Dorothy Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941), known as Faye Dunaway, is an American actress. Over the course of her career Dunaway has starred in a variety of films, from blockbusters such as The Towering Inferno and the camp classic Mommie Dearest, to the most critically acclaimed including Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown and Network. She received Academy Award nominations for Best Actress for her performances in Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown, before winning the category with her 1976 performance in Network.

Early life

Career

Dunaway appeared on Broadway in 1962 as the daughter of Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons. Her first screen role was in 1967 in "The Happening." In 1967 she was in Hurry Sundown, but that same year, she got the leading female role in Bonnie and Clyde (opposite Warren Beatty) which earned her an Oscar nomination. She also starred in 1968 with Steve McQueen in the caper film The Thomas Crown Affair (and had a small role in the 1999 remake with Pierce Brosnan).

In the 1980s, although her performances did not waver, the parts grew less compelling. Dunaway would later blame Mommie Dearest (1981) for ruining her career as a leading lady. Critics panned the movie, and audiences didn't like it either, but in later years it would become a cult classic. "I was too good at Crawford," she was often quoted as saying.Fact: date=April 2007 It can also be said that the dawn of Meryl Streep's reign as queen of dramatic cinema played a role in Dunaway's decline. She played an alcoholic in Barfly (opposite Mickey Rourke). In a later movie, Don Juan DeMarco (1995), Dunaway co-starred with Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando.

Dunaway won an Emmy for a 1994 role as a murderer in "It's All in the Game," an episode of the long-running mystery series Columbo.

She is a three-time Oscar nominee for Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown and Network, winning for the latter. She has won three Golden Globes, including for the television films Ellis Island (1984) and Gia (1998), and has been nominated for a Golden Globe 10 times.

In 1996, she toured nationally with the one-woman stage play "Master Class". The story about opera singer Maria Callas was very powerful and well received. Ms. Dunaway bought the rights to the Terrence McNally play, for possible film development.

In 2006, Dunaway played a character named Lois O'Neill in the sixth season of the popular crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She served as a judge on the 2005 reality show The Starlet, which sought, American Idol-style, to find the next young actress with the potential to become a major star. In the spring of 2007, the direct-to-DVD movie release of Rain, based on the novel by V. C. Andrews and starring Dunaway, was released.