Description
John Richard Schlesinger ( SHLESS -in-jər; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director, and actor. He emerged in the early 1960’s as a leading light of the British New Wave, before embarking on a successful career in Hollywood, often directing films dealing frankly in provocative subject matter, combined with his status as one of the only openly-gay directors working in mainstream films.
His 1969 film Midnight Cowboy , for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director, was one of the earliest mainstream American films to deal explicitly in a homosexual relationship, and is considered a groundbreaking work of queer cinema. He was also active as a director of stage plays, and was an associate director of the Royal National Theatre.
Aside from his Oscar win, Schlesinger over the course of his career won four BAFTA Awards, nominated for three Golden Globe Awards, twice nominated for the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion, and was recipient of the Directors Guild of Great Britain’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1970, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1970 Birthday Honours for services to film, and in 2002, he was made a BAFTA Fellow.
Four of Schlesinger’s films ( Billy Liar , Darling , Far from the Madding Crowd , Sunday Bloody Sunday ) are on the British Film Institute’s Top 100 British films.
