By Blake Edwards, the great director whose credits include Breakfast At Tiffany’s and the Peter Sellers Pink Panther series, has died aged 88 following pneumonia complications. His family, including children and widow Julie Andrews, were by his bedside at the time of his passing.
Edwards started his career as an actor but found greater success in writing for film and radio, most notably working on Orson Welles’ infamous broadcast of The War of the Worlds in 1938. He also worked on a number of television series, with NBC’s Peter Gun being his first collaboration with composer Henry Mancini, a partnership which would last over 30 years. His break on the big screen came when John Frankenheimer dropped out of directing Breakfast At Tiffany’s, allowing Edwards to take the helm in his stead. The film went on to win an Oscar for Mancini’s score and a nomination for star Audrey Hepburn.
His next two films were significant deviations from the comedies he is now best known for, with the thriller Experiment In Terror and alcoholism melodrama Days of Wine And Roses, for which stars Jack Lemmon and Lee Ann Remick were nominated for Oscars. In 1963 he directed the first…
Blake Edwards, the great director whose credits include Breakfast At Tiffany's and the Peter Sellers Pink Panther series, has died aged 88 following pneumonia complications. His family, including children and widow Julie Andrews, were by his bedside at the time of his passing.
Edwards started his career as an actor but found greater success in writing for film and radio, most notably working on Orson Welles' infamous broadcast of The War of the Worlds in 1938. He also worked on a number of television series, with NBC's Peter Gun being his first collaboration with composer Henry Mancini, a partnership which would last over 30 years. His break on the big screen came when John Frankenheimer dropped out of directing Breakfast At Tiffany's, allowing Edwards to take the helm in his stead. The film went on to win an Oscar for Mancini's score and a nomination for star Audrey Hepburn.
His next two films were significant deviations from the comedies he is now best known for, with the thriller Experiment In Terror and alcoholism melodrama Days of Wine And Roses, for which stars Jack Lemmon and Lee Ann Remick were nominated for Oscars. In 1963 he directed the first in the Pink Panther series which would prove his most enduring legacy and run to eight entries, although the less said about the last three and subsequent remakes the better. Despite the films' success, the director had a fractitious relationship with star Peter Sellers, notoriously neglecting to mention him in his speech after collecting his Honourary Academy Award in 2004.
In addition to the Panther series, he made a number of collaborations with second wife Julie Andrews, whom he married in 1969, including the Bo Derek/Dudley Moore romantic comedy 10 and her most controversial role, the 1981 showbiz satire S.O.B.
By film geeks everywhere, he will be remembered with enormous affection. Check after the jump for clips from some of his finest films.{{page_break}}
The Return of the Pink Panther
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQAMvmi1Zwk&feature=related
Breakfast At Tiffany's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOByH_iOn88
10 (fan video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvgpQPGku5A
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
