Ivan Passer (10 July 1933 – 9 January 2020) was a Czech film director and screenwriter, best known for his involvement in the Czechoslovak New Wave and for directing American films such as Born to Win (1971), Cutter's Way (1981) and Stalin (1992). Passer was born in Prague, the son of Marianna (Mandelick) and Alois Passer. Passer attended King George boarding school in Poděbrady with future filmmakers Miloš Forman, Jerzy Skolimowski and Paul Fierlinger and statesman Václav Havel. He then studied at FAMU in Prague, but did not finish the course. He began his career as an assistant director on Ladislav Helge's Velká samota. Later he collaborated with his friend Forman on all of Forman's Czech films, including Loves of a Blonde (1965) and The Firemen's Ball (1967), both of which Passer co-wrote and which were nominated for Academy Awards. He introduced Forman to cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček whom he knew from Velká samota. He then directed his first feature, Intimate Lighting, which was released in 1965 and is considered by some to be Passer's masterpiece. In 1969, after the Warsaw Pact invasion, Passer and Forman left Czechoslovakia together. Both proceeded to the United States, with Forman becoming an Academy Award-winning filmmaker. Passer went on to make several prominent American films such as Born to Win (1971), a junkie drama starring George Segal and Karen Black, and Cutter's Way (1981), a dramatic thriller starring Jeff Bridges and John Heard. Though best known for his idiosyncratic, often gritty dramas, he also directed comedies such as Silver Bears (1978) starring Michael Caine and Creator (1985) starring Peter O'Toole. Later in his career, he directed numerous films for television, most notably the award-winning biopic Stalin (1992) starring Robert Duvall for HBO. He was also a film professor at the University of Southern California. Passer died on January 9, 2020 from pulmonary complications in Reno, Nevada. He was 86 years old. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ivan Passer, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

• 2005Nomad: The Warrior — Director
• 2000Picnic — Director
• 1999The Wishing Tree — Director
• 1995Kidnapped — Director
• 1994While Justice Sleeps — Director
• 1992Stalin — Director
• 1991Fourth Story — Director
• 1988Haunted Summer — Director
• 1985Creator — Director
• 1983The Nightingale — Director
• Faerie Tale Theatre — Director
• 1981Cutter's Way — Director
• 1977Silver Bears — Director
• 1976Crime and Passion — Adaptation, Director
• 1974Law and Disorder — Screenplay, Director
• 1971Born to Win — Writer, Director
• 1967The Firemen's Ball — Screenplay
• 1965A Boring Afternoon — Director, Screenplay
• 1965Intimate Lighting — Story, Screenplay, Director
• 1965Loves of a Blonde — First Assistant Director, Story, Screenplay
• 1964Audition — Story, Screenplay, First Assistant Director
• 1964Black Peter — First Assistant Director
• 1963When the Cat Comes — First Assistant Director
• 1961The Pilgrimage to the Holy Virgin — Assistant Director
• 1960Great Solitude — Assistant Director
• 1960Skid — Assistant Director

Appearances as themselves (7)

• 2018CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel — Self
• 2016Close Encounters with Vilmos Zsigmond — Self
• 2012The Presence of Arnošt Lustig — Self
• 2010Miloš Forman — Self
• Golden Sixties — Self
• 1976TVTV Looks at the Oscars — Self
• 1966An Occasion to Speak — Self