John Schlesinger

@Film Director, Timeline and Family ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ John Richard Schlesinger was an eminent Academy Award winning English film director British Film & Theater Personalities Directors Theater Personalities Aquarius Celebrities John Richard Schlesinger was an eminent Academy Award winning English film director, counted among England’s new lot of directors of the 1960s who successfully ushered a new perspective and modern outlook in their films. Schlesinger made his debut in the film industry in the 1950s as an actor in supporting roles in British films as also in TV productions. His first directorial venture was a short documentary titled ‘Sunday in the Park’ which was followed by others including one on renowned composer, conductor and pianist, Benjamin Britten. He endeavoured into a full-fledged directorial career in the 1960s. Starting with the fiction ‘A King of Loving’ for the next almost four decades he delivered several critically acclaimed and hit films working both in the US and in his homeland. Some of his finest films were ‘Darling’, ‘Pacific Heights’ and ‘Midnight Cowboy’ of which the latter earned him ‘Academy Award for Best Director’. His stage directions included plays like ‘Timon of Athens’ (1965), ‘I and Albert’ (1972) and George Bernard Shaw's famous play ‘Heartbreak House’ (1975). Many operas like ‘Les contes d'Hoffmann’ (1980) and ‘Der Rosenkavalier’ (1984) were directed by him. In recognition to his contributions in films he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1970. On January 10, 2003, a Golden Palm Star was dedicated in his honour on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.

Personal Details

Birthday: February 16, 1926 Died on: July 25, 2003 Nationality: British Famous: Film Director, Film & Theater Personalities, Directors, Theater Personalities Known as: John Richard Schlesinger Birth Place: London, England Gender: Male Information Detail Birthday February 16, 1926 Died on July 25, 2003 Nationality British Famous Film Director, Film & Theater Personalities, Directors, Theater Personalities Known as John Richard Schlesinger Birth Place London, England Gender Male Father Bernard Edward Schlesinger Mother Winifred Henrietta (née Regensburg) Sun Sign Aquarius Born in London, England Famous as Film Director Died at Age 77

London, England

John Schlesinger born at Unsplash Birth Place

In 1998 he had to undergo a quadruple heart bypass. Unsplash Personal Life

In December 2000 he suffered from a stroke. Unsplash Personal Life

He remained at ‘Desert Regional Medical Center’ in Palm Springs on life support which was removed on July 24, 2003. He passed away on July 25, 2003. Unsplash Personal Life

He was born on February 16, 1926, in London, UK, in the middle class Jewish family of Bernard Edward Schlesinger and Winifred Henrietta (née Regensburg) as their eldest son. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

His father was a paediatrician and both his parents were musicians who infused an interest on arts in Schlesinger from an early age. While his father played cello and mother the violin, he enjoyed playing piano. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

Although initially he wished to be an architect, a home movie camera that was gifted to him when he was just 10 changed his earlier plan and the little boy seemed to be engrossed with his new toy. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He attended St Edmund's School in Hindhead and thereafter ‘Uppingham School’ in Uppingham, Rutland. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

During the ‘Second World War’ he served the ‘Royal Engineers’ and there he made ‘Horrors’, an amateur film. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

Following his graduation in 1950 he made his debut in stage and films in Britain and was later inducted as a freelance documentarian by ‘BBC’. Unsplash Career

His stage performances with theatrical troops made him tour the US, New Zealand and Australia in the early 1950s. Unsplash Career

His early film career in the British film industry saw him performing in supporting roles in films such as ‘The Divided Heart’ (1954), ‘Oh... Rosalinda!!’ (1955) and ‘The Battle of the River Plate’ (1956). He simultaneously performed in many British TV productions like ‘The Vise’, ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’ and ‘BBC Sunday Night Theatre’. Unsplash Career

In 1956 he made his directorial debut with ‘Sunday in the Park’, a 15 minute short documentary that gave a carefree perspective of Londoners out for the day in the city’s Hyde Park. Unsplash Career

He was inducted by ‘BBC TV’ as a director in 1957 and from 1958 to 1961 Schlesinger made several documentaries, well over 20 for two of its programs -‘Tonight’ and ‘Monitor’. Unsplash Career

Information	Detail
Birthday	February 16, 1926
Died on	July 25, 2003
Nationality	British
Famous	Film Director, Film & Theater Personalities, Directors, Theater Personalities
Known as	John Richard Schlesinger
Birth Place	London, England
Gender	Male
Father	Bernard Edward Schlesinger
Mother	Winifred Henrietta (née Regensburg)
Sun Sign	Aquarius
Born in	London, England
Famous as	Film Director
Died at Age	77

John Schlesinger

British

Feb 16, 1926

Biography

Personal Details

London, England