LOS ANGELES — Blake Edwards, the legendary director behind such film classics as Breakfast at Tiffany's, 10 and the Pink Panther series with Peter Sellers, has died. He was 88.
Edwards was surrounded by wife Julie Andrews and family members when he passed away due to complications from pneumonia Wednesday night at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, his publicist told the Associated Press.
Born in Tulsa, Okla., Edwards rose to fame with a string of hits in the early '60s, beginning with Breakfast at Tiffany's. He continued that initial success with The Days of Wine and Roses and the first two Pink Panther movies.
He enjoyed a comeback two decades later with such movies as S.O.B., 10 and the musical Victor/Victoria, which starred Andrews as a struggling soprano unable to find work.
At the time of his death, Edwards was reportedly working on two Broadway musicals. One was based on the Pink Panther movies and the other, titled Big Rosemary, was to be an original comedy, his publicist told AP.
When he received an honorary Academy Award in 2004, Edwards told the audience, "Each and every one has contributed to this moment, friends and foes alike. I couldn't have done it without the foes … My father thanks you, my mother thanks you, the beautiful English broad with the incomparable soprano and the promiscuous language thanks you, and I sure as hell thank you.''
Edwards has been married to Andrews since 1969 and has five children.
- Comment
