Nominated for the best director Oscar in three separate decades, Jewison was a master storyteller whose work showed both visual flair and a strong feeling for injustice.
There are contortionists who can’t fold themselves into as many different shapes as the late ‘Moonstruck’ director Norman Jewison did during his career.
Filmmaker Norman Jewison has died at 97. The Canadian-born director’s work ranged from Doris Day comedies and “Moonstruck” to social dramas such as the Oscar-winning “In the Heat of the Night." Jewison was a three-time Oscar nominee who in 1999 received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement. Throughout his long career, Jewison combined light entertainment with topical films. He also worked on the Cold War spoof “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” the Steve McQueen thriller “The Thomas Crown Affair” and a pair of movies featuring Denzel Washington: the racial drama “A Soldier’s Story” and “The Hurricane."