Oscar-winning Marin filmmaker John Korty dies
He was not on the list.
John Korty, who directed Cicely Tyson in the landmark telefilm The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and won an Oscar for the documentary Who Are the DeBolts? and Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?, has died. He was 85.
Korty died March 9 at his home in Point Reyes Station in Marin County, California, the Marin Independent Journal reported.
Korty also helmed Go Ask Alice, a controversial 1971 ABC telefilm about a high school girl caught up in the world of drugs; Alex & the Gypsy (1976), starring Jack Lemmon and Geneviève Bujold; Oliver’s Story (1978), the sequel to Love Story that brought back Ryan O’Neal; and the animated, George Lucas-produced Twice Upon a Time (1983), with voices supplied by Lorenzo Music and others.
Plus, he created shorts for PBS’ Sesame Street and The Electric Company starting in the mid-1970s.
With Korty calling the shots, Tyson in 1974 became the first African American to win a lead actress Emmy when she was recognized for her astonishing turn as a woman who ages from 23 to 110 — from the 1850s to the civil-rights era — in CBS’ The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Korty won an Emmy as well.
The maverick filmmaker received his Oscar (shared with Dan McCann and Warren L. Lockhart) in 1978 and a follow-up Emmy in 1979 for his documentary/information program Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?, about a couple who adopted 14 children, some of whom were disabled war orphans. He spent three years filming the family.
“All the way through we were told by various network people, ‘Oh, the audience doesn’t want to see these handicapped kids,'” Korty said in a 2011 interview.
He followed that up in 1980 with Stepping Out: The Debolts Grow Up.
Born on June 22, 1936, in Lafayette, Indiana, John Van Kleef Korty attended Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Missouri, and Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He came to California in the ’60s, and his short film Breaking the Habit, a satiric anti-smoking piece he made for the American Cancer Society, was nominated for an Academy Award in 1965.
He wrote and directed the features The Crazy-Quilt (1966), the Peter Bonerz-starring Funnyman (1967) and Riverrun (1968) as he established in Mill Valley, California, his own film studio, Korty Films, said to be an inspiration for Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola.
He said he turned down opportunities to direct The Last Picture Show (1971) and Jaws (1975). In between, he served as second-unit director of photography on Robert Redford’s The Candidate (1972).
After his success on Miss Jane Pittman, “I could have done all kinds of feature films,” he noted. “I was offered all the films about old ladies, all the films that took place in the South, and all the films about Black people. And I said, you know, I’ve done that. I want to do some other things now, thank you very much.”
His later credits included the telefilms Ms. Scrooge (starring Tyson) in 1997 and Oklahoma City: A Survivor’s Story in ’98.
Survivors include his wife, Jane; children Jonathan, David and Gabriel; brother Doug; and sister Nancy.
Director
John Allair Digs In (2011)
John Allair Digs In
Short
Director
2011
Miracle in a Box: A Piano Reborn (2009)
Miracle in a Box: A Piano Reborn
Director
2009
Gift of Love: The Daniel Huffman Story (1999)
Gift of Love: The Daniel Huffman Story
6.2
TV Movie
Director
1999
Oklahoma City: A Survivor's Story (1998)
Oklahoma City: A Survivor's Story
4.9
TV Movie
Director
1998
Katherine Helmond and Cicely Tyson in Ms. Scrooge (1997)
Ms. Scrooge
5.4
TV Movie
Director
1997
Redwood Curtain (1995)
Redwood Curtain
5.7
TV Movie
Director
1995
Getting Out (1994)
Getting Out
5.9
TV Movie
Director
1994
Children of the Mist (1993)
Children of the Mist
5.4
TV Movie
Director
1993
Brian Dennehy in Deadly Matrimony (1992)
Deadly Matrimony
