra standing in for the Presidential yacht Sequoia, where Nixon and his key staff discuss matters of State over a tense dinner on the Potomac.

WASHINGTON FINALE
However, there was some poetic justice in the fact that the "Nixon" production was to wrap not in L.A., but in Washington, D.C., where Stone and company worked in torrid summer heat to capture both the look and feeling of the nation's capital.

"Trying to obtain permissions to film these scenes was quite difficult," says producer Clayton Townsend. "The negotiations required several trips to Washington, and high-level conversations." An important nighttime meeting between John Dean (David Hyde Pierce) and Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt (Ed Harris) was shot on the Inlet Bridge, with the illuminated Jefferson and Washington Memorials dramatically looming in the background. Shots of Anthony Hopkins as Nixon, ascending the steps of the real Lincoln Memorial, tied in with the sequences previously shot at Sony's Stage 30. It was a fitting finale in the early morning hours of July 27, 1995 for a production of uncommon ambitiousness.

Toward the end of filming, the actors took a moment to ruminate on their weeks of hard work and dedication filming "Nixon."

"I've worked with some really good directors," says Anthony Hopkins, "all of whom are different. And I don't reduce their stature because I'm working with Oliver Stone. But I think he's the most provocative, dangerous director I've ever worked with, and at 57 years of age, I'm glad I had the guts to accept his offer to play Nixon.

"Oliver will make you do take after take if it's not right, and he'll knock down the crutches that you have...which is wonderful emotional and spiritual growth for an actor."

"Anthony Hopkins is magnificent as both an actor and a human being," notes Joan Allen, who portrays Pat Nixon. "You know, Tony has really dug into the depths of this very paradoxical figure, and he's both extremely warm and supportive as a fellow actor.

"As for Oliver Stone, he's worked very, very hard on the script as a writer, and I had a wonderful time working with him as a director. Oliver is a true actor's director, with an unerring eye for dramatic accuracy. He's very supportive, and truly directs you."

"Oliver has been very focused on his sense of the history of the piece, and not just the drama of the piece," adds James Woods. "I was initially shocked by how compassionate the script is towards Richard Nixon as a man, and it's to Oliver's credit that the film has a view of this man in a way that might surprise everyone."

Adds Mary Steenburgen, "I think Oliver Stone has a lot of respect for the life of Richard Nixon."

Concludes Stone: "I've been asked if this film makes any moral judgments on Richard Nixon. 'Moral' is a dangerous word. It's not for me to make moral judgments or draw simplistic conclusions from the life and career of Richard Nixon. Good and evil live side-by-side in every human being, but when they're in positions of great power -- as Nixon was -- those dualities can affect the entire world. Like all of us, Richard Nixon was a catalog of complexities and contradictions. The audience will draw their own conclusions, or better yet, question the history that evolves on screen.

"Like 'JFK,' I hope that 'Nixon' will inspire debate and independent thinking."

ABOUT THE CAST
SIR ANTHONY HOPKINS (Richard M. Nixon) received an Academy Award¨ as Best Actor for his performance in "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) and was nominated for his performance in 1993's "The Remains of the Day" for which he was named Best Actor by the British Academy of Film & Television Arts. He also starred in Richard Attenborough's film "Shadowlands," which won numerous critics' awards in the U.S. and Britain.

In 1992 he appeared in "Howards End," directed by James Ivory, and in "Bram Stoker's Dracula," directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He most recently starred in Edward Zwick's hit "Legends of the Fall," and was also seen in 1993 in Alan Parker's "The Road to Wellville." With the release of his film "August" in 1995, Hopkins makes his directorial debut and stars in an adaptation of the play by Anton Chekhov.

Earlier films of note include "84 Charing Cross Road," "The Bounty," "The Elephant Man," "Magic" and "A Bridge Too Far."

In American television, Hopkins received two Emmy Awards: for "The Lindbergh Kidnapping" (1976) in which he portrayed Bruno Hauptmann, and "The Bunker" (1981) in which he portrayed Adolph Hitler.

Born in Port Talbot, Wales, on December 31, 1937, Hopkins is the one child of Muriel and Richard Hopkins. His father was a baker. He was educated at Cowbridge Grammar School. At 17 he wandered into a YMCA amateur theatrical production and knew immediately that he was in the right place.

With newfound enthusiasm, combined with proficiency at the piano, Hopkins won a scholarship to the Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, where he studied for two years (1955-57). He entered the British Army in 1958 for mandatory military training, spending most of the two-year tour of duty clerking in the Royal Artillery unit at Bulford.

In 1960 Hopkins joined the Manchester Library Theatre as an assistant stage manager, then went to the Nottingham Repertory Company where he was advised to go elsewhere for further training as an actor. He auditioned for London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1961 and was accepted on a scholarship. He graduated a Silver Medalist in 1963 and promptly joined the Phoenix Theatre in Leicester. His next move was to the Liverpool Playhouse and Hornchurch Repertory Theatre.

In 1965 Hopkins was invited to audition for Sir Laurence Olivier, then director of the National Theatre at the Old Vic. Two years later, he was Olivier's understudy in Strindberg's "Dance of Death."

Hopkins made his film debut in 1968, playing Richard the Lionheart in "The Lion in Winter," starring Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn. He received a British Academy Award nomination for his work. American television viewers discovered Hopkins in the 1973 miniseries production on ABC of Leon Uris' "QB VII," which won the actor great acclaim. The following year he starred on Broadway in the National Theatre production of "Equus," and later mounted another production of the play in Los Angeles where he lived for nearly 10 years, working extensively in American films and television.

After starring as Captain Bligh in "The Bounty," Hopkins returned to England and the London stage in 1984, starring in David Hare's "Pravda" at the National Theatre. For this he received the British Theatre Association's Best Actor Award and the Observer Award for Outstanding Achievement at the 1985 Laurence Olivier Awards. He later appeared in repertory, alternating in "Antony and Cleopatra" and "King Lear," and in the London production of "M. Butterfly."

Hopkins has been married to the former Jennifer Lynton since 1973. His daughter Abigail was born in 1968 during a brief first marriage.

Anthony Hopkins was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Honour List, June 1987. On December 31, 1992 his knighthood was announced by Buckingham Palace. The investiture was held at Buckingham Palace on February 23, 1993.

Tony Award winner JOAN ALLEN (Pat Nixon) is one of the New York theatre world's most honored actresses and winner of every major prize for her work on and off-Broadway. She received the Best Actress Tony Award for her performance starring with John Malkovich in Lanford Wilson's "Burn This," and was nominated in the same category for her role in "The Heidi Chronicles." Off-Broadway she starred in "The Marriage of Bette & Boo" (for which she won the Obie Award), and reprised her Steppenwolf Theatre/Joseph Jefferson Award-winning role in "And A Nightingale Sang," for which she received the Clarence Derwent Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and a Theatre World Award. Off-Broadway she also starred in "Delores" and "The Heidi Chronicles." An original member of Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Allen starred in their productions of "Burn This," "Earthly Possessions," "Reckless," "A Lesson From Aloes" (Joseph Jefferson Award), "Balm in Gilead" and "Of Mice and Men."

Born in Rochelle, Illinois, Allen was a theatre major at Eastern Illinois University and Northern Illinois University. It was while she was attending EIU that she became involved with Steppenwolf. She went on to appear in numerous feature films including "Compromising Positions," "Peggy Sue Got Married," "Manhunter," "Tucker: The Man And His Dream," "Ethan Frome," "Josh and S.A.M.," "In Country," "Searching for Bobby Fischer" and "Mad Love."

In addition to theatre and films, Allen starred on television in the HBO movie "Without Warning: The James Brady Story," the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation "All My Sons," the NBC miniseries "Evergreen," PBS' "The Room Upstairs," as well as the ABC series "The Twilight Zone," and her local Emmy Award nominated performance in the Chicago Public Television production of "Say Goodnight, Gracie."

She lives in New York with her husband and 2-year-old daughter Sadie.

