Claim: Jack Nicholson is an actor.

Reds is a 1981 American epic drama film co-written , produced and directed by Warren Beatty . The picture centers on the life and career of John Reed , the journalist and writer who chronicled the Russian Revolution in his book Ten Days That Shook the World . Beatty stars in the lead role alongside Diane Keaton as Louise Bryant and Jack Nicholson as Eugene O'Neill .   The supporting cast includes Edward Herrmann , Jerzy Kosinski , Paul Sorvino , Maureen Stapleton , Gene Hackman , Ramon Bieri , Nicolas Coster and M. Emmet Walsh . The film also features , as `` witnesses , '' interviews with the 98-year-old radical educator and peace activist Scott Nearing , author Dorothy Frooks , reporter and author George Seldes , civil liberties advocate Roger Baldwin , and the American writer Henry Miller , among others .   Beatty was awarded the Academy Award for Best Director and the film was nominated for Best Picture , but lost to Chariots of Fire . Beatty , Keaton , Nicholson and Stapleton were nominated for Best Actor , Best Actress , Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress , respectively . Stapleton was the only one of the four to win . Beatty was also nominated , along with co-writer Trevor Griffiths , for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay , but lost to Chariots of Fire . Beatty became the third person to be nominated for Academy Awards in the categories Best Actor , Director and Original Screenplay for a film nominated for Best Picture .   In June 2008 , the American Film Institute revealed its `` Ten Top Ten '' -- the best ten films in ten `` classic '' American film genres -- after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community . Reds was acknowledged as the ninth best film in the epic genre .