
Birthday:
02-16-1926
Deathday:
07-25-2003 (77 years)
Birthplace:
London, England, UK
Biography
John Richard Schlesinger, CBE, was an English film and stage director, and actor. He won an Academy Award for Best Director for Midnight Cowboy, and was nominated for two other films (Darling and Sunday Bloody Sunday).
Schlesinger was born in London, into a middle class Jewish family. His acting career began in the 1950s and consisted of supporting roles in British films and television productions. He began his directorial career in 1956 with the short documentary Sunday in the Park about London's Hyde Park. In 1958, Schlesinger created a documentary on Benjamin Britten and the Aldeburgh Festival for the BBC's Monitor TV programme, including rehearsals of the children's opera Noye's Fludde featuring a young Michael Crawford.
By the 1960s, he had virtually given up acting to concentrate on a directing career, and another of his earlier directorial efforts, the British Transport Films' documentary Terminus (1961), gained a Venice Film Festival Gold Lion and a British Academy Award. His first two fiction films, A Kind of Loving (1962) and Billy Liar (1963) were set in the North of England. A Kind of Loving won the Golden Bear award at the 12th Berlinale in 1962. His third feature film, Darling (1965), tartly described the modern, urban way of life in London and was one of the first films about 'swinging London'. Schlesinger's next film was the period drama Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's popular novel accentuated by beautiful English country locations. Both films (and Billy Liar) featured Julie Christie as the female lead.
Schlesinger's next film, Midnight Cowboy (1969), was internationally acclaimed. A story of two hustlers living on the fringe in the bad side of New York City, it was Schlesinger's first film shot in the US, and it won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture. During the 1970s, he made an array of films that were mainly about loners, losers and people outside the clean world, such as Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), The Day of the Locust (1975), Marathon Man (1976) and Yanks (1979). Later, came the major box office and critical failure of Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), followed by films that attracted mixed responses from the public
From 1973, he was an associate director of the Royal National Theatre, where he produced George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House (1975). He also directed several operas, beginning with Les contes d'Hoffmann (1980) and Der Rosenkavalier (1984), both at Covent Garden. Schlesinger was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to film in 1970. In 2003, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.
Schlesinger was born in London, into a middle class Jewish family. His acting career began in the 1950s and consisted of supporting roles in British films and television productions. He began his directorial career in 1956 with the short documentary Sunday in the Park about London's Hyde Park. In 1958, Schlesinger created a documentary on Benjamin Britten and the Aldeburgh Festival for the BBC's Monitor TV programme, including rehearsals of the children's opera Noye's Fludde featuring a young Michael Crawford.
By the 1960s, he had virtually given up acting to concentrate on a directing career, and another of his earlier directorial efforts, the British Transport Films' documentary Terminus (1961), gained a Venice Film Festival Gold Lion and a British Academy Award. His first two fiction films, A Kind of Loving (1962) and Billy Liar (1963) were set in the North of England. A Kind of Loving won the Golden Bear award at the 12th Berlinale in 1962. His third feature film, Darling (1965), tartly described the modern, urban way of life in London and was one of the first films about 'swinging London'. Schlesinger's next film was the period drama Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's popular novel accentuated by beautiful English country locations. Both films (and Billy Liar) featured Julie Christie as the female lead.
Schlesinger's next film, Midnight Cowboy (1969), was internationally acclaimed. A story of two hustlers living on the fringe in the bad side of New York City, it was Schlesinger's first film shot in the US, and it won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture. During the 1970s, he made an array of films that were mainly about loners, losers and people outside the clean world, such as Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), The Day of the Locust (1975), Marathon Man (1976) and Yanks (1979). Later, came the major box office and critical failure of Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), followed by films that attracted mixed responses from the public
From 1973, he was an associate director of the Royal National Theatre, where he produced George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House (1975). He also directed several operas, beginning with Les contes d'Hoffmann (1980) and Der Rosenkavalier (1984), both at Covent Garden. Schlesinger was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to film in 1970. In 2003, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.
Read morearrow_drop_down
Their works
- Release swap_vert
- Title swap_vert
- Ratings swap_vert
close
The Lost Language of Cranes
Act like Derek Moulthorp
event1992 star_border 6.2
top_panel_open
When a young gay man comes out of the closet, his friends support him, but when he comes out to his parents, he stirs up a wealth of hidden feelings and secrets in their relationship.
The Big Screen
Act like Self
event1973
top_panel_open
Two of Britain's leading film directors - John Schlesinger and Gerald Thomas - share the anxiety, hopes and risks experienced by those involved with the movie industry. The Big Screen follows the production of four British films: the eighth James Bond film Live and Let Die, The Optimists of Nine Elms, science fiction-thriller The Final Programme and The 14. Actors Peter Sellers, David Hemmings, Jon Finch, Roger Moore and Jenny Runacre are among those seen at work.
The Battle of the River Plate
Act like Lieutenant, Graf Spee (uncredited)
event1956 star_border 6.2
top_panel_open
In the early years of the World War II, the Royal Navy is fighting a desperate battle to keep the Atlantic convoy routes open to supply the British Isles, facing the great danger posed by the many German warships, such as the Admiral Graf Spee, which are scouring the ocean for cargo ships to sink.
Mythos Hollywood - Das Geheimnis des Erfolgs
Act like Self
event1998 star_border 3
top_panel_open
Ekchart Schmidt examines the machinery behind the dream factory; the Hollywood myth is unmasked. How does the studio industry work? What role does marketing and the hype surrounding the stars play?
Visions of Eight
Act like Narrator
event1973 star_border 7
top_panel_open
Eight acclaimed filmmakers bring their unique and differing perspectives to the 1972 Summer Olympic Games held in Munich. The segments include Lelouch's take on Olympic losers and their struggle to remain dignified even in the face of bitter disappointment and defeat; Zetterling's dramatic exploration of the world of weightlifting; and Pfleghar's piece on young Russian gymnast Ludmilla Tourischev's majestic performance on the uneven bars.
Black Legend
Act like The Judge
event1949
top_panel_open
A dramatic retelling of the brutal double murder of Martha Broomham and her son Robert perpetrated by her husband George and his mistress Dorothy Newman on 23 February 1676.
The Twilight of the Golds
Act like Dr. Adrian Lodge
event1996 star_border 5.9
top_panel_open
A woman discovers her unborn baby has a genetic predisposition to homosexuality, unwittingly exposing deep-seated prejudices within her family.
The Celluloid Closet
Act like Self
event1996 star_border 7.2
top_panel_open
What "That's Entertainment" did for movie musicals, "The Celluloid Closet" does for Hollywood homosexuality, as this exuberant, eye-opening movie serves up a dazzling hundred-year history of the role of gay men and lesbians have had on the silver screen. Lily Tomlin narrates as Oscar-winning moviemaker Rob Epstein ("The Times of Harvey Milk" and "Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt") and Jeffrey Friedman assemble fabulous footage from 120 films showing the changing face of cinema sexuality, from cruel stereotypes to covert love to the activist triumphs of the 1990s. Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Curtis, Harvey Fierstein and Gore Vidal are just a few of the many actors, writers and commentators who provide funny and insightful anecdotes.
The Crowd Around the Cowboy
Act like Self
event1969
top_panel_open
A short documentary made on location during the filming of John Schlesinger's 1969 film "Midnight Cowboy."
Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey
Act like Self
event1990 star_border 6.5
top_panel_open
Documentary is about the life and work of American screenwriter Waldo Salt who won two Academy Awards and was put on the Hollywood blacklist in the 1950s. The story is told through interviews with collaborators and friends such as Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jon Voight, John Schlesinger and with clips from Salt's films, chiefly Midnight Cowboy.
