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John Schlesinger

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Richard Schlesinger, CBE, was an English film and stage director, and actor. He won an Academy Award for Best Director for Midnight Cowboy, and was nominated for two other films (Darling and Sunday Bloody Sunday). Schlesinger was born in London, into a middle class Jewish family. His acting career began in the 1950s and consisted of supporting roles in British films and television productions. He began his directorial career in 1956 with the short documentary Sunday in the Park about London's Hyde Park. In 1958, Schlesinger created a documentary on Benjamin Britten and the Aldeburgh Festival for the BBC's Monitor TV programme, including rehearsals of the children's opera Noye's Fludde featuring a young Michael Crawford. By the 1960s, he had virtually given up acting to concentrate on a directing career, and another of his earlier directorial efforts, the British Transport Films' documentary Terminus (1961), gained a Venice Film Festival Gold Lion and a British Academy Award. His first two fiction films, A Kind of Loving (1962) and Billy Liar (1963) were set in the North of England. A Kind of Loving won the Golden Bear award at the 12th Berlinale in 1962. His third feature film, Darling (1965), tartly described the modern, urban way of life in London and was one of the first films about 'swinging London'. Schlesinger's next film was the period drama Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's popular novel accentuated by beautiful English country locations. Both films (and Billy Liar) featured Julie Christie as the female lead. Schlesinger's next film, Midnight Cowboy (1969), was internationally acclaimed. A story of two hustlers living on the fringe in the bad side of New York City, it was Schlesinger's first film shot in the US, and it won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture. During the 1970s, he made an array of films that were mainly about loners, losers and people outside the clean world, such as Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), The Day of the Locust (1975), Marathon Man (1976) and Yanks (1979). Later, came the major box office and critical failure of Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), followed by films that attracted mixed responses from the public From 1973, he was an associate director of the Royal National Theatre, where he produced George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House (1975). He also directed several operas, beginning with Les contes d'Hoffmann (1980) and Der Rosenkavalier (1984), both at Covent Garden. Schlesinger was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to film in 1970. In 2003, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California Walk of Stars was dedicated to him. Description above from the Wikipedia article John Schlesinger, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.


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Born:
Feb 16, 1926 In London, England, UK
Movie/TV Credits:
22
First Appeared:
In the movie The Divided Heart 1954-11-09
Latest Project:
Movie Mythos Hollywood - Das Geheimnis des Erfolgs 1998-01-01
Known For
Poster of Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey
Poster of The Magic of Hollywood... Is the Magic of People
Poster of The Crowd Around the Cowboy
Poster of The Last Man to Hang
Filmography
Movie Mythos Hollywood - Das Geheimnis des Erfolgs Self 1998-01-01
Movie The Celluloid Closet Self 1996-01-30
Movie The Twilight of the Golds Dr. Adrian Lodge 1996-10-10
Movie The Lost Language of Cranes Derek Moulthorp 1992-02-09
Movie Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey Self 1990-01-19
Movie Pacific Heights Man in Elevator (uncredited) 1990-09-28
Movie The Magic of Hollywood... Is the Magic of People Self 1976-10-06
Movie The Big Screen Self 1973-02-20
Movie Visions of Eight Narrator 1973-10-06
Movie The Crowd Around the Cowboy Self 1969-01-01
Movie Darling Theatre Director (uncredited) 1965-08-03
Movie Billy Liar Officer in Dream (uncredited) 1963-08-15
Movie Terminus Passenger (uncredited) 1961-12-01
Series Ivanhoe Unknown 1958-01-05
Movie Stormy Crossing Mechanic 1958-08-01
Movie Brothers in Law Assize Court Solicitor 1957-03-04
Series Colonel March of Scotland Yard Unknown 1956-02-22
Movie The Battle of the River Plate Lieutenant, Graf Spee (uncredited) 1956-10-30
Movie The Last Man to Hang Dr. Goldfinger 1956-08-01
Series This Is Your Life Unknown 1955-07-29
Series The Adventures of Robin Hood Unknown 1955-09-26
Movie The Divided Heart Ticket Collector 1954-11-09