John Cale
Birthday: Born in 1942-03-09 in Garnant, Carmarthenshire, Wales, UK
Deathday: Alive
John Davies Cale, OBE, is a Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer. At an early age Cale discovered a talent for the viola, and became a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales at the age of 13. He was later awarded a scholarship at Goldsmiths College, London, England. In 1963, he travelled to the United States to continue his musical training with the assistance and influence of Aaron Copland. He was a founding member of the American rock band The Velvet Underground. Over his five-decade career, Cale has worked in various styles across rock, drone, classical, avant-garde and electronic music.
TV Credits
The Bridge
Character:
A murdered body on a bridge between El Paso and Juarez bring together El Paso detective Sonya Cross and Chihuahua State Police detective Marco Ruiz....
The Equalizer
Character: Aryan Leader
Robert McCall is a former agent of a secret government agency who is now running his own private crime fighting operation where he fashions himself as "The Equalizer." It is a service for victims of the system who have exhausted all possible means of seeking justice and have nowhere to go. McCall promises to even out the odds for them....
Seven Ages of Rock
Character: Self
A definitive landmark series charting the emergence and re-emergence of rock music as a global force, told through the musicians who have shaped this most enduring of genres....
Everybody's Live with John Mulaney
Character: Self - Musician / Musical Guest
John Mulaney conducts the first-ever celebrity sit-down talk show. Live every week....
Movie Credits
Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song
Character: Self
This feature-length documentary explores the life of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen as seen through the prism of his internationally renowned hymn, Hallelujah....
John Cale & Guest - perform The Velvet Underground & Nico
Character: Performer
John Cale performed The Velvet Underground & Nico in full at a concert in Paris on Sunday night, joined by guest performers including Animal Collective, Mark Lanegan, Pete Doherty and Carl Barât of The Libertines, Lou Doillon, Etienne Daho and Lemon Jelly’s Nick Franglen....
Whips
Character: Self
Whips was one of the films mentioned in a half page ad in the April 7, 1966 issue of the Village Voice, advertising The Exploding Plastic Inevitable show at the Dom....
The Velvet Underground and Nico: A Symphony of Sound
Character: Self
The film depicts a rehearsal of The Velvet Underground including Nico, and is essentially one long loose improvisation....
n[eon]
Character: Narrator
A man wanders around Venice, still bruised from a failed marriage, lost in an empty city, finding old books, memories, and a momentary ghost....
A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory
Character: Self
Esther Robinson's portrait of her uncle Danny Williams, Warhol's onetime lover, collaborator and filmmaker in his own right, offers a exploration of the Factory era, an homage to Williams's talent, a journey of family discovery and a compelling inquiry into Williams's mysterious disappearance at age 27....
Kevin Ayers - Musical Express 1981
Character:
...
Salamander
Character: Dick Winter
Writer-director Pablo Agüero's feature debut follows Inti (Joaquin Aguila), a 6-year-old boy caught up in the madness of post-"Dirty War" Argentina. Upon her release from prison, Inti's mother, Alba (Dolores Fonzi), a former dissident, whisks him away from his grandmother's care. Still unsure of her own direction in life, Alba takes Inti to live in a hippie commune in Patagonia. Velvet Underground founder John Cale co-stars....
Curious: The Velvet Underground in Europe
Character: Self
Spotlights the Velvet Underground's 1993 reunion tour of Europe, interspersing footage of the band's Paris concert and interviews with the members of the group. Concerts in Prague and Berlin included....
The Velvet Underground in Boston
Character:
This newly unearthed film, which Warhol shot during a concert at the Boston Tea Party, features a variety of filmmaking techniques. Sudden in-and-out zooms, sweeping panning shots, in-camera edits that create single frame images and bursts of light like paparazzi flash bulbs going off mirror the kinesthetic experience of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, with its strobe lights, whip dancers, colorful slide shows, multi-screen projections, liberal use of amphetamines, and overpowering sound. It i...
Brian Wilson: I Just Wasn't Made for These Times
Character: Self
I Just Wasn't Made for These Times is a documentary about the life of Brian Wilson, the musical mastermind and songwriter for the Beach Boys. The film examines the ups and downs of Wilson's life, including the early years of the Beach Boys, his years of substance abuse, and his long road to recovery....
Exploding Plastic Inevitable
Character: Himself
Exploding Plastic Inevitable was a series of multimedia events organised by Andy Warhol between 1966 and 1967, featuring musical performances by The Velvet Underground and Nico, screenings of Warhol's films, and dancing and performances by regulars of Warhol's Factory. It is also the title of a 18-minute film by Ronald Nameth filmed during one week of the show in Chicago, Illinois in 1966....
The Velvet Underground at Bataclan '72
Character:
Recorded on French TV, the concert marked the first time since the breakup of The Velvet Underground that Reed, Cale and Nico were on stage together....
Venus in Furs
Character: Himself
Where a nun and a nurse go to hell because of their sinful life in St. Vincent's Hospital....
