Mark Rydell, Best Director Oscar nominee for the film On Golden Pond, has died at the age of 97.
Videos by Suggest
On Golden Pond, released in 1981, was a multiple nominated film, including Best Picture, and acting noms for its stars, Henry Fonda, Katherine Hepburn, and Jane Fonda. It is also famous for being Henry Fonda’s last film before his death.
Both Henry Fonda and Hepburn won the Oscar for their performances. Ernest Thompson also won an adapted screenplay Oscar for turning his stage show into a film.
Rydell was a mainstay in Hollywood for decades, Variety reported. His career began as an actor in the 1950s, when he spent several years as a character on As the World Turns. He had a handful of film and television roles before he began directing in the early 1960s.
Early films for the director included The Fox, which was controversial for its portrayal of lesbianism, and The Reivers, a Western comedy starring Steve McQueen.
Rydell is also known for his working relationship with Bette Midler, having directed her in two films. First was the 1979 film The Rose, a fictionalized version of Janis Joplin’s life for which Midler was nominated for her first Oscar.
Midler was again nominated for an Oscar in 1991 when she teamed up with Rydell again in the film For the Boys, a film about a USO performer.
The actress paid tribute to Rydell on her Instagram, including pictures of them working together over the years.
“Mark Rydell, the director or my first film, The Rose, died this morning,” she wrote.
“He was an actor of note before he became a director, and I was so lucky to have met him when I did; he taught me so much on The Rose and later on For The Boys. Two Oscars nominations both because of him. He was the actor’s whisperer; just a few words was all it took to understand what was needed. Devoted to Meisner. So many happy memories. RIP.”
Filmmaker Vickie Sampson commented, writing “I worked with both of you in the rose and for the boys doing the sound editing with my mom Kay rose who got an Oscar for her work on marks film The River. I am heartbroken. He was truly a force of nature.”
In the 2000s, Rydell returned to television directing, including a 2001 James Dean biopic that earned 11 Emmy nominations, including Best Director. His last television directing project was Masters of Science Fiction in 2007, and his last acting role was in 2006 in a series of one-act Elaine May plays.
He is survived by his three children: Amy, Christopher, and Alexander.