The Last Man to Hang
Act like Dr. Goldfinger
event1956 star_border 5.2
top_panel_open
A man is tried for the murder of his neurotic wife by means of a sedative overdose.
Darling
Act like Theatre Director (uncredited)
event1965 star_border 6.7
top_panel_open
The swinging London, early sixties. Beautiful but shallow, Diana Scott is a professional advertising model, a failed actress, a vocationally bored woman, who toys with the affections of several men while gaining fame and fortune.
The Magic of Hollywood... Is the Magic of People
Act like Self
event1976
top_panel_open
Producer Robert Evans dominates with his trademark promotional style, but Schlesinger gets a short time on camera (one of his few available interviews about the film), and Hoffman has even more. A highlight is the celebration of Olivier's final shooting day, complete with speeches and a toast.
Billy Liar
Act like Officer in Dream (uncredited)
event1963 star_border 6.9
top_panel_open
A young Englishman dreams of escaping from his working class family and dead-end job as an undertaker's assistant. A number of indiscretions cause him to lie in order to avoid the penalties. His life turns into a mess and he has an opportunity to run away and leave it all behind.
Terminus
Act like Passenger (uncredited)
event1961 star_border 7.1
top_panel_open
This fly on the wall-style documentary from 1961 won an Oscar for best documentary, and shows the changing patterns of human emotions during 24 hours in the life of Waterloo Station.
Brothers in Law
Act like Assize Court Solicitor
event1957 star_border 7.1
top_panel_open
Roger Thursby is an overly keen, newly-qualified barrister who rubs his fellow barristers up the wrong way. When he is thrown in at the deep-end, with a particularly hot-tempered judge and tricky case, Thursby learns how to prove himself not only to the judge and fellow barristers but also to the public gallery.
Stormy Crossing
Act like Mechanic
event1958 star_border 4.8
top_panel_open
After murdering his lover, cross-channel swimmer Joy Webster, Derek Bond attempts to do same to her other boyfriend, Sheldon Lawrence. John Ireland plays an Interpol detective who stems Bond's homicidal hijinks. Black Tide was produced by Monty Berman in his pre-Saint days.
Pacific Heights
Act like Man in Elevator (uncredited)
event1990 star_border 6.3
top_panel_open
A couple works hard to renovate their dream house and become landlords to pay for it. Unfortunately one of their tenants has plans of his own.
The Divided Heart
Act like Ticket Collector
event1954 star_border 6.7
top_panel_open
During World War II, a German woman, Inga, goes missing and is presumed dead. Her infant son is placed in an orphanage where, years later, he's adopted by a childless couple. The adoptive parents' happiness is shattered when Inga reappears and insists on custody of her son.
Location: Far from the Madding Crowd
Act like Himself
event1967
top_panel_open
This promotional short film for the feature Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) takes us to the many locations in Dorset County, England, where the movie was filmed. It was here that 'Thomas Hardy' lived and was inspired to write the novel upon which the film is based. Only the film's star, Julie Christie, makes comments on the production.
Speaking of Britain
Act like Self
event1967
top_panel_open
Part of BFI collection "Portrait of a People."
Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film
Act like Self (uncredited)
event2002
top_panel_open
illustrates how directors pushed boundaries and altered the art of filmmaking during the turbulent, swinging 1960s. Narrated by Woody Harrelson, "Reel Radicals" features clips from such seminal films as Arthur Penn's "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967); Mike Nichols' "The Graduate" (1967); Dennis Hopper's "Easy Rider" (1969); John Frankenheimer's "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962); Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove" (1964) and "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968); John Schlesinger's "Midnight Cowboy" (1969); Richard Brooks' "Elmer Gantry" (1960) and "In Cold Blood" (1967); and Norman Jewison's "In the Heat of the Night" (1967) and "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1968). Frankenheimer, Jewison, Hopper, Schlesinger, Penn, Buck Henry, Paul Mazursky, Roger Corman and Arthur Hiller are among the filmmakers who discuss the decade.
