Famous film director Norman Jewison has died at the age of 97.
Jewison, who was nominated for a total of seven Oscars during his career and won the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1999, died “peacefully” on Saturday, publicist Jeff Sanderson said. His cause of death has not been disclosed.
The Canadian-born director is best known for directing classic films such as In the Heat of the Night with Sidney Poitier, Fiddler on the Roof with Topol, and Moonstruck with Cher. ing.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Cher praised the director of her film Moonstruck and thanked him for helping her win the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film.
Cher praised Jewison on social media, writing: “Thank you for one of the greatest, happiest, most enjoyable experiences of my life.” (Fraser Harrison/Getty Images)
“Goodbye, Sweet Prince, thank you for one of the greatest, happiest, most enjoyable experiences of my life. Without you, I would not have had my beautiful golden man,” she wrote. wrote.
“Norman Yu was a great filmmaker, a great writer, an actor, and everyone else I needed. Norman Jewison lives on through his work,” she added.
Cher's Moonstruck co-star Nicolas Cage also expressed his sadness at Jewison's death.
“I am very sad to hear of the passing of Norman Jewison, the sculptor who created so many great stories and performances. I couldn't have asked for a better co-star for the young actor, who could have benefited from his knowledge and guidance. “I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to do so,” Cage said in a statement to FOX News Digital.
Sonny Bono, Cher, Norman Jewison and Nicolas Cage pose together at the 1987 premiere of Moonstruck. (Barry King/Wire Image)
Later in his career, he co-starred with Denzel Washington in two films, A Soldier's Story and The Hurricane, based on the life of wrongfully imprisoned boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter.
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Norman Jewison, the acclaimed director of films such as “In the Fever,'' “Fiddler on the Roof,'' and “Moonstruck,'' has died at the age of 97. (John Shearer/Wire Image)
“In the Heat of the Night'' is one of Jewison's best-known films, in which Poitier teams up with a racist small-town sheriff played by Rod Steger to take control of the American South. He plays a black detective who solves murder cases.
Drawing on his experiences hitchhiking through the Jim Crow South after World War II, he writes about racism and injustice in his work in his autobiography, This Bad Job Was Good for Me. He writes that this is a theme that comes up repeatedly.
“Many Americans feel uncomfortable whenever a movie deals with racism,” he wrote. “Yet we have to face it. We have to deal with prejudice and injustice. Otherwise we will never understand right and wrong, right and wrong. We needs to feel how the ‘other’ feels.”
The film won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Steger.
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Jewison and Sidney Poitier at ASCAP's 16th Annual Film and Television Music Awards in 2001. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Jewison began her career in her native Canada, working for the CBC. He attracted attention from Hollywood, working with stars such as Judy Garland, Danny Kaye, and Harry Belafonte, and rose to fame as a director of television musicals.
He directed his first feature film, “Forty Pounds of Trouble,'' in 1963, and went on to make other comedies such as “The Thrill of It All'' and “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming.'' I supervised it.
Jewison and his wife, Margaret Ann Dixon, have three children, sons Kevin and Michael, and daughter Jennifer Ann, who became an actress and starred in Jewison's films Agnes of God and The Best of God. Appeared in “Friends”. The Jewish couple remained married for 51 years until her death in 2004. He married Lynn St. David in 2010.
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In 2017, Jewison and his second wife, Lynn. (Paul Archuleta/Film Magic)
His last completed film was 2003's The Statement, starring Michael Caine and Tilda Swinton.
In a 2011 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Jewison reflected on his career, saying, “I wasn't as much of a part of the organization as I wanted to be. I wanted to be accepted. I wanted people to say, 'That was great.' he said. photograph. '”
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He continued, “I mean, I have a big ego like everyone else. I'm not shrinking, but I never feel completely accepted.” But maybe that's a good thing.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
