Norman Jewison

Overview

Born
July 21, 1926 · Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died
January 20, 2024 · Malibu, California, USA
Birth name
Norman Frederick Jewison
Height
5′ 8″ (1.73 m)

Biography

Family

Spouses
Children

Trivia

Was the original director of Malcolm X (1992), however had to withdraw from the project due to outside pressure demanding that the subject be made by a black filmmaker.
The father of three children, Jewison hitchhiked across the Deep South region of the United States at age 18; he was struck by its apartheid-like, strictly enforced racial segregation. He considers The Hurricane (1999) the last in a trilogy of racial injustice movies he has directed, the first two being In the Heat of the Night (1967) and A Soldier's Story (1984). Jewison cast a then-largely unknown Denzel Washington in A Soldier's Story (1984), then coupled him with Rod Steiger in The Hurricane (1999).
(April 11, 1988) When Canadian Jewison's Best Director Oscar nomination for Moonstruck (1987) coincided with directors Adrian Lyne (UK) for Fatal Attraction (1987), John Boorman (UK) for Hope and Glory (1987), Lasse Hallström (Sweden) for My Life as a Dog (1985) and winner Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy) for The Last Emperor (1987), this was the only instance in Oscar history where none of the five Best Director nominees were from the United States.
In his DVD commentary for In the Heat of the Night (1967), Jewison recalled that shortly before he began production, Jewison took his family on a ski trip in Colorado. His broke his leg and went to the hospital. While there, he met New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy who also had an injured child in the hospital from his own ski trip. In the waiting room, the two men struck up a conversation. When he mentioned to Kennedy the movie he was working on, RFK became excited and said "This could be an important picture. Timing is everything." (RFK was famous for his championing of Civil Rights in the 1960s) Later, after the movie was released, one of the first awards it won was the New York Film Critics Award for Best Picture. When Jewison went to the ceremony to receive his award, he was presented with his award by none other than Robert F. Kennedy. When he got to the stage to accept the award, Kennedy was smiling and saying "See? I told you! Timing was everything!".
Even though he was offended by this at first, A Clockwork Orange (1971) inspired him to make Rollerball (1975) a few years later.

Quotes

People always tell me, "Gee, you direct so many movies" as if that's unusual. But I made my mind up when I was young that what's most important for a director is to keep working. Because how else are you going to learn how to do new things, which - to me - is the whole point. So I make a lot of different movies and I love them all ... The movies that address civil rights and social justice are the ones that are dearest to me.
[on working with Rod Steiger on In the Heat of the Night (1967)] I've never seen a man become a role so much. Two weeks after we started the picture, it was almost impossible to talk to [him] because he was in a Southern dialect night and day.
[on Judy Garland] Judy Garland was the most exciting sheer talent I ever worked with. She was so unpredictable, very child-like, very difficult to work with at times, but the rewards were immense.
[on Steve McQueen] I can honestly say he's the most difficult actor I've ever worked with.
[on Cher] Her comic timing is natural and almost infallible. I'll say so even though she nicknamed me "the curmudgeon". Cher thinks all directors are mad and crazy. She's right. of course.