In Search of . . .Jennifer Warren

Jennifer Warren was a busy stage actress when she broke into features in a quirky 1969 movie, the obscure “Sam’s Song,” with a then-unknown Robert De Niro.

But it was opposite Gene Hackman in director Arthur Penn’s critically-admired film noir thriller, “Night Moves” (1975), that Warren caught Hollywood’s eye. She played a tough-talking Key West boat hand with an offbeat sensuality and a mysterious past.

Following “Night Moves,” the smoky-voiced Warren starred in a string of movies in which she played what she calls “the self-preservationist--the strong, no-nonsense type, the in-control lady.” They included “Slap Shot” (1977), “Another Man, Another Chance” (1977) and “Ice Castles” (1979). There have also been some TV movies sprinkled along the way.

But the film offers have been far from plentiful. “There just aren’t that many roles for strong women,” Warren says. “Those that did come along were usually offered to Jane Fonda first.”

Although lately she’s done some episodic TV, she’s emerged most notably with a new career behind the camera.

Through the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women, she helmed the short film “Point of Departure” (1983), which was named best dramatic film at the Aspen Film Festival.

Now partnered with actress Beth Howland (the ditzy waitress Vera on the CBS series “Alice”) in Tiger Rose Prod., the two executive-produced “You Don’t Have to Die,” the 1989 Academy Award-winning short-subject documentary about an 8-year-old boy’s triumphant battle against cancer. Made for HBO, it also earned the Ace Award as best cable-TV documentary.

Presently, Tiger Rose is developing a documentary for PBS about women and children with AIDS, as well as a comedy series and feature films. Warren’s also involved in several projects for other companies, including a PBS “American Playhouse” production of “The Beans of Egypt, Maine,” based on the novel by Caroline Chute, with Warren attached as director and co-producer.

Married to producer Roger Gimbel, and the mother of a 10-year-old son, Warren hasn’t appeared in a feature since “Fatal Beauty” in 1987. But she doesn’t rule out more films.

“It’s really all the luck of the draw--timing counts for a lot,” says Warren, whose credo is: “I’m not patient--but I am tenacious.”