Peter Bogdanovich, the iconic director of such films as Paper Moon and The Last Picture Show, has passed away. Considered by many to be one of the most important filmmakers of the 1970s, Bogdanovich died at the age of 82 while at his home in Los Angeles.
Hollywood fully embraced Bogdanovich in 1971 after the release of The Last Picture Show, which some had compared to Citizen Kane. Bogdanovich’s work on The Last Picture Show earned him his only two Oscar nominations – for Best Director and Adapted Screenplay. The black-and-white feature starred Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, and Cybill Shepherd for a film about a group of high schoolers graduating high school in an atrophied North Texas town that is slowly dying, both culturally and economically.
Bogdanovich followed The Last Picture Show with two more bangers: What’s Up, Doc? starring Barbara Streisand and Ryan O’Neil (1972) and Paper Moon with O’Neil and his daughter Tatum O’Neil, who won the Lead Actress Oscar for the role at just 10-years-old. She is still the youngest person to ever win the category.
“Bogdanovich, 31, has achieved a tactile sense of time and place,” Stefan Kanfer raved in Time magazine shortly after the movie opened. “More, he has performed that most difficult of all cinematic feats: he has made ennui fascinating. Together, that is enough to herald him as possibly the most exciting new director in America today.”
Bogdanovich then helmed films like Nickelodeon (1976), Saint Jack (1979), Mask (1985), Texasville (1990), and more, before shifting his focus to the small screen. In 1995 he directed an episode of Fallen Angels titled “A Dime a Dance”, but perhaps his most celebrated effort was for the HBO drama Sopranos, with an episode titled “Sentimental Education (2004). Bogdanovich also starred in the New Jersey mafia drama as Dr. Elliot Kupferberg. This, of course, is in addition to 54 other acting roles throughout his career, including parts for projects like Out of Order, Rizzoli & Isles, Lions Love, and Mr. Jealousy, just to name a few.
In addition to being declared a member of the French New Wave, Bogdanovich lived a colorful not-so-private life that led to a scandal with two of his leading ladies. Bogdanovich was born to a Serbian pianist father (Borislav) and an Austrian painter mother (Herma), having both arrived in Kingston, N.Y., from Europe in the year of their son’s birth. Having studied acting under Stella Adler, Bogdanovich became known as an obsessive movie watcher and critic. He even programmed films at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in the early ’60s. He later moved to Los Angeles with the intent of pursuing a career in Hollywood.
Bogdanovich’s contributions to cinema are sure to be celebrated for generations to come, and I would not be surprised if someone develops a film study based on his celebrated career and achievements. We here at JoBlo would like to extend our condolences and warmest wishes to Mr. Bogdanovich’s family, friends and fans. He may no longer be with us, but Peter’s work will live on through those who admire him as well as those yet to discover his genius for themselves.