Hal Ashby
Encyclopedia
Hal Ashby was an American
film director and film editor.
, Ashby grew up in a Mormon
household and had a tumultuous childhood as part of a dysfunctional family
which included the divorce of his parents, his father's suicide
and his dropping out of high school. Ashby was married and divorced by the time he was 19. He got a girl pregnant in high school, and had never seen their daughter. His daughter now lives in California.
where he quickly became an assistant film editor. His big break occurred in 1967
when he won the Academy Award for Film Editing
for In the Heat of the Night.
Ashby has often stated that film editing provided him with the best film school background outside of traditional university study and he carried the techniques learned as an editor with him when he began directing.
At the urging of its producer, Norman Jewison
, Ashby directed his first film, The Landlord
, in 1970. While his birth date placed him squarely within the realm of the prewar generation, the filmmaker quickly embraced the hippie
lifestyle, adopting vegetarianism
and growing his hair long before it became de rigueur amongst the principals of the Hollywood Renaissance. In 1970 he married actress Joan Marshall
, today probably best known for her guest appearance in the Star Trek
episode "Court Martial" as antagonistic prosecutor Arleen Shaw. While they remained married until his death in 1988, the two had separated by the mid-seventies, with Marshall never forgiving Ashby, along with Warren Beatty
, and Robert Towne
for dramatizing certain unflattering elements of her life in Shampoo
.
Over the next 16 years, Ashby directed several acclaimed and popular films, including the off-beat romance Harold and Maude
and the social satire Being There
with Peter Sellers
, resuscitating the career of a brilliant actor who many felt had lapsed into self-parody. Ashby's greatest commercial success was the aforementioned Warren Beatty vehicle Shampoo
, although the director effectively ceded control of the production over to his star. Bound for Glory, a muted biography of Woody Guthrie
starring David Carradine
, was the first film to utilize the Steadicam
.
Aside from Shampoo
, where he was by all accounts a creative adjunct to Beatty and Towne, Ashby's most commercially successful film was the Vietnam War
drama Coming Home. Starring Jane Fonda
and Jon Voight
, both in Academy Award-winning performances, it was for this film that Ashby earned his only Best Director nomination from the Academy for his work. As Voight had reportedly been difficult and uncooperative during production, many feel that it was Ashby's skillful editing of a particularly melodramatic scene which earned him the nomination. Arriving in the post-Jaws
and Star Wars
era, from a production standpoint Coming Home was one of the last films to encapsulate the ethos of the New Hollywood
era, earning nearly $15 million dollars in returns and rentals on a minuscule $3 million budget.
(his last film to achieve widespread attention), Ashby became notoriously reclusive and eccentric, retreating to his spartan beachfront abode in Malibu.
The productions of Second-Hand Hearts
and Lookin' to Get Out
— the latter a Las Vegas
caper film that reunited him with Voight and featured Voight's young daughter, Angelina Jolie
— were plagued by Ashby's increasingly erratic behavior, such as pacifying former girlfriends by hiring them to edit Lookin' to Get Out. Studio executives grew less tolerant of his increasingly perfectionist editing techniques, exemplified by his laboring over a montage set to The Police
's "Message in a Bottle
" for nearly six months. Initially set to helm Tootsie
after two years of laborious negotiations, reports of these bizarre tendencies resulted in his dismissal shortly before production commenced.
Shortly thereafter, Ashby — a longtime Rolling Stones fan — accompanied the group on their 1981 American tour, in the process filming the documentary Let's Spend the Night Together
. The occupational hazards of the road were too much for Ashby, who overdosed
before a show in Phoenix, Arizona
. Although the film was eventually completed, it had limited theatrical release.
The Slugger's Wife
, with a screenplay penned by Neil Simon
, continued the losing streak. Ostensibly a commercially-minded romantic comedy
, Simon was reportedly horrified when he viewed Ashby's rough cut of the first reel, sequenced as an impressionistic
mood piece with the first half hour featuring minimal dialogue. Remaining defiant in his squabbles with producers and Simon, Ashby was eventually fired in the final stages of production; the completed film was a critical and commercial failure. 8 Million Ways to Die
, written by Oliver Stone
, fared similarly at the box office; by this juncture Ashby's post-production antics were considered to be such a liability that he was fired by the production company on the final day of principal photography.
