Richard Rush obit

Richard Rush, ‘The Stunt Man’ Director, Dies at 91

 He was not on the list.

Richard Rush, who picked up two Oscar nominations, best director and adapted screenplay, for his extraordinary 1980 film “The Stunt Man,” starring Peter O’Toole, died April 8 in Los Angeles. He was 91.

His wife Claude said he had been suffering from longtime health issues but that he died comfortably at home. She said in a statement, “He will be remembered for a string of landmark films in the 1960s and ’70s, culminating with his 1980 multi-Oscar-nominated classic, ‘The Stunt Man,’ which is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. To those who were privileged to know and love him, he will be even more warmly remembered, and missed, for his integrity, his loyalty, his endless generosity of spirit and his boundless support and mentorship of other filmmakers, writers or indeed anyone who ever dared to, in the words of his ‘Stunt Man’ hero Eli Cross, ’tilt at a windmill.'”

Rush shared his adapted screenplay nomination with Lawrence B. Marcus. (Rush adapted the novel by Paul Brodeur, while Marcus wrote the screenplay.) In addition to the writing and directing nominations for “The Stunt Man,” O’Toole was nominated for best actor.

Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal wrote: “This sensationally original film, directed by Richard Rush, stars Peter O’Toole as a megamaniacal director, Eli Cross, and Steve Railsback as Cameron, a fugitive turned ad hoc stunt man. The structure is trompe l’oeil — what’s reality, what’s illusion — and the dominant mood is paranoia: Cameron thinks Eli is trying to kill him. The main attraction, though, is Mr. O’Toole’s madly majestic performance.”

O’Toole’s Eli Cross is rather absurdly shooting a World War I picture at the picturesque Hotel del Coronado south of San Diego when Railsback’s Cameron stumbles onto the scene. He gets sort of involved with the film’s leading lady, played by Barbara Hershey (or is this just another of Eli’s feints)? One of several stunning set pieces in “The Stunt Man” has an audience of tourists watch as the film crew shoots a scene in which German biplanes attack soldiers on the beach; when the smoke clears, the beach is awash with carnage — bodies splayed everywhere, many with severed limbs. Could the biplanes have been spraying real bullets? Is director Eli Cross that fanatical about realism? No, it’s all Hollywood magic and everyone is fine.

When “The Stunt Man” was released in a DVD box set in 2002, included was a video documentary by Rush called “The Sinister Saga of Making ‘The Stunt Man.'”

In a review in the Austin Chronicle, Jason Henderson wrote “The Stunt Man” “earned Rush his place as François Truffaut’s favorite American director, but the studio took one look at the piece and practically refused to release it. (They wanted a simple action movie.) In the companion DVD, the 2001 documentary ‘The Sinister Saga of Making “The Stunt Man,” Rush, cast and crew tell us why a movie can sell out test markets, gain rave reviews nationwide, receive three Oscar nominations, and still never receive a wide release. Why? Because it looked ‘hard to sell.'”

“Psych-Out” (1968) was the film that first brought attention to Rush as a director. Susan Strasberg played a deaf runaway who arrives in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury hippie district looking for her missing brother, played by Bruce Dern. Dean Stockwell played a disenchanted hippie, while Jack Nicholson portrayed a swinger with an interest in Strasberg’s character.

“Getting Straight” (1970) was Rush’s first studio film — it was produced and released in the U.S. by Columbia Pictures. The film starred Elliott Gould and Candice Bergen, and Rush showed signs of the fine director he would become.

Rush next made the 1974 action comedy “Freebie and the Bean,” starring James Caan and Alan Arkin as police partners. In the AllMovie review, critic Donald Guarisco writes: “Behind the camera, Richard Rush keeps the zany events rolling at a carefully modulated pace that gives the actors room to breathe, but also fills the screen with the kind of hardcore slapstick antics rarely seen outside a Tex Avery cartoon.”

The seemingly maniacal energy Rush brought to this film anticipates some of the delightfully antic moments in “The Stunt Man.”

Born in New York City, Rush was one of the first students at UCLA’s film program. After graduating he worked for the U.S. military creating TV programs highlighting the nation’s involvement in the Korean War. At the time Rush agreed with the involvement of the American military in the region, but his participation in this conflict was a defining event for the director.

He then spent several years in the counterculture trenches, working for Roger Corman.

Rush’s first film, which he wrote and co-scripted, was the 1960 teen exploitation film “Too Soon to Love” (aka “High School Honeymoon”), in which a young Jack Nicholson was fifth billed. Next was the startling 1963 melodrama “Of Love and Desire,” in which 52-year-old Merle Oberon played a woman tortured by  her nymphomania, while her brother, played by Curd Jurgens, secretly moons for her.

Rush had a fairly high-profile directing assignment in AIP’s 1967 outing “Thunder Alley,” which took Annette Funicello and Fabian away from the beach and plunked them down into the world of stock car rallies. Rush directed two other films that came out in 1967: “The Cups of San Sebastian,” a comedy shot in Spain and starring Tab Hunter, and “Hells Angels on Wheels,” starring Nicholson, among others, to cash in on the boom in motorcycle films begun by Roger Corman’s “Wild Angels.”

After “Psych-Out” came “The Savage Seven,” which the New York Times called “a modern Western about motorcyclists, Indians and bad guys. Rush had a third picture come out in 1968: “A Man Called Dagger.”

Years after the critical success of “The Stunt Man,” Rush co-wrote the screenplay for Roger Spottiswoode’s 1990 movie “Air America,” starring Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. in the story of the CIA’s secret airline during U.S. involvement in Indo-China in the 1960s.

