Restless, globetrotting auteur Bob Rafelson escaped his middle-class Jewish home on NYC's Upper West Side at age 14, hitchhiking and riding boxcars to Arizona where he worked as a cowboy until breaking his back in a rodeo put an end to that pursuit. He played in a jazz combo in Acapulco, Mexico, and his Army service took the former tramp seaman to Japan where he worked as a disc jockey for the Far East Network. Rafelson managed to get court-martialed twice, once for striking an officer, the other time for on-air "subversion" (instead of saying "This is the Far East Network", he said "This is the Near East Fart Works"). While studying philosophy at the University of Benares, India, he decided to return to New York City and get a job in TV. After stints as a story editor for David Susskind and writer, associate producer and script supervisor for NBC's "DuPont Show of the Month", he relocated to California and met Bert Schneider, with whom he created the popular Emmy-winning series "The Monkees" (NBC, 1966-68), featuring an entirely manufactured pop group whose momentary fame eclipsed all but its prototype, The Beatles.
Together with Schneider and Steve Blauner, Rafelson then formed the BBS production company to produce his first film as a director, "Head" (1968), which he co-wrote with friend Jack Nicholson. Now regarded as "some sort of strange, cult masterpiece", "Head" starred the Monkees and satirized in madcap, surreal fashion the creation and marketing of pop icons. Following BBS' further success with 1969's "Easy Rider", Rafelson went on to direct "Five Easy Pieces" (1970), still considered by many his finest work. An absorbing study in contemporary alienation featuring fine central performances by Nicholson and Karen Black, the movie stands as a landmark of the American filmmaking renaissance of the late 1960s and 70s. Rafelson received mixed reviews for "The King of Marvin Gardens" (1972), another expose of pop culture, again starring Nicholson. BBS also produced Peter Bogdanovich's "The Last Picture Show" and Henry Jaglom's "A Safe Place" (both 1971) as well as Nicholson's directorial debut, "Drive, He Said" (1972).
Through the years Rafelson has acquired a reputation for taking risks in casting which have launched careers, beginning with his friend Nicholson, whom he championed for the actor's breakthrough role in "Easy Rider" and his star-making turn in "Five Easy Pieces". With Rafelson's third film, "Stay Hungry" (1975), he gambled on both Sally Field, stigmatized by Hollywood as a TV actress for her "Gidget" and "Flying Nun" roles, and a relative newcomer, Austrian bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, and each rewarded him with an outstanding performance that established a firm foundation for future stardom. Rafelson would do the same for Jessica Lange, assigned to the junk heap after the 1976 version of "King Kong" failed to put her over the top. His remake of "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1981), though not one of his better efforts, opened the industry's eyes to her sex appeal, giving her some sizzling scenes, including a highly publicized one on top of a kitchen table covered with flour and baking goods.
The overnight phenomenon of "The Monkees" series (the band sold 23 million albums in two years) made Rafelson rich for life and afforded him the luxury of making films at his leisure. It also indirectly contributed to the most regrettable incident of his career when, out from the protective umbrella of BBS, he attempted to work within a Hollywood power structure for which his success had not prepared him. The same rebellious streak and defiance of authority that had led to his Army difficulties surfaced when a studio executive visited the set of "Brubaker" (1980), resulting in his abrupt dismissal ten days into production. Although Rafelson denies the physical violence alleged by the press, the "imbroglio" led him and 20th Century Fox to file lawsuits against one another and earned him a reputation as a "difficult" director. Ironically, when he did finally complete his first film within the studio system, the glossy unexceptional thriller "Black Widow" (1987), it was for his former adversary Fox.
Rafelson's most personal project, 1990's "Mountains of the Moon", chronicled the search for the head waters of the Nile River undertaken by his personal hero and Renaissance man, the explorer Sir Richard Burton. A labor of love nine years in the making, it was the first movie Rafelson filmed outside the United States and benefited from his own simulation of Burton and John Hanning Speke's trek across Africa, a no-frill's location hunt lasting two-and-a-half months which proved invaluable when budgetary restraints restricted him to a 14-week shoot. Though continuing to indulge himself with world traveling six months out of the year, he has managed to find time to direct some features and TV-movies. He miscalculated with "Man Trouble" (1992) which, despite the presence of Nicholson and a script by "Five Easy Pieces" screenwriter Carole Eastman, registered as his biggest failure. He rebounded somewhat with his ninth feature "Blood and Wine" (1997), completing his troika of the dysfunctional family with Nicholson. Rafelson also helmed a 30-minute segment for Showtime's "Picture Window" (1995) and the HBO movie "Poodle Springs" (1998). A quarter-century after saying he would be "grateful if I made ten movies in my lifetime," Rafelson seemed right on track.