Ivanhoe
Act like Jack Ludlow (1 ep.)
event1958 star_border 6.3
top_panel_open
Ivanhoe is a British television series first shown on ITV in 1958-59. The show features Roger Moore in his first starring role, as Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, in a series of adventures aimed at a children's audience. The characters were drawn loosely from Sir Walter Scott's 1819 novel.
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Act like Hale (1 ep.)
event1955 star_border 6.1
top_panel_open
The legendary character Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding vicinity. While some episodes dramatised the traditional Robin Hood tales, most episodes were original dramas created by the show's writers and producers.
Colonel March of Scotland Yard
Act like Dutch Cook (1 ep.)
event1956 star_border 7.3
top_panel_open
Colonel March of The Department of Queer Complaints investigates unusual cases, locked-room murders, and mysteries concerning the supernatural.
The Buccaneers
Act like Pigtail (1 ep.)
event1956 star_border 5.5
top_panel_open
The adventures of privateer Captain Dan Tempest and his crew of former pirates as they make their way across the seven seas in The Sultana.
Hollywood U.K.: British Cinema in the Sixties
Act like Self (2 ep.)
event1993
top_panel_open
Five programmes that trace a remarkable decade in British film-making through interviews with its stars and directors.
Flick Flack
(1 ep.)
event1974
top_panel_open
Flick Flack was a Canadian television series broadcast by Global Television Network in 1974. The series featured interviews with motion picture industry personalities combined with excerpts from films. William Shatner was the regular series host. "It was a TV show produced for Canadian TV. A handful of shows that aired every fortnight for a few months in the 70’s." @WilliamShatner · Sep 15, 2020
Golden Globe Awards
Act like Self - Nominee (1 ep.)
event1944 star_border 6.8
top_panel_open
An annual awards ceremony recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign, bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Sunday Night Theatre
Act like Amiens (2 ep.)
event1950 star_border 3.5
top_panel_open
Sunday Night Theatre was a long-running series of televised live television plays screened by BBC Television from early 1950 until 1959.
The productions for the first five years or so of the run were re-staged live the following Thursday, partly because of technical limitations in this era, and the theatrical basis of early television drama. Some of the earliest collaborations between Rudolph Cartier and Nigel Neale were produced for this series, including Arrow to the Heart and Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Sunday night drama slot was subsequently renamed The Sunday-Night Play which ran for four seasons between 1960 and 1963. ITV transmitted its own unrelated run of Sunday Night Theatre between 1971 and 1974.
The Next Best Thing
Director (2 ep.)
event2000 star_border 5.3
top_panel_open
A comedy-drama about best friends - one a straight woman, Abbie, the other a gay man, Robert - who decide to have a child together. Five years later, Abbie falls in love with a straight man and wants to move away with her and Robert's little boy Sam, and a nasty custody battle ensues.
Marathon Man
Director (2 ep.)
event1976 star_border 7.2
top_panel_open
A graduate student and obsessive runner in New York is drawn into a mysterious plot involving his brother, a member of the secretive Division.
Midnight Cowboy
Director (2 ep.)
event1969 star_border 7.5
top_panel_open
Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida.
Far from the Madding Crowd
Director (2 ep.)
event1967 star_border 6.9
top_panel_open
Bathsheba Everdine, a willful, flirtatious, young woman, unexpectedly inherits a large farm and becomes romantically involved with three widely divergent men.
Yanks
Director (2 ep.)
event1979 star_border 6
top_panel_open
During WWII, the United States set up army bases in Great Britain as part of the war effort. Against their proper sensibilities, many of the Brits don't much like the brash Yanks, especially when it comes to the G.I.s making advances on the lonely British girls. One relationship that develops is between married John, an Army Captain, and the aristocratic Helen, whose naval husband is away at war. Helen loves her husband, but Helen and John are looking for some comfort during the difficult times.
