Oscar-nominated director of Moonstruck Norman Jewison dies aged 97
Film director Norman Jewison has died at the age of 97.
The Oscar-nominated director, who worked on films such as Moonstruck and The Thomas Crown Affair, died "peacefully" at his home in Los Angeles on Saturday, publicist Jeff Sanderson revealed. A cause of death has not yet been revealed. Tributes have been pouring in from fans on social media.
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, one person wrote: "Norman Jewison is one of the greatest directors ever. RIP." Another said: "God speed Norman Jewison," while a third fan added: "Oh no, so sorry to hear of Norman Jewison's passing. He directed several of my all-time favorite movies."
READ MORE: Beverly Hills, 90210 actor David Gail dies at 58 as sister confirms tragic news
Norman Jewison died at his homeNorman was a seven-time Oscar nominee. Over the course of his career, Norman won plenty of awards and was given the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences in 1999.
Serena Williams finally breaks silence on Will Smith Oscar slap one year on
He also won the United Nations Award at the British Academy Film Awards in 1967 and a New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film in the same year. Before moving into film work, Norman got his break directing musical specials for TV.
Norman was known for focusing on social injustice in his work. Speaking to NPR in 2011, he recalled his first experience of racial prejudice. The director said he was 18 years old and hitchhiking in Chicago, when he eventually made it to Memphis. As the Canadian headed toward a seat in the back of a bus, the vehicle started and then stopped.
"The bus driver looked at me. He said, 'Can't you read the sign?' And there was a little sign, made of tin, swinging off a wire in the centre of the bus and it said, 'Coloured people to the rear'," Norman told the publication.
His cause of death is yet to be revealed (Shutterstock)
Tributes have been pouring in on social media (2019 Albert L. Ortega)He added: "And I turned around and I saw two or three Black citizens sitting around me, and … a few white people sitting way at the top of the bus. And I didn’t know what to do, I was just embarrassed. So I just got off the bus and he left me there." Norman admitted the experience "really stuck with me".
In his autobiography, This Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me, he noted that racism and injustice became his most common themes. "Every time a film deals with racism, many Americans feel uncomfortable," he wrote.
"Yet it has to be confronted. We have to deal with prejudice and injustice or we will never understand what is good and evil, right and wrong; we need to feel how 'the other' feels."
He drew upon his experiences for 1967's In the Heat of the Night, starring Rod Steiger as a white racist small-town sheriff and Sidney Poitier as a Black detective from Philadelphia trying to help solve a murder and eventually forming a working relationship with the hostile local lawman. The New York Times' Bosley Crowther was among the critics who found the movie powerful and inspiring.
Norman, honoured by Canada in 2003 with a Governor General's Performing Arts Award, remained close to his home country. When he wasn't working, he lived on a 200-acre farm near Toronto, where he raised horses and cattle and produced maple syrup. He founded the Canadian Film Centre in 1988 and for years hosted barbecues during the Toronto Film Festival.
Norman and his wife Margaret Ann Dixon (nicknamed Dixie) had three children, sons Kevin and Michael and daughter Jennifer Ann, who became an actress and appeared in the films Agnes of God and Best Friends. Norman and Margaret were married for 51 years, until her death in 2004. He married Lynne St. David in 2010.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