POWERS BOOTHE (Alexander Haig) has won acclaim for his memorable performances in film, television and theatre productions. Among his motion picture credits are starring roles in director Peter Hyams' "Sudden Death," George Cosmatos' "Tombstone," Dwight Little's "Rapid Fire," Tony Richardson's "Blue Sky," Walter Hill's "Extreme Prejudice" and "Southern Comfort," John Boorman's "The Emerald Forest," Philippe Mora's "A Breed Apart," and John Milius' "Red Dawn."

Boothe first gained wide recognition for his Emmy Award-winning portrayal of Reverend Jim Jones in the telefeature "The Guyana Tragedy." He subsequently portrayed John Walker in the CBS drama "Family of Spies: The Walker Spy Ring," co-starred with James Earl Jones and Martin Landau in HBO's "By Dawn's Early Light," and starred in the NBC telefeatures "Hard Time," "The Sandman" and "Mind Over Murder." His earlier television work included HBO's "Into the Homeland," for which he received an ACE nomination, "A Cry for Love" and "Skag." He also portrayed Phillip Marlowe in the eleven-part miniseries based on the famous detective's adventures.

Boothe also has a solid theatre background. In 1972, he accepted an invitation to become a resident actor at the Oregon Shakespeare Company. Two years later he moved to New York City, where he made his stage debut with a role in the Lincoln Center production of "Richard III." After appearing regularly with regional theatre groups and acting in the American and New York Shakespeare Festivals, Boothe's career breakthrough came with a starring role on Broadway in James McClure's critically acclaimed one-act comedy "Lone Star."

Born and a raised on a farm near Snyder, Texas, Boothe now raises racing quarterhorses when not in front of the camera. He resides near Los Angeles with his wife and two children.

ED HARRIS (E. Howard Hunt) recently completed filming "The Rock," with Sean Connery, on location at Alcatraz. He will soon be seen in "Eye For An Eye" with co-star Sally Field for director John Schlesinger. This past summer he starred opposite Tom Hanks in Ron Howard's "Apollo 13." Some of his other feature film credits include "Just Cause," "Milk Money," "China Moon," "Needful Things," "The Firm," "Glengarry Glen Ross," "State of Grace," "The Abyss," "Jacknife," "To Kill A Priest," "Walker," "Sweet Dreams," "Alamo Bay," "A Flash of Green," "Swing Shift," "Under Fire" and "The Right Stuff."

Harris' television credits include HBO's "The Last Innocent Man" and "Running Mates," and Showtime's "Paris Trout." Last summer Harris and his wife, actress Amy Madigan, co-produced and co-starred in a new film adaptation of Zane Grey's "Riders of the Purple Sage" for Turner Network Television.

Born in Tenafly, New Jersey, Harris attended Columbia University for two years and then attended the University of Oklahoma, where he began to study acting. In 1973, Harris moved to California and entered the California Institute of the Arts, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree.

In addition to his stage work, Harris' early feature film credits include "Coma," "Borderline," "Knightriders" and "Creepshow." He made his New York stage debut in Sam Shepard's "Fool for Love," for which he earned the 1983 Obie Award as Outstanding Actor. Three years later, he earned a Tony nomination and a Drama Desk Award for his Broadway debut in George Furth's "Precious Sons."

Since then, Harris has won two Los Angeles Theatre Critics Association Awards -- the first for "Prairie Avenue" and the second for Murray Mednick's "Scar." His other L.A. stage credits include "A Streetcar Named Desire," "The Grapes of Wrath," "Hamlet" and "Sweet Bird of Youth."

This past Fall, Harris appeared off-Broadway in the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of Sam Shepard's "Simpatico" with his "Eye For An Eye" co-star Beverly D'Angelo. He won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Performance by an Actor for that performance.

BOB HOSKINS (J. Edgar Hoover) was nominated for an Academy Award¨ as Best Actor for his portrayal of a romantic, small-time hood in Neil Jordan's "Mona Lisa" (1986), and became a household name two years later when he starred as a detective opposite his animated co-star in Robert Zemeckis' "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."

Born in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England, Hoskins was raised in a Cockney section of London, the son of a bookkeeper and a nursery school aide. He dropped out of school at the age of 15 and for nearly a decade wandered about, supporting himself with an odd variety of occupations, including a chimney sweep, nightclub bouncer, circus fire-eater, and fruit picker on an Israeli kibbutz. He later trained to become an accountant, but with his artistic inclinations calling, turned to sculpting, painting and poetry writing. Accidentally stumbling on a theatrical audition, he won the part with no previous training or preparation, and soon found himself performing in prestigious productions on London's Royal Court and National Theatres.

In films, Hoskins rapidly worked his way up from supporting roles in such films as "The National Health," "Royal Flash," "Inserts" and "Zulu Dawn" to character leads in "The Long Good Friday," "Beyond the Limit," "The Cotton Club," "Brazil," "Sweet Liberty," "A Prayer for the Dying," "The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne," "The Raggedy Rawney" (which he also directed), "Heart Condition," "Mermaids," "Shattered," "Hook," "The Inner Circle," "The Favor, the Watch and the Very Big Fish," "Passed Away" and "Super Mario Bros." He also starred in the dramatic television special "World War II: Then There Were Giants." Hoskins recently directed his second feature, "Rainbow," and was executive producer for "The Secret Agent."

E.G. MARSHALL (John Mitchell) was born in the small Minnesota town of Owatonna, and left Minneapolis in 1933 to join a Shakespearean company touring the South and Southwest before settling in Chicago, where it became the nucleus of the classical wing of the Federal Theatre.

In 1937, Marshall headed to Broadway, where his stage triumphs included Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh," first as the alcoholic law student, then in the leading role of Hickey. Other stage credits include "The Skin of Our Teeth," "Jacobowsky and the Colonel," "Waiting for Godot," "Hope is a Thing With Feathers," "The Gambler," "The Crucible," "This Winter's Hobby," Neil Simon's comedy hit "Plaza Suite," Lincoln Center's all-star revival of Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes" and "The Gin Game." Marshall's long list of motion pictures have included "The Caine Mutiny," "Twelve Angry Men," "The House on 92nd Street," "The Mountain," "Compulsion," "Call Northside 777," "The Journey," "Town Without Pity," "Bachelor Party," "The Left Hand of God," "The Chase," "Broken Lance," "Tora! Tora! Tora!," "Billy Jack Goes to Washington," "Interiors," "Creepshow," "Superman II," "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" and "Consenting Adult."

He is perhaps best known to television viewers for his starring roles in "The Bold Ones" and "The Defenders," which enjoyed a five-year run and earned Marshall two Emmy Awards.

Marshall is an officer of The American Judicature Society, a national organization of judges, lawyers and lay persons devoted to promoting the effective administration of justice. He is also a Fellow of the American Bar Association.

DAVID PAYMER (Ronald Ziegler) most recently starred with John Travolta, Gene Hackman and Danny DeVito in "Get Shorty," and with Michael Douglas in "The American President." Last year he portrayed Dan Enright, creator and producer of the popular TV show "Twenty-One," in Robert Redford's highly acclaimed "Quiz Show." He will soon be seen opposite Al Pacino in "City Hall," director John Dahl's "Unforgettable," and opposite Tom Arnold in "Carpool."

Paymer's performance as Billy Crystal's put upon brother in "Mr. Saturday Night" won him both a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor of 1992.

In addition, Paymer played supporting roles in "Heart and Souls," "Searching for Bobby Fischer," "City Slickers" and its sequel "City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold," "Crazy People," "No Way Out," "The In-Laws," "Irreconcilable Differences," "Perfect," "Best Defense" and "Howard the Duck."

Born and raised on Long Island, New York, Paymer graduated from the University of Michigan. His career began when he attended an open casting call for the Broadway show "Grease," and won the role of Sonny Latieri. Shortly afterward, he made his feature film debut in "The In-Laws," then moved to Los Angeles to pursue his new screen and television career.

During his first year in L.A., Paymer performed stand-up comedy at the Improvisation and The Comedy Store. His first job after moving to the West Coast was as an inept burglar on "Barney Miller." Numerous TV roles followed, including guest starring roles on such series as "Hill Street Blues," "Taxi," "Lou Grant," "Cheers," "Murphy Brown," "L.A. Law" and "Moonlighting."

