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AshbyBorn September 2, 1929 in Ogden, Utah, (William) Hal Ashby was the fourth and youngest child in a Mormon family. He had a rough childhood that saw the divorce of his parents when he was 6, his father’s suicide when he was 12 and two marriages and divorces of his own before the age of 21.

Moving to California, Ashby found a job as a printing press operator at Universal where he befriended a pre-stardom young messenger named Jack Nicholson. By 1956 he had become an assistant editor, working on such films as Friendly Persuasion, The Big Country, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Children’s Hour, The Best Man and The Greatest Story Ever Told. He became the chief editor for the first time on 1965’s The Loved One, after which he worked exclusively on five films for Norman Jewison, The Cincinnati Kid, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (his first Oscar nomination), In the Heat of the Night (his Oscar win), The Thomas Crown Affair and Gaily, Gaily.

Ashby married for the third time in 1956 and for the fifth time in 1963. Both marriages ended in divorce. He married actress Joan Marshall, his fifth and last wife in 1970, the same year he became a director with 1970’s The Landlord starring Beau Bridges and Lee Grant, the first of seven consecutive well landmark films he made within the decade. Although 1971’s Harold and Maude starring Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort opened to mixed reviews, its cult status has long since elevated its critical reputation. 1973’s The Last Detail starring old friend Jack Nicholson, 1975’s Shampoo starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, 1976’s Bound for Glory starring David Carradine and Melinda Dillon, 1978’s Coming Home starring Jane Fonda and Jon Voight and 1979’s Being There starring Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine were all major awards magnets with Coming Home the only one bringing Ashby an Oscar nomination of his own.

By 1980, Ashby’s hippie lifestyle including the excessive use of drugs had rendered him notoriously reclusive and eccentric. He retreated to his Malibu home where his drug problem became increasingly worse. Though virtually unemployable, he did manage to make a few films here and there, with only 1986’s 8 Million Ways to Die starring Jeff Bridges and Rosanna Arquette achieving any kind of critical respect or commercial success.

By 1987 Ashby had cleaned up his act, stopped taking drugs, cut his hair, trimmed his beard and started showing up at Hollywood parties to give the impression that he was once again employable. Unfortunately, by this time all he could get were a few TV jobs.

Urged by longtime friend Warren Beatty to seek medical help after complaining of various ailments, it was discovered that Ashby was suffering from pancreatic cancer which had spread to his lungs, colon and liver. He died on December 27, 1988 at the age of 59.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971)

The last act of Ruth Gordon’s long show business career began with 1965’s Inside Daisy Clover, her first on screen appearance in twenty-two years, and lasted another twenty years until her death. Three years after winning her Oscar for Rosemary’s Baby she had another iconic role as the young-at-heart 80-year-old who enters into a life-affirming romance with suicidal 20-year-old Bud Cort under Ashby’s assured direction. Indifferently received on its initial release, the film has long since entered cult status and is likely to remain there for as long as unabashedly quirky films are seen and appreciated.

SHAMPOO (1975)

This highly controversial sex comedy about a Beverly Hills hairdresser who seduces all the women in sight, actually just three during the day in which it takes place, was based on a real-life character played by Warren Beatty. Taking place on Election Day, 1968, the three women were Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn and Lee Grant who won an Oscar as the bored wife of Jack Warden and mother of nymphet Carrie Fisher. Although Ashby was the director of record, it was largely seen as a Warren Beatty film as the actor had produced the film and co-written it with Robert Towne, who had just won an Oscar for Chinatown.

BOUND FOR GLORY (1976)

This film from Woody Guthrie’s autobiography is another film for which Ashby did not credit he deserved. The film was nominated for six Oscars including Best Picture and won two, for Haskell Wexler’s cinematography and Leonard Rosenman’s adapted score, but nothing for Ashby. It was Wexler’s breathtaking cinematography that captured most of the attention for the film along with David Carradine’s stirring performance as Guthrie. Ashby was nominated for a Golden Globe along with the film and the fine performances of Carradine and Melinda Dillon in her breakout role as Woody’s wife, Mary.

COMING HOME (1978)

Once again another person associated with an Ashby film received most of the credit for the film’s success. This time it was star Jane Fonda, who although not officially a producer of the film, had a lot to say about who worked on it. Nevertheless, Ashby’s sensitive direction of the film’s stars, Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern and Penelope Milford led to Oscar nominations for all four and wins for Fonda as the wife of an Army officer who has an affair with a paraplegic anti-war veteran and Voight as that vet. This time, though, Ashby himself managed a well-deserved nomination for his direction of the Best Picture nominee.

BEING HERE (1979)

Yet again Ashby’s astute direction took a back seat to someone else, in this case star Peter Sellers in his next to last film as a sheltered, imbecilic gardener whose simple utterances are taken as profound insights by wealthy industrialist and Washington, D.C. power broker Melvyn Douglas. Deceptively as simple as Sellers’ character, it was an acting tour-de-force for both Sellers, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance and Douglas who won his second Oscar as the dying industrialist. Ashby received his third Golden Globe nomination for his direction, but true to form Oscar ignored him.

HAL ASHBY AND OSCAR

  • The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966) – nominated – Best Film Editing
  • In the Heat of the Night (1967) – Oscar – Best Film Editing
  • Coming Home (1978) – nominated – Best Director

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