(a Dennis Franz
vehicle that purloined the premise of Beverly Hills Cop
and lasted for 13 episodes) and Jake's Journey, a planned collaboration in the Arthurian
sword and sorcery
vein with Graham Chapman
of Monty Python
fame. The latter never came to fruition because of the creators' ailing health.
Longtime friend Warren Beatty
advised Ashby to seek medical care after he complained of various medical problems, including undiagnosed phlebitis
; he was soon diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
that rapidly spread to his lungs, colon and liver. A few of Ashby's friends grew incensed when his girlfriend Grif Griffis, who had been by his side day in and day out, insisted upon homeopathic treatments after all medical treatments had failed, and refused to let them see him. Ashby died on December 27, 1988 at his home in Malibu, California.
Sean Penn
's directorial debut The Indian Runner
is dedicated to Ashby and his contemporary, pioneering independent filmmaker/actor John Cassavetes
.
era, with only one web site dedicated to his works and no critical retrospectives of note as of 2006. Some have attributed this to his lack of a distinctive "style",(though looking through his movies one can see recurring themes, images and motifs); with his oeuvre ranging from heartfelt drama to dark, biting social satire to farce
with no consistent pattern. Being There
has always elicited the most criticism, but this is mostly in regard to its controversial ending. In the opinion of actor Bruce Dern
, "What happened to Hal Ashby, both what he did to himself and what they did to him, was as repulsive as anything I've seen in my forty years of the industry".
A biography written by Nick Dawson entitled Being Hal Ashby: Life of a Hollywood Rebel was published in March 2009. Ashby was also discussed, and his output as director examined, at length in Peter Biskind
's seminal book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-And Rock 'N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
(1998).
Also in 2009, a tribute was held to honor the work of Hal Ashby. The event was hosted by Cameron Crowe
in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater
. Among those in attendance, on June 25, 2009, was the musician, Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens
. "The impact of my musical legacy was due in part to the fact that Hal Ashby embraced my albums and used them as a soundtrack
for his amazing film Harold and Maude
. People are as tied to that film as they are to my music and this event is an opportunity for me to honour the memory of the man", said Yusuf.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film director and film editor.
Birth and early years
Born William Hal Ashby in Ogden, UtahOgden, Utah
Ogden is a city in Weber County, Utah, United States. Ogden serves as the county seat of Weber County. The population was 82,825 according to the 2010 Census. The city served as a major railway hub through much of its history, and still handles a great deal of freight rail traffic which makes it a...
, Ashby grew up in a Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
household and had a tumultuous childhood as part of a dysfunctional family
Dysfunctional family
A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often abuse on the part of individual members occur continually and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions. Children sometimes grow up in such families with the understanding that such an arrangement is...
which included the divorce of his parents, his father's suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
and his dropping out of high school. Ashby was married and divorced by the time he was 19. He got a girl pregnant in high school, and had never seen their daughter. His daughter now lives in California.
Hollywood and career peaks
As Ashby was entering adult life, he moved from Utah to CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
where he quickly became an assistant film editor. His big break occurred in 1967
1967 in film
The year 1967 in film involved some significant events. It is widely considered as one of the most ground-breaking years in film.-Events:* December 26 - The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour airs on British television....
when he won the Academy Award for Film Editing
Academy Award for Film Editing
The Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing...
for In the Heat of the Night.
Ashby has often stated that film editing provided him with the best film school background outside of traditional university study and he carried the techniques learned as an editor with him when he began directing.
At the urging of its producer, Norman Jewison
Norman Jewison
Norman Frederick Jewison, CC, O.Ont is a Canadian film director, producer, actor and founder of the Canadian Film Centre. Highlights of his directing career include In the Heat of the Night , The Thomas Crown Affair , Fiddler on the Roof , Jesus Christ Superstar , Moonstruck , The Hurricane and The...
, Ashby directed his first film, The Landlord
The Landlord
The Landlord is a 1970 film directed by Hal Ashby, which was based on the novel by Kristin Hunter. The film stars Beau Bridges in the lead role of a well to do white man who becomes landlord of an inner city tenement, unaware that the people he is responsible for are low-income, streetwise residents...