His final film was 1994’s “Color of Night,” a thriller which gained notoriety for its sexy scenes featuring Bruce Willis and English actress Jane March. The story concerned a psychologist played by Willis, devastated by the suicide of a patient, who takes over supervision of a therapy group that had been led by a murdered colleague; Willis’ character is determined to discover which of the assortment of eccentric patients is guilty.

Rush is survived by his wife of 48 years, Claude; a son, Anthony and a grandson, Shayne.

Director

The Sinister Saga of Making 'the Stunt Man' (2000)

The Sinister Saga of Making 'the Stunt Man'

6.2

Video

Director

2000

 

Bruce Willis and Jane March in Color of Night (1994)

Color of Night

5.2

Director

1994

 

The Stunt Man (1980)

The Stunt Man

7.0

Director

1980

 

Alan Arkin and James Caan in Freebie and the Bean (1974)

Freebie and the Bean

6.6

Director

1974

 

Getting Straight (1970)

Getting Straight

6.3

Director

1970

 

Peggy Lipton, Michael Cole, and Clarence Williams III in Mod Squad (1968)

Mod Squad

7.0

TV Series

Director

1968

1 episode

 

The Savage Seven (1968)

The Savage Seven

5.4

Director

1968

 

Susan Strasberg in Psych-Out (1968)

Psych-Out

5.9

Director

1968

 

Paul Mantee in A Man Called Dagger (1968)

A Man Called Dagger

4.7

Director

1968

 

The Cups of San Sebastian (1967)

The Cups of San Sebastian

5.1

Director

1967

 

Thunder Alley (1967)

Thunder Alley

5.2

Director

1967

 

Jack Nicholson, Adam Roarke, and Sabrina Scharf in Hells Angels on Wheels (1967)

Hells Angels on Wheels

5.2

Director

1967

 

Of Love and Desire (1963)

Of Love and Desire

5.0

Director

1963

 

Too Soon to Love (1960)

Too Soon to Love

5.1

Director

1960

 

Writer

Aspen 1989 for the 31st Century - Part II (2019)

Aspen 1989 for the 31st Century - Part II

writer

2019

 

Aspen 1989 for the 31st Century - Part I (2019)

Aspen 1989 for the 31st Century - Part I

writer

2019

 

The Sinister Saga of Making 'the Stunt Man' (2000)

The Sinister Saga of Making 'the Stunt Man'

6.2

Video

Writer

2000

 

Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. in Air America (1990)

Air America

5.8

screenplay by

1990

 

The Stunt Man (1980)

The Stunt Man

7.0

adaptation

1980

 

Of Love and Desire (1963)

Of Love and Desire

5.0

written by

1963

 

Too Soon to Love (1960)

Too Soon to Love

5.1

story and screenplay

1960

 

Actor

Aspen 1989 for the 31st Century - Part II (2019)

Aspen 1989 for the 31st Century - Part II

Richard

2019

 

Aspen 1989 for the 31st Century - Part I (2019)

Aspen 1989 for the 31st Century - Part I

Richard

2019

 

Distortions (1987)

Distortions

4.3

Airline Pilot #1

1987

 

Paul Mantee in A Man Called Dagger (1968)

A Man Called Dagger

4.7

Victim

1968

 

Producer

The Sinister Saga of Making 'the Stunt Man' (2000)

The Sinister Saga of Making 'the Stunt Man'

6.2

Video

producer

2000

 

The Stunt Man (1980)

The Stunt Man

7.0

producer

1980

 

Alan Arkin and James Caan in Freebie and the Bean (1974)

Freebie and the Bean

6.6

producer (produced by)

1974

 

Getting Straight (1970)

Getting Straight

6.3

producer

1970

 

Paul Mantee in A Man Called Dagger (1968)

A Man Called Dagger

4.7

co-producer

1968

 

Too Soon to Love (1960)

Too Soon to Love

5.1

producer

1960

 

Additional Crew

Kevin Bacon and Christian Slater in Murder in the First (1995)

Murder in the First

7.3

project consultant

1995

 

Thanks

Johnny Rey Diaz in Animals (2017)

Animals

Short

very special thanks

2017

 

Death Proof (2007)

Death Proof

7.0

special thanks

2007

 

Imagining 'Total Recall' (2001)

Imagining 'Total Recall'

6.5

Video

special thanks

2001

 

Maria Conchita Alonso, Damian Chapa, and Karina Lombard in Exposé (2000)

Exposé

4.1

special thanks to

2000

 

Where the Day Takes You (1992)

Where the Day Takes You

6.5

special thanks

1992

 

Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, and Meredith Salenger in Dream a Little Dream (1989)

Dream a Little Dream

5.7

acknowledgement of the special effects of

1989

 

Self

Titles by Dan

Self

In Production

 

Rush: The Director's Cut

Self

In Production

 

Gary Kent in Danger God (2018)

Danger God

7.1

Self

2018

 

Deconstructing Dunning

7.8

Self

2016

 

The Maverick Career of Richard Rush

Short

Self

2011

 

Vegas Cinefest (2011)

Vegas Cinefest

Self

2011

 

The Actor's Journey (2011)

The Actor's Journey

Video

Self

2011

 

The Actor's Journey for Kids (2011)

The Actor's Journey for Kids

Video

Self

2011

 

Tales from the Script (2009)

Tales from the Script

7.1

Self

2009

 

Love & Haight (2003)

Love & Haight

6.2

Video

Self

2003

 

The Sinister Saga of Making 'the Stunt Man' (2000)

The Sinister Saga of Making 'the Stunt Man'

6.2

Video

Narrator

2000

 

Archive Footage

TCM Remembers 2021 (2021)

TCM Remembers 2021

8.9

TV Special

Self

director

screenwriter (archive footage)

2021