Movie director Jonathan Demme, who won an Academy Award for The Silence of the Lambs has passed away in New York at the age of 73. His death was due to esophageal cancer. The Silence of the Lambs was a 1991 horror-thriller film featuring actors Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, and Scott Glenn. The movie made over $270 million from a $19 million budget; a major success considering the subject matter was about a cannibalistic serial killer. The movie was also critically acclaimed, scooping Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Adapted Screenplay.
Demme’s career began working for cult movie director Roger Corman from 1971 to 1976. He then moved onto direct a series of low-profile movies. Many of these received critical acclaim but limited releases. Demme’s breakthrough was Stop Making Sense, and after this he went onto make the screwball action-romantic comedy Something Wild, and for then-on his career blossomed.
Demme’s other features included Philadelphia, Something Wild and the Talking Heads concert movie Stop Making Sense. The Talking Heads movie was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater in December 1983, and it was cutting edge at the time, being made entirely using digital audio techniques. Movie critic Leonard Maltin called the film “one of the greatest rock movies ever made.”
Philadelphia was also considered groundbreaking. The movie was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality, and homophobia. The song Streets of Philadelphia by Bruce Springsteen won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
On hearing of Demme’s passing, actor Tom Hanks, who won an Oscar for his performance in Demme’s Philadelphia, told the BBC that Demme was “the grandest of men”. Hanks added: “Jonathan taught us how big a heart a person can have, and how it will guide how we live and what we do for a living.”
Many other tributes have flocked in:
Author Stephen King tweeted: “Deeply sad to hear my friend, neighbor, and colleague Jonathan Demme has passed on. He was one of the real good guys. I miss you, buddy.”
Ron Howard said Demme was “a great artist, humanitarian, activist & a warm encouraging colleague.”
Actor Elijah Wood tweeted that he was “sad to hear” of the director’s death.
News of Demme’s death came via his publicist in a statement (via the News and Star): “He died from complications from oesophageal cancer and is survived by his children Ramona, age 29, and her husband James Molloy, Brooklyn, age 26, and Jos, age 21. There will be a private family funeral. Any possible further plans will be announced later.”
