American filmmaker (1922?2010)
Blake Edwards
|
---|
Edwards in 1966
|
Born
| William Blake Crump
(
1922-07-26
)
July 26, 1922
|
---|
Died
| December 15, 2010
(2010-12-15)
(aged 88)
|
---|
Occupations
| - Director
- screenwriter
- producer
- actor
|
---|
Years active
| 1942?1995
|
---|
Spouses
| -
Patricia Walker
(
m.
1953;
div.
1967)
-
|
---|
Children
| 4, including
Jennifer
|
---|
Relatives
| J. Gordon Edwards
(step-grandfather)
|
---|
Blake Edwards
(born
William Blake Crump
; July 26, 1922 ? December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor.
Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio scripts before turning to producing and directing in television and films. His best-known films include
Breakfast at Tiffany's
(1961),
Days of Wine and Roses
(1962),
A Shot in the Dark
(1964),
The Great Race
(1965),
10
(1979),
Victor/Victoria
(1982),
Blind Date
(1987), and the hugely successful
Pink Panther
film series with British actor
Peter Sellers
. Often thought of as primarily a director of comedies, he also directed several drama, musical, and detective films. Late in his career, he took up writing, producing and directing for theater.
In 2004, he received an
Honorary Academy Award
in recognition of his writing, directing and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen.
[1]
Early life
[
edit
]
Born William Blake Crump July 26, 1922,
[2]
in
Tulsa, Oklahoma
, he was the son of Donald and Lillian (nee Grommett) Crump (1897?1992).
[3]
In an interview with Andre Previn, Blake Edwards claimed to be a descendant of
William Blake
.
[4]
His father reportedly left the family before he was born. His mother married again, to Jack McEdward,
[5]
who became his stepfather. McEdward was the son of
J. Gordon Edwards
, a director of
silent movies
, and in 1925, he moved the family to Los Angeles and became a film production manager.
[6]
In an interview with
The Village Voice
in 1971, Blake Edwards said that he had "always felt alienated, estranged from my own father, Jack McEdward".
[7]
After graduating from
Beverly Hills High School
in the class of Winter 1941, Blake began taking jobs as an actor during World War II.
Edwards describes this period:
I worked with the best directors ?
Ford
,
Wyler
,
Preminger
? and learned a lot from them. But I wasn't a very cooperative actor. I was a spunky, smart-assed kid. Maybe even I was indicating that I wanted to give, not take, direction.
[7]
Edwards served in the
United States Coast Guard
during World War II, where he suffered a severe back injury, which left him in pain for years afterwards.
[6]
Career
[
edit
]
Edwards's debut as a director came in 1952 on the television program
Four Star Playhouse
.
[8]
In the 1954?1955 television season, Edwards joined with
Richard Quine
to create
Mickey Rooney
's first television series,
The Mickey Rooney Show: Hey, Mulligan
. Edwards's hard-boiled private detective scripts for
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
became NBC's answer to
Sam Spade
and
Philip Marlowe
, reflecting Edwards's unique humor. Edwards also created, wrote, and directed the 1958?61 TV detective series
Peter Gunn
, which starred
Craig Stevens
, with music by
Henry Mancini
. The following year, Edwards produced
Mr. Lucky
,
an adventure series on
CBS
starring
John Vivyan
and
Ross Martin
. Mancini's association with Edwards continued in his film work, significantly contributing to their success.
Edwards's most popular films were comedies, the melodrama
Days of Wine and Roses
being a notable exception. His most dynamic and successful collaboration was with Peter Sellers in six of the movies in the
Pink Panther
series.
[9]
Edwards later directed the comedy film
10
with
Dudley Moore
and
Bo Derek
.
[9]
Operation Petticoat
(1959)
[
edit
]
Operation Petticoat
was Edwards's first big-budget movie as a director. The film, which starred
Cary Grant
and
Tony Curtis
and was produced by Grant's own production company, Granart Company, became the "greatest box-office success of the decade for Universal [Studios]" and made Edwards a recognized director.
