John Schlesinger

Infobox Actor
name = John Schlesinger
birthname = John Richard Schlesinger
birthdate = February 16, 1926
location = London, England
deathdate = July 25, 2003 (aged 77)
deathplace = Palm Springs, California
academyawards = Best Director
1969 "Midnight Cowboy"
baftaawards = Best Short Film
1961 "Terminus"
Best Direction
1969 "Midnight Cowboy"
1971 "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Best Single Drama
1983 "An Englishman Abroad"
1992 "A Question of Attribution"

John Richard Schlesinger, CBE (February 16, 1926 – July 25, 2003) was an Academy Award-winning English film director.

Biography

Early life

Schlesinger was born in London into a middle class Jewish family, [ [http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/aug2003/obit-a08.shtml Obituary: John Schlesinger, filmmaker, 1926-2003 ] ] the son of Winifred Henrietta (née Regensburg) and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician. [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/94/John-Schlesinger.html John Schlesinger Biography (1926-) ] ] He went on to work in television as an actor after graduating from Uppingham School and Balliol College, Oxford.

Career

One of his first movies, the documentary "Terminus" (1960), earned him a Venice Film Festival Gold Lion and a British Academy Award. His first two movies, "A Kind of Loving" (1962) and "Billy Liar" (1963) were concerned with the life of characters based in the North of England. His third "Darling" (1965) described tartly the modern urban way of life in London and was one of the first films about swinging London. Schlesinger's next movie was "Far From the Madding Crowd" (1967), an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's popular novel. Schlesinger's "Midnight Cowboy" (1969) was internationally acclaimed and it won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture.

His later films include "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (1971), "The Day of the Locust" (1975), "Marathon Man" (1976), "Yanks" (1979), "Pacific Heights" (1990), "A Question of Attribution" (1991), "The Innocent" (1993) and "The Next Best Thing" (2000). Schlesinger also directed "Timon of Athens" (1965) for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the musical "I and Albert" (1972) at London's Piccadilly Theatre. From 1973 he was an associate director of the Royal National Theatre.

Openly gay, Schlesinger dealt with homosexuality in "Midnight Cowboy", "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "The Next Best Thing".

Schlesinger also directed a notable party political broadcast for the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom general election, 1992 which featured Prime Minister John Major returning to Brixton in south London where he had spent his teenage years, which highlighted his humble (and atypical for a traditional Conservative) background.

Death

Schlesinger underwent a quadruple heart bypass in 1998, before suffering a stroke in December 2000. He was taken off life support at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs on July 24, 2003 by his life partner of over 30 years, photographer Michael Childers. Schlesinger died early the following day at the age of 77.

Filmography

* "A Kind of Loving" (1962)
* "Billy Liar" (1963)
* "Darling" (1965)
* "Far From the Madding Crowd" (1967)
* "Midnight Cowboy" (1969)
* "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (1971)
* "The Day of the Locust" (1975)
* "Marathon Man" (1976)
* "Yanks" (1979)
* "Honky Tonk Freeway" (1981)
* "Separate Tables" (1983) (TV)
* "An Englishman Abroad" (1983) (TV)
* "The Falcon and the Snowman" (1985)
* "The Believers" (1987)
* "Madame Sousatzka" (1988)
* "Pacific Heights" (1990)
* "A Question of Attribution" (1991) (TV)
* "The Innocent" (1993)
* "Cold Comfort Farm" (1995) (TV)
* "Eye for an Eye" (1996)
* "The Tale of Sweeney Todd" (1998) (TV)
* "The Next Best Thing" (2000).

References

External links

*imdb name|0772259|John Schlesinger
* [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/schlesinger.html Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database]
* [http://www.nerf-herders-anonymous.net/JohnSchlesinger.html John Schlesinger]