John Schlesinger dies
The veteran Oscar-winning English film director, John Schlesinger has died in the Desert Regional Medical Centre in Palm Springs. He was 77.
Born in London on 16 February 1926, Schlesinger had been hospitalised for some considerable time after suffering a severe stroke in December 2000. He underwent a quadruple heart by-pass in 1998 and last week it was decided to take him off life support.
Thrice nominated for a best director Oscar, John Schlesinger won the film industry’s top award in 1970 for Midnight Cowboy. (He was first nominated in 1966 for Darling, the film that epitomised the Swinging Sixties which won Julie Christie the best actress accolade) and again in 1972 for Sunday Bloody Sunday, a film that contributed to bringing the issue of male homosexuality to mainstream cinema.
Schlesinger won numerous awards in the course of his long and illustrious career including two best director BAFTAs and was made a Fellow of the British Academy in 1996. His films include international hits like Marathon Man, Yanks , Billy Liar and his most recent film was The Next Best Thing (2000) starring Rupert Everett and Madonna.
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