Irwin Shaw & Rich Man Poor Man

I noticed from Wikipedia's lists of births and deaths of the great and good that today was the birthday of novelist Irwin Shaw. His best-known novel, probably because it was adapted for TV as a mini-series in the mid-1970s, is Rich Man Poor Man. That mini-series paved the way for many others - it was the original, and perhaps that's why it has remained in my memory so clearly after all these years. Or perhaps it was the portrayals of the brothers by young Nick Nolte and Peter Strauss that made the tale so memorable.




Rich Man Poor Man is the story of two brothers (a sister appears in the book, but not the TV series) during the period following World War 2 - 1945 to the early 1960s. The two brothers, Rudy and Tom Jordache were, in nature, polar opposites (of course!) I doubt that Irwin Shaw had astrology in mind, but Rudy was archetypal entrepreneur business man, driven by Saturn/Capricorn/Leo, a touch of Virgo too. Tom the disreputable rebel with his heart in the right place - Uranus/Mars/Aquarius, with a touch of Cancerian sensitivity.

Shaw achieved more critical acclaim for his short stories than for his novels, but TV producers and movie makers saw potential in his novels. As he'd started out script-writing for radio shows such as Dick Tracy, it could be that his natural writing style favoured adaptation to audio/visual media. Not all writers have such a style, nor would the more elitist among their number seek to acquire it.

Irwin Shaw was born on 27 February 1913 in The Bronx, New York. His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants, which fact, later in life, caused him to move to settle in Europe for 25 years, after the McCarthy shenanigans, when he was placed on the Hollywood blacklist.


There's not much detail of his personal life on-line, other than two tidbits, and both come out in several of his novels: that he was a keen sportsman, and generally left-leaning politically. In Rich Man Poor Man Shaw's proletarian sympathy is summed up by one character's rule-of-thumb: "Never trust the rich."

Irwin Shaw is another example of the Pisces/Aquarius mix I've been encountering recently in my posts. His Sun and Mercury are in Pisces, but it's energetic and sporty Mars conjunct rebellious Uranus in Aquarius semi-sextiling his natal Pisces Sun which is the true key to his nature I suspect.

Unless he was born before 1am his natal Moon was in ebullient Sagittarius, and likely formed a planetary chain of harmonious aspects: Moon semi-sextile its ruler Jupiter, semi-sextile Mars/Uranus, semi-sextile Sun. An indication of a well-integrated personality, I'd say. And there's more... because if you move in the other direction : from Mercury to Venus, a semi-sextile, with another semi-sextile to Saturn, same on to Pluto, same to Neptune. So there are two separate planetary chains going on, one covering Pisces to Sagittarius, the other Pisces to Cancer. Fascinating! The broad interpretation: a well-integrated personality, with a variety of skills and interests.

Nick Nolte

Nick Nolte appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno last week. I hadn't seen him for years and was quite surprised, not so much by by his appearance as by his voice which was not at all as I remembered it. He's obviously been leading life fast and hard for many years! Even so, he does looks better now than he did several years ago, according to photographs at Google Image.

I remember him best in two roles: as Tom Jordache in the 1976 TV mini-series of Irwin Shaw's novel, "Rich Man, Poor Man" and as Tom Wingo in the movie of Pat Conroy's novel, "Prince of Tides" (1986). Both performances remain etched in my memory still, after all these years. He must be one hell of an actor - though in both cases he had one hell of a story to work with.

Nick Nolte was born on 8 February 1941 in Omaha Nebraska at, according to Astrotheme, 10.40am.

His birthday is the same as my Dad's was (different year, of course), and I can't think of two Aquarians more unlike each other! I do notice a few similarities in his and my own Aquarian chart though, we are of the same generation. There are some important differences too - the ones that put him where he is, and me where I am!

There's an excellent biography of Nolte on-line, written by Dominic Wills at Tiscali.com
HERE.

His natal chart:




Positions to note:
Aquarius Sun is square it's ruler Uranus which lies in Taurus.
Also in Taurus, and very close to the Taurus ascendant are Jupiter and Saturn, closely conjoined.
Moon, strongly placed in Cancer trines to one minute, Mercury in Pisces.
Venus and Pluto are in opposition from Aquarius and Leo respectively.
Mars is sextile Sun and quincunx Uranus.

I'll pick out a few comments from the biography linked above, and match them to some of the planetary positions in Nolte's chart.

First things first: Sun in Aquarius (clever but non-conformist, socially aware, sometimes eccentric)

He was a politically active kid, a keen member of the burgeoning counter-culture of the early Sixties and by 1962 had already been busted for selling fake draft cards to underage kids who'd use them as ID. As these were counterfeit government documents he was given a 45-year jail sentence and a $75,000 fine (both suspended) and would be on probation throughout most of the decade (as a convicted felon he still can't vote). But, more by luck than design, he discovered acting before it all went utterly pear-shaped.

The Hulk was another odd move from this most unpredictable of actors. But Nolte always does things his own way. Often seen in public in a cashmere trench-coat and Calvin Klein pyjamas.......

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Sun in 11th house square(inharmonious)Sun's ruler Uranus in 1st house. Pluto opposing (challenging) Venus.

He's also said that growing up in the repressed but financially booming Fifties showed him how adults have dark secrets and compete violently - both of which contributed to a deep fear and inner anger in a boy who was already shy and alienated.

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Jupiter (excess) and Saturn (work, career) conjoined on the ascendant. Also Mars (aggression) sextile(helpful)Sun, but quincunx (irritable aspect) Uranus his Sun's ruler.

These people(his family) worked hard, and many of Nick's later problems with drink and drugs would spring from his inability to fill the time between jobs.

Weiser actually writing a book called Nick Nolte: Caught In The Act. In it he described their experiences together, and talked of the actor's obsession with perfect scenes, his bursts of rage and the verbal abuse he handed out (none of it was backed by venom, said Weiser, Nolte was just aggressively pursuing good work).

Nolte, he said, would arrive absolutely prepared and would not tolerate anything less than 100% effort

............. his only interest seems to be delivering interesting work

At this point, now in his forties, Nolte was still drinking heavily. He'd always had trouble winding down between roles and would basically stay drunk until his next film began.....

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Moon in Cancer (its home sign) trine Mercury in soft, compassionate Pisces

............ he was at his best as a tough guy tortured by his own sensitivity.

Nolte is said to work purely on emotion, all his exhaustive research being aimed at why he's feeling something and how that should be expressed. God knows where he dug up his feelings for the fraught climax of The Prince Of Tides, but his efforts were impressive enough to earn him his first Oscar nomination and win him a Golden Globe.

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His drinking and drug taking, I'd hazard a guess, are not purely Neptunian, as those addictions seem to be in most cases, but more a result of having both Jupiter and Saturn sitting on the ascendant as he came into the world.

The theme "Places That Belong To You", oddly, was not included in the movie "Prince of Tides", other than very briefly, as the credits rolled, a disappointment. It's such a lovely song. Here it is, sung by Nick Nolte's co-star in the movie, Barbra Streisand: