Some sad news this afternoon, as it has been announced that Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme has passed away aged 73, after battling cancer and heart disease.
The director, screenwriter and producer broke into the industry working for B-movie legend Roger Corman in the early 1970s, writing and produced Angels Hard as They Come and The Hot Box. He would then move into directing, helming Caged Heat, Crazy Mama and Fighting Mad for Corman’s New World Pictures.
During the 1980s, he would direct such films as Melvin and Howard, Swing Shift, Something Wild and Married to the Mob, before receiving the Academy Award for Best Director for 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs. His subsequent films included Philadelphia, The Truth About Charlie, The Manchurian Candidate, Rachel Getting Married and 2015’s Ricki and the Flash, his final narrative feature.
Demme was also an acclaimed documentary filmmaker, where he credits included the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense, three Neil Young films, and his final work, the concert documentary Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids.
Originally published April 26, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
