Joan Micklin Silver

Her follow-up, "Between the Lines" (1977) examined the workings of an underground newspaper in Boston, inspired in part by her own time at New York's Village Voice. The relatively unknown cast featured future stars Jeff Goldblum, John Heard, Jill Eikenberry and Stephen Collins. Heard toplined the film over which Silver battled with United Artists, "Chilly Scenes of Winter," which focused on a man trying to win back his ex-girlfriend. The studio changed the ending and released it under the title "Head Over Heels" in 1979 to a mixed reception. Although it finally saw the light in its original form in 1982, that version also did not set any box-office records. The writer-director earned her first notable commercial success with "Crossing Delancey" (1988), the story of a love affair between a sophisticated New York literary type (Amy Irving) and a reticent Lower East Side pickle seller (Peter Riegert). Silver tried another frothy comedy with "Loverboy" (1989) which cast Patrick Dempsey as a pizza delivery boy who is a sexual hit with lonely women, but the film's execution was barely on par with TV sitcoms. Her "Big Girls Don't Cry...They Get Even" (1992) was a modest comedy about a young girl's reaction to the effects of a blended family.Silver seemingly had better luck on the small screen. Her adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" (PBS, 1976) was a charming short that captured the author's spirit. She also helmed the PBS "Wonderworks" entry "How to Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days" (1984) and guided Mary Tyler Moore and Robert Preston in the superior romantic comedy "Finnegan Begin Again" (HBO, 1985). In 1991, Silver directed the "Parole Board" episode of "Prison Stories: Women on the Inside" (HBO) and the following year attracted some controversy with "A Private Matter" (HBO), based on the real-life story of a children's show host (Sissy Spacek) who decides to abort her baby when she discovers the fetus is deformed because of medication she was taking. As writer and director, she earned critical praise for her remake of the 1960s Rod Serling drama "In the Presence of Mine Enemies" (Showtime, 1997), a drama about a Jewish family struggling during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.Silver's husband, Raphael (Ray) has produced several of her films (the two switched functions on "On the Yard" 1978). Their daughter Marisa made a promising directorial debut at age 24 with "Old Enough" (1984), which was produced by her sister, Dina. A third daughter, Claudia, has acted as well as directed. Joan Micklin Silver died December 31, 2020 of vascular dementia. She was 85.