The Day of the Locust
Director (2 ep.)
event1975 star_border 6.3
top_panel_open
Hollywood, 1930s. Tod Hackett, a young painter who tries to make his way as an art director in the lurid world of film industry, gets infatuated with his neighbor Faye Greener, an aspiring actress who prefers the life that Homer Simpson, a lone accountant, can offer her.
The Believers
Director (2 ep.)
event1987 star_border 6
top_panel_open
Mourning the accidental death of his wife and having just moved to New York with his young son, laconic police psychologist Cal Jamison is reluctantly drawn into a series of grisly, ritualistic murders involving the immolation of two youths.
Cold Comfort Farm
Director (2 ep.)
event1995 star_border 6.7
top_panel_open
In this adaptation of the satirical British novel, Flora Poste, a plucky London society girl orphaned at age 19, finds a new home with some rough relatives, the Starkadders of Cold Comfort Farm. With a take-charge attitude and some encouragement from her mischievous friend, Mary, Flora changes the Starkadders' lives forever when she settles into their rustic estate, bringing the backward clan up to date and finding inspiration for her novel in the process.
A Kind of Loving
Director (2 ep.)
event1962 star_border 7
top_panel_open
As Vic Brown vacillates between infatuation and disinterest for his co-worker Ingrid Rothwell, she finds out that she is pregnant and Vic has to reconcile how he thought his life would go with what life actually has in store for him.
The Falcon and the Snowman
Director (2 ep.)
event1985 star_border 6.5
top_panel_open
The true story of a disillusioned military contractor employee and his drug pusher childhood friend who became walk-in spies for the Soviet Union.
Eye for an Eye
Director (2 ep.)
event1996 star_border 6.2
top_panel_open
It's fire and brimstone time as grieving mother Karen McCann takes justice into her own hands when a kangaroo court in Los Angeles fails to convict Robert Doob, the monster who raped and murdered her 17-year-old daughter.
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Director (2 ep.)
event1971 star_border 6.6
top_panel_open
Recently divorced career woman Alex Greville begins a romantic relationship with glamorous mod artist Bob Elkin, fully aware that he's also intimately involved with middle-aged doctor Daniel Hirsh. For both Alex and Daniel, the younger man represents a break with their repressive pasts, and though both know that Bob is seeing both of them, neither is willing to let go of the youth and vitality he brings to their otherwise stable lives.
Honky Tonk Freeway
Director (2 ep.)
event1981 star_border 5.1
top_panel_open
Ticlaw, a small town in Florida, has only one attraction: a safari park. The government constructs a freeway that passes near Ticlaw, but decides not to put an exit into the town. The people of Ticlaw, leaded by its Mayor, will do anything in order to convince the governor to alter the project.
The Innocent
Director (2 ep.)
event1993 star_border 6.1
top_panel_open
A young engineer is sent to post-WWII Berlin to help the Americans in spying on the Russians. In a time and place where discretion is still a man’s best friend, he falls in love with a mysterious woman who will take him on the dark side of evil.
An Englishman Abroad
Director (2 ep.)
event1983 star_border 5.9
top_panel_open
Actress Coral Browne travels to Moscow, and meets a mysterious Englishman. Turns out he's the notorious spy, Guy Burgess. Based on a true story, with Ms. Browne playing herself.
A Question of Attribution
Director (2 ep.)
event1991 star_border 6.6
top_panel_open
Sir Anthony Blunt, who was a Soviet agent for 25 years, is routinely questioned and gives no answers, but is knighted and works as Director of the Courtauld Institute, and presents his interrogator with a puzzle in the shape of a doubtful Titian painting. He also does art restoration work in Buckingham Palace, where he gets into an interesting conversation with HMQ.
Separate Tables
Director (2 ep.)
event1983 star_border 6.3
top_panel_open
Two one-act plays explore love and loneliness. In "Table by the Window" an aging fashion model contrives a reunion with her ex-husband, a politician ruined by scandal, and their passion is rekindled. In "Table Number Seven" a meek woman harbors a secret love for a man accused of fraud and sex offenses, forcing her to take a stand for the first time in her life.
