James Toback Biography

Fast Facts

• Recipient of numerous awards for his work on "Bugsy" including a Los Angeles Film Critics' Award, among others
• He, Michael Wadleigh and Marius Müller-Westernhagen won the German Independence Honorary Award in 2008 at the Oldenburg Film Festival
• Won a Regard Knockout Award at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival for his documentary "Tyson․"
• Graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1966
• Worked as a professor at the City College of New York before making his film industry debut
• A lifelong gambler, he gained widespread prominence with his screenplay for 1974's "The Gambler", which he wrote based on his own gambling addiction
• Though he asked former heavyweight-champion boxer Mike Tyson interview-style questions during the filming of the documentary "Tyson," he edited out his own presence in the final version of the film
• Became good friends with NFL legend Jim Brown while researching his book about the star, titled 'Jim: The Author's Self-Centered Memoir of the Great Jim Brown'
• Served as the subject for the 2006 documentary, "The Outsider"
• In his teens, he often appeared on "Alan Freed's Rock 'n' Roll" as a dancer