Norman Jewison, the acclaimed and versatile Canadian-born director who created in a variety of genres, from comedies with Doris Day and "Bewitched by the Moon" to social dramas such as the Oscar-winning "In the Heat of the Night", has died at the age of 97.
Jewison, a three-time Oscar nominee who won a lifetime achievement Oscar in 1999, died "peacefully" on Saturday, his publicist Jeff Sanderson said.
Other details about the death of the famous director are currently unknown.
Throughout his long career, Jewison combined light entertainment with engaging themes that resonated with him on a deeply personal level.
During the Second World War, while he was completing his military service in the Canadian Navy, he hitchhiked through the American South and was closely confronted with the consequences of the so-called "Jim Crow Laws" of racial segregation. Thus, according to him, racism and injustice became his most common themes in the film.
Relying on personal experiences, he made the famous film "In the Heat of the Night" (1967), in which Rod Steiger plays a white racist sheriff from a small town and Sidney Poitier is a black detective from Philadelphia. The two manage to establish a working relationship in order to solve the case of a murder.
The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Jewison was nominated for Best Director. He lost to Mike Nichols, director of "The Graduate" starring Dustin Hoffman.
Among those who encouraged Jewison while filming "In the Heat of the Night" was Senator Robert F. Kennedy, whom the director met while skiing. Kennedy was later assassinated.
He was nominated for an Oscar twice more - for the musical-comedy "Fiddler on the Roof" (1971) and the romantic comedy "Bewitched by the Moon" (1987) with Cher in the lead role. She won the Oscar for Best Actress in that film.
Jewison also worked on such notable films as the Cold War farce "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming", the thriller "The Thomas Crown Affair" with Steve McQueen and two films with Denzel Washington: "A Soldier's Tale" and "Hurricane". He also directed the political drama "FIST" starring Sylvester Stallone.
Jewison and his wife Margaret Ann Dixon (nicknamed Dixie) had three children, sons Kevin and Michael and daughter Jennifer Ann, who became an actress and appeared in Jewison's films Agnes of God and Best Friends.
They were married for 51 years, until her death in 2004. He married Lynn St. David in 2010.
When he wasn't working, Jewison lived on a 200-acre farm near Toronto, where he raised horses and cattle and made maple syrup.
He founded the Canadian Film Center in 1988 and for years hosted barbecues during the Toronto Film Festival.
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