“Moonstruck” director Norman Jewison dies at 97 – culture

The Canadian director made prestigious films such as “In the Heat of the Night” (1967) and “Moonstruck” (1987). Now Norman Jewison has died at the age of 97.

Norman Jewison died “peacefully” in his home on Saturday, his spokesman said on Monday. The Canadian-born man was 97 years old.

In his long career, Jewison was nominated for an Oscar seven times as a director and producer. In 1999 he was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his life’s work at the Oscars.

One of his greatest Hollywood successes is the romantic comedy “Moonstruck,” which won three Oscars and earned Cher the Oscar for best actress in 1988. Jewison also received the Berlinale Directing Award for the romantic story about the Italian immigrant environment.

Great storyteller

“Farewell, sweet prince,” wrote Cher (77) on Monday on the X platform, formerly Twitter. She thanked Jewison for “one of the greatest, happiest and funniest experiences of my life.” Jewison made “Moonstruck” a “great film”. Without him she wouldn’t have won an Oscar. And Nicolas Cage’s career also began with this film.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also recognized Jewison as one of Canada’s greatest storytellers.

After two comedies with Doris Day in the early 1960s, Jewison finally ventured into more serious material. On «The Russians are coming! The Russians are Coming!” This was followed in 1967 by the crime thriller “In the Heat of the Night” (1967), for which he brought Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger in front of the camera.

In the thriller, which deals with the problem of racism in the USA, Poitier played a criminal expert from the north who has to assert himself against a southern sheriff (Steiger). The film won five Oscars, including Best Film.

But the gangster film “The Thomas Crown Affair” (1968) with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway in the leading roles was also groundbreaking. Jewison relied on antiheroes and a new split-screen technique that was edited to the music. “In doing so, he anticipated the New Hollywood by breaking with old narrative structures,” says SRF film editor Enno Reins.

Drama with Denzel Washington

After hit musicals like “Anatevka” and “Jesus Christ Superstar,” Jewison then directed social dramas like “… and Justice for All” and “Sergeant Waters – A Soldier’s Story.”

With Denzel Washington in the leading role, Jewison presented the drama “The Hurricane” at the Berlinale in 2000. A film about the life of professional boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. This describes the true case of the black boxer who was wrongly convicted of murder in 1966.

In 2003, Jewison finally brought his last film to the cinema, “The Statement”. In it, Michael Caine played a French Nazi collaborator and war criminal who, after decades, is caught up in the past.