Robert M. Young obit

Robert M. Young Dies: Groundbreaking Independent Film Director, Camera d’Or And Peabody Award Winner Was 99

 

He was not on the list.

Robert M. Young, whose 70-year career included independent and studio documentaries, narrative features, and episodes of Battlestar: Galactica, died Tuesday in Los Angeles at 99. His death was confirmed in a Facebook post by his son.

Two of his films have recently been added to the Library of Congress Film Registry. They include ¡Alambrista! (1977), a film about the life of an undocumented Mexican immigrant, which won the Camera d’Or for best first film at Cannes, and The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, (1982), one of Young’s eight films with actor Edward James Olmos. Based on a true story that inspired a corrido, it tells of a man on the run after a confrontation with police.

Both films are also part of the Criterion Collection.

Those films represented a recurring theme of Young’s career, one which showed his interest in bringing social issues to wider attention.

“We lose important people all the time, but then there are those who embodied a spirit that is truly original. Bob Young was one of those,” former Sundance Film Festival director John Cooper said in a statement to IndieWire.

“I fondly remember him as an indie cowboy…a rebel…and a believer in the power of cinema. His love of cinema was infectious and deep. He was always there to contribute in knowledge and talent to anyone lucky enough to be in his path. I was on his road many times and I felt lucky to know him. I also felt proud to celebrate him whenever he found his way to Sundance. I thought he would live forever… but now we must say a fond goodbye. I do it with gratitude for all he shared with the world.”

Robert Milton Young was born in New York. After attending MIT, he served in the Navy in the South Pacific as part of a photographic unit in World War II, then graduated from Harvard.

He began his career making scientific films, which led to early directing and cinematography credits on documentaries.

In 1960, working for NBC News, his film Sit-In, which contained footage of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the early days of his civil rights movement, won a Peabody Award. It would lead to his involvement with Nothing but a Man, (1964), directed by Michael Roemer, for which he was cinematographer, cowriter and coproducer.

His first solo feature as director was Short Eyes (,1977), an independently-made adaptation of Miguel Piñero’s play, starring Bruce Davison as an accused child rapist in a New York jail. Alambrista! followed, then two-studio titles, Rich Kids and One-Trick Pony, the latter with Paul Simon.

His career included Extremities with Farrah Fawcett, Dominick and Eugene with Tom Hulce and Ray Liotta, Triumph of the Spirit with Willem Dafoe, and American Me, set among Mexican-American gangs in prison.

Young is survived by his wife Lili, sons Andrew, Nick, and Zack, daughters Melissa and Sarah, and nine grandchildren. Plans for a memorial are pending.

 

Filmography

Filmmaking credits

Feature films

Title      Year            Director            Producer         Writer            Notes

Nothing But a Man     1964            No            Yes            Yes     

Short Eyes            1977            Yes            Yes            No            Directorial Debut

Alambrista!            1977            Yes            No            Yes     

Rich Kids            1979            Yes            No            No      

One-Trick Pony    1980            Yes            No            No      

The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez  1982            Yes            No            Yes     

Saving Grace            1986            Yes            No            No      

Extremities            1986            Yes            No            No      

Dominick and Eugene 1988            Yes            No            No      

The Plot Against Harry            1989            No            Yes            No            Filming in 1969

Triumph of the Spirit    1989            Yes            No            No      

Talent for the Game   1991            Yes            No            No      

American Me            1992            No            Yes            No      

Caught 1996            Yes            No            No      

China: The Panda Adventure            2001            Yes            No            No            IMAX film

Human Error            2004            Yes            No            No      

Documentaries

Title      Year            Director           Writer            Notes

Secrets of the Reef     1956            Yes            Yes     

At the Winter Sea Ice Camp: Part 4   1967            Yes            No            Short film

The Eskimo: Fight for Life            1970            Yes            Yes     

Children of the Fields   1973            Yes            No            Short film

To Fly! 1976            No            Yes            IMAX short film

Children of Fate: Life and Death in a Sicilian Family            1993            Yes            No      

William Kurelek's The Maze    2011            Yes            No            Co-directed with David Grubin

Cancelled film: Cortile Cascino (1962)

 

Television

Title      Year            Director            Producer         Writer            Notes

World Wide '60       1960            Yes            No            No            Television series (episode "The Living End")

Sit-In    1960            Yes            No            No            Episode of TV series 'NBC White Paper'

Angola: Journey to a War     1961            Yes            No            No            Episode of TV series 'NBC White Paper')

J.T.      1969            Yes            No            No            Television film

National Geographic Specials            1972–1976    Yes            No            No            Television documentary series (4 episodes)

Amanda Fallon            1973            No            No            Creator            Unsold pilot

Special Treat            1978            Yes            No            No            Television series (episode "Snowbound")

We Are the Children            1987            Yes            No            No            Television film

Solomon & Sheba   1995            Yes            No            No            Television film

Slave of Dreams            1995            Yes            No            No            Television film

Caught 1996            Yes            No            No            Television film

Nothing Sacred            1997–1998    Yes            No            No            Television series (2 episodes)

Battlestar Galactica            2004–2009    Yes            No            No            Television series (5 episodes)

Walkout            2006            No            Co-Executive            No            Television film

Technical credits

Feature films

Title      Year            Cinematographer            Camera operator

Nothing But a Man     1964            Yes     

Namu, the Killer Whale            1966                Yes

Alambrista!            1977            Yes     

The Plot Against Harry            1989            Yes     

American Me            1992                Yes

Berkeley            2005                Yes

Documentaries and other

Title      Year            Cinematographer            Sound            Editor            Notes

Secrets of the Reef     1956            Yes                             

Stalking Seal on the Spring Ice       1967            Yes                              Short series in 2 films

Jigging for Lake Trout    1967            Yes                             

Group Hunting on the Spring Ice       1967            Yes                              Short series in 3 films

Fishing at the Stone Weir            1967            Yes                              Short series in 2 films

Building a Kayak  1967            Yes                              Short series in 2 films

At the Winter Sea Ice Camp            1967            Yes                              Short series in 4 films

At the Spring Sea Ice Camp            1967            Yes                              Short series in 3 films

At the Caribou Crossing Place            1967            Yes                              Short series in 2 films

At the Autumn River Camp            1967            Yes                              Short series (onlty part 2)

The Eskimo: Fight for Life            1970            Yes                             

Deal     1977            Yes                             

Out on a Limb: An Introduction to Jack Hodgins            1981                Yes                  Short film

Imperfect Union: Canadian Labour and the Left, Part 2: Born of Hard Times   1989                Yes                 

Children of Fate: Life and Death in a Sicilian Family            1993            Yes                  Yes     

The Last Winter  2002                            Yes            Short film

William Kurelek's The Maze    2011            Yes                             

Television

Title      Year            Cinematographer            Second unit director            Notes

High Adventure with Lowell Thomas            1957                Yes            Television documentary series

National Geographic Specials            1972–1976    Yes                  Television documentary series (4 episodes)

Special Treat            1978            Yes                  Television series (episode "Snowbound")

Walkout            2006                Yes            Television film