In the 1970s, he went from one of the most celebrated directors, notably for “The Last Picture Show,” to one of the most reviled.
Peter Bogdanovich, the director who transformed his enthusiasm for Golden Age cinema into successful films like “The Last Picture Show” and “Paper Moon,” only to have his professional reputation destroyed in one of Hollywood’s most well-known scandals, died early Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 82 years old.
According to his daughter Antonia Bogdanovich, the actor has died.
Mr. Bogdanovich was a stage actor who spent ten years as a film critic before becoming an independent filmmaker, first with Universal Pictures and then with Columbia Pictures. He was known by his soulful basset-hound face, big horn-rimmed glasses, and trademark neckerchief since he began his career as a screenwriter (he also
He was a legendary director known for his ability to elicit nuanced performances from actors and the bittersweet radiance of films that evoked a long-ago era— bygone in American film, and bygone in America itself.
On its premiere in 1971, Newsweek magazine’s critic called it “a masterpiece,” noting that it was “the most impressive work by a young American director since ‘Citizen Kane.'”
“It isn’t true that Hollywood is a bitter place, divided by hatred, greed and jealousy,” the director Billy Wilder once observed. “All it takes to bring the community together is a flop by Peter Bogdanovich.”
Furthermore, Mr. Bogdanovich’s life and career would be altered by the death of a loved one.
He was always able to find work in Hollywood, where he has since been a sought-after character actor. He rejuvenated his career behind the camera and in front of it in the 21st century, despite how difficult it is to get a second act in this industry. He was probably best recognized to 1990s television viewers as Dr. Elliot K
Mr. Bogdanovich’s film career had looked almost preordained, for he was a cinematic prodigy to be sure.
“I was born,” he liked to say. “And then I liked movies.”
He was an early critic and writer who, as a young man, focused on Hollywood filmmakers before turning his hand to politics.
He burst into the public eye in the early ’70s as a maker of three critically acclaimed features: “The Last Picture Show,” based on Larry McMurtry’s novel about small-town Texas life; “What’s Up, Doc?” (1972), a contemporary twist on 1930s screwball comedies starring Barbra Streisand and
Mr. Bogdanovich’s life was bracketed by loss, as it turned out. He would learn that he had been born into a family characterized by absence, and the history of his people had been defined by it.
Peter Bogdanovich, the son of Borislav and Herma Robinson Bogdanovich, was born on July 30, 1939, in upstate Kingston, N.Y., and grew up on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. His parents were both immigrants to the United States: his father a Serbian painter, his mother an Austrian Jew from a wealthy home.