Love Twice
Character: Lester
"What do you do when the spark touches down-brief and hot?" So begins award-winning director Rob Nilsson's (Permission to Touch, MVFF 2015; A Bridge to a Border, MVFF 2014) provocative meditation on the Möbius relationship of fiction to reality, and the notion of creative control. In Love Twice, Luz and Ken are star-crossed lovers in screenwriter Sal's script, until their desire takes shape, inscribing itself into a movie of their own design. Risking his sanity to save the screenplay, Sal strugg...
Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present
Character: Himself (archival footage)
Feature documentary on the pioneering life and work of iconoclastic filmmaker/musician/composer/artist Tony Conrad....
John Cale: Fragments of a Rainy Season
Character:
Solo live concert recorded in Brussels, April 12, 1992. Tracks: 1) On A Wedding Anniversary 2) Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed 3) Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night 4) The Soul of Carmen Miranda 5) Cordoba 6) Ship Of Fools 7) Leaving It Up To You 8) The Ballad Of Cable Hogue 9) Chinese Envoy 10) Fear Is A Man's Best Friend 11) Dying On The Vine 12) Heartbreak Hotel 13) Paris 1919 14) (I Keep A) Close Watch 15) Hallelujah...
The Velvet Underground Rehearses
Character:
A film of the Velvet Underground performing only discovered in recent years directed by Danny Williams shortly before his dissapearance....
Punk: Attitude
Character: Self
A documentary on the music, performers, attitude and distinctive look that made up punk rock....
Nico Icon
Character: Himself
A look into the many lives of Christa Päffgen, otherwise known as Nico; from cutie German mädchen to the first of the supermodels, to glamorous diva of the Velvet Underground, to cult item, junkie and hag. Many faces for the same woman, whom, you realize, just couldn't bring herself to care enough to live....
Screen Test #3
Character:
One of Andy Warhol's screen tests, focusing on an actor's face for 4-5 mins....
Lou Reed and John Cale: Songs for Drella
Character: Self
Songs for Drella is a concept album by Lou Reed and John Cale, both formerly of The Velvet Underground, and is dedicated to the memory of Andy Warhol, their mentor, who had died unexpectedly in 1987. Drella was a nickname for Warhol coined by Warhol Superstar Ondine, a contraction of Dracula and Cinderella, used by Warhol's crowd. The song cycle focuses on Warhol's interpersonal relations and experiences, with songs falling roughly into three categories: Warhol's first-person perspective (which ...
Velvet Underground's First Public Appearance
Character: Self
Velvet Underground's first public appearance....
The Velvet Underground Tarot Cards
Character: Himself
Documents each member of The Velvet Underground having their cards read at a big apartment party. The tarot reader is continually interrupted in her readings by the chaos created by the characters around her....
Moe Gets Tied Up
Character:
Or "Moe in Bondage" - The "Moe" of the title is the Velvet Underground's drummer, Maureen Tucker, whose band-mates have tied her to a chair and are now hanging around nibbling on sandwiches and pieces of fruit....
Wonderland USA
Character: Lonely writer
Alice ends up in the derelict houses of Coney Island and Times Square. She sinks into a wonderland of decadence and despair, into the no-mans-land of lost souls, charlatans, broken dreams and cheap perversions....
The Velvet Underground: Psychiatrist's Convention, NYC, 1966
Character:
The Velvet Underground's first public appearance, filmed in Super 8 at a Psychiatrist's Convention, at the Delmonico Hotel, New York, January 14, 1966. Andy Warhol was invited to speak at the annual banquet of the New York Society for Clinical Psychiatry. He brought along the Velvets and other factory regulars....
Words for the Dying
Character: Himself
An 80-minute documentary following John Cale and Brian Eno in Moscow, London, and Wales during the creation of the album "Words for the Dying."...
Put More Blood Into the Music
Character: Himself
PBS produced documentary in two parts: the first is dedicated to saxophonist and composer John Zorn; the second is about Sonic Youth at the height of their powers in 1988....
Rhinoceros Hunting in Budapest
Character: Manager
A young man's odyssey from a small town in Colorado to Budapest, in search of his estranged girlfriend....
Four Stars
Character: Man (uncredited)
Photographed entirely in color, Four Stars was projected in its complete length of nearly 25 hours (allowing for projection overlap of the 35-minute reels) only once, at the Film-Makers' Cinematheque in New York City. The imagery in the film is dense, wearying and beautiful, but ultimately hard to decipher, for, in contrast to his earlier, and more famous film Chelsea Girls, made in 1966, Warhol insisted that two reels be screened simultaneously on top of each other on a single screen, rather th...
The Velvet Underground - Velvet Redux Live MCMXCIII
Character: bass, viola, keyboards, vocals
Seminal experimental rock band The Velvet Underground, who initially disbanded in 1970, perform a set at L'Olympia in Paris, France in June 1993, during their brief reunion tour. The set features original founding members Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker performing 15 songs, including a new, previously unreleased track, "Coyote."...
Danny Says
Character: Self (archive footage)
DANNY SAYS is a documentary unveiling the amazing journey of Danny Fields. Fields has played a pivotal role in music and culture with seminal acts including: the Doors, the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, MC5, Nico, the Ramones and beyond....
