It's up to the courage of the filmmakers to make art in cinema, not just business. John was rejected by studios, he borrowed money and did movies with his own money. You're either courageous or not. You have to find a way.

Gazzara was nominated three times for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play—in 1956 for A Hatful of Rain in 1975 for the paired short plays Hughie and Duet and in 1977 for a revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opposite Colleen Dewhurst. During their departure from Czechoslovakia Gazzara and Vaughn assisted with the escape of a Czech waitress whom they had befriended. In 2003 he was in the ensemble cast of the experimental film Dogville directed by Lars von Trier of Denmark and starring Nicole Kidman as well as the television film Hysterical Blindness (he received his first Emmy Award for his role).