“My hope is to leave a little bit of a legacy. My hope is that young filmmakers might find some inspiration in what I have done. I hope that my career may inspire and encourage them to keep at their art, to never settle for easy answers or simple solutions. ”
…an extract from the acceptance speech by John Schlesinger after receiving his Bafta lifetime achievement award.
There has been a much deserved renewed interest in the life of legendary British film director John Schlesinger after the release of his official biography, Edge of Midnight penned by William J. Mann and released after the directors death at age 77 at a hospital in Palm Springs. On July 25th of 2003, he was taken off life support and died of natural causes after undergoing both quadruple bypass surgery and a series of strokes in 2001.
Born in London on February 16th, of 1926, the Jewish directors was most noted for pushing his films to the very edge of what was considered “taboo” at the time, and covering many controversial subjects, Schlesinger directed the first movie that ever displayed a kiss by two men. His career was spread over more then 50 years and covered the areas of cinema, stage, opera, and television. However, it was films like Academy award winning Midnight Cowboy, (the only X-rated film ever to win an Oscar for best picture, and its rating was later given an R) Sunday Bloody Sunday, and Marathon Man that really made the legendary gay filmmaker a star.
He was known for fighting tooth and nail with the distributors about his films, who wanted to cut antagonistic scenes to make the movies more palatable for the main stream. Schlesinger fought for the original integrity of the films and wouldn’t take no for an answer, airing some of the most provocative scenes in film history. He had the perspective of the middle class in mind and a penchant for revealing the world’s subcultures, minorities, and other groups that are often the targets of discrimination. He recreated the realities of human drama. The man, his life, and his work will never be forgotten.
Schlesinger’s Filmography
Directing:
Black Legend (1948) UK, short, co-writer
The Starfish (1950) UK, short, co-writer
Sunday in the Park (1956) UK, short, co-writer
Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years (1958-61) UK, television documentary series
Monitor (1958-1961) UK, television series, documentaries
Terminus (1961) UK, documentary, also writer
A Kind of Loving (1962) UK, also co-writer
Billy Liar (1963) UK
Darling (1965) UK
Days in the Trees (1967) UK, part of Wednesday Play television series
Far From the Madding Crowd (1967) UK
Midnight Cowboy (1969) USA
Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) UK
“The Longest” (1973) UK/West Germany, segment of Visions of Eight, also known as Olympiade München 1972
The Day of the Locust (1975), USA
Marathon Man (1976) USA
Yanks (1979) USA/UK/Germany, also known as Yanks - Gestern waren wir noch Freunde
Honky Tonk Freeway (1981) USA
Separate Tables (1983) USA, made for television
An Englishman Abroad (1983) UK, made for television
The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) USA, also producer
The Believers (1987) USA, also producer
Madame Sousatzka (1988) UK, also co-writer with Ruth Prawder Jhabvala
Pacific Heights (1990) USA, also actor (uncredited)
A Question of Attribution (1992) UK, made for television
The Innocent (1993), Germany/UK, also known as ...und der Himmel steht still
Cold Comfort Farm (1995) UK
Eye for an Eye (1996) USA
The Tale of Sweeney Todd (1998) USA/Ireland, made for television
The Next Best Thing (2000) USA, also actor (uncredited), also known as The Red Curtain
Singlehanded (Roy Boulting, 1952) UK, as actor, also known as Sailor of the King