When not acting, Paymer writes scripts and teaches acting at The Film Actors Workshop. He presently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Liz Georges, and their one-year-old daughter.

DAVID HYDE PIERCE (John Dean) won this year's Emmy Award and a Viewers for Quality Television Award as Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the snobbish psychiatrist Niles Crane, brother to the title character on NBC's smash hit comedy series "Frasier."

Pierce was born in upstate New York, and received a B.A. from Yale with a double major in English and Theatre Arts. In 1981, degree in hand, he proceeded to New York City and quickly got a job selling ties in Bloomingdale's while he studied acting. He landed his first professional job in "Beyond Therapy" on Broadway, followed by stints off-Broadway and in regional theatre. Between 1983 and 1985 he worked in various productions at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis before returning to New York to appear in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of "Hamlet." He interrupted his stage work for a role in his first feature film, "Bright Lights, Big City," before departing on a tour of the Soviet Union and Japan in "The Cherry Orchard" from 1988 to '89.

Pierce's big break came when he appeared on Broadway in "The Heidi Chronicles" for six months, earning him the attention of the media and his peers. More feature roles followed in such films as "Little Man Tate," "The Fisher King," "Crossing Delancey," "Rocket Gibraltar," "Sleepless in Seattle" and "Wolf."

In 1991, Pierce was cast in the NBC series "The Powers That Be." His additional TV credits include guest-starring roles on the series "Crime Story" and "Spenser: For Hire."

PAUL SORVINO (Henry Kissinger) is an actor, director, producer, artistic director, respected opera singer, musician, artist, sculptor, writer, expert pocket billiards player and fund raiser for his Sorvino Asthma Foundation. He is a true renaissance man who breaks the mold of typical Hollywood film/tv star.

Sorvino was born in Brooklyn, New York. Upon graduation from Lafayette High School, the opera-loving Sorvino took up singing at charity balls and in nightclubs while selling cars, waiting tables and selling insurance. He entered summer stock at the age of 20 and three years later won a scholarship to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, where he studied with Sandy Meisner and Bill Esper. He made his Broadway debut in "Bajour" two years after that.

However, work in the theatre was scarce and Sorvino decided to go into advertising as a junior copywriter, soon to be promoted to Vice President and Creative Director. But an impending threat of an ulcer convinced him to quit and have another try at the world of theatre, resuming acting classes. Sorvino hasn't stopped working since, amassing impressive credits in theatre, film and television.

Sorvino's feature films have included "That Championship Season," "The Day of the Dolphin," "Reds," "I, The Jury," "Slow Dancing in the Big City," "Oh, God!," "A Touch of Class," "Dick Tracy," "The Brinks Job," "GoodFellas," "The Firm" and "Oh No, Not Her!"

On television, Sorvino starred in the series "Law and Order," "The Oldest Rookie" and "Burt D'Angelo," as well as the telefeature "It Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy" and the miniseries "Chiefs." He co-starred in the TV special "Tell Me Where It Hurts," and won the Gavel Award from the American Bar Association for his portrayal of a deaf lawyer in the highly acclaimed "Dummy." He recently starred in a "Perry Mason Mystery Movie," and just finished filming a Showtime Original Movie. In addition, he will direct his younger daughter, Amanda, in a pilot, "Modern Legends." In early January, 1996, he will fly to Seattle where he will sing with his daughter Mira Sorvino in a concert with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. This concert will be part of a series for PBS.

On Broadway, Sorvino earned a Tony nomination for his performance in Jason Miller's "That Championship Season," and won praise for his performance in Murray Schisgal's "An American Millionaire." He also directed the acclaimed Broadway play "Wheelbarrow Closers," and produced, directed and starred in the off-Broadway play "Marlon Brando Sat Right Here." He was the artistic director of the successful American Stage Company in Teaneck, New Jersey, where such productions as "Other People's Money," "The Bluebird of Happiness," "Jukebox on Broadway," "Forever Plaid" and "Home Games" had their world premieres.

Never giving up his love of opera, Sorvino made his operatic debut in 1981, singing the role of Alfred in "Die Fledermaus" with the Seattle Opera Company and most recently, sang Herod in "Salome" with the Palm Beach Opera Company in January '95. Also this year, he will produce and sing 14 songs for "Paul Sorvino's Italian Christmas," to be shot in the Vatican and three other cities in Italy.

Recovering from asthma inspired Sorvino to write How to Become a Former Asthmatic, a best seller published by William Morrow. He formed the Sorvino Asthma Foundation, which is dedicated to disseminating information about breathing techniques used to overcome asthma.

Sorvino lives in New York. He has two daughters, Mira and Amanda, and a son, Michael.

MARY STEENBURGEN (Hannah Nixon) won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award¨ and a Golden Globe Award for "Melvin and Howard." She also received a Golden Globe Award nomination for "Ragtime."

Born in Newport, Arkansas and raised in North Little Rock, Steenburgen is the daughter of a railroad conductor and a public high school secretary. After attending Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, she moved to New York City at age 19 and studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse.

Steenburgen worked as a waitress and cashier between performances with the improvisational comedy troupe Cracked Tokens. She and four other Playhouse alumni had started the troupe by doing skits for the Bureau of Alcoholism's halfway houses throughout New York. A year after its founding, Cracked Tokens became the resident company at the Manhattan Theater Club.

It was during this time that Jack Nicholson "discovered" her in the reception room at Paramount's casting offices in New York. Nicholson gave her a script and was so impressed with her reading that he sent her to Hollywood for a screen test. Steenburgen soon found herself working opposite Nicholson in "Goin' South" (1978) which launched her film career.

Her films include "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," "Philadelphia," "The Butcher's Wife," "Back to the Future, Part III," "Parenthood," "Miss Firecracker," "End of the Line," which she also executive produced, "Dead of Winter," "Romantic Comedy," "One Magic Christmas," "Cross Creek," "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" and "Time After Time."

Most recently she starred in the forthcoming features "The Grass Harp," with Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Piper Laurie and Sean Patrick Flanery, adapted from the novel by Truman Capote, as well as the miniseries "Gulliver," starring as Mrs. Gulliver opposite her husband, Ted Danson.

Her television appearances include the BBC/Showtime miniseries "Tender is the Night," which brought her a British Broadcasters Guild Award, and "The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank," which brought her an Emmy nomination.

On the London stage, Steenburgen starred in "Holiday," directed by Lindsay Anderson. In New York she starred in the Roundabout Theatre production of George Bernard Shaw's "Candida." She recently starred with Jean Smart in "Marvin's Room" at Los Angeles' Tiffany Theater.

J.T. WALSH (John Ehrlichman) has starred for some of the most celebrated directors in recent filmmaking, from Woody Allen ("Hannah and Her Sisters") and Barry Levinson ("Tin Men," "Good Morning, Vietnam") to Joel Schumacher ("The Client"), Wolfgang Petersen ("Outbreak"), John Dahl ("Red Rock West" and "The Last Seduction"), Sidney Lumet ("Power"), Stephen Frears ("The Grifters"), Bruce Beresford ("Silent Fall"), Rob Reiner ("A Few Good Men") and Ron Howard ("Backdraft"). He moved from early off-Broadway work in such plays as "Ice," "Half a Lifetime," "The American Clock" and "Hamlet" to Broadway productions of "Glengarry Glen Ross," "Macbeth," "Rose" and "Richard III."

Walsh's numerous other motion picture credits include "Miracle on 34th Street," "Blue Chips," "Needful Things," "Hoffa," "Crazy People," "Tequila Sunrise" and "House of Games."

JAMES WOODS (H.R. Haldeman) enjoys a banner year in 1995, starring in two of its most anticipated films -- "Nixon" and Martin Scorsese's "Casino" -- and the highly-praised and Emmy-honored HBO cable movie "Indictment: The McMartin Trial," executive produced by Oliver Stone. Woods also has the title role in Stone's and Spelling Entertainment's feature production "Killer," which will debut at major film festivals later this year.