6.4
TV Movie
Director
1992
Suzanne Somers and John Scott Clough in Keeping Secrets
(1991)
Keeping Secrets
5.9
TV Movie
Director
1991
Mark Harmon and Lee Purcell in Long Road Home (1991)
Long Road Home
5.8
TV Movie
Director
1991
Corbin Bernsen in Line of Fire: The Morris Dees Story (1991)
Line of Fire: The Morris Dees Story
5.8
TV Movie
Director
1991
A Son's Promise (1990)
A Son's Promise
6.8
TV Movie
Director
1990
Jill Eikenberry in Cast the First Stone (1989)
Cast the First Stone
5.3
TV Movie
Director
1989
Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, and Ryan
Dillon in Sesame Street (1969)
Sesame Street
8.1
TV Series
Director
1973–1989
13 episodes
Meredith Baxter and David Morse in Winnie (1988)
Winnie
6.9
TV Movie
Director
1988
Eye on the Sparrow (1987)
Eye on the Sparrow
7.3
TV Movie
Director
1987
Baby Girl Scott (1987)
Baby Girl Scott
7.3
TV Movie
Director
1987
Resting Place (1986)
Resting Place
6.4
TV Movie
Director
1986
A Deadly Business (1986)
A Deadly Business
5.9
TV Movie
Director
1986
George Burns Comedy Week (1985)
George Burns Comedy Week
8.1
TV Series
Director
1985
1 episode
The Ewok Adventure (1984)
The Ewok Adventure
5.3
TV Movie
Director
1984
Second Sight: A Love Story (1984)
Second Sight: A Love Story
6.1
TV Movie
Director
1984
The Haunting Passion (1983)
The Haunting Passion
5.6
TV Movie
Director
1983
Twice Upon a Time (1983)
Twice Upon a Time
6.9
Director
1983
John Houseman and Michael Learned in A Christmas Without
Snow (1980)
A Christmas Without Snow
5.7
TV Movie
Director
1980
Candice Bergen and Ryan O'Neal in Oliver's Story (1978)
Oliver's Story
4.6
Director
1978
Stephanie Zimbalist and Dean Butler in Forever (1978)
Forever
7.6
TV Movie
Director
1978
Who Are the DeBolts? and Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?
(1977)
Who Are the DeBolts? and Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?
7.2
Director
1977
Alex & the Gypsy (1976)
Alex & the Gypsy
5.1
Director
1976
Dori Takeshita in Farewell to Manzanar (1976)
Farewell to Manzanar
7.8
TV Movie
Director
1976
The Music School (1974)
The Music School
7.1
TV Movie
Director
1974
Silence (1974)
Silence
4.4
Director
1974
Cicely Tyson in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
(1974)
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
7.8
TV Movie
Director
1974
Class of '63 (1973)
Class of '63
6.5
TV Movie
Director
1973
Mackenzie Phillips in Go Ask Alice (1973)
Go Ask Alice
6.0
TV Movie
Director
1973
The People (1972)
The People
5.9
TV Movie
Director
1972
Imogen Cunningham, Photographer
Director
1970
Riverrun (1968)
Riverrun
7.3
Director
1968
Funnyman (1967)
Funnyman
7.2
Director
1967
The Crazy-Quilt (1966)
The Crazy-Quilt
8.4
Director
1966
Breaking the Habit (1965)
Breaking the Habit
Short
Director
1965
The Language of Faces (1961)
The Language of Faces
Short
Director
1961
Animation Department
Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, and Ryan
Dillon in Sesame Street (1969)
Sesame Street
8.1
TV Series
animator
character animator: Angry Annie
character designer
1973–1998
18 episodes
Twice Upon a Time (1983)
Twice Upon a Time
6.9
character designer
1983
Funnyman (1967)
Funnyman
7.2
animator
1967
Writer
John Allair Digs In (2011)
John Allair Digs In
Short
Writer
2011
Twice Upon a Time (1983)
Twice Upon a Time
6.9
screenplay
story
1983
John Houseman and Michael Learned in A Christmas Without
Snow (1980)
A Christmas Without Snow
5.7
TV Movie
story
teleplay
1980
Candice Bergen and Ryan O'Neal in Oliver's Story (1978)
Oliver's Story
4.6
screenplay
1978
Dori Takeshita in Farewell to Manzanar (1976)
Farewell to Manzanar
7.8
TV Movie
teleplay
1976
The Music School (1974)
The Music School
7.1
TV Movie
screenplay by
1974
Riverrun (1968)
Riverrun
7.3
Writer
1968
Funnyman (1967)
Funnyman
7.2
written by
1967
The Crazy-Quilt (1966)
The Crazy-Quilt
8.4
Writer
1966
The Language of Faces (1961)
The Language of Faces
Short
Writer
1961
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