John Schlesinger: RIP

Director John Schlesinger died this weekend at the age of 77. Schlesinger, who suffered a stroke over two years ago was taken off his life support machine at a hospital in Palm Springs and died a day later. Hollywood legends were quick to pay tribute to the director who won an Oscar for Midnight Cowboy in 1970. Dustin Hoffman, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Midnight Cowboy had an eloquent eulogy for the late director saying; 'Shakespeare said it best in Hamlet, "We will never see the likes of him again."' Richard Gere whom Schlesinger directed in the film Yanks added; 'John's string of films in the 60s and 70s are as astonishingly good as any film made anytime, anywhere... audacious, challenging, irascible, moving, witty, wise and deeply personal.' Born in London and educated at Oxford, Schlesinger came to fame in the 1960s with a string of British successes including Billy Liar, Darling and Far From The Madding Crowd. This was topped in 1969 with Midnight Cowboy which was nominated for seven Oscars, eventually winning three including Best Director and Best Film. Over the next thirty years, Schlesinger continued to turn out exemplary work directing Laurence Olivier and Hoffman in Marathon Man and the acclaimed TV drama Separate Tables with Julie Christie and Alan Bates. Through to 1990 he directed the pacy thriller Pacific Heights, and to an eternally grateful male audience introduced the budding talent of Kate Beckinsale in Cold Comfort Farm in 1995. His last work was in 2000 with Madonna and Rupert Everett in The Next Best Thing. The director of the British Film Institute Amanda Nevill summed the great director up this weekend, saying; 'John Schlesinger was one of the greats of British filmmaking.'