, in 1970. While his birth date placed him squarely within the realm of the prewar generation, the filmmaker quickly embraced the hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
lifestyle, adopting vegetarianism
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
and growing his hair long before it became de rigueur amongst the principals of the Hollywood Renaissance. In 1970 he married actress Joan Marshall
Joan Marshall
Joan Marshall was an American actress.-Early life and career:Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Marshall began her career as a showgirl in Chicago clubs. After appearing as a dancer in the 1945 film The Chicago Kid and a part in the television series Have Gun – Will Travel in 1958, she moved to...
, today probably best known for her guest appearance in the Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
episode "Court Martial" as antagonistic prosecutor Arleen Shaw. While they remained married until his death in 1988, the two had separated by the mid-seventies, with Marshall never forgiving Ashby, along with Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
, and Robert Towne
Robert Towne
Robert Towne is an American screenwriter and director. His most notable work may be his Academy Award-winning original screenplay for Roman Polanski's Chinatown .-Film:...
for dramatizing certain unflattering elements of her life in Shampoo
Shampoo (film)
Shampoo is a 1975 satirical film written by Robert Towne and directed by Hal Ashby. It stars Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn, with Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Tony Bill and in an early film appearance, Carrie Fisher....
.
Over the next 16 years, Ashby directed several acclaimed and popular films, including the off-beat romance Harold and Maude
Harold and Maude
Harold and Maude is a 1971 American dark comedy film directed by Hal Ashby and released by Paramount Pictures. It incorporates elements of dark humor and existentialist drama, with a plot that revolves around the exploits of a young man intrigued with death, Harold...
and the social satire Being There
Being There
Being There is a 1979 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby. Adapted from the 1971 novella written by Jerzy Kosinski, the screenplay was coauthored by Kosinski and Robert C. Jones. The film stars Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard A...
with Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
, resuscitating the career of a brilliant actor who many felt had lapsed into self-parody. Ashby's greatest commercial success was the aforementioned Warren Beatty vehicle Shampoo
Shampoo (film)
Shampoo is a 1975 satirical film written by Robert Towne and directed by Hal Ashby. It stars Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn, with Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Tony Bill and in an early film appearance, Carrie Fisher....
, although the director effectively ceded control of the production over to his star. Bound for Glory, a muted biography of Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
starring David Carradine
David Carradine
David Carradine was an American actor and martial artist, best known for his role as a warrior monk, Kwai Chang Caine, in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu, which later had a 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues...
, was the first film to utilize the Steadicam
Steadicam
A Steadicam is a stabilizing mount for a motion picture camera that mechanically isolates it from the operator's movement, allowing a smooth shot even when moving quickly over an uneven surface...
.
Aside from Shampoo
Shampoo (film)
Shampoo is a 1975 satirical film written by Robert Towne and directed by Hal Ashby. It stars Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn, with Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Tony Bill and in an early film appearance, Carrie Fisher....
, where he was by all accounts a creative adjunct to Beatty and Towne, Ashby's most commercially successful film was the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
drama Coming Home. Starring Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
and Jon Voight
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....
, both in Academy Award-winning performances, it was for this film that Ashby earned his only Best Director nomination from the Academy for his work. As Voight had reportedly been difficult and uncooperative during production, many feel that it was Ashby's skillful editing of a particularly melodramatic scene which earned him the nomination. Arriving in the post-Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
and Star Wars
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
era, from a production standpoint Coming Home was one of the last films to encapsulate the ethos of the New Hollywood
New Hollywood
New Hollywood or post-classical Hollywood, sometimes referred to as the "American New Wave", refers to the time from roughly the late-1960s to the early 1980s when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in America, influencing the types of films produced, their production and...
era, earning nearly $15 million dollars in returns and rentals on a minuscule $3 million budget.
Decline
Because of his critical and (relative) commercial success, shortly after the success of Coming Home, Ashby was able to form a production company under the auspices of Lorimar. After Being ThereBeing There
Being There is a 1979 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby. Adapted from the 1971 novella written by Jerzy Kosinski, the screenplay was coauthored by Kosinski and Robert C. Jones. The film stars Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard A...
