Blake Edwards

Blake Edwards was born on July 26 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. His grandfather, J. Gordon Edwards, was a famous silent film director, and his adoptive father, Jack McEdwards, was a theater director and manager. Blake Edwards’ creative career in cinema began with minor roles – as an actor he made his debut in 1942, in the film Gentlemen of West Point. After a number of small roles, Edwards, along with a friend, wrote and produced the low-budget western Panhandle (1948), in which he managed to play a more

Blake Edwards was born on July 26 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. His grandfather, J. Gordon Edwards, was a famous silent film director, and his adoptive father, Jack McEdwards, was a theater director and manager. Blake Edwards’ creative career in cinema began with minor roles – as an actor he made his debut in 1942, in the film Gentlemen of West Point. After a number of small roles, Edwards, along with a friend, wrote and produced the low-budget western Panhandle (1948), in which he managed to play a leading role. Then he decided to switch to script work and successfully began writing for the radio show “Private Detective Richard Diamond”. His scripts caught the attention of Hollywood, and he soon worked for Columbia, collaborating with director Richard Queenie. In 1955, Blake Edwards made his directorial debut and directed the musical Bring Your Smile Along. His box office success accompanied his films Mr. Corey (1957) with Tony Curtis and Operation Underwear (1959) with Cary Grant. In 1958, Blake Edwards acted as a director, producer and sometimes as a screenwriter of the television series Peter Gunn, the collaboration with TV continued. Then the director filmed Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) with Audrey Hepburn in the title role, directed the thriller The Horror Experiment (1962), directed Days of Wine and Roses (1962) with Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick. In 1964, Blake Edwards directed The Pink Panther, which was a star for Peter Sellers, who played Inspector Clouseau. The director dedicated more than one of his films to the adventures of this character - "Shot in the Dark", "The Return of the Pink Panther", "The Pink Panther Strikes Back", "The Curse of the Pink Panther", etc. Great popularity was enjoyed by Edwards' comedy tape "The Great Races" (1965), Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in the lead roles. In the future, the director continued to work actively in the comedy genre, both in America and in Europe, although not all of his films were successful. Among his undoubted successes are such films as Victor/Victoria (1982), which received awards in Italy and France as best foreign film; Blind Date (1987) with Bruce Willis and Kim Basinger; Substitution (1989) with Ellen Barkin. In 1993, Blake Edwards turned to his regular hero, Inspector Clouseau, for the last time, directing the film Son of the Pink Panther, starring Italian comedian Roberto Benigni.