- published: 14 Mar 2008
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Blake Edwards (July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, screenwriter and producer.
Edwards' career began in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon turned to writing radio scripts at Columbia Pictures. He used his writing skills to begin producing and directing, with some of his most well-known films including Experiment in Terror, The Great Race, and the hugely successful Pink Panther film series with the British comedian Peter Sellers. Often thought of as primarily a director of comedies, he also directed drama films, including Breakfast at Tiffany's and Days of Wine and Roses. His greatest successes, however, were his comedies, and most of his films were either musicals, melodramas, slapstick comedies, or thrillers.
In 2004, he received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of his writing, directing and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen.
Born William Blake Crump in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His grandfather was J. Gordon Edwards, a director of silent movies, and his stepfather, Jack McEdwards, became a film production manager after moving his family to Los Angeles in 1925. In an interview with Village Voice in 1971, he said that he had "always felt alienated, estranged from my . . . father." After attending grammar and high school in Los Angeles, he began taking jobs as an actor during World War II. Edwards describes this period:
Keywords: character-name-in-title
Actors: Shonna Major (actor), Janine Inez (editor), Zoe Marshall (director), Janine Inez (director), Zoe Marshall (writer), Janine Inez (writer), Zoe Marshall (producer), Mell Bowser (actor), Anthony Spease (actor), Leo de Souza (actor), Sydney-Cheyenne Nadir (actress), Sandy Mait (actor), Shane Kennedy (actor), Keaton Kane (actor), Melanie Johnson (actor),
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Short,Actors: Erik A. Williams (producer), Erik A. Williams (actor), Erik A. Williams (actor), Jessica Cameron (actress), Erik A. Williams (writer), Joe Hammerstone (actor), Brent Gorsage (writer), Brent Gorsage (producer), Bill Chott (actor), Donny Callahan (actor), Cody Kauhl (editor), Bill Conklin (actor), Cody Kauhl (actor), Cody Kauhl (actor), Cody Kauhl (writer),
Genres: Comedy, Short,Actors: Jill McCullough (miscellaneous crew), George Faber (producer), Rhys Ifans (actor), David Sterne (actor), Colin Towns (composer), Richard Durden (actor), Alan Cox (actor), Elizabeth Hawthorne (actress), Peter Rowley (actor), Charles Pattinson (producer), Jonathan Aris (actor), John Leigh (actor), Timothy Balme (actor), Barbara Darragh (costume designer), Robin Soans (actor),
Genres: Biography, Drama,Actors: Miriam Margolyes (actress), Alison Steadman (actress), Heidi Klum (actress), Geoffrey Rush (actor), Emilia Fox (actress), Peter Vaughan (actor), Steve Pemberton (actor), Ray Donn (actor), John Lithgow (actor), Nigel Havers (actor), Stephen Fry (actor), Stanley Tucci (actor), Mackenzie Crook (actor), Emily Watson (actress), Charlize Theron (actress),
Plot: The professional and personal life of actor and comedian 'Peter Sellers (I)' (qv) was a turbulent one. His early movie fame was based primarily on his comic characterizations, often of bumbling and foreign-accented persons, characters which he embodied. As his movie fame rose, he began to lose his own personal identity to his movie characters, leading to self-doubt of himself as a person and a constant need for reassurance and acceptance of his work. This self-doubt manifested itself in fits of anger and what was deemed as arrogance by many. In turn, his personal relationships began to deteriorate as his characterizations were continually used to mask his problems. His first wife, Anne Howe, left/divorced him and his relationships with his parents and children became increasingly distant. His relationship with his second wife, Swedish actress 'Britt Ekland' (qv), was based on this mask. In his later life, he tried to rediscover himself and his career with what would become his penultimate film role, that of Chance in _Being There (1979)_ (qv).
Keywords: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, acting, actor, actress, adultery, airplane-trip, animated-credits, animated-sequenceActors: Gregory Peck (actor), Tom Rack (actor), Eric McCormack (actor), James Bradford (actor), Steve Adams (actor), Mel Ferrer (actor), Richard Jutras (actor), Noel Burton (actor), Tony Calabretta (actor), Mark Camacho (actor), Humphrey Bogart (actor), William Holden (actor), Keir Dullea (actor), Vlasta Vrana (actor), Sam Stone (actor),
Plot: Biographic made-for-TV movie of the life of one of Hollywood's most famous actreses: Audrey Hepburn, spaning from her early childhood to the 1960's which details her life as Dutch overachieving ballerina, coming to grips with her parents divorce and enduring five hard years of living in Nazi occupied Holland during World War II. Audrey then settles in the USA where she tries to make it big as a movie actress and the emotional trials that follow her with it.
Keywords: 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, actress, anorexia, baby, ballerina, based-on-true-story, behind-the-scenes, broadway-manhattan-new-york-city