(his last film to achieve widespread attention), Ashby became notoriously reclusive and eccentric, retreating to his spartan beachfront abode in Malibu.
The productions of Second-Hand Hearts
Second-Hand Hearts
Second-Hand Hearts is film produced by Lorimar Productions and released by Paramount Pictures. Although it was filmed in 1979 it was not released until 1981. The film stars Barbara Harris and Robert Blake and was directed by Hal Ashby. It was plagued by a troubled production, and upon release...
and Lookin' to Get Out
Lookin' to Get Out
Lookin’ to Get Out is a 1982 film directed by Hal Ashby and written by Al Schwartz and Jon Voight, who also stars. Voight's daughter, Angelina Jolie, then six years old, briefly appears as the Voight character's daughter near the end of the movie. The film also stars Ann-Margret and Burt...
— the latter a Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
caper film that reunited him with Voight and featured Voight's young daughter, Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
— were plagued by Ashby's increasingly erratic behavior, such as pacifying former girlfriends by hiring them to edit Lookin' to Get Out. Studio executives grew less tolerant of his increasingly perfectionist editing techniques, exemplified by his laboring over a montage set to The Police
The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...
's "Message in a Bottle
Message in a Bottle (song)
"Message in a Bottle" is a 1979 song by The Police, from their second album, Reggatta de Blanc.The song is ostensibly about a story of a castaway on an island, who sends out a message in a bottle to seek love. A year later, he has not received any sort of response, and despairs, thinking he is...
" for nearly six months. Initially set to helm Tootsie
Tootsie
Tootsie is a 1982 American comedy film that tells the story of a talented but volatile actor whose reputation for being difficult forces him to go to extreme lengths to land a job. The movie stars Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange, with a supporting cast that includes Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman,...
after two years of laborious negotiations, reports of these bizarre tendencies resulted in his dismissal shortly before production commenced.
Shortly thereafter, Ashby — a longtime Rolling Stones fan — accompanied the group on their 1981 American tour, in the process filming the documentary Let's Spend the Night Together
Let's Spend the Night Together (film)
Let's Spend the Night Together is a live concert film, documenting The Rolling Stones' 1981 North American Tour. It was directed by Hal Ashby, and released to cinemas in 1983, then subsequently released on VHS...
. The occupational hazards of the road were too much for Ashby, who overdosed
Drug overdose
The term drug overdose describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced...
before a show in Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
. Although the film was eventually completed, it had limited theatrical release.
The Slugger's Wife
The Slugger's Wife
The Slugger's Wife is a 1985 romantic comedy about a baseball star who falls for a singer. Written by Neil Simon, directed by Hal Ashby and produced by Ray Stark, the film stars Michael O'Keefe, Rebecca De Mornay and Randy Quaid. It was distributed by Columbia Pictures and released on March 29,...
, with a screenplay penned by Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
, continued the losing streak. Ostensibly a commercially-minded romantic comedy
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
, Simon was reportedly horrified when he viewed Ashby's rough cut of the first reel, sequenced as an impressionistic
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
mood piece with the first half hour featuring minimal dialogue. Remaining defiant in his squabbles with producers and Simon, Ashby was eventually fired in the final stages of production; the completed film was a critical and commercial failure. 8 Million Ways to Die
8 Million Ways to Die
8 Million Ways to Die is a 1986 American crime film. This was the final film directed by Hal Ashby, and the first attempt to adapt the popular Matthew Scudder detective stories of Lawrence Block for the screen. The screenplay was written by Oliver Stone and David Lee Henry, with uncredited...
, written by Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
, fared similarly at the box office; by this juncture Ashby's post-production antics were considered to be such a liability that he was fired by the production company on the final day of principal photography.
Death
Attempting to turn a corner in his declining career, Ashby stopped using drugs, trimmed his hair and beard, and began to frequent Hollywood parties wearing a navy blue blazer so as to suggest that he was once again "respectable". Despite these efforts, however, word of his unreliable reputation had spread throughout the entertainment industry and he could only find work as a television director, helming the pilots for Beverly Hills BuntzBeverly Hills Buntz
Beverly Hills Buntz was a short-lived spinoff from Hill Street Blues. It aired on NBC during the 1987-88 season.-Overview:The show was a 30-minute 'dramedy', that was a hybrid between light private eye fare and a sit-com. The main character, Norman Buntz, was previously seen as a morally and...
