Blake Edwards

At 88 years old, Blake Edwards has this physical status:

William Blake Crump (July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010), better known by his stage name Blake Edwards, was an American filmmaker. Edwards began his career as an actor in the 1940s, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio scripts before moving to producing and filming in television and film.

Breakfast at Tiffany's, Days of Wine and Roses, 10, Victor/Victoria, and the hugely popular Pink Panther film film team starring British actor Peter Sellers are among his best-known films.

He was often thought of as primarily a comedies' director, as well as several drama, musical, and detective films.

He moved from writing, producing, and directing for theater late in his career. He received an Honorary Academy Award in 2004 for his writing, directing, and putting together an outstanding body of film work.

Early life

Born William Blake Crump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on July 22, 1922. He was the son of Donald and Lillian (Grommett) Crump (1897–1992). According to reports, his father left the family before he was born. Jack McEdward, his stepfather, was married again by his mother. McEdward, the son of J. Gordon Edwards, a silent film producer, was born in 1925 and became a film production manager in Los Angeles. Blake Edwards said he had "always felt alienated and distant from my own father, Jack McEdward," in an interview with The Village Voice in 1971. Blake began working as an actor during World War II after graduating from Beverly Hills High School in the class of 1940.

Edwards describes this period:

Edwards served in the United States Coast Guard during WWII, where he sustained a serious back injury that left him in pain for years afterwards.

Personal life

In 1953, Edwards married actress Patricia Walker, who divorced in 1967. Edwards and Walker had two children, actor Jennifer Edwards, and actor-writer Geoffrey Edwards. Walker appeared in the comedy All Ashore (1953), in which Edwards was one of the screenwriters. After her, Edwards also credited Patricia Productions, Inc., as one of his film production companies.

Julie Andrews was Edward Edwards' second marriage, from 1969 to his death in 2010. They had been married for 41 years. Emma's stepfather was he from Andrews' previous marriage. Edwards and Andrews adopted two Vietnamese daughters, Amy Leigh (later known as Amelia) in 1974 and Joanna Lynne in 1975; both are now married.

In the documentary I Remember Me (2000), Edwards chronic fatigue syndrome suffered with the disease for 15 years.

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Career

On the television show "four Star Playhouse," Edwards' debut as a director was in 1952.

Edwards appeared with Richard Quine in 1954-1955 to produce Mickey Rooney's first television series, "The Mickey Rooney Show: Hey, Mulligan." Private Detective Richard Diamond's hard-boiled private detective scripts for Richard Diamond, Private Detective, became NBC's response to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, reflecting Edwards' peculiar humour. Edwards wrote, wrote, and directed Peter Gunn, a 1958-61 television detective drama starring Craig Stevens, as well as Henry Mancini's music. Edwards produced Mr. Lucky, an adventure series on CBS starring John Vivyan and Ross Martin for the next year. Mancini's involvement with Edwards aided in his film career, and he was instrumental in the company's triumph.

Edwards' most popular films were comedies, with the melodrama Days of Wine and Roses being a notable exception. In six of the Pink Panther films, his most exciting and fruitful collaboration was with Peter Sellers. Edwards starred Dudley Moore and Bo Derek in the comedy film ten years later.

Operation Petticoat was Edwards' first big-budget film as a producer. The film, which starred Cary Grant and Tony Curtis and was produced by Grant's own production company, Granart Company, became the "best box-office success of the decade for Universal [Studios]" and named Edwards a respected director.

With many commentators, Tiffany's, which is based on the novella by Truman Capote, has been credited with establishing him as a "cult figure." Andrew Sarris called it the "directorial surprise of 1961" and that it became a "romantic touchstone" for college students in the early 1960s.

Days of Wine and Roses, a dark psychological film about the effects of alcoholism on a previously happy marriage, starred Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick. "Certainly the most unsparing tract against drink that Hollywood has yet produced," the book says, and it's more skeptical than Billy Wilder's "The Lost Weekend." Edwards' fame as a leading director was renewed thanks to the film.

