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Nick Nolte
at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival
Born	Nicholas King Nolte February 8, 1941 (1941-02-08) (age 69) Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Occupation	Actor/Producer
Years active	1969–present
Spouse(s)	Sheila Page (1966–1970) Sharyn Haddad (1978–1983) Rebecca Linger (1984–1994)
Domestic partner(s)	Karen Louise Ecklund (1970–1977) Vicki Lewis (1994–2003) Clytie Lane (2003–present)

Nicholas Butt "Nick" Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor, film producer and former model.

Modeling

Nolte was a model in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In one national magazine advertisement in 1972, he appeared in jeans and an open jean shirt for Clairol's "Summer Blonde" hair lightener sitting on a log next to a blonde Sigourney Weaver.^{[citation needed]} The pair also appeared on the packaging.

Acting career

Nolte first gained national attention and critical acclaim for his performance in Rich Man, Poor Man, the 1976 television miniseries based on Irwin Shaw's 1970 best-selling novel. Since then he has had a successful career playing a wide variety of characters in more than 40 films. Diversity of character is the signature of Nolte's film career. He is known for his trademark athleticism and graveled-voice characters. In 1973, he appeared in Lorne Greene's ABC crime drama Griff in the episode "Who Framed Billy the Kid?", in the role of Billy Randolph, a football player accused of murder. He co-starred alongside Andy Griffith in the pilot of a TV movie, Winter Kill, and another one, Adams of Eagle Lake, neither of which were materialized.^{[citation needed]}

Nolte's first major film role was in 1977's The Deep starring opposite Jacqueline Bisset and Robert Shaw. This was followed by Who'll Stop the Rain in 1978 and North Dallas Forty, based on the Peter Gent novel, in 1979. The buddy cop/convict film 48 Hrs. (1982) would strongly bolster his film career and make his co-star Eddie Murphy a box-office sensation.

Nolte would continue starring in films throughout the 1980s, including Under Fire (1983) with Gene Hackman, Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) with Richard Dreyfuss and Bette Midler, Extreme Prejudice (1987) and New York Stories (1989) under the direction of Martin Scorsese.

He would begin the 1990s working again with Murphy in the sequel Another 48 Hours. 1991 would bring perhaps his greatest box office success as he starred in The Prince of Tides with Barbra Streisand and in Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear with Robert De Niro and Jessica Lange. Nolte received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Prince of Tides (which he lost to Anthony Hopkins for The Silence of the Lambs) and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.

Nolte's solid work continued with Lorenzo's Oil (1992) opposite Susan Sarandon, Mulholland Falls (1996), and After Glow (1997) for which his co-star Julie Christie received her third Academy Award for Best Actress nomination. Nolte received his second Academy Award for Best Actor nomination the same year for his work in Affliction (he lost to Roberto Benigni for Life Is Beautiful). His co-star James Coburn won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing the father of Nolte's character.

Nolte took smaller parts in The Thin Red Line (1999) and Hotel Rwanda (2004) which were critically respected.

Personal life

Nolte has been married and divorced three times. His ex-wives are Sheila Page, Sharyn Haddad and Rebecca Linger, with whom he has a son named Brawley Nolte (born June 20, 1986). Nolte's son is also an actor, having been prominently featured as Mel Gibson's kidnapped son in the 1996 film Ransom. He was also involved with Debra Winger and Vicki Lewis. On October 3, 2007, Nolte's longtime partner Clytie Lane gave birth to their daughter, Sophie Lane Nolte.

Nolte currently resides in Malibu, California. On October 6, 2008, a fire which started from a computer printer burned a section of his residence. Nolte escaped unharmed but there was a reported $1.5 million worth of damage to the house.

Legal Troubles

In September 2002, he checked himself into Silver Hill Hospital in Connecticut for counseling after he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Malibu a few days earlier.^[1] Tests later showed that he was under the influence of GHB, the "date rape" drug. Nolte responded that he has "been taking it for four years and I've never been raped"^[2]. On December 12, 2002 he pleaded no contest to charges of driving under the influence. He was given three years' probation with orders to undergo alcohol and drug counseling with random testing required.

Awards

1991 - Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Actor, The Prince of Tides
1991 - Golden Globe: Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama), The Prince of Tides
1992 - Chosen as People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive
1998 - New York Film Critics Circle - Best Actor, Affliction
1998 - National Society of Film Critics - Best Actor, Affliction

Filmography

References

External links

• Nick Nolte at the Internet Movie Database
• a candid interview with Nick Nolte in Stumped? Magazine
• To the brink and back - The Guardian, March 1, 2003.
• Spiderwick Chronicles Interview.