(a Dennis Franz
Dennis Franz
Dennis Franz is an American actor best known for his role as Andy Sipowicz, a hard-boiled police detective in the television series NYPD Blue. He previously appeared as Lt...
vehicle that purloined the premise of Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American comedy-action film directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Ronny Cox...
and lasted for 13 episodes) and Jake's Journey, a planned collaboration in the Arthurian
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
sword and sorcery
Sword and sorcery
Sword and sorcery is a sub-genre of fantasy and historical fantasy, generally characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts. An element of romance is often present, as is an element of magic and the supernatural...
vein with Graham Chapman
Graham Chapman
Graham Arthur Chapman was a British comedian, physician, writer, actor, and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.-Early life and education:...
of Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
fame. The latter never came to fruition because of the creators' ailing health.
Longtime friend Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
advised Ashby to seek medical care after he complained of various medical problems, including undiagnosed phlebitis
Phlebitis
Phlebitis is an inflammation of a vein, usually in the legs.When phlebitis is associated with the formation of blood clots , usually in the deep veins of the legs, the condition is called thrombophlebitis...
; he was soon diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
that rapidly spread to his lungs, colon and liver. A few of Ashby's friends grew incensed when his girlfriend Grif Griffis, who had been by his side day in and day out, insisted upon homeopathic treatments after all medical treatments had failed, and refused to let them see him. Ashby died on December 27, 1988 at his home in Malibu, California.
Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
's directorial debut The Indian Runner
The Indian Runner
The Indian Runner is a 1991 drama film written and directed by Sean Penn. It is based on Bruce Springsteen's song, "Highway Patrolman".-Plot:...
is dedicated to Ashby and his contemporary, pioneering independent filmmaker/actor John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...
.
Legacy
Today Ashby stands as an underappreciated filmmaker of the New HollywoodNew Hollywood
New Hollywood or post-classical Hollywood, sometimes referred to as the "American New Wave", refers to the time from roughly the late-1960s to the early 1980s when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in America, influencing the types of films produced, their production and...
era, with only one web site dedicated to his works and no critical retrospectives of note as of 2006. Some have attributed this to his lack of a distinctive "style",(though looking through his movies one can see recurring themes, images and motifs); with his oeuvre ranging from heartfelt drama to dark, biting social satire to farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
with no consistent pattern. Being There
Being There
Being There is a 1979 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby. Adapted from the 1971 novella written by Jerzy Kosinski, the screenplay was coauthored by Kosinski and Robert C. Jones. The film stars Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard A...
has always elicited the most criticism, but this is mostly in regard to its controversial ending. In the opinion of actor Bruce Dern
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
, "What happened to Hal Ashby, both what he did to himself and what they did to him, was as repulsive as anything I've seen in my forty years of the industry".
A biography written by Nick Dawson entitled Being Hal Ashby: Life of a Hollywood Rebel was published in March 2009. Ashby was also discussed, and his output as director examined, at length in Peter Biskind
Peter Biskind
Peter Biskind is a journalist, former executive editor of Premiere magazine, and the author of numerous books depicting life in Hollywood, including Seeing Is Believing, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Down and Dirty Pictures, and Gods and Monsters...
's seminal book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-And Rock 'N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and Rock 'N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood is a book written by Peter Biskind and published by Simon and Schuster in 1998...
(1998).
Also in 2009, a tribute was held to honor the work of Hal Ashby. The event was hosted by Cameron Crowe
Cameron Crowe
Cameron Bruce Crowe is an American screenwriter and film director. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, for which he still frequently writes....
in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater
Samuel Goldwyn Theater
The Samuel Goldwyn Theatre is a movie theater in Beverly Hills, California named after Samuel Goldwyn.Currently, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences uses the theater in January to announce the nominations for their Academy Awards....
