Oscar-winning Silence of the Lambs director Demme no more
New York: Jonathan Demme, Oscar-winning director of The Silence of the Lambs, who also led Tom Hanks to his first Oscar in Philadelphia, died on Wednesday in New York, his publicist said. He was 73.
Demme remains best known for the 1991 horror-thriller, starring Anthony Hopkins as serial killer Hannibal Lecter and Jodie Foster as FBI agent Clarice Starling. The movie won five Academy Awards, including best picture, best actor for Hopkins and best actress for Foster.
Demme went on to direct Philadelphia in 1993, a ground-breaking movie that won Hanks his first Academy Award for portraying a lawyer fired by his firm for contracting HIV and fighting for justice. “I can confirm that Jonathan passed away early this morning in his Manhattan apartment, surrounded by his wife, Joanne Howard, and three children,” his publicist said.
Demme died from complications from esophageal cancer and is survived by his three children, Jos, 21, Brooklyn, 26, Ramona, 29 and her husband James Molloy.