The product was “Midnight Cowboy”, “Coming Home” 92 – Deadline

Jerome HillmanOutstanding film producer like Midnight Cowboy And the Come home Died. The wife of Academy Award winner, Elizabeth Embleton Hillman, confirmed the May 26 passage from Hillman, simply saying “We shall miss him terribly.” He was 92 years old.

Hillman’s films helped define the “new Hollywood” of the 1970s. He tended to work repeatedly with a circle of top collaborators, and the films Hillman produced came from notable directors such as John Schlesinger, Hal Ashby, George Roy Hale, Irvine Kirchner and Peter Weir.

Hillman would win Schlesinger’s Best Picture Midnight Cowboy The year 1970, to say the least, was far-fetched. Hillman was going through a difficult divorce. The film was based on an unknown novel. Schlesinger didn’t think Dustin Hoffman was right to play Razzo Rizzo. But Hillman fought for Graduate the actor. Also, the movie was rated X and dealt with homosexuality, prostitution and a gritty slice of America rarely seen on the big screen.

But the timing was right, and the low-budget masterpiece went to big box office revenue and three Academy Awards, including Hellman’s Best Picture Award, Schlesinger Director and Best Writing, screenplay based on material from another Waldo Salt medium.

“I was so sure we wouldn’t win until I was no longer a speech,” Hillman Tell Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times in 2005. “Maybe I only said 10 words. It should be the shortest speech in Oscars history. I didn’t thank John. [Schlesinger] Or the actors or my mother or my father. “

Schlesinger did not take it personally. In 1975, he re-collaborated with Hillman in order to adapt Nathaniel West’s great Hollywood novel, Locust DayStarring Donald Sutherland, Karen Black, and Burgess Meredith. This film was nominated for two Oscars, including Best Supporting Actor for Meredith.

Hillman struck gold again with his next picture, Come home. The film, directed by Hal Ashby, was a critical and commercial success. Likes Midnight Cowboy, Was set up on a modest budget – an estimated $ 3 million – and delivered $ 32 million at the box office. Likes Midnight CowboyShe seems to have picked up the zeitgeist with her story about a military wife (Jane Fonda), who falls in love with a Vietnam War veterinarian (John Voight) meets him while her husband (Bruce Dern) is rampant in Vietnam. Likes Midnight Cowboy, The film won three Oscars, including Best Actor, Actress and Best Writing, screenplay written directly on screen, which he shared in part. Midnight Cowboy Collaborator Waldo Salt. Hillman also earned a Best Picture nomination for the movie.

The producer followed this success with his directing debut. Promises in the dark It was supposed to be another reunion with Schlesinger, but when the director fell and the project fell short, Hillman took matters into his own hands. The film became Orion Pictures’ first film. Like all Hellman projects, the movie had an excellent cast, including Marsha Mason, Ned Beatty, and Susan Clark, but it was not well received. Vincent Canby of The New York Times Called him “Kindly written, directed and acted.” Six years passed before Hillman made another movie.

The next project was based on Paul Theroux’s novel, Mosquito Coast Recently revisited topic as Apple + series. Hillman reportedly bought the rights to the novel as soon as it was published in 1981. Jack Nicholson was originally offered the lead, but was rejected. Film financing has also fallen.

While Hellman sought to revitalize the project, Weir went and made witness With Harrison Ford, the project piqued his interest. Hillman then found funding through Saul Zaentz and distribution through Warner Bros.

It was neither a cash nor a financial success, but like another Ford movie from the 1980s – Blade Runner – Its stock rose.

Most importantly, the movie featured the last big screen showing for Butterfly McQueen, who won an Academy Award for him Gone with the Wind In 1940. It was also the last film to be produced by Oscar-winning Heller.

His other production credits include George Roy Hale The World of Henri Oriente In 1964, and Irvine Kirchner Beautiful madness In 1966.

Heller’s only role as an actor came in the 1979 classic Ashby Being there Along with Peter Sellars who starred 15 years ago in Heller’s debut, Henry Oriente.