Today marks the great Christopher Walken‘s 71st birthday–and we speak for everyone here when we say that we’d all love to grab a beer with this dude.
As a teen, Walken worked as lion tamer in a circus. He then went on to be a professional dancer before switching over to theater and film. Some of his earlier shows were Hawaii Five-O and The Guiding Light. Did you see the part about how he was a g*ddamn lion tamer. This guy is no joke. Through his career, he’s appeared in more than 100 films and TV. We’ve decided to have a look back at the beginning of the actor’s long and fantastic career…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF9y6eElFPk&w=600&h=350]
As two duelin’ icons of cool: Christopher Walken and Jack Lord are in a Hawaii 5-0 episode. Lots of great young actors got to to go Hawaii to spar with Jack Lord….Christopher Walken might be the coolest of them.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xuDmxYJ1AM&w=600&h=350]
Here’s a young Walken in The Anderson Tapes. This is a really great clip. It’s his first notable screen role as The Kid, who was a hopped-up thief helping out Sean Connery in a tower heist.
This is a 1976 Chris in Next Stop, Greenwich Village showcasing his first true love: dancing. We gotta say, this guy’s got moves.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSRm_X3BLPU&w=600&h=350]
This is essentially Walken’s entire role in Woody Allen’s classic Annie Hall. This movie and scene, in particular, helped set him up for stardom. Another breakout star from this movie? Jeff Goldblum, who might have stole the movie with a single line: “I forgot my mantra.”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3d2WLPBrS0&w=600&h=350]
After Walken won an Oscar for The Deer Hunter, Hollywood had to try to make him a leading man. This is The Dogs of War, which features Walken as a mercenary hired to take over an oil-rich land–and you get weird moments like this….
