Norman Jewison, a seven-time Academy Award nominee who directed “Moonstruck” and “In the Heat of the Night,” died Saturday, his publicist said. He was 97.
Jewison died “peacefully” at his Los Angeles home, publicist Jeff Sanderson told The Hollywood Reporter. Additional details were not immediately available, according to The Associated Press.
The Canadian-born Jewison was nominated three times for an Oscar as Best Director, for “Moonstruck,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” Deadline reported. He also received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture for “Moonstruck,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “A Soldier’s Story” and “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” according to the entertainment news website.
Oscar-nominated film director and producer Norman Jewison, who steered the 1967 racial drama “In the Heat of the Night” to a best picture Oscar and also helmed such popular films as “Moonstruck,” died Saturday. He was 97 years old. https://t.co/Hh9Yd0quc6
— Variety (@Variety) January 22, 2024
Jewison also received the Irving G. Thalberg Award at the Academy Awards from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences in 1999, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Jewison began his film career with Doris Day comedies like “The Thrill of It All,” Variety reported. But he expanded his repertoire with the socially conscious “In the Heat of the Night” and the 1978 labor union drama “F.I.S.T.”
Jewison produced the 1966 comedy, “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming,” and followed it up the next year with “In the Heat of the Night,” according to Variety.
In 1969 he worked on “The Thomas Crown Affair” and later adapted the Broadway musical “Fiddler on the Roof” to film, the entertainment news website reported.
Jewison also was involved in films such as “Send Me No Flowers” (1964), “The Cincinnati Kid” (1965), “Jesus Christ Superstar” (1973), “Rollerball” (1975), “ … And Justice for All” (1979), “Agnes of God” (1985) and “Other People’s Money” (1991), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Norman Frederick Jewison was born on July 21, 1926, in Toronto, the entertainment news website reported. He studied piano at the Royal Conservatory and appeared in shows and musical comedies while he was in high school.
He was honored by Canada in 2003 with a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, the AP reported.
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