This rich body of current work follows other critically acclaimed performances by Woods in such recent works as his teaming with Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone in "The Specialist," with Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin in "The Getaway," as well as Bruce Beresford's production of Sam Shepard's play "Curse of the Starving Class."

"Indictment: The McMartin Trial" returned Woods to HBO, presenter two years ago of his tour de force "Citizen Cohn," in which he portrayed controversial McCarthy Committee counsel Roy Cohn to great acclaim. Woods earned the first American Television Award (voted by the nation's critics) Best Actor Trophy, the Peabody Award and nominations literally for every other relevant award for that performance.

Two decades of original and powerful motion picture performances and a trail of awards (two Emmys for Best Actor and an Oscar nomination among them) enable Woods to move effortlessly from big boxoffice studio films to festival-celebrated independent productions by top filmmakers.

In 1986, Woods received a Best Actor Academy Award¨ nomination for Oliver Stone's "Salvador," the Independent Film Project Spirit Award for "Salvador," the Golden Globe Award, Golden Apple Award and Emmy Award -- all for Best Actor -- for the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of "Promise," and another Golden Globe nomination for NBC's "In Love and War." He also starred that year in two other theatrical releases, "The Boost" and "Best Seller." Woods turned in another Emmy-winning performance as the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in "My Name is Bill W."

Woods was born in Utah and grew up, the son of a military hero and a schoolteacher, in various places including Illinois, Virginia, Guam and, principally, Rhode Island. He began his acting career as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While majoring in political science on a full scholarship, the actor appeared in some 36 plays at M.I.T., Harvard and the Theatre Company of Boston. Summer stock at the Provincetown Playhouse completed his preparation to move to New York and become a professional actor. On Broadway, Woods made his New York debut in "Borstal Boy," followed by the lead off-Broadway in "Saved" (for which he won the Obie Award and the Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising Actor). Other New York credits include "The Trial of the Catonsville Nine," "Finishing Touches," "Green Julia" and Michael Weller's "Moonchildren," for which he won the Theatre World Award.

Woods made his film debut in Elia Kazan's "The Visitors" and then played a small but memorable role in "The Way We Were." His first major starring role was in "Alex and the Gypsy" with Jack Lemmon.

It was Joseph Wambaugh's "The Onion Field," directed by Harold Becker, that truly launched Woods film career. He was nominated for the first of four Golden Globe Awards for his performance as cop-killer Gregory Powell.

Woods' first television role was in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of "All the Way Home," followed by his role opposite Meryl Streep in the landmark miniseries "Holocaust." Woods' other distinguished TV work has included "And Your Name is Jonah," "Badge of the Assassin," "The Boys" and "Jane's House."

His feature film work has included "Night Moves," "Eyewitness," "Split Image," "Distance," "Fast-Walking," "Stephen King's Cat's Eye," "The Choirboys," "Cop," "The Black Marble," "Joshua Then and Now," "Videodrome," Sergio Leone's epic "Once Upon A Time in America," "Against All Odds" and "True Believer."

The huge ensemble cast of "Nixon" also features the following fine actors (in alphabetical order):

BRIAN BEDFORD (Clyde Tolson) has amassed a distinguished list of theatrical credits, including a Tony Award as Best Actor for "School for Wives," and additional nominations for "Timon of Athens," "Two Shakespearean Actors" and "The Moliere Comedies." Off-Broadway, Bedford won the Obie and Drama Desk Awards for his performance in "The Knack." Bedford's other Broadway appearances have included "Jumpers," "The Misanthrope," "The Cocktail Party," "Private Lives," "The Unknown Soldier and His Wife," "The Seven Descents of Myrtle," "The Private Ear and the Public Eye" and "Five Finger Exercise."

Bedford has starred in numerous productions for the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in both Canada and the U.S., including the title roles of "Macbeth," "Richard II," "Richard III" and "Hamlet," as well as "Measure for Measure," "The Winter's Tale," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "The Merchant of Venice," "Julius Caesar," "As You Like It," "Much Ado About Nothing" and such non-Shakespeare classics as "Blithe Spirit," "Uncle Vanya," "Waiting for Godot," "The Three Sisters" and "Private Lives."

He has also starred in the national tours of "School for Wives," "Equus," "Sleuth," "Whose Life Is It Anyway?" and "Butley," among others.

Bedford's film work has included starring roles in "The Pad (And How to Use It)," "The Angry Silence" and John Frankenheimer's epic "Grand Prix." Television appearances have included the telefeature "The Last Best Year," the miniseries "Scarlett" and such series as "Cheers," "Murder, She Wrote" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."

KEVIN DUNN (Chuck Colson) has appeared in such motion pictures as Alan Parker's "Mississippi Burning," Ivan Reitman's "Ghostbusters II" and "Dave," Kathryn Bigelow's "Blue Steel," Chris Columbus' "Only the Lonely," Jim Abraham's "Hot Shots!," Richard Attenborough's "Chaplin," Ridley Scott's "1492: Conquest of Paradise" and Antonia Bird's "Mad Love," among others.

Dunn was a series regular on ABC's "Jack and Mike," appeared in four episodes of NBC's "Day By Day," two episodes of "L.A. Law," was the pilot star of "The First Gentleman," as well as the movies of the week "Double Edge," "The Four Diamonds," "Shadow of a Doubt" and the miniseries "Blind Faith."

A mainstay in Chicago theatre, Dunn has starred in the Goodman's production of "The Time of Your Life," the Northlight's "Quartermaine's Terms," "Heart of a Dog," "Bing and Walker" and "Dealing" and the Body Politic's "Volunteers" and "Spokesong." Dunn graduated Illinois Wesleyan University with a B.F.A. in Drama.

FYVUSH FINKEL (Murray Chotiner) won the 1993 Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actor in Dramatic Television for his role as Douglas Wambaugh in "Picket Fences," coming shortly before the actor's 72nd birthday.

Finkel was thrust upon the stage at the age of nine and spent the next 34 years starring in the Yiddish theatre, both in his native state of New York and in theatres nationwide. Between engagements, Finkel honed his skill as a standup comedian, playing the Catskills and other Borscht Belt resorts. He entered mainstream American theatre when he joined Jerome Robbins' national company of "Fiddler on the Roof," where he enjoyed a 12-year run playing everything from the butcher and the innkeeper to the lead role of Tevye. He was also critically acclaimed for his performance as Mr. Mushnick in the hit musical "Little Shop of Horrors," which ran five years at New York's off-Broadway Orpheum Theatre.

Also on stage, Finkel was presented with an Obie Award and a Drama Desk nomination for his work as the shuffling waiter in Joseph Papp's production of "Cafe Crown," which he later took to Broadway. Following his stage successes, Finkel turned his attention to the motion picture screen, appearing in such features as "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "Off Beat," "For Love Or Money" and "Q&A."

Finkel and his wife, Trudi, celebrated their 48th wedding anniversary in March 1995. They have two sons, Ian and Elliot, both successful musicians; three grandchildren; as well as two great grandsons.

ANNABETH GISH (Julie Nixon), after establishing herself as a serious talent in films like "Desert Bloom" and "Mystic Pizza," left Hollywood to attend college. She graduated cum laude from Duke University and was immediately cast opposite Kevin Costner as the legendary sheriff's wife in "Wyatt Earp," and starred in the miniseries "Scarlett."

Gish has also starred in "Hiding Out," "Shag," and "Coupe De Ville." She starred in the telefeatures "Someone to Know," "Last to Go," "Guests of the Emperor," and "A Lady Against the Odds."

Upcoming, Gish stars in "Beautiful Girls" and "The Last Supper."

TONY GOLDWYN (Harold Nixon) first gained international attention with the press and the public for his co-starring role in the smash hit film "Ghost." He subsequently starred with Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington in "The Pelican Brief," as well as the HBO film "The Doomsday Gun." In addition he starred with Sally Field in the miniseries "A Woman of Independent Means," and recently completed starring roles in HBO's "Truman," starring Gary Sinise, and "The Substance of Fire," and the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation "The Boys Next Door," schedule to air in 1996.

Other feature film credits include "Gaby: A True Story," "Kuffs," "Traces of Red," "The Last Tattoo" and "The Last Word." On television, Goldwyn was seen in the TNT miniseries "Iran: Days of Crisis," Showtime's "Taking the Heat" and "Love Matters," the telefeature "Dark Holiday," as well as the series "Tales From the Crypt," "L.A. Law," "Murphy Brown," "Designing Women" and "St. Elsewhere."

Equally at home on stage, Goldwyn currently stars in the Circle in the Square revival of "Holiday." Also in New York he appeared in the Manhattan Theatre Club's production of "Lady in the Dark," and with Kevin Bacon in the off-Broadway production of "Spike Heels." He won an Obie Award in 1990 for his performance in David Steven's off-Broadway hit "The Sum of Us" at the Cherry Lane Theatre.

Goldwyn also spent several seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, where he performed in "Carthaginians," "Picnic," "Peer Gynt," "Uncle Vanya," "Vieux Carre" and in the title role of "Tom Jones." His other theatre credits include "Pride and Prejudice" at the Long Wharf Theatre, "The Lion in Winter," and "Self Storage" at Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum. He made his New York stage debut in "Digby," after which he understudied the role of Billy in "The Real Thing" under the direction of Mike Nichols, a role he recreated at the Mark Taper Forum for Gordon Davidson.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Goldwyn received his B.F.A. at Brandeis University and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

LARRY HAGMAN (Jack Jones) became an international superstar playing J.R. Ewing in CBS-TV's hit television series "Dallas," which ran for an unprecedented 13 seasons. In its heyday, "Dallas" was watched by more than 356 million people every week in 57 countries, and Larry Hagman was its centerpiece as the despicable, corrupt, merciless millionaire J.R.

Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas, the son of actress Mary Martin and attorney Ben Hagman. After a year at Bard College in Anandale-on-the-Hudson, New York, Hagman decided to follow in his mother's distinguished theatrical footsteps. His first stage experience was with the Margo Jones Theatre-in-the-Round in Dallas. He next appeared in the New York City Center production of "The Taming of the Shrew," followed by a year in regional theatre.

Hagman moved to England as a member of the cast of his mother's big stage hit, "South Pacific," and stayed for five years. There he joined the U.S. Air Force, where he produced and directed shows for servicemen. While stationed in England, Hagman met and married Maj Axelsson, a young Swedish designer, in December 1954.

After completing his military service, Hagman returned to New York for a series of Broadway and off-Broadway plays, including "Once Around the Block," "Career," "Comes A Day," "A Priest in the House" and "The Beauty Part," among others.

His television experience began with various guest appearances on such shows as "Playhouse 90." He was then cast in the daytime series "The Edge of Night," in which he starred for more than two years.

After eight years in New York, Hagman decided to pack up his family -- which included daughter Kristina Mary (Heidi) and son Preston -- and move to Hollywood. He became a true TV star in 1965 in the comedy series "I Dream of Jeannie," in which Hagman played an amiable astronaut whose life is plagued by a beautiful blonde genie, portrayed by Barbara Eden. The show ran for five years and afterwards, Hagman continued his TV success in "The Good Life" and "Here We Go Again," as well as a multitude of guest-starring roles on various series. He also starred with Lauren Bacall in the TV version of the hit Broadway musical "Applause."

Hagman's TV movie credits include "The President's Mistress," "Last of the Good Guys," "Battered" and "Deadly Encounter." Among his motion picture credits are "Fail-Safe," "Ensign Pulver," "The Cavern," "In Harm's Way," "The Group," "Three in the Cellar," "Harry and Tonto," "Stardust," "Mother, Jugs and Speed," "The Eagle Has Landed," "Superman" and "S.O.B."

This past year, Hagman starred in and executive produced "Staying Afloat," an NBC-TV movie-of-the-week. Larry and Maj Hagman have homes in Malibu and Ojai, California; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and New York City.

EDWARD HERRMANN (Nelson Rockefeller) was born in Washington, D.C., graduated Bucknell and studied on a Fulbright Scholarship at London's Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. After several years with the Dallas Theater Center, he began appearing in films in the early 1970s. Since then, he has been seen in "The Paper Chase," "The Day of the Dolphin," "The Great Gatsby," "The Great Waldo Pepper," "Reds," "Annie" (as Franklin Delano Roosevelt), "Mrs. Soffel," "The Purple Rose of Cairo," "Compromising Positions," "The Lost Boys," "Overboard," "Big Business," "Hero," "Born Yesterday" and "Richie Rich."

Herrmann's numerous television roles have included outstanding portrayals of President Franklin Roosevelt in the telefeature "Eleanor and Franklin" (1976) and its sequel a year later, "Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years." He was also acclaimed for his role as the great baseball player in "The Lou Gehrig Story" in 1978. Recently he starred as Herman Munster in the Fox movie-of-the-week "Here Come the Munsters," and is starring in the role of Branch Ricky in the soon-to-air HBO film "Baseball in Black and White."

On Broadway, Herrmann won a Tony Award for "Mrs. Warren's Profession" and was nominated for "The Philadelphia Story." He's also starred in "Life Sentences" at New York's Second Stage Theatre, "The Three Sisters" at the McCarter Theatre, "Love Letters" at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre and in London, "A Walk in the Woods" and "Tom & Viv."

MADELINE KAHN (Martha Mitchell) won the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Circle Awards for her leading role in the 1993 Broadway production of "The Sisters Rosenzweig." She also received three Tony nominations for "On the Twentieth Century," "Born Yesterday" and "In the Boom Boom Room," winning the Drama Desk Award for the latter production.

In addition to her many Broadway, off-Broadway and regional theatre credits, Kahn has appeared in numerous feature films, including Peter Bogdanovich's "Paper Moon" and Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" (both of which brought her Oscar nominations), Bogdanovich's "What's Up, Doc?", Brooks' "Young Frankenstein," "High Anxiety" and "History of the World, Part I," "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother," "First Family," "City Heat," "Clue," "Betsy's Wedding" and "Mixed Nuts."

On television, Kahn won the People's Choice Award for the series "Oh, Madeline" and earned an Emmy for her starring role in an ABC Afterschool Special. Her additional TV appearances have included "Mister President," "Sesame Street," and the galas honoring George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Stephen Sondheim. Kahn currently stars in the CBS series "New York News." Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Kahn graduated from Hofstra on a drama scholarship and received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the Boston Conservatory.

ROBERT BELTRAN (Frank Sturgis) has starred in such films as "Slamdance," "Night of the Comet," "Eating Raoul," "Latino," "Gaby," "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills," "Kiss Me A Killer" and "Bugsy."

On television, Beltran was a series regular on both "Star Trek: Voyager," "Models, Inc." and "The Family Martinez." He starred in the miniseries "The Mystic Warrior" and the HBO movie "El Diablo," and enjoyed numerous guest spots on such series as "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," "Murder, She Wrote," "Midnight Caller" and "Miami Vice."

Beltran's extensive theatre credits include performances with the California Shakespeare Festival in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Hamlet," "As You Like It," "Henry IV," "Romeo and Juliet" and "The Taming of the Shrew," as well as appearing with the celebrated El Teatro Campesino in "Corridos," "Rose of the Rancho" and "La Pastorela," repeating his role in the latter for PBS' "Great Performances" series.

COREY CARRIER (Richard Nixon at 12) stars as Lampwick in the upcoming Savoy/Carlo Collodi feature film "Pinocchio" which also stars Martin Landau, and as Young Indy (age 10-11) in George Lucas' TV series "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles."

Carrier's other features include "Bushwacked," "Men Don't Leave," "After Dark My Sweet," "My Blue Heaven," "Witches of Eastwick," and "Savage Land."

On television, Carrier has enjoyed toplined roles in the pilots "Wild Life" (FOX) and "Shock Treatment" (CBS), and the telefeatures "Bump in the Night" (CBS) and "Treasure Island" (NBC).

