Catherine Cyran, the Daytime Emmy-nominated director of more than 20 feature films, died on Christmas Eve, according to multiple Facebook posts from people close to her. While a cause of death has not yet been reported, she was 59 years old.
“Today we lost a beautiful soul Catherine Cyran… This Christmas Eve you peacefully slipped through my fingers,” wrote Gary B. Bigger Jr. on Dec. 24. “My mentor and director who really loved me… I never thought angels existed until now.”
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A Brooklyn-born graduate of Harvard and Stanford Business School, Cyran has also been a regular writer and producer throughout her more than 30-year career. Her introduction to the world of filmmaking came as a writer and producer on various low-budget Roger Corman films – initially including such titles as A Cry in the Wild, Slumber Party Massacre III and Bloodfist II.
Cyran’s breakthrough as a director came in 1993 with White Wolves: A Cry in the Wild II – a family adventure film, for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Children’s Special. Additional directorial credits for the multi-hyphen were the river rafting picture Dangerous Waters; the Showtime Horror Sawbones; the action film True Heart, starring Kirsten Dunst; three out of four episodes of the Prince & Me series of rom-coms; and the Christmas comedy Christmas Do-Over, starring Jay Mohr, to name a few. Cyran’s last film was one of many holiday-themed titles she’s directed for television over the years — a romantic comedy titled Our Italian Christmas Memories, starring three-time Emmy-winner Beau Bridges, which premiered in November at Hallmark bowed.
A member of the Writers Guild of America, as well as the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the Directors Guild of Canada, Cyran has also authored a YA novel called Island of the Last Great Auk, based on her own award-winning screenplay, The Last Story.
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Memorial plans have not yet been announced.
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