Andy Warhol Screen Tests
Character: Self
The films were made between 1964 and 1966 at Warhol's Factory studio in New York City. Subjects were captured in stark relief by a strong key light, and filmed by Warhol with his stationary 16mm Bolex camera on silent, black and white, 100-foot rolls of film at 24 frames per second. The resulting two-and-a-half-minute film reels were then screened in 'slow motion' at 16 frames per second....
John Cale: An Exploration of His Life & Music
Character: Self
Follows John Cale, a Welsh musician and producer, who founded the legendary 60s and 70s NY rock band - the Velvet Underground, with Lou Reed. Cale delved into other mainstream and experimental music genres as well....
The Velvet Underground
Character: Self
Experience the iconic rock band's legacy in the first major documentary to tell their story. Directed with the era’s avant-garde spirit by Todd Haynes, this kaleidoscopic oral history combines exclusive interviews with dazzling archival footage....
Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships & Intersections
Character: Self
This intimate portrait of Andy Warhol pulls together a unique library of material shot by New York film legend Jonas Mekas. Spanning from 1963 to 1990, the film features a cast of counterculture icons including Allen Ginsberg, George Maciunas, John Lennon, and Yoko Ono, as well as John and Caroline Kennedy, and Lee Radziwill (Jackie Kennedy Onassis's sister and Warhol muse)—to whom Mekas dedicates the film. The film features footage from the Velvet Underground's first public performance. A portr...
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
Character: Self
An epic portrait of the New York avant-garde art scene of the 60s....
Antártida
Character: Cale
A rock star falls in love with a common pickpocket without any personal history. But soon she finds herself in a contraband of drugs and both try to escape it....
The Houseguest
Character: Hubbley
A low budget spoof of a Bergmannesque summer resort love triangle that ends with a surreal twist....
The Blank Generation
Character: Self
The cream of the New York new wave/punk crop, filmed live at CBGB when the scene was just beginning. Includes performances by Patti Smith, Blondie, Television, the Ramones, Talking Heads, the Heartbreakers, the Shirts, Wayne County, the Marbles, the Dolls, Miamis, Harry Toledo, and the Tuff Darts (w/Robert Gordon)....
John Cale & Band: Live at Rockpalast
Character:
Even today, JOHN CALE is renowned for having been a member of the Velvet Underground, less known to many fans are his early works with avant-garde musicians like John Cage or La Monte Young. When he was invited for the Rockpalast-Festival on October, 14th 1984, he had just released the desolate masterpiece "Music For A New Society" (1982). Compared to the official live album, JOHN CALE's performance at the Rockpalast was far more intense, desperate, and wild. He performed the songs with a very h...
Beautiful Mistake
Character:
This documentary film follows a group of Welsh musicians interacting and playing in the studio. Combining shots of the city with the music of John Cale as performed by Welsh stars such as Catatonia, Big Leaves and Manic Street Preachers....
Screen Test: John Cale
Character: Himself
Reel 24. Test #3...
New York Rock at the BBC
Character:
Celebrating the cream of the New York rock scene, including classic performances from the Ramones, New York Dolls, Television, Blondie, Lou Reed and more. 01.New York Dolls - Jet Boy (Nov 1973) 02.Patti Smith Group - Horses (May 1976) 03.Talking Heads - Psycho Killer (Jan 1978) 04.Television - Foxhole (May 1978) 05.Ramones - Don't Come Close (Sep 1978) 06.Blondie - I'm Alway Touched By Your Presence Dear (Mar 1978) 07.Lou Reed - Waiting For The Man (Dec 1984) 08.John Cale - Dying On The Vine (D...
The South Bank Show: Velvet Underground
Character: Self
Season 9 episode 23 of The South Bank Show, highlighing the velvet underground...
Nico Live in Marseille
Character: Self
Nico's 48'49" complete set live at Cinema Le Rond-Point Marseille on Saturday April 12. 1975 ; opening for John Cale Digitized from the master tape for the first time since it was recorded 1. Purple Lips 2. Secret Side 3. The End 4. Janitor of Lunacy 5. Abschied 6. No One Is There 7. Frozen Warnings 8. You Forgot To Answer...
The Invisible Father
Character: Self
In the 1960s, beat poet and experimental filmmaker Piero Heliczer helped shape New American Cinema, and was enmeshed with iconic filmmaker Andy Warhol and The Velvet Underground at the very start of their careers. Through interviews with family and friends, found photos, and archival footage, Piero’s daughter, Thérèse Casper, explores the promise and perils of leading an authentic, creative life, and the impact that it can have on the people you leave behind in the process. Wondering if she can...
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol
Character:
Iconic American artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol is the subject of this documentary, which looks at both his life and his influence on pop culture. The film provides details about Warhol's upbringing in Pittsburgh and follows his move to New York City, where he found massive success turning pop imagery into art and eventually founded "The Factory," his famed studio and party venue. Among the many notables interviewed are Dennis Hopper, David Hockney, and Roy Lichtenstein....
Screen Test [ST43]: John Cale
Character: Self
Screen Test of John Cale...