. Among those in attendance, on June 25, 2009, was the musician, Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
. "The impact of my musical legacy was due in part to the fact that Hal Ashby embraced my albums and used them as a soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
for his amazing film Harold and Maude
Harold and Maude
Harold and Maude is a 1971 American dark comedy film directed by Hal Ashby and released by Paramount Pictures. It incorporates elements of dark humor and existentialist drama, with a plot that revolves around the exploits of a young man intrigued with death, Harold...
. People are as tied to that film as they are to my music and this event is an opportunity for me to honour the memory of the man", said Yusuf.
Filmography (as director)
| Year | Film | Academy Award Wins | Academy Award Nominations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | The Landlord The Landlord The Landlord is a 1970 film directed by Hal Ashby, which was based on the novel by Kristin Hunter. The film stars Beau Bridges in the lead role of a well to do white man who becomes landlord of an inner city tenement, unaware that the people he is responsible for are low-income, streetwise residents... |
0 | 1 |
| 1971 | Harold and Maude Harold and Maude Harold and Maude is a 1971 American dark comedy film directed by Hal Ashby and released by Paramount Pictures. It incorporates elements of dark humor and existentialist drama, with a plot that revolves around the exploits of a young man intrigued with death, Harold... |
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| 1973 | The Last Detail The Last Detail The Last Detail is a 1973 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby with a screenplay adapted by Robert Towne from a novel of the same name by Daryl Ponicsan. The film became known for its frequent use of profanity.-Plot:... |
0 | 3 |
| 1975 | Shampoo Shampoo (film) Shampoo is a 1975 satirical film written by Robert Towne and directed by Hal Ashby. It stars Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn, with Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Tony Bill and in an early film appearance, Carrie Fisher.... |
1 | 4 |
| 1976 | Bound for Glory | 2 | 6 |
| 1978 | Coming Home | 3 | 8 |
| 1979 | Being There Being There Being There is a 1979 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby. Adapted from the 1971 novella written by Jerzy Kosinski, the screenplay was coauthored by Kosinski and Robert C. Jones. The film stars Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard A... |
1 | 2 |
| 1981 | Second-Hand Hearts Second-Hand Hearts Second-Hand Hearts is film produced by Lorimar Productions and released by Paramount Pictures. Although it was filmed in 1979 it was not released until 1981. The film stars Barbara Harris and Robert Blake and was directed by Hal Ashby. It was plagued by a troubled production, and upon release... |
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| 1982 | Lookin' to Get Out Lookin' to Get Out Lookin’ to Get Out is a 1982 film directed by Hal Ashby and written by Al Schwartz and Jon Voight, who also stars. Voight's daughter, Angelina Jolie, then six years old, briefly appears as the Voight character's daughter near the end of the movie. The film also stars Ann-Margret and Burt... |
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| 1983 | Let's Spend the Night Together Let's Spend the Night Together (film) Let's Spend the Night Together is a live concert film, documenting The Rolling Stones' 1981 North American Tour. It was directed by Hal Ashby, and released to cinemas in 1983, then subsequently released on VHS... |
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| 1984 | Solo Trans Solo Trans Solo Trans is a concert film by Neil Young, released in 1984. It was recorded at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio on September 18, 1983 during Young's Solo Trans tour... |
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| 1985 | The Slugger's Wife The Slugger's Wife The Slugger's Wife is a 1985 romantic comedy about a baseball star who falls for a singer. Written by Neil Simon, directed by Hal Ashby and produced by Ray Stark, the film stars Michael O'Keefe, Rebecca De Mornay and Randy Quaid. It was distributed by Columbia Pictures and released on March 29,... |
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| 1986 | 8 Million Ways to Die 8 Million Ways to Die 8 Million Ways to Die is a 1986 American crime film. This was the final film directed by Hal Ashby, and the first attempt to adapt the popular Matthew Scudder detective stories of Lawrence Block for the screen. The screenplay was written by Oliver Stone and David Lee Henry, with uncredited... |
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| 1988 | Jake's Journey Jake's Journey Jake's Journey was a television pilot created in 1988. It is notable as being one of the last projects for both Graham Chapman and Hal Ashby.... (TV) |
External links
- Hal Ashby on Find-A-Grave
- Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
- The Director's Director – discussion by directors Ashby influenced
- Literature on Hal Ashby