Director, actor, writer and film historian Peter Bogdanovich, best known for directing the 1971 film The Last Picture Show, passed away today of Parkinson's disease at the age of 82.
Bogdanovich's peak as a director came in the early 1970's namely for The Last Picture Show which featured an ensemble cast including Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, Ben Johnson and Cybil Shepherd with whom he became romantically involved. The film earned Bogdanovich two Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Bogdanovich would then direct two hit films with Ryan O'Neal - What's Up, Doc? with Barbra Streisand and Madeline Kahn and Paper Moon which paired O'Neal with his then 8-year old daughter Tatum.
He would never attain that succession of success again. In the late 1970's and early 1980's, Bogdanovich would collaborate with Ben Gazzara in Saint Jack and They All Laughed. The latter film was marred by the murder of actress and Playboy playmate Dorothy Stratten with whom Bogdanovich was romantically involved. Bogdanovich would later marry his Stratten's younger sister Louise.
His most notable work of the 1980's was Mask starring Eric Stoltz, Cher, Sam Elliott and a young Laura Dern. In the 1990's, Bogdanovich would direct Texasville, a sequel to The Last Picture Show which did not come close to replicating the success of the original, Noises Off and The Thing Called Love which turned out to be River Phoenix's last film appearance before his death in 1993 at the age of 23.
In this century, Bogdanovich directed The Cat's Meow starring Kirsten Dunst and She's Funny That Way starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. Bogdanovich also directed documentaries about Tom Petty and Buster Keaton as well as help to complete the Orson Welles' film The Other Side of The Wind nearly 40 years after it was conceived.
I leave you with Bogdanovich at the height of his powers in 1972 telling Dick Cavett why The Last Picture Show was shot in black and white. R.I.P.
No comments:
Post a Comment