Jonathan Demme Biography (1944-)

Born February 22, 1944, in Baldwin, NY; father, a public relations executive;mother, Dorothy Demme; married Evelyn Purcell (a producer and director; divorced); married Joanne Howard (an artist); children: (second marriage) RamonaCastle, Brooklyn James, Josephine. Addresses: Office: c/o Lee Winkler,Global Business Management, 9000 Sunset Blvd., Suite 1115, Beverly Hills, CA90069.; Agent: Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills,CA 90212.

Nationality: American
Gender: Male
Occupation: Director, producer, screenwriter
Birth Details: February 22, 1944; Baldwin, New York, United States

Famous Works

CREDITS
Film Director
(Opening sequence) Secrets of a Door-to-Door Salesman (also knownas Naughty Wives), 1973
Caged Heat (also known as Renegade Girls and Caged Females), New World, 1974
Crazy Mama, New World, 1975
Fighting Mad, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1976
Citizens Band (also known as Handle with Care and The Great American Citizens Band), Paramount, 1977
Last Embrace, United Artists, 1979
Melvin and Howard, Universal, 1980
Swing Shift, Warner Brothers, 1984
Stop Making Sense, Island Alive, 1984
Perfect Kiss, 1985
(And producer) Something Wild, Orion, 1986
Swimming to Cambodia (also known as Spalding Gray's Swimming toCambodia), Cinecom, 1987
Married to the Mob, Orion, 1988
Famous All Over Town, 1988
True Love, 1989
The Silence of the Lambs, Orion, 1991
Cousin Bobby, Cinevista, 1992
(And producer, with Edward Saxon) Philadelphia, TriStar, 1993
The Complex Sessions, 1994
Storefront Hitchcock, Orion, 1998
(And producer) Beloved, Buena Vista, 1998
(And producer) The Truth about Charlie, MCA/Universal, 2002
Film Producer
Angels Hard As They Come (also known as Angels, Angels As Hard As They Come, and Angels, Hell on Harleys), New World, 1971
(And second unit director) The Hot Box, New World, 1972
Miami Blues, Orion, 1990
One Foot on a Banana Peel, the Other Foot in the Grave (Secrets from the Dolly Madison Room), Clinica Estetico, 1994
That Thing You Do!, 1996
Mandela (also known as Mandela: Son of Africa, Father of a Nation), Island, 1996
Courage and Pain, 1996
Adaptation, Columbia, 2002
Film Executive Producer
Amos & Andrew, Columbia, 1993
Household Saints, Columbia, 1993
Roy Cohn/Jack Smith, 1994
Devil in a Blue Dress (also known as Le diable en robe bleue), TriStar, 1995

Shadrach, Columbia, 1998
Maangamizi: The Ancient One, Gris-Gris, 2000
Film Work
Other
Music coordinator, Sudden Terror (also known as Eyewitness), National General, 1970
Second unit director, Fly Me, 1972
Film Appearances
Matt, The Incredible Melting Man, LIVE, 1977
Roger Corman: Hollywood's Wild Angel, 1978
(Uncredited) Man on train, Last Embrace, 1979
Federal agent, Into the Night, Universal, 1985
Cousin Bobby, Cinevista, 1992
Major motion picture director, That Thing You Do!, 1996
Inside the Labyrinth: The Making of "Silence of the Lambs," Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer-United Artists, 2001
Television Work
Movies
Director, Columbo: Murder under Glass, 1977
Producer and director, Haiti Dreams of Democracy, Channel 4 Television (Britain) and Bravo, 1988
Producer, "Women and Men II" (also known as "Women and Men: In Love ThereAre No Rules" and "A Domestic Dilemma"), HBO Showcase, HBO, 1991
Director, "Subway Car from Hell," and executive producer, Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground, HBO, 1997
Episodic
Director, "Murder in Aspic," Columbo, NBC, 1977
Director, "Who Am I This Time," American Playhouse, PBS, 1982
Director, Alive from Off Center, 1984
Creative consultant, "The Longest Shadow," P.O.V., PBS, 1992
Pilots
Director, "Surviving a Family Tree," PBS, 1984, broadcast as "A Family Tree," Trying Times, PBS, 1987
Specials
Director, Sun City (music video documentary), 1985
Segment director, "In the Still of the Night," Red, Hot & Blue, ABC, 1990
Television Appearances
Specials
Night Times Magazine, PBS, 1988
Haiti: Killing the Dream, PBS, 1992
Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius (also known as Dial H Hitchcock:The Genius Behind the Snowman and Dial H for Hitchcock), TCM, 1999
Episodic
Commercial director, "Gray Matter," Oz, HBO, 2000
RECORDINGS
Albums
Compiler, Konbir: Burning Rhythms of Haiti, A&M Records, 1989
Videos
Codirected Bruce Springsteen's Streets of Philadelphia, music video.
WRITINGS
Screenplays
(With Joe Viola) Angels Hard As They Come (also known as Angels, Angels As Hard As They Come, and Angels, Hell on Harleys), New World, 1971
(With Joe Viola) The Hot Box, New World, 1972
(From story) Black Mama, White Mama (also known as Women in Chains), 1972
Caged Heat (also known as Caged Females and Renegade Girls), New World, 1974
Fighting Mad, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1976
(As Rob Morton) Ladies and Gentlemen ... the Fabulous Stains, Paramount, 1982
(As Morton) Swing Shift, Warner Bros., 1984
Perfect Kiss, 1985
The Truth about Charlie, MCA/Universal, 2002
Television Movies
(With others) Haiti Dreams of Democracy, Channel 4 Television (Britain) and Bravo, 1988

Further Reference

OTHER SOURCES

Books

Bliss, Michael and Christina Banks, What Goes Around Comes Around: TheFilms of Jonathan Demme, Southern Illinois University Press, 1996
International Directory of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 2: Directors, St. James Press, 1996
Kael, Pauline, Pauline Kael on Jonathan Demme: A Selection of ReviewsAccompanying the Retrospective Jonathan Demme, an American Director, Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), 1988

Periodicals

Esquire, September, 1988, p. 207
Film Comment, January/February, 1991, p. 28
Interview, February, 1991, p. 16
New York Times Magazine, March 27, 1988, p. 48
People, May 25, 1987, p. 91
Premiere, September, 1988
Rolling Stone, May 19, 1988, p. 100; March 24, 1994, p. 60

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