Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor.
For the cricketer, see Blake Edwards (cricketer).
Blake Edwards
December 15, 2010 (aged 88)
- Director
- screenwriter
- producer
- actor
1942–1995
-
Patricia Walker(m. 1953; div. 1967)
4, including Jennifer
J. Gordon Edwards (step-grandfather)
Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio scripts before turning to producing and directing in television and films. His best-known films include Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), A Shot in the Dark (1964), The Great Race (1965), 10 (1979), Victor/Victoria (1982), Blind Date (1987), and the hugely successful Pink Panther film series with British actor Peter Sellers. Often thought of as primarily a director of comedies, he also directed several drama, musical, and detective films. Late in his career, he took up writing, producing and directing for theater.
In 2004, he received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of his writing, directing and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen.[1]
Silent-film style[edit]
Having grown up in Hollywood, the stepson of a studio production manager and stepgrandson of a silent-film director, Edwards had watched the films of the great silent-era comedians, including Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Laurel and Hardy. He and Sellers appreciated and understood the comedy styles in silent films and tried to recreate them in their work together. After their immense success with the first two Pink Panther films, The Pink Panther (1963) and A Shot in the Dark (1964), which adapted many silent-film aspects, including slapstick, they attempted to go even further in The Party (1968). The film has always had a cult following, and some critics and fans have considered it a "masterpiece in this vein" of silent comedy, though it did include minimal dialogue.[11][12]
Personal life[edit]
Marriages[edit]
Edwards married his first wife, actress Patricia Walker, in 1953; they divorced in 1967. Edwards and Walker had two children, actress Jennifer Edwards and actor-writer-director Geoffrey Edwards.[13] Walker appeared in the comedy All Ashore (1953), for which Edwards was one of the screenwriters. Edwards also named one of his film production companies, Patricia Productions, Incorporated, after her.[14]
Edwards's second marriage, from 1969 until his death in 2010, was to Julie Andrews. They were married for 41 years. He was the stepfather to Emma, from Andrews's previous marriage. In the 1970s, Edwards and Andrews adopted two Vietnamese daughters; Amy Leigh (later known as Amelia) in 1974 and Joanna Lynne in 1975.[15]
Health[edit]
Edwards described his struggle for 15 years with the illness chronic fatigue syndrome in the documentary I Remember Me (2000).[16]