One of the most prominent directors during the 1970s, Bogdanovich is best known these days for having played Dr. Elliot Kupferberg, Dr. Melfi's shrink, on David Chase's HBO hit, The Sopranos.

Raised in Kingston, New York, Bogdanovich developed an impeccable cinematic background at a young age, studying acting with Stella Adler, working as the film programmer at MoMA, curating series honoring America's greatest directors like Howard Hawks, John Ford, and Orson Welles, and writing film reviews for Esquire. One of his earliest directorial works was in fact his most well received, The Last Picture Show, which garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Bogdanovich continued writing and directing films such as Paper Moon and What's Up Doc? but his directorial career has sagged since his mid-70's heyday, with many a TV movie under his belt since the early 90s. However, Bogdanovich has put his acting classes to good use, performing in dozens of titles, most memorably on The Sopranos.

Bogdanovich has had quite the tumultuous romantic life as well, leaving his first wife Polly Platt for his Last Picture Show ingenue Cybill Shepherd. Soon after he began an affair with Dorthy Stratten, the Playboy playmate who was murdered by her estranged husband, only to marry Dorthy's younger sister Louise, who is thirty years his junior. They divorced after ten years of marriage. [Image via Getty]