MICHAEL CHIKLIS (TV Director) starred as Tony Scali, the warmhearted New York police commissioner in ABC-TV's series "The Commish," and the subsequent telefeatures based on the character. Chiklis was born in Lowell, Massachusetts and grew up in Andover. Acting professionally since age 13, he began balancing a career in the theatre with his education. A graduate of the venerated Boston University School of Fine Arts in 1985, Chiklis moved to New York City to pursue his career. On his first weekend there, he auditioned for the motion picture "Wired," based on John Belushi's life. Three years and 12 auditions later, Chiklis was selected to play the role.

Following "Wired," Chiklis found himself guest-starring in a number of prominent television series, including "Miami Vice," "B.L. Stryker," four episodes of "Wise Guy" and following his move to Los Angeles in 1990, "L.A. Law" and a starring role in the ABC pilot "Maverick Square" and "Murphy Brown." Later that year, he was cast by producer Stephen J. Cannell as "The Commish," which turned Chiklis into a bonafide television star during the four seasons on which it aired as a regular series. ABC has already filmed the first in a projected series of telefeatures based on Chiklis' character.

JOHN DIEHL (G. Gordon Liddy) has feature credits which have included "Stripes," "D.C. Cab," "Walker," "Motorama," "Mo' Money," "Falling Down," "The New Age," "The Client," "Stargate" and "Three Wishes."

On television, Diehl was a series regular for two years on "Miami Vice," and also appeared in the telefeatures "A Rumor of War," "The Ambush Murders" and "Glitz," and the miniseries "Gettysburg" and "Buffalo Girls." He's been a guest star on such series as "In the Heat of the Night," "L.A. Law," "The Marshall" and "The John Larroquette Show." His numerous stage credits include Sam Shepard's "Action," "Mad Dog Blues" and "A Lie of the Mind," Sartre's "No Exit," Brecht's "The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui," Machiavelli's "The Mandrake," Beckett's "Endgame" and Thomas Babe's "Salt Lake City Skyline."

JOANNA GOING (Young Woman at Lincoln Memorial) portrayed Josie, the wife of "Wyatt Earp," opposite Kevin Costner in Lawrence Kasdan's film. More recently, she starred in the Amblin production of "How to Make An American Quilt" and in the independent feature "Keys to Tulsa." Following her work on "Nixon," Going segued into a starring role in "Eden."

On television, Going recently starred in the Emmy Award nominated CBS miniseries "Children of the Dust" with Sidney Poitier and was a series regular on both "Dark Shadows" and "Going to Extremes." She also appeared in American Playhouse's production of "Women and Wallace."

DAVID BARRY GRAY (Richard Nixon at 19) was most recently seen in the Hughes Brothers' "Dead Presidents" and "S.F.W." His other features have included "One Good Cop," "Mr. Wonderful" and "Cops and Robbersons."

On television, Gray was recently cast in the new CBS series "John Grisham's The Client." He also appeared in "Dream Street," "21 Jump Street," "Chicago Hope" and the miniseries "Blind Faith." Off-Broadway, Gray appeared at the John Houseman Theatre in "Thursday is Tomorrow" and at Playwrights Horizons in "Finnegan's Funeral Parlor and Ice Cream Shop."

Gray studied with William Hickey, Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen at New York's H.B. Studio, and at the Stella Adler Conservatory.

DAN HEDAYA (Trini Cardoza) has acted in a number of notable features, including Joel and Ethan Coen's "Blood Simple," "Reckless," "Running Scared," opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger as the villain of "Commando," "Wiseguys," "Joe Versus the Volcano," "Pacific Heights," "The Addams Family," "Boiling Point," "Benny and Joon," "Mr. Wonderful," "Rookie of the Year," "Searching for Bobby Fischer," "Maverick" and most recently, Gus Van Sant's "To Die For," Bryan Singer's acclaimed "The Usual Suspects" and Amy Heckerling's Summer '95 sleeper hit, "Clueless."

On television, Hedaya received an Emmy nomination for "NYPD Blue," and also starred on the series "The Tortellis" in addition to guest appearances on such programs as "Miami Vice," "St. Elsewhere," "Hill Street Blues," "L.A. Law," "Cheers," "Family Ties," "Equal Justice," "Law and Order" and the pilot of "The Bureau."

Hedaya's stage performances have included roles in the New York Shakespeare Festival's productions of "Museum," and "Henry V," "Hamlet" at Lincoln Center and "Conjuring an Event" at the American Place Theatre, among others.

Following his work in "Nixon," Hedaya immediately segued into a leading role with Kiefer Sutherland in "Freeway" (executive produced by Oliver Stone), Cindy Crawford in "Fair Game," and a co-starring role with Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep in "Marvin's Room." He is currently co-starring with Sylvester Stallone in "Daylight," directed by Rob Cohen.

For over 25 years, TONY LO BIANCO (Johnny Roselli) has distinguished himself as an actor, director and producer. He received a Tony Award nomination and won the Outer Critics Circle Award for his performance on Broadway in Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge," and received an Obie Award for his starring role in the off-Broadway production "Yanks-3, Detroit-0, Top of the Seventh." His other Broadway appearances include "The Rose Tattoo," "The Royal Hunt of the Sun," "The Goodbye People" and "Hizzoner" on Broadway and in Moscow. He also starred in the 1990 national tour of "Other People's Money."

In motion pictures, Lo Bianco first came to the attention of critics in Leonard Kastle's cult film "The Honeymoon Killers," and then to the general public as Sal Boca in William Friedkin's Academy Award¨-winning "The French Connection," co-starring with Gene Hackman. He also starred or co-starred in such features as "The Seven Ups" with Roy Scheider, "Separate Ways" with Karen Black, "F.I.S.T." with Sylvester Stallone, "Bloodbrothers" with Richard Gere, "City Heat" with Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds, "Woman of Rome" with Gina Lollobrigida (for which he received the Best Actor prize at the 1990 Venice Film Festival), "City of Hope" with Vincent Spano, and "Boiling Point" with Wesley Snipes and Dennis Hopper. He will soon be seen starring with Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin in director Brian Gibson's "The Juror."

Lo Bianco has also starred in dozens of television movies, miniseries and series, including Franco Zeffirelli's "Jesus of Nazareth," "Marco Polo," "Jacob and Joseph," "Police Story," "The First Circle," "Marciano," "Hizzoner, The Mayor" (for which he won an Emmy Award) and most recently, HBO's "Tyson." He also directed episodes of "Police Story," among other television programs, as well as the 1985 feature "Too Scared to Scream," starring Anne Archer, John Heard and Maureen O'Sullivan.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, he first studied acting at the Dramatic Workshop and later at the Actors Repertory Theatre. He went on to co-found New York's Triangle Theater where he served as artistic director, directed 8 productions and produced 25 others. He is also a member of The Actors Studio.

TONY PLANA (Manolo Sanchez) has previously worked with Oliver Stone in both "Salvador" and "JFK." His other features have included "First Family," "Break of Dawn," "Zoot Suit," "Born in East L.A.," "Latino," "The Three Amigos," "El Norte," "An Officer and a Gentleman," "Romero," "Havana," "The Rookie," "One Good Cop," "A Million to Juan" and John Sayles' upcoming "Lone Star."

Plana's television movies have included "Sweet 15," "So Proudly We Hail," "In the Line of Duty," "Keeper of the City," "Father and Son," "The Burning Season" and "Peacock Blues," as well as the miniseries "Drug Wars: The Camarena Story."

GEORGE PLIMPTON (Fred Buzhardt) is best known as a celebrated writer, but he's also acted in such films as "Lawrence of Arabia," "Rio Lobo," "The Detective," "The Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover," "Reds," "If Ever I See You Again," and "Little Man Tate."

Plimpton is known for doing things that the rest of the world only dreams about: playing quarterback for the Detroit Lions, basketball for the Boston Celtics, hockey for the Boston Bruins, percussion with the New York Philharmonic, photographing centerfolds for Playboy, and flying on a trapeze for the Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers Circus are but a few of the professional worlds he has explored. Plimpton has used these and other similarly interesting experiences as the basis for his many books and magazine articles.

