JOHN SCHLESINGER
Name: John Richard Schlesinger
Born: 16 February 1926 London, England
Died: 25 July 2003 Palm Springs, California
John Richard Schlesinger, CBE (February 16, 1926 – July 25, 2003) was an English
film director.
Schlesinger was born in London into a middle class Jewish family, the son of
Winifred Henrietta (née Regensburg) and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician.
He went on to work in television as an actor after graduating from Balliol
College, Oxford.
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 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.
Name: John Richard Schlesinger
Born: 16 February 1926 London, England
Died: 25 July 2003 Palm Springs, California
John Richard Schlesinger, CBE (February 16, 1926 – July 25, 2003) was an English
film director.
Schlesinger was born in London into a middle class Jewish family, the son of
Winifred Henrietta (née Regensburg) and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician.
He went on to work in television as an actor after graduating from Balliol
College, Oxford.
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 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.