Madame Sousatzka
Director (2 ep.)
event1988 star_border 6.7
top_panel_open
In London, eccentric piano instructor Madame Sousatzka takes on a new prize protégé, Manek, a teenage Bengali immigrant who displays incredible talent. Manek forms a close bond with his teacher, but soon discovers that she expects her pupils to become disciplined in all areas of life, and not just behind the piano. As he struggles to meet the challenges, Manek must also deal with his mother, who vies with his teacher for his attention.
The Tale of Sweeney Todd
Director (2 ep.)
event1998 star_border 5.7
top_panel_open
The fictional tale of the murderous 19th century barber (Ben Kinglsey) who sold his kills to a neighboring butcher (Joanna Lumley) for her renowned meat pies. A young innocent (Selina Boyack) and the dashing inspector (Campbell Scott) who tries to solve the murders are also thrown into the mix.
Wakes Week in Blackburn
Director (2 ep.)
event1957
top_panel_open
John Schlesinger's 1957 film about the Wakes Week holiday in Blackburn looks at the tradition where mill towns shut down and thousands of workers head to Blackpool
Les Contes d'Hoffmann
Director (2 ep.)
event1981 star_border 6.6
top_panel_open
Seeking to exorcise the failure of his current love affair, the poet Hoffmann tells the tales of his three past loves - the doll-like Olympia, the high-class courtesan Giulietta, and the ambitious but delicate Antonia - and recalls how each was thwarted by the evil influence of his rival. In this production by the distinguished film director, John Schlesinger, with spectacular designs by Maria Bjornson and William Dudley, Offenbach's nightmare world is brought to life. The all-star cast is headed by Placido Domingo as Hoffmann: his three loves are Ileana Cotrubas, Anges Baltsa and Luciana Serra and the manifestations of his rival are sung by Geraint Evans, Robert Lloyd, Siegmund Nimsgern and Nicola Ghiuselev. The score, which includes such favourites as the "Barcarolle" and the "Doll's Song", is conducted by Georges Pretre.
Der Rosenkavalier
Director (2 ep.)
event1985 star_border 7.5
top_panel_open
Live performance, new production season 1984-5. BBC 2 Television relay on 30 March 1985 of performance of February 11.
Verdi: Un ballo in maschera
Director (2 ep.)
event1990
top_panel_open
Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball) is an 1859 opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The text, by Antonio Somma, was based on Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's 1833 five act opera, Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué. The plot concerns the assassination in 1792 of King Gustav III of Sweden who was shot, as the result of a political conspiracy, while attending a masked ball, dying of his wounds thirteen days later.
The ROH Live: The Tales of Hoffmann
Director (2 ep.)
event2016
top_panel_open
The great storyteller Hoffmann is losing himself to drink. His rival in love, Councillor Lindorf, claims that Hoffmann knows nothing of the heart, and so goads Hoffmann into telling the tales of his three great loves – each destroyed by a villain who bears an uncanny resemblance to Lindorf… First Hoffmann tells of his infatuation for the mechanical doll, Olympia – who is destroyed by the inventor Coppélius. Next comes the courtesan Giulietta, who throws over his adoration in favour of jewels from the magician Dappertutto. Finally, the gentle Antonia is forced to sing to her death by the wicked Doctor Miracle. His stories finished, Hoffmann rouses from his drunken stupor to find Lindorf has made off with Stella, Hoffmann’s latest love – but the Muse compels him to transform his heartache into art.
The Starfish
Writer (2 ep.)
event1952
top_panel_open
Three children, holidaying in a small Cornish fishing village, become intrigued by the locals' tales of an elusive witch.
Sunday in the Park
Producer (2 ep.)
event1956
top_panel_open
Schlesinger’s short captures Londoners enjoying their day of rest
Show more expand_more
keyboard_double_arrow_down