[6]
Breakfast at Tiffany's
(1961)
[
edit
]
Breakfast at Tiffany's
, based on the novella by
Truman Capote
, is credited with establishing him as a "cult figure" with many critics.
Andrew Sarris
called it the "directorial surprise of 1961", and it became a "romantic touchstone" for college students in the early 1960s.
[6]
Days of Wine and Roses
(1962)
[
edit
]
Days of Wine And Roses
, a dark psychological film about the effects of alcoholism on a previously happy marriage, starred
Jack Lemmon
and
Lee Remick
. It has been described as "perhaps the most unsparing tract against drink that Hollywood has yet produced, more pessimistic than
Billy Wilder
's
The Lost Weekend
". The film gave another major boost to Edwards's reputation as an important director.
[6]
Darling Lili
(1970)
[
edit
]
According to critic George Morris,
Darling Lili
"synthesizes every major Edwards theme: the disappearance of gallantry and honor, the tension between appearances and reality and the emotional, spiritual, moral, and psychological disorder" in such a world. Edwards used complex cinematography techniques, including long-shot zooms, tracking, and focus distortion, to great effect.
[6]
However, the film failed badly with most critics and at the box office. Despite a cost of $17 million to make, it was seen by few cinema-goers, and the few who did watch were unimpressed. It brought
Paramount Pictures
to "the verge of financial collapse", and became an example of "self-indulgent extravagance" in filmmaking "that was ruining Hollywood".
[6]
Darling Lili
star
Julie Andrews
had married Edwards in 1969.
[
citation needed
]
Pink Panther
film series
[
edit
]
Edwards also directed most of the comedy film series
The Pink Panther
, the majority of installments starring
Peter Sellers
as the inept
Inspector Clouseau
. The relationship between the director and the lead actor was considered a fruitful yet complicated one with many disagreements during production. At various times in their film relationship, "he more than once swore off Sellers" as too hard to direct. However, in his later years, he admitted that working with Sellers was often irresistible:
"We clicked on comedy and we were lucky we found each other because we both had so much respect for it. We also had an ability to come up with funny things and great situations that had to be explored. But in that exploration there would often times be disagreement. But I couldn't resist those moments when we gelled. And if you ask me who contributed most to those things, it couldn't have happened unless both of us were involved, even though it wasn't always happy."
[10]
Five of those films involved Edwards and Sellers in original material; those films being
The Pink Panther
(1963),
A Shot in the Dark
(1964),
The Return of the Pink Panther
(1975),
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
(1976), and
Revenge of the Pink Panther
(1978). (1968's
Inspector Clouseau
, the third film in the series, was made without the involvement of Edwards or Sellers.) The films were all highly profitable:
The Return of the Pink Panther
, for example, cost just $2.5 million to make but grossed $100 million, while
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
did even better.
[6]
After Sellers's death in 1980, Edwards directed three further
Pink Panther
films.
Trail of the Pink Panther
(1982) consisted of unused material of Sellers from
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
as well as previously seen material from the earlier films.
Curse of the Pink Panther
(1983) and
Son of the Pink Panther
(1993) were further attempts by Edwards to continue the series without Sellers but both films were critical and financial disappointments. Edwards eventually retired from film making two years after the release of
Son of the Pink Panther
.
In addition to the
Pink Panther
films, Edwards directed Sellers in the comedy film
The Party
.
Silent-film style
[
edit
]
Having grown up in Hollywood, the stepson of a studio production manager and stepgrandson of a silent-film director, Edwards had watched the films of the great silent-era comedians, including
Charlie Chaplin
,
Buster Keaton
,
Harold Lloyd
, and
Laurel and Hardy
. He and Sellers appreciated and understood the comedy styles in silent films and tried to recreate them in their work together. After their immense success with the first two
Pink Panther
films,
The Pink Panther
(1963) and
A Shot in the Dark
(1964), which adapted many silent-film aspects, including slapstick, they attempted to go even further in
The Party
(1968). The film has always had a cult following, and some critics and fans have considered it a "masterpiece in this vein" of silent comedy, though it did include minimal dialogue.
