Michael Cimino, director, ‘The Deer Hunter,’ at 77
LOS ANGELES — Michael Cimino, a writer-director whose career saw the highs of winning two Oscars for his 1978 picture “The Deer Hunter” and the lows of 1980’s infamous “Heaven’s Gate,” has died in Los Angeles at age 77. The cause of death was not immediately known.
His career can be seen as a case study and cautionary fable, one of the ultimate tales from the now venerated era of 1970s Hollywood, in which bracing films of deep emotional currents were made with all the resources of major studios. “Heaven’s Gate,” rightly or not, would become symbolic of the sort of excess and unchecked ego that the modern business of moviemaking would work to rein in.
Born in New York, Mr. Cimino graduated from Yale with a degree in art. He began his career making commercials and, after moving to Los Angeles, went on to share screenwriting credits on 1971’s ecological science-fiction film “Silent Running” and 1973’s Dirty Harry sequel “Magnum Force.”
His feature debut as a director would be 1974’s “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot,” which starred Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges.
It was Mr. Cimino’s second film, 1978’s “The Deer Hunter,” which established him as one of the most vibrant voices of the moment with a story that captured the effect of the Vietnam War on the lives of small-town Americans.
The cast featured Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken, John Savage and John Cazale in a story of a group of friends from an industrial Pennsylvania town and how their lives are torn apart by the Vietnam War, both for those sent overseas and those who stayed behind. Scenes in which Walken plays Russian roulette in Southeast Asia became instantly iconic, symbolic of the maddening pressures that set upon men at war.
“The Deer Hunter” would garner nine Oscar nominations and win five awards, including statues for Mr. Cimino for best director and best picture. Mr. Cimino also would win directing prizes for the film from the Golden Globes, the Directors Guild of America, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and others.
The success of “The Deer Hunter” set the stage for Mr. Cimino’s ambitious “Heaven’s Gate,” starring Kris Kristofferson, Isabelle Huppert, John Hurt, Sam Waterston and Walken in a tale that pits homesteaders against cattle barons in late 1800s Wyoming. The film’s troubled production and skyrocketing costs were covered relentlessly in the media.