Bill Jersey, the Bay area documentary filmmaker who has been in the industry for more than half a century, has died at the age of 99.
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He died on July 24 of congestive heart failure at his home in Lambertville, New Jersey, his wife, Shirley Kessler, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
“Bill had this extraordinary willpower. He’d say, ‘Goddamn it, if I’m alive, I’m going to do something,’” Kessler said. “Every aspect of his expression and his work was creative. That’s just the truth, and it made life interesting.”
Jersey was born in 1927 in Queens, New York and raised on Long Island. He joined the U.S. Navy right out of high school, and when he returned, attended Houghton College in New York, Wheaton College in Illinois and the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
He earned his master’s degree from USC in 1957, and worked as the art director on two films released in 1958, Manhunt in the Jungle, and The Blob starring Steve McQueen. He moved back east and started Quest Productions, which he used to produce much of his work, in 1960.
In 1963, he wrote, directed, and produced “Manhattan Battleground,” an episode of the anthology series The DuPont Show of the Week. It focused on a Quaker social worker in New York’s Spanish Harlem, and earned Jersey his first Emmy nomination.
Jersey got his first Oscar nomination for 1967’s A Time for Burning, which focuses on a white Lutheran minister’s unsuccessful attempt to connect with a Black community in Omaha, Nebraska. It was inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry in 2005 for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
More nominations include an Oscar nom for 1990’s Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren, narrated by Gregory Peck, and two Emmy noms for the 2002 miniseries The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow.
He also created documentaries about the making of films like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus. His last project was American Reds: The Rise and Fall of the American Communist Party, which was released in 2016 when he was 89 years old.
Jersey moved Quest Productions to the Bay area in 1981, taking residence in the Zaentz Media Center in Berkeley in 1983. During that time, he became influential in the area’s filmmaking community.
“If a filmmaker wanted feedback, Bill was always there to help them, at all stages of production. If they wanted an honest opinion, they asked Bill,” co-founder of the Landmark Theatres chain, Gary Meyer, told the Chronicle.
Bill Jersey spent the last 18 years of his life living on the east coast in order to paint seasonal landscapes. He died in his studio with Kessler by his side. He is also survived by five children from two marriages.
“If I could use one word to describe my dad, it is ‘big,’” oldest child Beth Jersey told the Chronicle. “He was larger than life because he would go off and make these amazing films and win all these awards. And he never had a script.”