[11]
[12]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Marriages
[
edit
]
Edwards married his first wife, actress Patricia Walker, in 1953; they divorced in 1967. Edwards and Walker had two children, actress
Jennifer Edwards
and actor-writer-director Geoffrey Edwards.
[13]
Walker appeared in the comedy
All Ashore
(1953), for which Edwards was one of the screenwriters. Edwards also named one of his film production companies, Patricia Productions, Incorporated, after her.
[14]
Edwards's second marriage, from 1969 until his death in 2010, was to
Julie Andrews
. They were married for 41 years. He was the stepfather to
Emma
, from Andrews's previous marriage. In the 1970s, Edwards and Andrews adopted two Vietnamese daughters; Amy Leigh (later known as Amelia) in 1974 and Joanna Lynne in 1975.
[15]
Health
[
edit
]
Edwards described his struggle for 15 years with the illness
myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome
(ME/CFS) in the documentary
I Remember Me
(2000).
[16]
Death and legacy
[
edit
]
On December 15, 2010, Edwards died of complications of
pneumonia
at the
Saint John's Health Center
in
Santa Monica, California
. He was 88.
[3]
Edwards was greatly admired, and criticized, as a filmmaker. His critics are alluded to by American film author George Morris:
It has been difficult for many critics to accept Blake Edwards as anything more than a popular entertainer. Edwards' detractors acknowledge his formal skill, but deplore the absence of profundity in his movies. Edwards' movies
are
slick and glossy, but their shiny surfaces reflect all too accurately the disposable values of contemporary life.
[6]
Others, however, recognized him more for his significant achievements at different periods of his career. British film critic Peter Lloyd, for example, described Edwards, in 1971, as "the finest director working in the American commercial cinema at the present time". Edwards's biographers,
William Luhr
and Peter Lehman,
[17]
in an interview in 1974, called him "the finest American director working at this time".
[18]
They refer especially to the
Pink Panther's
Clouseau
, developed with the comedic skills of
Peter Sellers
as a character "perfectly consistent" with his "absurdist view of the world, because he has no faith in anything and constantly adapts". Critic Stuart Byron calls his first two
Pink Panther
films "two of the best comedies an American has ever made". Polls taken at the time showed that his name, as a director, was a rare "marketable commodity" in Hollywood.
[6]
Edwards himself described one of the secrets to success in the film industry:
For someone who wants to practice his art in this business, all you can hope to do, as
S.O.B.
says, is stick to your guns, make the compromises you must, and hope that somewhere along the way you acquire a few good friends who understand. And keep half a conscience.
[6]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Film
[
edit
]
Radio
[
edit
]
Television
[
edit
]
TV movies
Theater
[
edit
]
Year
|
Title
|
Director
|
Writer
|
Executive
Producer
|
Notes
|
1995-1999
|
Victor/Victoria
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Broadway production and Broadway tour
|
1999
|
Big Rosemary
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Off-Broadway production, 2004 theatrical workshop, 2008 Broadway preview
|
2003
|
Scapegoat
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Theatrical workshop
|
Awards and honors
[
edit
]
In 2004, Edwards received an
Honorary Academy Award
for cumulative achievements over the course of his film career.
[19]
As
Entertainment Weekly
reported, "Honorary Oscar winner Blake Edwards made an entrance worthy of Peter Sellers in one of Edwards'
Pink Panther
films: A stuntman who looked just like Edwards rode a speeding wheelchair past a podium and crashed through a wall. When the octogenarian director entered and dusted himself off as if he had crashed, he told presenter
Jim Carrey
, 'Don't touch my Oscar.'"
[20]
Also in 2004, Edwards received
The Life Career Award
from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, during that year's
Saturn Award
ceremony.
In 1983, Edwards was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay for
Victor/Victoria
as well as winning Best Foreign Film and Best Foreign Screenplay in France and Italy, respectively for
Victor/Victoria
. In 1988, Edwards received the Creative Achievement Award from the American Comedy Awards. In 1991, Edwards received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1993, Edwards received the Preston Sturges Award jointly from the Directors Guild and the Writers Guild. In 2000, Edwards received the Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award from the Art Directors Guild. In 2002, Edwards received the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild as well as the Special Edgar from The Mystery Writers of America for career achievement.
