RIP Director Blake Edwards

Director of film greats, PINK PANTHER, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S,10, S.O.B., and VICTOR/VICTORIA, Blake Edwards has passed away at the age of 88 in Santa Monica. Edwards died from complications of pneumonia at about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday at St. John’s Health Center said publicist Gene Schwam. He had been hospitalized for about two weeks. In 1993, Edwards received a WGA award for best written comedy adapted from another medium for THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN (1976), won the Preston Sturges Award from the DGA, was an Academy Award nominee in 1983 for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (VICTOR/VICTORIA) and awarded an Honorary Oscar in 2004 in recognition of his writing, directing and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen.

Blake Edwards was married to actress Julie Andrews for over 40 years (1969). The couple has 5 children between them – they have two adopted daughters, Andrews has one daughter from her first marriage and Edwards has a son and daughter from his previous marriage. According to Variety, Andrews and his children were at his bedside at his passing.

More from Variety:

The hilarious and thoughtful “10,” brought Edwards his best notices and is regarded as a quintessential example of his art.

“A movie as personal in its way as ‘Apocalypse Now,’ ” is how Newsweek critic David Ansen assessed the film starring Moore and Andrews, “a bittersweet comedy about a man whose voyeurism prevents him from seeing himself.”

In THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER tribute to him, Blake Edwards said:

“In what business in the world can you have more fun, be creative while you’re having fun, be funny and work at being funny, work really nice hours and get paid a lot of money for doing it?”

Read the rest of the article at Variety.