Norman Jewison, a Canadian film and television director highly regarded for the quality of his films, the themes they dealt with and the versatility with which he addressed a wide variety of genres, has died at the age of 97: one of his most famous films was The Hot Night of Inspector Tibbs (1967), …and Justice for All (1979), dramas, but also Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), an adaptation of the musical of the same name by Tim Rice, the science fiction film Rollerball (1975 ) and the comedies “The Russians Are Coming,” “The Russians Are Coming” (1966) and “Moonstruck” (1987). Jewison died at his home on Saturday, but the news was released on Monday by a family spokesman, Jeff Sanderson.
Beyond the variety of genres in which he worked, Jewison was best appreciated for the social issues addressed in his films throughout his more than fifty-year career. “The Hot Night of Inspector Tibbs” is set in the southern United States and focuses on the social tensions and racism of those years. The film won five Oscars, three Golden Globes and two BAFTA Awards, the film and television awards presented each year by the British Academy of Arts. Racism was the focus of two other highly regarded Jewison films: The Soldier's Story (1984) and Hurricane (1999).
Jewison was born on July 21, 1926 in Toronto, Canada, and after graduating from Victoria College, Toronto, moved to London, where he worked as an actor and screenwriter for BBC children's programs; He returned to Canada in the 1950s, where he directed television programs for CBC, Canada's public television, before working on musicals and Broadway shows and finally beginning directing in the 1960s.
– Also read: How many Norman Jewison films have you seen?