Between 1962 and 1968, Edwards was nominated six times for a Golden Laurel Award as Best Director by Motion Picture Exhibitors. In 1963, Edwards was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Director for
Days of Wine and Roses
. In 1962, Edwards was nominated for Outstanding Achievement by the Directors Guild for
Breakfast at Tiffany's
. In 1960, Edwards was nominated for an Edgar for Best Teleplay by the Mystery Writers of America for
Peter Gunn
. In 1959, Edwards was nominated for two Primetime Emmys as Best Director and Best Teleplay for
Peter Gunn
Between 1958 and 1983, Edwards was nominated eight times for Best Screenplay by the Writers Guild and won twice, for
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
and
Victor/Victoria
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Receiving Honorary Oscar in 2004"
. Youtube.com.
Archived
from the original on November 7, 2021
. Retrieved
September 7,
2012
.
- ^
Weiss, Philip (October 1, 1995).
"Return of the Punk Panther"
.
The New York Times Magazine
.
[...] Edwards's wife, Julie Andrews, said his birthday was the 22nd [...]
- ^
a
b
Harmetz, Aljean (December 16, 2010).
"Blake Edwards, Prolific Comedy Director, Dies at 88"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
BBC2 program 1987
- ^
"Blake Edwards"
.
The Telegram
. London: Telegraph.co.uk. December 16, 2010
. Retrieved
September 7,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
Wakeman, John (Ed.)
World Film Directors
Vol. 2. H.W. Wilson Co. (1988) pp. 302?310
- ^
a
b
Byron, Stuart (August 5, 1971).
"Confessions of a Cult Figure"
.
Village Voice
. p. 56.
- ^
Feiwell, Jill (December 12, 2003).
"Life Oscar to Edwards"
. Daily Variety. Archived from
the original
on March 29, 2015
. Retrieved
January 21,
2015
– via
HighBeam Research
.
- ^
a
b
Moody, Mike (December 16, 2010).
"Filmmaker Blake Edwards dies, aged 88"
.
Digital Spy
.
Hachette Filipacchi (UK) Ltd
. Retrieved
December 16,
2010
.
- ^
"Blake Edwards:Old School"
Archived
December 14, 2010, at the
Wayback Machine
Directors Guild of America Quarterly,
Summer 2009.
- ^
Kehr, Dave.
International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers ? 2: Directors
3rd Ed. St. James Press (1997) pp. 291?294
- ^
"Clips from
The Party
"
. Youtube.com. January 22, 2009. Archived from
the original
on February 14, 2010
. Retrieved
September 7,
2012
.
- ^
Clifton, Emma (January 18, 2014).
"The real-life Trophy Wife"
.
NZHerald
. Retrieved
December 10,
2020
.
- ^
"Los Angeles Evening Citizen News from Hollywood, California on November 28, 1964"
.
Newspapers.com
. November 28, 1964
. Retrieved
June 29,
2021
.
- ^
"The Pristine Princess ? Adoption, Julie Andrews : People.com"
. May 2, 2010. Archived from
the original
on May 2, 2010
. Retrieved
February 23,
2021
.
- ^
Thomas, Kevin (May 30, 2002).
"Tarr's 'Harmonies' Is Involving Puzzle"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
March 6,
2010
.
- ^
Luhr, William, and Lehman, Peter.
Blake Edwards
, Ohio University Press (1981)
- ^
Velvet Light Trap
magazine, Fall, 1974
- ^
"Blake Edwards, American director, dies aged 88"
.
BBC News
. December 16, 2010
. Retrieved
December 16,
2010
.
- ^
EW Staff (March 1, 2004).
"Blake Edwards had a memorable 2004 Oscars moment"
.
Entertainment Weekly
. Archived from
the original
on August 8, 2021
. Retrieved
December 10,
2020
.
External links
[
edit
]
Awards for Blake Edwards
|
---|
|
---|
1928?1950
|
- Warner Bros.