A native of New York City, Plimpton has degrees from Harvard University and King's College, Cambridge University. In 1953, in Paris, he founded The Paris Review, a literary quarterly of which he is still editor. He has taught at Barnard College and has been associate editor at Esquire, Horizon Magazine and Harper's Magazine. He is a special contributor to Sports Illustrated.

Plimpton's numerous books have included Out of My League, Paper Lion (which was filmed with Alan Alda as the author in 1968), American Journey: The Times of Robert F. Kennedy (with Jean Stein), One for the Record, Fireworks: A History (Plimpton is fireworks commissioner of the City of New York), Edie: An American Biography (with Jean Stein), the novel The Curious Case of Sidd Finch, The Writer's Chapbook, The Paris Review Anthology and The Best of Plimpton, among others.

SAUL RUBINEK (Herb Klein) has lent his talents to a number of feature films in both his native Canada and the United States, among them "Sweet Liberty," Oliver Stone's "Wall Street," "The Bonfire of the Vanities," Clint Eastwood's Academy Award¨-winning "Unforgiven," "True Romance" and "Getting Even With Dad." On television, he appeared in HBO's celebrated "And the Band Played On" and Showtime's Canadian-Japanese co-production, "Hiroshima."

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
In his twenty years as screenwriter, producer and director, OLIVER STONE has established himself as one of the most successful, inventive and controversial filmmakers of our time.

From his early screenwriting ventures such as "Midnight Express," for which he won his first Academy Award, to his most recent film, "Natural Born Killers," Stone has pushed the filmmaking envelope with works which have won critical acclaim and provoked passionate debate.

His 1991 film, "JFK", re-ignited an intense national debate about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The film was fiercely condemned by the political establishment and the news media, but was widely praised by film critics and audiences, and was a world-wide box-office success. The controversy created by the film resulted in Congress passing a bill, signed into law by President George Bush, opening hundreds of thousands of government documents on the Kennedy assassination which were to have been sealed for many decades to come -- an unprecedented governmental reaction to a motion picture.

Stone has been nominated for ten Academy Awards¨, as screenwriter, producer and director, and has won three Oscars (for writing "Midnight Express," and as director of "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Platoon"). His films have received a total of 33 Academy Awards¨ nominations.

Stone has also won two Directors Guild Awards, for "Platoon" and "Born on the Fourth of July", and the Writers Guild Award for "Midnight Express". He has also received three Golden Globe Awards for directing and one for writing.

Stone has directed "Seizure" (1974), "The Hand," (1981), "Salvador" (1986), "Platoon" (1986), "Wall Street" (1987), "Talk Radio" (1988), "Born on the Fourth of July" (1990), "The Doors" (1991), "JFK" (1991), "Heaven and Earth" (1993) and "Natural Born Killers" (1994).

Stone wrote "Midnight Express," "The Hand," "Scarface," "Platoon" and "Heaven and Earth." He co-wrote "Seizure," "Conan the Barbarian," "Year of the Dragon," "Salvador," "Wall Street," "Talk Radio," "Born on the Fourth of July," "The Doors," "JFK," "Natural Born Killers" and "Nixon."

In addition to his directed projects, Stone has produced or executive produced "Reversal of Fortune" (1990), "Blue Steel" (1990), "Iron Maze" (1991), "South Central" (1992), "The Joy Luck Club" (1993), "The New Age" (1994), "Freeway" (1995) and for television, "Wild Palms" (1993) and "Indictment: The McMartin Trial" (1995).

Stone was born in New York in 1946. He studied at Yale before leaving to travel to the Far East and teach at a Catholic high school in Saigon. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1967 and served in the 25th Infantry Division and the First Cavalry Division in Vietnam. He was wounded in battle twice, and received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.

He completed his undergraduate studies at New York University Film School, and worked as a taxi driver and messenger while writing screenplays. He wrote eleven unproduced screenplays before the success of "MidnightExpress."

Oliver Stone lives in Santa Monica, California. He is the father of three children. He is 49 years old.

Since entering the motion picture business 16 years ago, CLAYTON TOWNSEND (Producer) has worked his way up through the production ranks to become one of the industry's most highly respected creative and line producers. Townsend has been affiliated with Oliver Stone on the director's last six motion pictures. He served as production manager on "Talk Radio," associate producer/production manager on "Born on the Fourth of July," associate producer of "The Doors," co-producer/production manager on "JFK," co-producer/production manager on "Heaven and Earth" and producer of "Natural Born Killers."

Townsend entered the film business in his native Cleveland when he joined the production team of the Paul Simon film "One-Trick Pony." Moving to New York City, Townsend segued into a position as location manager/assistant production manager on such features as "Beat Street," "9-1/2 Weeks," "A Chorus Line" and "Angel Heart." He was the unit manager on "Legal Eagles," and then moved on to the position of production manager on such features as "The Money Pit," "A New Life," "Three Men and a Baby" and "Jacob's Ladder" before beginning his association with Stone.

ANDREW G. VAJNA (Producer) is one of the motion picture industry's most experienced and dedicated executives, and is an expert in financing, development and marketing of films for worldwide audiences. Vajna launched his career in the entertainment industry with his purchase of motion picture theatres in the Far East. He founded Panasia Films Limited in Hong Kong, a highly profitable venture in the distribution, acquisition and representation of films.

After Vajna negotiated the sale of Panasia to Raymond Chow's Golden Harvest Company in 1976, he and Mario Kassar formed Carolco, specializing in sales, financing and distribution of films worldwide. In less than four years, Carolco became one of the top three foreign sales organizations in motion pictures.

In 1982 Vajna was a founder and then president of the American Film Marketing Association. During the same year, Vajna and Kassar made their film production debut with "First Blood." Starring Sylvester Stallone, the film became a phenomenal success, grossing $120-million internationally. It also rocketed Carolco into the forefront of independent production companies.

"Rambo: First Blood Part II" was released in 1985, generating more than $300-million worldwide, making it one of the most profitable films in the history of moviemaking.

Vajna was executive producer with Mario Kassar on such films as Alan Parker's "Angel Heart," "Rambo III" and "Johnny Handsome." Other projects included "Music Box," "Mountains of the Moon," "Total Recall," "Air America," "Narrow Margin" and "Jacob's Ladder."

Vajna sold his interest in Carolco and founded Cinergi Pictures Entertainment Inc. in November 1989, to engage in the financing, development, production and distribution of major event motion pictures.

As part of its business plan, Cinergi has formed an alliance with The Walt Disney Company for distribution of Cinergi motion pictures in the United States, Canada and Latin America. Vajna's strategy is to develop long-term relationships with certain talent and to produce a steady supply of two to four event motion pictures a year.

Cinergi's first production, "Medicine Man," starring Sean Connery and directed by John McTiernan, was followed by the hit "Tombstone," a re-telling of the Wyatt Earp/Doc Holliday legend starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer.

"Renaissance Man," starring Danny De Vito and directed by Penny Marshall, was released in June 1994 and "Color of Night," starring Bruce Willis and Jane March was released in August 1994. 1995 films include "Judge Dredd" starring Sylvester Stallone and directed by Danny Cannon; "Die Hard With A Vengeance," starring Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson and Jeremy Irons, directed by John McTiernan; and "The Scarlet Letter," starring Demi Moore and directed by Roland Joff . He also served as executive producer on the upcoming "The Shadow Conspiracy" starring Charlie Sheen and Donald Sutherland, and "Evita" starring Madonna and Antonio Banderas.

STEPHEN J. RIVELE (Writer) is a graduate of St. Joseph's University, the University of Montpelier, France, and Swarthmore College. After graduation, he worked as a volunteer in agricultural development with the Jesuit Missions in Zaire.

Rivele was the founder and director of The Performing Arts Theater of Philadelphia. His plays have been produced in theatres in the United States and England. In 1975 he enrolled as the first American student of the Paris Film Conservatory. He also studied film directing with Eric Rohmer at the University of Paris, and received a French Master's Degree (with distinction) in Film Directing in 1977.

After working in film in New York for several years, Rivele moved to Los Angeles. He has written and/or directed several dozen non-fiction and documentary films. His films have won some 15 Cine Golden Eagle Awards, as well as numerous awards in international competitions.

