| Norman
Jewison Norman Jewison has been a vibrant force in the motion picture industry
for three decades. The filmmaker has been personally nominated for four Oscar. His films
have received 46 nominations and 12 Academy Awards. He has also been nominated for three
Best Director by the Directors Guild of America and has received many international honors
as well. In 1999, Jewison received the prestigious Irving Thalberg Award at the Academy
Awards. In 1999, Universal Pictures released Jewison’s latest film The Hurricane,
based on the life of prize-fighter Rubin Hurricane Carter Denzel Washington. In
1988, Jewison produced and directed Funny Is Money, a two-hour documentary for
Showtime’s Millennium Series. This documentary reflects on the importance of humor
and entertainment in America during the last 100 years. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada,
Jewison made his professional debut on the stage at the age of five. He began staging and
performing in both dramas and musical comedies at Malvern Collegiate Institute. Shortly
thereafter, he left for World War II service with the Royal Canadian Navy. Upon his return
in 1946, he enrolled at the University of Toronto’s Victoria College, where he earned
a bachelor’s degree in general arts in 1949. While driving a cab for living, Jewison
found occasional work as an actor on the stage and in radio for the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation. After a two-year work/study program with the BBC in London, Jewison returned
to Canada and wrote, directed and produced some of Canada’s most popular musicals,
dramas, comedy-variety shows and special for a period of seven years with the CBC. In
1958, Jewison accepted an invitation from CBS in New York to direct the memorable serie Your
Hit Parade. He followed with The Andy Williams Shows, two Harry Belafonte
specials, The Fabulous Fifties, Danny Kayne’s television debut, The
Broadway of Lerner and Lowe and the award-winning Judy Garland specials. Along the
way, he collected three Emmy Awards. His film debut as a director came with the 1962
comedy 40 Pounds of Trouble, starring Tony Curtis. After Thrill of It All, Send
Me No Flowers and The Art of Love – three more romantic comedies for
Universal – Jewison became an independent filmmaker, a move that brought success with
his first effort: The Cincinnati Kid. Now acknowledged as a classic, it was
co-written and directed by Jewison and starred Steve McQueen. Since then, Jewison’s
films have covered a wide range of subjects and styles, from the sharp pre-glasnost (by 20
years) politcal satire of The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming and the
stylish gamesmanship of The Thomas Crown Affair to the sultry mystery of In the
Heat of the Night (winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1967) and
the angry irony of …And Justice for All.
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Jewison also directed the hit screen
version of Broadway’s Fiddler on the Roof and the rock opera Jesus Christ
Superstar, the futuristic Rollerball and the sweeping political drama F.I.S.T.
In 1984, he directed and coproduced the critically acclaimed A Soldier’s Story,
adapted from Charles Fuller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, which was nominated for
three Academy Awards. That same year, Jewison produced Iceman, which was directed
by Fred Schepisi on remote Canadian locations. Agnes of God, directed by Jewison
the following year, marked the first featurehe filmed in his native country; it was
honored with three Oscar nominations, including Best Supporting Actress nominations for
Meg Tilly and Anne Bancroft.
Jewison’s Moonstruck, released in 1987, was a smash success and another
multiple Oscar-winner, with star Cher winning Best Actress, Olympia Dukakis for Best
Supporting Actress and John Patrick Shanley for Best Original Screenplay. In 1988, Jewison
produced The January Man, written by Shanley and starring Kevin Kline and Susan
Sarandon. In 1989, Jewison directed Bruce Willis and Emily Lloyd in In Country, a
film which dealt with the painful legacy of the Vietnam War in the American heartland. Other
People’s Money, starring Danny DeVito and Penelope Ann Miller became
Jewison’s 25th film in 28 years.
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In 1994, Jewison directed Marisa Tomei and Robert
Downey, J. In Only You, a romantic comedy about a woman who travels to Italy in
search of her one true love. He also was the executive-producer on Geronimo, a true
tale ofthe last and most feared Apache war chief’s dramatic early years. Geronimo
was one in a series of original dramas portraying historical events in Native American
history filmed for TNT and was cast with all Native American actors. The last few years
have seen Jewison busy as both a director and a producer. In 1995, Jewison executive
produced the Sundance favorite Dance Me Outside for director Bruce MacDonald. Also
in that year, he and his Yorktown Productions produced the dramatic Showtime series Picture
Windows, which included segments directed by John Boorman, Norman Jewison, Joe Dante,
Peter Bogdanovich and Jonathan Kaplan. Bogus, directed and produced by Jewison,
starred Gerard Depardieu and Whoopi Goldberg was released in 1996.
In 1997 Yorktown Productions produced the romantic comedy titled For Richer or Poorer
starring Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley for Universal. |
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For Norman Jewison we can see:
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
MOONSTRUCK
THE HURRICANE |
FILMOGRAPHY
1963
40 Pounds of Trouble
The Trill of It All
1964
Send Me No Flowers
1965
The Art of Love
Cincinnati Kid
1966
The Russians Are Coming!
The Russians Are Coming!
1967
In the Heat of the Night
1968
The Thomas Crown Affair
1969
Gaily, Gaily
1971
Fiddler on the Roaf
1973
Jesus Christ Superstar
1975
Rollerball
1978
F.I.S.T. |
1979
…And Justice for All
1982
Best Friends
1984
A Soldier’s Story
1985
Agnes of God
1987
Moonstruck
1989
In Country
1991
Other People’s Money
1994
Only You
1995
Picture Windows
1996
Bogus
1998
Burn Hollywood Burn: An Alan Smithee Film
2000
The Hurricane
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In 1982, Jewison was made a companion of the Order of
Canada by the Governor-General, the Queen’s representative in Ottawa. The order is
Canada’s highest civilian decoration. In November 1986, Jewison established the
Canadian Film Centre, akin to the American Film Institute in the United States. The CFC
offers selected filmmakers opportunity to hone their skills to a state-of-the-art level.
Recently, the film centre honored Jewison with its inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award.
In October 1999, he was honored with the George Eastman Kodac Award from the National
Association ofTheater Owner at the annual ShowEast convention in Atlantic City.
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