John Avildsen,
Oscar-winning director of 'Rocky,' dead at 81
Send a link to a friend
[June 17, 2017]
By Will Dunham
(Reuters) - John Avildsen, the Oscar-winning director
who made Hollywood's quintessential underdog story in
1976 boxing saga "Rocky" with a then-unknown Sylvester
Stallone, and crafted another inspiring tale in "The
Karate Kid," died on Friday at age 81, his family said.
|
Avildsen had been suffering pancreatic cancer at Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center, his son, Anthony, said by phone.
Avildsen won the Academy Award for best director for "Rocky"
while the film was named best picture and other successes
included the "The Karate Kid" series in the 1980s. He directed
seven actors to Oscar nominations.
In the years before "Rocky," Avildsen won praise for two dark
character studies: "Joe" (1970) with Peter Boyle and Susan
Sarandon and "Save the Tiger" (1973) starring Jack Lemmon, who
won the Academy Award for best actor for the role.
He also had his share of career setbacks, directing some
clunkers and being fired as director of 1970s classics "Saturday
Night Fever" and "Serpico" because of disputes with producers.
"Rocky" proved to be as much of an underdog success story as the
fictional Philadelphia boxer Rocky Balboa portrayed by Stallone,
who wrote the screenplay. Stallone was an obscure actor at the
time but stubbornly refused to allow studios to cast anyone but
himself in the role. Producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler
consented to let him take the role under Avildsen's guidance.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jun/17/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_051513.png)
"Rocky" was made for a modest $1 million and generated $225
million in ticket sales to became a cultural phenomenon, with a
series of unforgettable characters and scenes and a blend of
romance with pugilistic action.
The film centers on charismatic champion Apollo Creed, played by
Carl Weathers, plucking Balboa, known as "The Italian Stallion,"
from obscurity for a dream shot at the world heavyweight boxing
title.
Rocky, who earns money as a collector for a loan shark, falls in
love with the mousy Adrian (Talia Shire), the sister of his
miserable friend Paulie (Burt Young), and gets help from a gruff
trainer named Mickey (Burgess Meredith) who long felt Rocky had
wasted his considerable potential.
Avildsen took the "Rocky" job only because funding fell through
for another movie he was set to direct.
"My friend sent me this ("Rocky") script and got me to read it,"
Avildsen told the Birmingham, Alabama, News in 2000. "And on the
third page, this guy is talking to his turtles, and I was
hooked. It was a great character study."
There were low expectations.
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jun/17/images/ads/current/ccaonline_lda050208.png)
"It had to be done in 28 days for less than a million bucks, and
nobody bothered you because there was so little money involved,"
Avildsen said. "There was no anticipation of it being anything but
on the bottom bill of a drive-in in East Podunk."
"Rocky" was nominated for 10 Oscars and won three, with Stallone
taking the best actor award.
In accepting the Oscar for best director in March 1977, Avildsen
told the audience, "I guess what 'Rocky' did was give a lot of
people hope and there was never a better feeling than doing that."
Avildsen's professional stumbles included tangling with stars John
Belushi and Dan Aykroyd on the comedy "Neighbors" (1981), then made
the crass male-stripper movie "A Night in Heaven" (1983).
His next film, "The Karate Kid" in 1984, triumphed with an underdog
theme similar to "Rocky" as a bullied teenager played by Ralph
Macchio overcame the odds with the help of a wise martial arts
master, played by Pat Morita. He also directed "Karate Kid" sequels
in 1986 and 1989.
Avildsen returned to the "Rocky" franchise to direct the critically
panned "Rocky V" (1990) about a protégé who turns on Rocky. Avildsen
intended for the Rocky character to die in the film but studio
bosses disagreed.
"They told me James Bond doesn't die. Superman doesn't die. Rocky
doesn't die," Avildsen told USA Today in 2014. "So Rocky didn't die.
But the movie died."
Avildsen also directed Burt Reynolds in the likable caper "W.W. and
the Dixie Dancekings" (1975), George C. Scott and Marlon Brando in
the thriller "The Formula" (1980), Morgan Freeman in school drama
"Lean on Me" (1989) and the apartheid tale "The Power of One"
(1992).
Avildsen was born on Dec. 21, 1935, in Oak Park, Illinois. After
serving in the military, he made industrial films for companies and
worked as an assistant to directors, including Otto Preminger before
directing his first film in 1969, "Turn On to Love."
(Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by
Bill Trott)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jun/17/images/ads/current/pestcontrol_bch_termites.png) |