/
Charlie Chaplin
(1928)
- Walt Disney
(1932)
- Shirley Temple
(1934)
- D. W. Griffith
(1935)
- The March of Time
/
W. Howard Greene
and
Harold Rosson
(1936)
- Edgar Bergen
/
W. Howard Greene
/
Museum of Modern Art Film Library
/
Mack Sennett
(1937)
- J. Arthur Ball
/
Walt Disney
/
Deanna Durbin
and
Mickey Rooney
/
Gordon Jennings
,
Jan Domela
, Devereaux Jennings, Irmin Roberts, Art Smith,
Farciot Edouart
,
Loyal Griggs
,
Loren L. Ryder
, Harry D. Mills,
Louis Mesenkop
, Walter Oberst /
Oliver T. Marsh
and Allen Davey /
Harry Warner
(1938)
- Douglas Fairbanks
/
Judy Garland
/
William Cameron Menzies
/
Motion Picture Relief Fund
(
Jean Hersholt
,
Ralph Morgan
,
Ralph Block
,
Conrad Nagel
)/
Technicolor SA
(1939)
- Bob Hope
/
Nathan Levinson
(1940)
- Walt Disney
,
William Garity
, John N. A. Hawkins, and the
RCA Manufacturing Company
/
Leopold Stokowski
and his associates / Rey Scott /
British Ministry of Information
(1941)
- Charles Boyer
/
Noel Coward
/
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
(1942)
- George Pal
(1943)
- Bob Hope
/
Margaret O'Brien
(1944)
- Republic Studio,
Daniel J. Bloomberg
, and the Republic Studio Sound Department /
Walter Wanger
/
The House I Live In
/
Peggy Ann Garner
(1945)
- Harold Russell
/
Laurence Olivier
/
Ernst Lubitsch
/
Claude Jarman Jr.
(1946)
- James Baskett
/
Thomas Armat
,
William Nicholas Selig
,
Albert E. Smith
, and
George Kirke Spoor
/
Bill and Coo
/
Shoeshine
(1947)
- Walter Wanger
/
Monsieur Vincent
/
Sid Grauman
/
Adolph Zukor
(1948)
- Jean Hersholt
/
Fred Astaire
/
Cecil B. DeMille
/
The Bicycle Thief
(1949)
- Louis B. Mayer
/
George Murphy
/
The Walls of Malapaga
(1950)
|
---|
1951?1975
| |
---|
1976?2000
| |
---|
2001?present
| |
---|
|
---|
1980s
| |
---|
1990s
| |
---|
2000s
| |
---|
2010s
|
- M. Night Shyamalan
?
The Last Airbender
(2010)
- Dennis Dugan
?
Jack and Jill
and
Just Go with It
(2011)
- Bill Condon
?
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 2
(2012)
- Elizabeth Banks
,
Steven Brill
,
Steve Carr
,
Rusty Cundieff
, James Duffy,
Griffin Dunne
,
Peter Farrelly
, Patrik Forsberg, Will Graham,
James Gunn
,
Bob Odenkirk
,
Brett Ratner
, and Jonathan van Tulleken ?
Movie 43
(2013)
- Michael Bay
?
Transformers: Age of Extinction
(2014)
- Josh Trank
?
Fantastic Four
(2015)
- Dinesh D'Souza
and Bruce Schooley ?
Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party
(2016)
- Tony Leondis
?
The Emoji Movie
(2017)
- Etan Cohen
?
Holmes & Watson
(2018)
- Tom Hooper
?
Cats
(2019)
|
---|
2020s
| |
---|
|
---|
1950s
| |
---|
1960s
| |
---|
1970s
| |
---|
1980s
| |
---|
1990s
| |
---|
2000s
| |
---|
2010s
| |
---|
2020s
| |
---|
|
---|
Adapted Drama
(1969?1983)
| |
---|
Adapted Comedy
(1969?1983)
| |
---|
Adapted Screenplay
(1984?present)
| |
---|
|
|
---|
Founders
| |
---|
Key executives
| |
---|
Films
| |
---|
Television
| |
---|
Affiliates
| |
---|
Distributors
| |
---|
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Academics
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|