Bob Dylan Biography

Singer/songwriter Bob Dylan fortunately does not have to rely on his movie career to uphold his reputation as the single most influential rock musician of the 1960s. His best-known movie appearances include the concert film The Last Waltz and documentaries like Don't Look Back; but Dylan also appeared in other films, making his dramatic debut as a cowpoke named Alias in Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), in which he sings "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." Dylan went back to singing and composing until 1977's Renaldo and Clara, a four-hour-long largely improvised -- and universally panned -- production which Dylan himself wrote, directed, and starred in. It would be ten years before Dylan would once more flex his acting muscles in the long-on-the-shelf Hearts of Fire (1987), playing the tailor-made role of a retired rock legend. And though his roles leading into the new millennium consisted mainly of appearances in which he was billed as "Himself," Dylan's song "Things Have Changed" for the film The Wonder Boys (2000) brought the popular singer/songwriter his first Oscar for Best Music (Song). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi