Arthur Hiller
Love Story director who favoured scripts which contain good moral values
T— entered the lexicon of romantic whimsy with the Oscar-winning 1970 film tragedy But its director Arthur Hiller, who has died aged 92, was noted for other brilliant works, including Neil Simon’s (1970) and Paddy Chayevsky’s (1971).
Yet enduring image of Ali MacGraw and boyfriend (Ryan 0’Neal) fighting for their right to love in the teethof parentalopposition,provedthe mostpopularfilmthatyear.Nominated for seven Oscars, it only received one, for best film score. Based on a best-selling novel by Erich Segal, the highly visual and romantic film came at a particular moment in American history, when the anguish of the Vietnam War meant the country needed an emotional escape.
Although he originally derided the maudlin script, something made Hiller perceive that here was a chance to celebrate love and loss and catch the imagination of a grieving America. Beyond its tear-jerking sentimentality, the film underlined Hiller’s personal philosophy which favoured scripts “with good moral values which comes from my parentsandmyupbringing.Eveninmy smaller, lesser films at least there’s an affirmation of the human spirit.”
cost $2 million to shoot, but ParamountStudioswereonthevergeof bankruptcy and this film was the deal breaker, taking over $130 million at the box office with the help of Francis Lai’s Oscar winning score. Hiller was nominated for an Oscar and the film won five Golden Globe nominations.
Making the audience “see not with their eyes, but with their gut” was Hiller’s shrewd credo for telling the story of a wealthy Harvard student who falls in love with a poorer girl who eventually dies of cancer.
Hiller was born in Edmonton, Alberta, into an arts loving family of Polish Jews, Harry and Rose (née Garfin), who owned a second-hand musical instruments shop. His dramatic senses were undoubtedly aroused when his parents opened a Yiddish theatre in the late 1920s and for which he helped create the scenery. He attended the Victoria School for the Performing and Visual Arts before studying law and psychology at the University of Toronto.
At the outbreak of the Second World War Hiller served as a navigator with the Canadian Air Force in Britain, engaged inbombingraidsoveroccupiedEurope.
An arts degree at Toronto University and a masters in psychology followed after which he became a programme director at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. T V drama was then in its infancy but he soon won the attention of NBC. Schooled in TV and “B”movies he next moved into “A” movies with comedies like The (1963)
(1971) or (1992.) K nown for his efficiency and ability to deliver on time, Hiller made 30 mainstream films, not all of which won critical acclaim.
He had the long-haired look and bearing of an elegant film director, or even an orchestral maestro, and this was reinforced by a quietly competent manner. Directing drama on television called on his improvisation skills.
Hiller had his own love story. In 1948 he married his primary school sweetheart Gwen Pechet, to whom he had proposed when she was eight. In the 1950s the couple moved to America where for the next 10 years he directed episodes of the Addams Family, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, the Naked City and Playhouse 90. Hecastthethenunknown Robert Redford in the role of a coward in a drama about the American Civil War.
It was his empathy with the acting fraternity which brought him into the orbit of cinema. In 1957 he made his film debut with the teenage drama followed by
for Disney. He was also known for his versatility in terms of scripts. His personal favourite was the comedy,
(1964) starring Julie Andrews and James Garner. He worked with actors of the calibre of Diana Rigg, George C Scott, Rock Hudson, Gene Wilder, Sophia Loren, Peter 0’Toole, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. He gave Dustin Hoffman his screen debut.
Hiller’s era was undoubtedly the 70s, which were also distinguished by his film adaptation of Robert Shaw’s
inspired by the kidnapping and trial of Adolf Eichmann, which, though it did not win overall critical acclaim was praised for a powerful performance by Maximilian Schell. His biopic the following year
featured Rod Steiger. His 1982 attempt to deal with homosexuality in was indifferently received by a public not ready to deal with the subject. His colleagues’ creative rights occupied him as president of the Directors Guild of America, from 1989-1993 and as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which runs the Oscars.
Gwen predeceased him this year and he is survived by their daughter Erica, son Henryk and five grandchildren. Arthur Hiller: born November 22, 1923. Died August 17, 2016