08 May, 2017
Movie director Jonathan Demme, who won an Academy Award for The Silence of the Lambs has passed away in NY at the age of 73.
Filmmaker Ron Howard and actress Thandie Newton are leading the tributes to director Jonathan Demme following his death on Wednesday (26Apr17). A representative for the director said he passed away due to complications from esophageal cancer in his New York City apartment.
Demme is best known for directing the '90s classic horror film, Silence of the Lambs, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster.
He also directed Justin Timberlake's 2016 concert documentary.
Other directors paid tribute to Demme, with Spike Lee sharing a photograph of him directing Philadelphia with the caption: "We Lost Another Great Artist Today, My Colleague Jonathan Demme". His credits cover a range of styles and genres - from comedy to documentary - held together by a strain of deep humanism and often melancholic humor. "He was pure energy, the unstoppable cheerleader for anyone creative", she said.
Following a series of successful comedies (such as "Something Wild"), Demme landed "Silence of the Lambs" and "Philadelphia", which made him one of the most sought-after filmmakers in Hollywood. "I learned so much watching him work ... about songs I already knew - and his love for how music looks when it's being played live has stayed with me".
He will be laid to rest in a private funeral.
Susan Orlean, the author of "The Orchid Thief", which Demme optioned and turned into "Adaptation", called him "brilliant, charming, warm (and) amusing".
Hannah Donohue said Demme, 73, died at home in Manhattan of complications from oesophageal cancer, with his wife and three adult children by his side. "I was about 25 years old at the time and I said, I would love to try that". Roger Ebert called the film "a ground-breaker like 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, '" and Tom Hanks won the Best Actor Academy Award and Golden Globe for his performance. In place of flowers, the family has requested donations to be made to a Florida-based charity that works to protect immigrants, Americans For Immigrant Justice.
In 1998, Demme worked with Robyn Hitchcock on the unusual concert film Storefront Hitchcock where the artist performed a set of songs in an abandoned store window in NY.
Tom Hanks won his second consecutive Best Actor Oscar playing an HIV-positive man fired for his condition.
