R.I.P. Robert Mulligan, 1925-2008 (1 Viewer)

[dpippel]

Robert Mulligan, the Oscar-nominated director of "To Kill a Mockingbird", died of heart disease on Saturday, December 20th at his home in Lyme, Connecticut. He was 83 years old. While he was best known for his touching and relevant adaptation of Harper Lee's story of racism and friendship in the deep South, he also directed Reese Witherspoon's first film (The Man in the Moon - his last directorial effort) as well as "Up the Down Staircase", "Inside Daisy Clover", "Summer of '42", and "Same Time, Next Year". He was the brother of actor Richard Mulligan.

 

[Henry Gale]

Thanks Doug, here's part of the LATimes obit:

"Robert Mulligan, who was nominated for an Academy Award for directing the 1962 film classic "To Kill a Mockingbird," died Saturday at his home in Lyme, Conn. He was 83.

Mulligan had heart disease, his nephew Robert Rosenthal said.

The director began working in live television in New York in the early 1950s and won an Emmy Award for the TV movie "The Moon and Sixpence" in 1960. His first film, "Fear Strikes Out," was released in 1957 and told the story of mentally ill baseball player Jimmy Piersall, played by Anthony Perkins. Mulligan directed 19 more films, including "Summer of '42," "The Other" and "Same Time, Next Year" before capping his career in 1991 with "Man in the Moon," featuring actress Reese Witherspoon in her movie debut.

The highlight of Mulligan's career was "To Kill a Mockingbird," a courtroom drama adapted from Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and centered on Southern attorney Atticus Finch and his children, Scout and Jem. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including best picture, and won three: best actor (Gregory Peck), best screenplay (Horton Foote) and art direction (Alexander Golitzen, Henry Bumstead and Oliver Emert). ("Lawrence of Arabia" was named best picture and David Lean best director for that film.)

"Mockingbird" was one of seven films Mulligan made in collaboration with producer Alan J. Pakula between 1957 and 1969, among them "Love With the Proper Stranger" (1963) starring Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen and "Up the Down Staircase" (1967) with Sandy Dennis."

 

[Dick]

I thank him also for the underrated little gem, THE OTHER. Mulligan's passing doesn't leave us wirth to many from the old guard, does it?

 

[Robert Crawford]

There are about 6-8 of his films that I really liked while TKAMB is one of my top ten all-time favorite films. May he R.I.P.





Crawdaddy

 

[Ocean Phoenix]

Speaking of underrated gems, I recommend "The Man in the Moon" to anyone who hasn't seen it. Coincidentally, I just rented it (I'd been interested in it for awhile) the other week and was very impressed. It was nice to see a simple, straightforward, and plausible love story with realistic characters, very authentic-sounding dialogue, and a lovely setting. I was a little disappointed by the rather cliche and contrived tragic plot development towards the end, but aside from that, I thought it was flawless. Not the most original story (especially with that tragedy in there), but beautifully directed, written, and acted. It definitely showed Reese Witherspoon's potential and I'm quite certain it was better than anything she's done in awhile.

 

[Ockeghem]

That is probably my favorite film of Witherspoon's, along with (possibly) Freeway.

 

[Henry Gale]

To Kill A Mockingbird would have to be in the Top Ten of any sensible person.

 

[Ocean Phoenix]

Yes! I agree wholeheartedly! I just watched "Freeway" for the first time recently and I loved it so much that I bought it shortly after, which is something I rarely do (it usually takes awhile before I decide I liked a movie enough to want to own a copy). In my opinion, it is one of the most overlooked treasures of the '90s that should have been a big hit. To get slightly back on topic, in the past few years I've been finding myself frequently disappointed with movie adaptations of books I've read and loved. I would rank "To Kill A Mockingbird" up there with "In Cold Blood" as one of the best, most respectful movie adaptations of a great novel ever made. As I become more aware of how difficult it is for a movie adaptation to retain the power of a really riveting book, I appreciate movies like that much more.