This page uses content from the John Schlesinger biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

John Richard Schlesinger CBE (February 16, 1926 – July 25, 2003) was an English film director.

Born in London to a Jewish family, he went on to work in television as an actor after graduating from Balliol College, Oxford. One of his first movies, the documentary Terminus (1960), earned him a Venice Film Festival Gold Lion and a British Academy Award.

His first three movies, A Kind of Loving (1962), Billy Liar (1963) and Darling (1965) describe tartly the modern urban way of life in England. Schlesinger's next movie was Far From the Madding Crowd (1967), an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's popular novel. Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy (1969) was internationally acclaimed and it won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture.

His later films include Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), The Day of the Locust (1975), Marathon Man (1976), Yanks (1979), Pacific Heights (1990), A Question of Attribution (1991), The Innocent (1993) and The Next Best Thing (2000).

Schlesinger also directed Timon of Athens (1964) for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the musical I and Albert (1972) at London's Piccadilly Theatre. From 1973 he was an associate director of the Royal National Theatre.

Schlesinger underwent a quadruple heart bypass in 1998, before suffering a stroke in December 2000. He was taken off life support at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs on July 24, 2003 by his life partner, photographer, Michael Childers. Schlesinger died early the following day.

Filmography

• A Kind of Loving (1962)
• Billy Liar (1963)
• Darling (1965)
• Far From the Madding Crowd (1967)
• Midnight Cowboy (1969)
• Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
• The Day of the Locust (1975)
• Marathon Man (1976)
• Yanks (1979)
• Honky Tonk Freeway (1981)
• Separate Tables (1983) (TV)
• An Englishman Abroad (1983) (TV)
• The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
• The Believers (1987)
• Madame Sousatzka (1988)
• Pacific Heights (1990)
• A Question of Attribution (1991) (TV)
• The Innocent (1993)
• Cold Comfort Farm (1995) (TV)
• Eye for an Eye (1996)
• The Tale of Sweeney Todd (1998) (TV)
• The Next Best Thing (2000).

External links

• Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
• IMDB Entry
• John Schlesinger

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