Director Minghella Dead at 54

Oscar winner for 'Song of Bernadette' was Selznick's muse

(NEWSER) - Jennifer Jones, an Oscar winner for The Song of Bernadette and the widow of both legendary producer David O. Selznick and industrialist Norton Simon, died today in Malibu. She was 90. Selznick plucked Jones from obscurity by casting her in Bernadette (1943) and launching a career that included four more Academy Award nominations. "I cried all the way through Bernadette because Jennifer was so moving and because I realized then I had lost the award," fellow nominee Ingrid Bergman recalled. More»

Roger Corman, Gordon Willis, John Calley share the spotlight

(NEWSER) - A mere 65 years after her unforgettable screen debut, Lauren Bacall has won an Academy Award. The honorary Oscar was a high point of a ceremony last night in Los Angeles that also celebrated the careers of filmmaker Roger Corman, cinematographer Gordon Willis, and producer John Calley. "I can't believe it, a man at last!" the 85-year-old Bacall joked as she hoisted her new hardware. More»

Director mixed art, commerce in classic American films

(NEWSER) - Oscar-winning filmmaker Sidney Pollack died of cancer today at age 73 in Los Angeles, the New York Times reports. His career, defined by classics like Tootsie and Out of Africa, spanned an era when directors wrangled stars and battled studios to make artful yet commercial films. He later grieved that mainstream movies are good only by "accident" in today's Hollywood. More»

Truly, Madly, Deeply can help fans grieve director's early passing

(NEWSER) - He might be known for his sweep of the 1996 Academy Awards with The English Patient, but director Anthony Minghella should be remembered for his first film, Dana Stevens writes in Slate. Truly, Madly, Deeply, a 1990 made-for-TV movie that's now something of a cult classic, is a "psychologically accurate portrait of grief" that still manages to be funny and "madly romantic." More»

(NEWSER) - Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, one of the giants of cinematic storytelling, died today at 89 after a career spanning more than half a century and over 50 films. Bergman's films scanned the dreary but often resplendent landscape of the human condition, one deeply conditioned by his native country. More»