Bob Rafelson, R.I.P.

Producer and director Bob Rafelson passed away on Saturday of lung cancer. He was 89.

Rafelson attained national prominence as the co-producer of the TV show The Monkees along with Bert Schneider. The Monkees was not inspired by The Beatles. Rather it was by Rafelson's days as a young musician in Mexico.

Rafelson would direct The Monkees in a feature film called Head was which was co-written by his close friend Jack Nicholson. Head would fall on its face, but a year later Rafelson would cast Nicholson in a film he was co-producing with Schneider and Stephen Blauner called Easy Rider. The film would send Nicholson into the stratosphere. Rafelson would direct Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces (earning Rafelson a nomination for Best Original Screenplay), The King of Marvin Gardens and the 1981 remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice. Rafelson also co-produced The Last Picture Show directed by Peter Bogdanovich who passed away this past January. 

I leave you with Rafelson discussing his directorial influences in a 2005 interview. R.I.P.