RICHARD DIAMOND radio series for Dick Powell.
Fox signed the handsome youth to a $150 per week contract, and he appeared in two dozen pics from 1942-48, including William Wyler's Oscar-winning THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946). His stepfather got him jobs as an extra, which graduated to larger and larger speaking parts. William Blake McEdwards attended Beverly Hills High, served in the Coast Guard and then pursued a brief acting career as Blake Edwards. When he was four, his mother moved to Los Angeles and married Jack McEdwards, who worked both as a stage director and as an assistant director and production manager at 20th Century-Fox. Blake made eight movies starring Andrews, another octet with his actress daughter Jennifer Edwards and a few with son Geoffrey Edwards as co-screenwriter or co-editor.īlake was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on July 26, 1922.
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and took the Worst Director Razzie for SUNSET.Įdwards and the brilliant composer Henry Mancini worked together on 30 films, two TV series and a Broadway musical over their 35-year association, with Mancini’s themes and tunes adding joy and unforgettably to classics such asīREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S, THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES and the better PINK PANTHER films. On the other hand, he was nominated for Worst Director and Worst Screenwriter Razzie awards for S.O.B. His fun late 50s TV series PETER GUNN earned Edwards Emmy nominations for writing and directing. VICTOR/VICTORIA and THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN. He was nominated for seven Writers Guild Awards, winning two for Film Critics’ awards for lifetime achievement and was honored with the French Legion of Honor, made a French commander of arts and letters and earned the Italian Master of Cinema honor. He won a trio of British Evening Standard awards for three Pink Panther sequels garnered American Comedy, DGA, WGA and L.A. Over his 52-year career, Edwards directed 39 movies and eight TV projects, penned 45 pics and seven TV series or films and produced 18 movies, two TV series and a pair of TV flicks. They include slapstick (THE PARTY, THE GREAT RACE), gender-switch and gender-war comedies (A FINE MESS, BLIND DATE and SWITCH), silly farces (SKIN DEEP, MICKEY AND MAUDE) and the highly inventive second, third and fourth Clouseau sequels (A SHOT IN THE DARK, RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER and THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN).
Within the comedy genre-for which he is best known-Edwards’ work has ranged widely, in both sub-genre and quality. VICTOR/VICTORIA, starring his second wife Julie Andrews as a woman who pretends to be a male transvestite, was a critical and box office hit, earning Blake French and Italian Best Picture honors and his only Oscar nomination (for best adapted screenplay).Įdwards has done good work in a wide range of genres, including Westerns, thrillers, musicals, romances, and navel-gazing pics (THE MAN WHO LOVED WOMEN and THAT’S LIFE, which he co-scripted with his analyst). Unfortunately, Edwards kept churning them out long after they stopped being funny and even after Sellers’ weak heart stopped beating. Three of his PINK PANTHER movies, starring the incomparable Peter Sellers as bumbling Inspector Clouseau, were brilliant, original comedies that were enormously popular. Photo Credit: Ezio Petersen/Newscom (5/24/96)Īt the 76th Oscar Celebration on February 29, 2004.īlake Edwards, who will receive an honorary lifetime achievement award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences on Februhas written, directed and produced a number of wonderful movies-as well as a larger number of stinkers. Blake Edwards & Julie Andrews pick up Outer Critics Circle Awardsįor their collaboration on the Broadway version of VICTOR/VICTORIA.