Julie Andrews, the Darling Lili actress, married Edwards in 1969. Although some commentators, including George Morris, believed that the film was a major movie ("it synthesizes every major Edwards theme: the disappearance of gallantry and honour, the conflict between appearances and reality, as well as psychological, spiritual, and psychological disorders) in such a society, not all agreed. Edwards, on the other hand, used complicated cinematography effects, such as long-shot zooms, tracking, and focus shift, to great effect. However, the film did not do well with most reviewers and at the box office, so most critics and box office alike disagreed. Despite a cost of $17 million to produce, few cinemagoers attended the screening, and the few that did watch were unimpressed. Paramount Pictures was "the brink of financial ruination" and became an example of "self-indulgent extravagance" in filmmaking "that was ruining Hollywood."

Edwards narrated the majority of the comedy film series The Pink Panther, with Peter Sellers playing the inept Inspector Clouseau in the majority of installments. The relationship between the director and the lead actor was considered a fruitful yet difficult one with numerous misunderstandings during recording. "He more than once screamed off Sellers" as being too difficult to control at several times in their film relationship. However, he confessed that working with Sellers was often irresistible in his later years:

Five of those films featured Edwards and Sellers original script, those films being The Pink Panther (1963), A Shot in the Dark (1964), The Return of the Pink Panther (1976), and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978). Inspector Clouseau, the third film in the series, was made without the involvement of Edwards or Sellers, and it was released in 1968.) The films were all highly profitable: For example, the Return of the Pink Panther cost just $2.5 million but $100 million was much more lucrative, while The Pink Panther Strikes Again did much better.

Edwards directed three more Pink Panther films after Sellers' death in 1980. The Pink Panther Trail (1982) was made up of solder's leftover stuff from the previous films, as well as previously seen footage from the earlier films. Curse of the Pink Panther (1983) and Son of the Pink Panther (1993) were Edwards' further attempts to continue the series without selling tickets, but both films were critical and financial disappointments. Edwards resigned from film two years after the unveiling of Son of the Pink Panther.

Edwards directed Sellers in the comedy film The Party, in addition to the Pink Panther films.

Edwards was given an Honorary Academy Award in 2004 for cumulative achievement throughout his film career. "Honorary Oscar winner Blake Edwards made an entrance worthy of Peter Sellers in one of Edwards' Pink Panther films: In one of Edward's Pink Panther films, a stuntman who looked exactly like Edwards rode a fast wheelchair past a podium and crashed through a wall." "Don't touch my Oscar," the octogenarian director strode himself off as if he had crashed.'

During the Saturn Award ceremony this year, Edwards received the Life Achievement Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films.

Edwards received the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writer's Guild as well as the Special Edgar from The Mystery Writers of America for their lifetime achievements in 2002.

The Art Directors Guild's Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award was given to Edwards in 2000.

Edwards was awarded jointly by the Writers Guild and the Directors Guild in 1993.

Edwards was named on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991.

Edwards received the American Comedy Award in 1988.

Edwards was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay for Victor/Victoria in 1983, as well as winning Best Foreign Film and Best Foreign Screenplay in France and Italy, respectively for Victor/Vivictoria.

Edwards was nominated six times for the Golden Laurel Award as Best Director by Motion Picture Exhibitors between 1962 and 1968.

Edwards was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1963 as the best Director for Days of Wine and Roses.

Edwards was nominated for Outstanding Achievement by the Directors Guild for Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1962.

Edwards was nominated for an Edgar by the Mystery Writers of America for Best Teleplay by Peter Gunn in 1960.

Edwards was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards as Best Director and Best Teleplay for Peter Gunn in 1959.

Edwards was nominated eight times by the Writers Guild for Best Screenplay twice and twice for The Pink Panther Strikes Again and Victor/Vivictoria from 1958 to 1983.

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