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BEING THERE

VISUAL AIDS
POSTERS AND COVER ART



THE BACK OF THE BOX
WHAT THE STUDIO WANTS YOU TO KNOW

    After Being There was published, author Jerzy Kosinsky got a telegram from its lead character "Chance the Gardener" "Available in my garden or outside of it." Kosinski dialed the accompanying telephone number and Peter Sellers answered. Sellers indeed got the part and gave an indelible performance (winning National Board of Review and Golden Globe Best Actor awards and an Academy Award nomination) in this modern comedy classic.
    Isolated all of his life in a Washington, DC townhouse, Chance knows only what he's seen on TV. Cast into the world, he stumbles into the inner circle of governmental power brokers (including Melvyn Douglas in his second Oscar-winning-role) eager for "sage wisdom." As Chance might say, you'll like to watch.

STARRING:

Peter Sellers: Chance The Gardener
Shirley MacLaine: Eve Rand
Jack Warden: President
Melvyn Douglas: Benjamin Turnbull Rand
Richard Dysart: Dr. Robert Allenby
Richard Basehart: Vladimir Skrapinov

SCREENWRITER: Jerzy Kosinski

DIRECTOR: Hal Ashby

RUNNING TIME: 130 minutes

STUDIO: Warner Brothers

Average Hollywood Guys Rating: B

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GIGGLES, GLOBES AND OSCARS
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS

ACADEMY AWARDS
(2 nominations and 1 win)

Best Actor - Peter Sellers
(nominated)

Best Supporting Actor - Melvyn Douglas
(winner)

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GOLDEN GIGGLES

No awards or nominations given to this film.

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GOLDEN GLOBES
(6 nominations and 2 wins)

Best Picture (Musical/Comedy)
(nominated)

Best Actor (Musical/Comedy) - Peter Sellers
(winner)

Best Supporting Actor - Melvyn Douglas
(winner)

Best Supporting Actress - Shirley MacLaine
(nominated)

Best Director - Hal Ashby
(nominated)

Best Screenplay - Jerzy Kosinski
(nominated)
 
 
 

Wanna see what else was nominated?
Just click on a heading to see the full listing of winners and nominees.

THE GEEK BOX
TRIVIA TO IMPRESS YOUR EASILY IMPRESSED FRIENDS

• The role of Benjamin Rand was offered to Laurence Olivier, who refused to do the project saying he didn't want to be in a movie where Shirley MacLaine masturbates. The scene in question ended up being shot seventeen times before it was nailed.
• At the end of this movie as the credits role, a bloopers real of Peter Sellers doing a scene that did not end up in the movie is run. Sellers' had asked several times that the bloopers be taken out of the version submitted to the Caan's Film Festival, but the filmmakers left it in. Many people, including Sellers, believe that the bloopers took people out of the moment and may have been the reason that Peter Sellers did not win the Academy Award he was nominated for.
• The last line in the film is "Life is a state of mind." That same inscription was on the gravestone at the films end, and also was carved into Peter Sellers gravestone when the actor died a year later.
• Peter Sellers tried desperately for nine years to get this movie made, but no studio would work with him after his dwindling movie career hit a wall in the 1970's and he gained a reputation as hard to work with. After the mild success of The Pink Panther movies, Lorimar Studios decided to take a risk on the movie.
• Peter Sellers was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in this movie, while he did not win, his co-star Melvyn Douglas took home a statue for Best Supporting Actor.

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