American actor, one of Hollywood’s most versatile stars who easily portrays diverse characters ranging from a drunken bum to obsessed artist to sensitive, wounded hero. Nolte has starred in over 40 films by the turn of 2000.
A serious athlete, Nolte attended both Benson and Westside High Schools in Omaha, Nebraska before being awarded a football scholarship to Arizona State University. Failing his classes, he dropped out and turned to studying acting at the Pasadena Playhouse and Stella Adler’s Academy in Los Angeles. In 1962, he was arrested for selling fake draft cards and was sentenced to 45 years in jail; however, his sentence was suspended. He spent the next 14 years traveling the country with various theater companies before making his feature debut in the disappointing “Return to Macon County,” 1975. He was, however, soon after cast in the television miniseries, “Rich Man, Poor Man,” for which he won an Emmy nomination, and then in the leading role of “The Deep,” 1977.
He rapidly gained fame as a eccentric, multitalented actor who preferred offbeat roles, appearing in numerous films throughout the 1980s and 1990s; however the charismatic actor’s reputation as a hunky, forceful leading man was often overshadowed by his difficulties with women and booze. Until 1990, he was a heavy drinker; in fact, the actress, Katherine Hepburn, once accused him of falling down drunk in every gutter in town, to which Nolte replied, “I’ve got a few to go yet.”
His performance in “The Prince of Tides,” 1991, won him a Golden Globe for Best Dramatic Actor as well as an Oscar, and during the same year, the blond, beefy actor got rave reviews for his work in “Cape Fear.” In the mid-1990s, he both starred in and executive produced films such as “The Thin Red Line,” and in 2001, the Malibu Film Festival gave him a lifetime achievement award.
Nolte married three times. His first wife was Sheila Page, 1966-1970. In 1978, he made a second marriage to Sharyn Haddad. That same year, Karen Eckland, his girlfriend of seven years, sued him for community property and support in a headline-making $4.5 million palimony suit. In 1983, his second marriage ended in divorce, and one year later, he married Rebecca Linger and had a son, Brawley. In 1991, his third marriage ended once again in divorce. Over the years, Nolte was linked with several of his co-stars including Debra Winger.
Although he is still a smoker, Nolte is noted for his controversial health choices, which he describes as an “anti-aging regimen.” He eats only organic food, studies his own blood intensively, takes mega doses of vitamins by mouth and self-injection and administers hormone replacement with human growth hormones. He underwent voluntary psychiatric evaluation and keeps the results on his coffee table for visitors to read. The diagnoses, including “histrionic, narcissistic and antisocial qualities, may be uncomfortable in situations where he is not the center of attention, may react to criticism with feelings of humiliation, sense of self-importance, a rule-breaker, anxiety-induced attention deficit, rapid brain speed, prone to addiction,” seem to please him, and he quickly states they are “all true.”
Following his arrest on drunk-driving charges in Malibu on 11 September 2002, the “Prince of Tides” star checked into Connecticut’s Silver Hill Hospital. On 23 October 2002, he was charged with driving under the influence on 11 September 2002. He was believed to have traces of GHB, a banned depressant, in his system. On 12 December 2002, he pleaded innocent to DUI.
On 6 October 2008, a fire caused by a computer printer reportedly caused $1.5 million in damages to his home in Malibu, California.
Link to Wikipedia biography