Rivele is the author of several books, including Death and Discovery, The Plumber: The true story of how one good man helped destroy the entire Philadelphia Mafia, Lt. Ramsey's War, Dark Genius: A child prodigy in the shadow of the CIA and The Mothershed Case.

His most recent play, "The Wes and Jane Show: Being an Evening with Two Legends of the Old West, Calamity Jane and John Wesley Hardin," was produced in Los Angeles in 1990. It was chosen by the L.A. Times as one of the best events of that year, and was featured at the L.A. Festival in 1991.

Rivele's first novel, A Booke of Days, A Journal of the Crusade, will be published by Macmillan in July 1996.

CHRISTOPHER WILKINSON (Writer) began his career as a musician before attending film school at Temple University in Philadelphia. His first short, "Al Tauhid" (1976), was nominated for a Student Academy Award¨.

He went on to write and direct documentaries and commercials for EUE -- Screen Jams and PBS (among others). During this period (1978-82), Wilkinson's short films -- "Echoes," "One in Ten" and "Why Not the Best" -- won awards at the Chicago International Film Festival, The International Film and TV Festival of New York, and CINE, among others.

His documentary, "Engine 2 Ladder 3" (PBS, 1981) won a Gold Medal at the New York Film Festival and a CINE Golden Eagle. Since moving to Los Angeles, Wilkinson has served as second unit director on three films, shooting principal sequences of "The River," "For the Boys" and "Intersection." He also served as associate producer on "For the Boys" and played Niles Laguardia, a featured role.

Between these feature projects, Wilkinson wrote and directed "Penrod" and "Nobody's Home" (1990), children's films for Showtime, and the pilot for a comedy series, "Wiley's World." He also served as the director of development for Concourse Productions (1986-89). "The Man in the Moon," "Nuts" and "Children of a Lesser God" were produced.

In November 1995, Wilkinson released Blues for Zontar, a CD of original guitar pieces.

ERIC HAMBURG (Co-Producer) was formerly Vice President for Business Affairs of Ixtlan, Oliver Stone's film production company. He is an attorney.

From 1989 to 1993, Hamburg worked in the United States Congress for Rep. Lee Hamilton on the staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He was also a Visiting Fellow at the Center for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford University in 1989. From 1985 to 1988, he served on the staff of U.S. Senator John Kerry in Washington, D.C. He has also worked on the staff of the Senate Committee on Aging, and clerked for Judge David Bazelon on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington.

DAN HALSTED (Co-Producer) is the president of Illusion Entertainment Group, a production company in partnership with Oliver Stone.

Formerly a senior vice-president of production at Hollywood Pictures, Halsted was the executive in charge of numerous films, including "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle," "Encino Man," "Tombstone" and the hit movie "While You Were Sleeping." While at Hollywood Pictures, he also ran the studio's minority fellowship program.

Previous to that appointment, Halsted was associated with the Bauer Benedek Agency (now United Talent Agency) since its inception in 1986. During that time, he was instrumental in packaging such films as "K-9," "The Fabulous Baker Boys," "New Jack City" and "The Untouchables."

He began his professional career at 20th Century Fox where he served as executive assistant to Scott Rudin, then head of production. A graduate of Beverly Hills High School and UCLA in political science, he is 32 years old.

Following "Nixon," Halsted served (with Oliver Stone and Richard Rutowski) as executive producer of "Freeway," starring Kiefer Sutherland, Reese Witherspoon, Amanda Plummer and Brooke Shields.

RICHARD RUTOWSKI (Associate Producer) has worked with Oliver Stone in various capacities since 1977, most recently as co-writer of last year's acclaimed and controversial "Natural Born Killers," and immediately following "Nixon," executive producer (with Stone and Dan Halsted) of "Freeway."

Born in Los Angeles, Rutowski grew up in White Sands/Las Cruces, New Mexico. Eschewing the traditional college route, Rutowski instead chose to traverse the world, becoming interested along the way in indigenous cultures and belief systems.

Rutowski has worked on-location with Stone on "The Doors," "JFK," "Heaven and Earth" and "Natural Born Killers." He acted as Death in "The Doors" and as the fence shooter in "JFK." He has also written several screenplays in various stages of development, following his work on "Natural Born Killers."

ROBERT RICHARDSON (Director of Photography) received an Academy Award¨ for his cinematography of Oliver Stone's "JFK." Previously, Richardson received Oscar nominations for his work on Stone's "Platoon" and "Born on the Fourth of July." The cinematographer also photographed Stone's "The Doors," "Talk Radio," "Wall Street," "Salvador," "Heaven and Earth" and "Natural Born Killers."

Richardson's other credits include two films from John Sayles, "City of Hope" and "Eight Men Out," Rob Reiner's "A Few Good Men" and Martin Scorsese's "Casino."

VICTOR KEMPSTER (Production Designer) made his debut as production designer on Oliver Stone's "JFK" and went on to work in the same capacity on the filmmaker's "Heaven and Earth" and "Natural Born Killers."

Film editors HANK CORWIN and BRIAN BERDAN previously edited Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers." Corwin first worked with Oliver Stone when he provided additional editing services to "JFK." Recently, Corwin directed the Nine Inch Nails video "Burn," and co-directed several commercials with Robert Richardson. Corwin also heads his own cutting-edge editing company Lost Plant, based in New York and Los Angeles.

After several years as an assistant film editor with David Lynch, Brian Berdan's first feature editing break came when he served as an additional editor on "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey." He joined Oliver Stone's crew as an associate editor on "Heaven and Earth" before becoming full editor with Corwin on "Natural Born Killers." Most recently, Berdan edited the film version of Barry Yourgrau's book "The Sadness of Sex" and co-edited Irwin Winkler's feature "The Net."

RICHARD HORNUNG (Costume Designer) was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania. While studying English at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, he became interested in theatre, and went on to study costume design in the graduate program at the University of Illinois.

Hornung spent 10 years in New York learning his art by assisting such designers as Santo Loquasto, Patricia Zipprodt and Desmond Helley on and off-Broadway. He also painted costumes for the American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet and the Paul Taylor Dance Company. He became a full-fledged costume designer on the Circle-in-the-Square production of Shaw's "Candida" and the Broadway musical "The News."

Hornung's first feature film as costume designer was Joel and Ethan Coen's "Raising Arizona." He has also designed the costumes for the Coens' "Miller's Crossing," "Barton Fink" (which brought him an Oscar nomination) and "The Hudsucker Proxy." Hornung's other features include "China Girl," "Less Than Zero," "The Grifters," "Young Guns," "Sleeping With the Enemy," "Doc Hollywood," "Hero," "This Boy's Life," "Dave," "Rough Magic" and "City Hall."

JOHN WILLIAMS (Composer) has won five Academy Awards¨ -- for the original scores of Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List," "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" and "Jaws," George Lucas' "Star Wars" and for music direction of Norman Jewison's "Fiddler on the Roof." He has been nominated for 25 other Oscars, including both of his previous collaborations with Oliver Stone, "Born on the Fourth of July" and "JFK." Williams has also received 16 Grammy Awards with 14 additional nominations.

Williams was born in New York, and educated at UCLA and the Juilliard School of Music. A former jazz pianist and recording artist, he began composing for television in the late 1950s and for the films in the early '60s. The highlights of his extraordinary career in film music composition include "The Reivers," "The Poseidon Adventure," "The Towering Inferno," "Earthquake," "The Sugarland Express," "Black Sunday," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "The Fury," "Superman," "The Empire Strikes Back," "1941," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Return of the Jedi," "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," "The River," "The Witches of Eastwick," "Empire of the Sun," "The Accidental Tourist," "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," "Always," "Home Alone," "Hook," "Far and Away," "Jurassic Park" and the forthcoming "Sabrina."

Williams also composed the well-known NBC News Theme, the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics Themes and the theme for the Steven Spielberg TV series "Amazing Stories." He was director of The Boston Pops Orchestra for 14 highly successful seasons and is currently conductor laureate of that ensemble.