Mark Rydell, the Hollywood director who coaxed career-defining performances from Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, and Bette Midler across a filmography spanning four decades, has died of natural causes at 97.
Rydell died Thursday at a retirement community for entertainment industry professionals in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles, his daughter Amy Rydell told The Hollywood Reporter. He was born Mortimer Harold Rydell on March 23, 1929, in New York City, and over nearly a century, he built a body of work that earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Director and guided some of the biggest names in American cinema through landmark roles.
His crowning achievement was "On Golden Pond," the 1981 drama about an aging couple at their lakeside cottage in New England. The film earned 10 Oscar nominations, grossed more than $119 million at the box office, and finished as the second-highest-grossing picture of 1981, behind only "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn both won leading acting Oscars for their performances. Ernest Thompson, who adapted the screenplay from his own play, took home the writing prize.
Rydell himself was nominated for Best Director but lost to Warren Beatty for "Reds."
"On Golden Pond" was Henry Fonda's last movie. He died at 77, just months after winning his only Oscar. Jane Fonda, his daughter, later said that working on the film alongside her father helped resolve some of their real-life difficulties, a rare case of art imitating life and, by her account, repairing it.
Rydell's path to that moment stretched back decades. He studied English and philosophy at New York University, trained with jazz pianist Teddy Wilson at the Juilliard School of Music, and won a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse acting school. He served in the U.S. Army, spending two years in Japan developing entertainment programs for military personnel.
Hollywood has lost several towering figures from that golden generation in recent years. Director James Burrows, the craftsman behind "Cheers," "Friends," and "Will & Grace," died at 85, another reminder that the architects of American popular entertainment are passing from the scene.
Rydell broke into show business as an actor, landing roles on CBS soap operas "The Edge of Night" and "As the World Turns." He made his Broadway debut alongside Rod Steiger in "Seagulls Over Sorrento" and appeared in Don Siegel's 1956 film "Crime In The Streets" with John Cassavetes and Sal Mineo.
But directing pulled him away from performing. He cut his teeth on television, helming episodes of "Gunsmoke," "I Spy," "Ben Casey," "The Fugitive," and "The Wild Wild West", the kind of workmanlike apprenticeship that barely exists in today's industry. His 1967 feature debut, "The Fox," starring Sandy Dennis, was a hit and launched a run of major studio pictures.
Rydell directed Steve McQueen in "The Reivers" in 1969 and John Wayne in "The Cowboys" in 1972. He guided James Caan and Marsha Mason through "Cinderella Liberty" in 1973, the same year he appeared as an actor in Robert Altman's "The Long Goodbye." In 1971, he co-founded Sanford Productions with fellow director Sydney Pollack. Their company produced "Jeremiah Johnson," starring Robert Redford, and "Scarecrow," with Al Pacino and Gene Hackman, a film that won the Palme d'Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Not every project landed. "Harry and Walter Go to New York," a 1976 comedy with James Caan, flopped. "For the Boys," a 1991 picture reuniting Rydell with Midler and Caan, was similarly unsuccessful. He directed "Intersection" in 1994 and "Even Money" in 2006.
The losses of beloved figures in the entertainment world have come steadily. French DJ Kavinsky, the artist behind "Nightcall," was found dead at 50 in Paris, a different generation, but the same jolt of recognition that talent is finite and irreplaceable.
Rydell's 1979 film "The Rose," starring Bette Midler, was a major hit and earned Midler an Oscar nomination. She credited Rydell on Instagram after his death, calling him essential to her career.
Midler wrote in her tribute:
"He was an actor of note before he became a director, and I was so lucky to have met him when I did; he taught me so much on The Rose and later on For The Boys. Two Oscars nominations both because of him. He was the actor's whisperer; just a few words was all it took to understand what was needed. Devoted to Meisner. So many happy memories."
Rydell never fully abandoned acting. He played Warner Bros. studio chief Jack Warner in a TV movie about James Dean, the same production in which James Franco earned a Golden Globe for the title role. He also appeared in Woody Allen's 2002 comedy "Hollywood Ending."
His television work included directing the pilot of the ABC drama "Family" in 1976 and TV movies "Crime of the Century," with Isabella Rossellini and Stephen Rea, and "McBride and Groom."
Celebrity families have faced their share of public grief in recent months. Coy "Denver" Parton, Dolly Parton's older brother, died at 82, another loss felt well beyond one household.
Late in life, Rydell poured himself into mentoring the next generation. He and Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau served as co-artistic directors of The Actors Studio West, coaching actors, writers, and directors. In 2009, Rydell, Landau, and screenwriter Lyle Kessler taught a film workshop at UCLA.
Rydell told UCLA's student newspaper, The Daily Bruin:
"All great art rests on telling the truth. The real pursuit of an artist is to tell the truth."
His daughter Amy posted her own tribute on Instagram on Friday. She wrote: "Hard to put into words how much I loved my dad. He was truly one of a kind. Funniest and most talented person I've ever known."
Rydell is survived by Amy and son Christopher, both from his first marriage to actress Joanne Linville, and son Alexander from his second marriage to producer Esther Rydell. Jamie Lee Curtis recently mourned the death of her own older sister, Kelly Lee Curtis, a reminder that grief in Hollywood families plays out under a spotlight most of us never face.
Rydell spent nearly a century doing the work, directing legends, and insisting that truth was the only standard worth chasing. Hollywood could use more of that now.
