Acclaimed filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich is the director of "Hustle," an ESPN Original Entertainment (EOE) production that will premiere Saturday, September 25 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN. In "Hustle," actor Tom Sizemore portrays baseball icon Pete Rose when, during the mid-to-late 1980s, a penchant for gambling destroyed the then-Major League Baseball manager's career and forever tarnished his legacy.

After spending most of his teens studying acting with the legendary Stella Adler and working as an actor in live television and various theaters around the country, including the New York and the American Shakespeare Festivals, Peter Bogdanovich at age 20 began directing plays Off-Broadway and in New York summer theater. He also wrote for the Museum of Modern Art a series of three monographs on Orson Welles, Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock -- the first retrospective studies of these directors in America. He also began writing a classic series of feature articles and profiles for Esquire, writing a groundbreaking Humphrey Bogart tribute as well as definitive pieces on James Stewart, Jerry Lewis and John Ford, among others.

In 1966, he began working in movies first as Roger Corman's assistant on the hit film, "The Wild Angels." Bogdanovich, without credit, re-wrote most of the script and directed the second unit. Within a year, Corman financed Bogdanovich's first film as director-writer-producer-actor with the cult classic "Targets," starring Boris Karloff in his last great film role, virtually playing himself. In 1971, Bogdanovich commanded the approving attention of both critics and public with "The Last Picture Show," starring then-unknowns Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ellen Burstyn and Cloris Leachman, which was a brilliant look at small-town Texan-American life in the early 1950s. The film won the New York Film Critics' Circle Award for Best Screenplay (which Bogdanovich co-wrote with novelist Larry McMurtry), the British Academy Award for Best Screenplay and received a total of eight Academy Award nominations - including three for Bogdanovich. Recently, the Library of Congress designated the film as a National Treasure.

An unapologetic popularizer of the classic Hollywood era of great moviemakers, Bogdanovich had a second huge success in 1972 with "What's Up, Doc?" -- a madcap, romantic farce starring Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal -- made in the style of 1930's screwball comedies. It won the Writer's Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay, on which Bogdanovich had worked with Buck Henry, David Newman and Bob Benton. One year later, he recreated a memorable vision of rural '30s America with "Paper Moon," a Depression Era tale about a pair of unlikely con artists, which received four Academy Award nominations and nabbed a Supporting Actress Oscar for nine-year-old Tatum O'Neal in her screen debut. The film was also awarded the Silver Shell at The San Sebastian Film Festival.

Bogdanovich followed "Paper Moon" with his critically acclaimed version of Henry James' classic "Daisy Miller," for which he was named Best Director at the Brussels Film Festival. Another highly praised drama followed with Bogdanovich's version of the Paul Theroux novel "Saint Jack," starring Ben Gazzara and Denholm Elliott, which told the story of an amiable and ambitious American pimp living in Singapore. Shot entirely on location, the picture received the coveted Critics' Prize at the Venice Film Festival. After directing Audrey Hepburn in her last starring picture, the bittersweet romantic comedy, "They All Laughed," co-starring Gazzara, John Ritter and Dorothy Stratten and filmed in New York, Bogdanovich scored another major triumph with 1985's "Mask," starring Cher and Eric Stoltz in the true story of a boy whose face has been terribly disfigured by a rare disease and the mother who has instilled in her son a sense of confidence and love. The film won an Academy Award and Cher won the Best Actress Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

After guiding Michael Frayn's classic theater comedy, "Noises Off," to the screen for Steven Spielberg's company with an all-star cast, including Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve and Carol Burnett, as well as directing "Texasville, the well-received sequel to "The Last Picture Show," based on Larry McMurtry's best-seller . Bogdanovich again received critical praise and commercial success with "The Cat's Meow." This suspenseful and entertaining satirical drama told the true story of a mysterious 1924 death on board the yacht of William Randolph Heart and starred Kirsten Dunst, Eddie Izzard, Edward Herrmann and Jennifer Tilly. In early 2004 he helmed the biopic "The Mystery of Natalie Wood" for ABC, which chronicled the life and untimely death of the film star.

Bogdanovich has also acted in numerous television and feature film projects, including his recurring role as the shrink's shrink in "The Sopranos" (an episode of which he directed), as well as "Northern Exposure"; the miniseries "Bella Mafia"; and the feature films "Opening Night," "Mr. Jealousy," and Orson Welles' still to be released "The Other Side of the Wind."

Having published over 14 books on various aspects of film and filmmaking, Bogdanovich currently has four of his works in print: the bestselling "Who the Devil Made It" (1997), which includes interviews with 16 legendary directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, George Cukor and Howard Hawks; "Peter Bogdanovich's Movie of the Week" (1999), a collection of pieces on 52 film recommendations for a year of classics; "This is Orson Welles" (revised and expanded version 1998), comprised of his conversations over a period of five years with by now nearly mythological co-author Orson Welles; and his classic interview book, "John Ford," which has been continuously in print since its first edition in 1967. "Who the Devil Made It" also received a Special Citation from the Los Angeles Film Critics' Association, as well as the coveted Barbari Award from the Italian Film Critics' Association. His new book, "Who the Hell's in It," will be published by Knopf in September 2004.