Arthur Hiller

Canadian-born director Arthur Hiller began in radio and, after a brief stint helming TV episodes in his homeland, moved to the USA where he quickly established himself directing both live and film series like "Playhouse 90" (CBS 1956-1960) "Gunsmoke" (CBS 1955-1975) and "Naked City" (ABC 1958-1963), for which he received a 1962 Emmy nomination. He made an auspicious feature debut at the helm of the teen flick "The Careless Years" (1957), starring Dean Stockwell, but did not return to the big screen until 1963 with "Miracle of the White Stallions" and "The Wheeler Dealers." Although he worked in a variety of genres, from the dramatic "The Man in the Glass Booth" (1974) to the romantic "Love Story" (1970), Hiller showed his greatest facility with light comedy, working well with writers like Neil Simon ("The Out-of-Towners" 1970, "Plaza Suite" 1971), Andrew Bergman ("The In-Laws" 1979), Israel Horowitz ("Author! Author!" 1982) and Leslie Dixon ("Outrageous Fortune" 1987). However, two of his most acclaimed movies, "The Americanization of Emily" (1964) and the bleak satire "The Hospital" (1971), both scripted by Paddy Chayefsky, were notably dark films. No Hiller film did better at the box office than "Love Story," which was disparaged by many critics as sentimental and cloying, much as Erich Segal's best-selling novel had been. Hiller's late career was hampered by box-office duds like the gay-themed romantic drama "Making Love" (1982) and the Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor comedy "See No Evil, Hear No Evil" (1989). In an unfortunate case of life imitating art, Hiller and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas clashed during the filming of their film industry satire "An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn" (1997), leading the director to demand his name be taken off the final film, which was released to critical derision and commercial failure under the directorial pseudonym Alan Smithee. Hiller only directed one more film, the quickly forgotten comedy "National Lampoon's Pucked" (2006), starring rock icon Jon Bon Jovi. In addition to his work as a director, Hiller served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1993 to 1997. Arthur Hiller died of undisclosed natural causes in Los Angeles on August 17, 2016 at the age of 92.