Post by Smalls on Jan 16, 2002 12:28:13 GMT -5
'Blow' director Ted Demme, dead at 38.
From CNN:
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Ted Demme, director of last year's cocaine drama "Blow" and nephew of Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme, suffered an apparent heart attack while playing basketball and died at age 38, officials said Monday.
Demme collapsed while taking part in a celebrity basketball game Sunday at the private Crossroads School in Santa Monica and was rushed by paramedics to the Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center in full cardiac arrest shortly after 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST), hospital spokesman Ted Braun said.
Efforts to revive Demme failed and he was pronounced dead about 20 minutes later, Braun said.
Los Angeles County Coroner's Office spokesman Scott Carrier said an autopsy was necessary to reveal what killed Demme.
Braun said the young director most likely suffered a heart attack. "That's what our doctors would suspect, but the official cause of death will have to be determined by the coroner's office," he said.
Dr. Matthew Budoff, a cardiologist at Harbor UCLA Medical Center, said it appeared Demme suffered from what is commonly referred to as "sudden cardiac death," which afflicts 250,000 Americans each year.
"In 250,000 Americans, the first signs of heart disease is sudden death, and up to 50,000 of those people die at a very young age, like Ted Demme," Budoff said. Dr. Wally Ghurabi, head of emergency services at Santa Monica UCLA, agreed.
"If a 38-year-old out of nowhere drops dead, that's probably cardiac-related," he said.
Started at MTV
Demme was best known for directing "Blow," the film starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz about the real-life drug kingpin George Jung, who established the U.S. cocaine market in the 1970s. He also directed the 1996 ensemble drama, "Beautiful Girls," which starred Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman, Mira Sorvino, Timothy Hutton and Rosie O'Donnell.
In television, Demme won an Emmy Award in 1999 as an executive producer of the TV movie "A Lesson Before Dying," about a black man wrongly condemned for the murder of a white store owner in the South.
Demme, a native of New York's Long Island, got his start as an intern at the cable music network MTV, where he created and produced the ground-breaking series "Yo! MTV Raps."
He later co-directed the music video for Bruce Springsteen's 1994 hit single "Streets of Philadelphia" music video and made his feature directorial debut with the 1993 film "Who's the Man?", a broad comedy billed as the "first hip-hop whodunit" starring MTV rap veejays Ed Lover and Doctor Dre.
He also directed a television version of comedian Denis Leary's one-man act "No Cure for Cancer," which aired on the Showtime network in 1992, and the 1997 follow-up, "Denis Leary: Lock 'N' Load." Leary starred in two of Demme's films, the 1998 crime drama "Snitch" and his caustic 1994 comedy "The Ref," about a burglar driven nuts by a bickering couple (Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis) he takes hostage on Christmas Eve.
Leary was reportedly playing basketball with Demme when the director collapsed. In a statement, Leary said: "Last night, I lost one of my closest friends in the world. Ted Demme was a great friend, father and husband, a man whose talent was matched only by his incredible passion for life."
Project going forward
Daily Variety reported in its Tuesday edition that Demme's career got a boost from "Blow." At the time of his death, he was attached to direct "Nautica," a seafaring thriller starring Ewan McGregor and Heath Ledger.
The paper cited producer Todd Black as saying the project is still "going forward in memory of Teddy."
Demme's uncle, Jonathan Demme, directed the 1993 AIDS drama "Philadelphia," which earned Tom Hanks an Oscar, and 1991 hit thriller "Silence of the Lambs," which won the Academy Award as best picture and earned Demme an Oscar as best director. The elder Demme's credits also include "Something Wild" and "Married to the Mob."
Budoff said the heart condition which presumably ended Ted Demme's life was "a detectable disease that could have been treated before he suffered an early death."
Demme is survived by his wife, Amanda Scheer-Demme, who served as the music supervisor on "Blow" and "Erin Brockovich," and two children -- a 4-year-old daughter and 2-month-old son.
From CNN:
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Ted Demme, director of last year's cocaine drama "Blow" and nephew of Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme, suffered an apparent heart attack while playing basketball and died at age 38, officials said Monday.
Demme collapsed while taking part in a celebrity basketball game Sunday at the private Crossroads School in Santa Monica and was rushed by paramedics to the Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center in full cardiac arrest shortly after 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST), hospital spokesman Ted Braun said.
Efforts to revive Demme failed and he was pronounced dead about 20 minutes later, Braun said.
Los Angeles County Coroner's Office spokesman Scott Carrier said an autopsy was necessary to reveal what killed Demme.
Braun said the young director most likely suffered a heart attack. "That's what our doctors would suspect, but the official cause of death will have to be determined by the coroner's office," he said.
Dr. Matthew Budoff, a cardiologist at Harbor UCLA Medical Center, said it appeared Demme suffered from what is commonly referred to as "sudden cardiac death," which afflicts 250,000 Americans each year.
"In 250,000 Americans, the first signs of heart disease is sudden death, and up to 50,000 of those people die at a very young age, like Ted Demme," Budoff said. Dr. Wally Ghurabi, head of emergency services at Santa Monica UCLA, agreed.
"If a 38-year-old out of nowhere drops dead, that's probably cardiac-related," he said.
Started at MTV
Demme was best known for directing "Blow," the film starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz about the real-life drug kingpin George Jung, who established the U.S. cocaine market in the 1970s. He also directed the 1996 ensemble drama, "Beautiful Girls," which starred Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman, Mira Sorvino, Timothy Hutton and Rosie O'Donnell.
In television, Demme won an Emmy Award in 1999 as an executive producer of the TV movie "A Lesson Before Dying," about a black man wrongly condemned for the murder of a white store owner in the South.
Demme, a native of New York's Long Island, got his start as an intern at the cable music network MTV, where he created and produced the ground-breaking series "Yo! MTV Raps."
He later co-directed the music video for Bruce Springsteen's 1994 hit single "Streets of Philadelphia" music video and made his feature directorial debut with the 1993 film "Who's the Man?", a broad comedy billed as the "first hip-hop whodunit" starring MTV rap veejays Ed Lover and Doctor Dre.
He also directed a television version of comedian Denis Leary's one-man act "No Cure for Cancer," which aired on the Showtime network in 1992, and the 1997 follow-up, "Denis Leary: Lock 'N' Load." Leary starred in two of Demme's films, the 1998 crime drama "Snitch" and his caustic 1994 comedy "The Ref," about a burglar driven nuts by a bickering couple (Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis) he takes hostage on Christmas Eve.
Leary was reportedly playing basketball with Demme when the director collapsed. In a statement, Leary said: "Last night, I lost one of my closest friends in the world. Ted Demme was a great friend, father and husband, a man whose talent was matched only by his incredible passion for life."
Project going forward
Daily Variety reported in its Tuesday edition that Demme's career got a boost from "Blow." At the time of his death, he was attached to direct "Nautica," a seafaring thriller starring Ewan McGregor and Heath Ledger.
The paper cited producer Todd Black as saying the project is still "going forward in memory of Teddy."
Demme's uncle, Jonathan Demme, directed the 1993 AIDS drama "Philadelphia," which earned Tom Hanks an Oscar, and 1991 hit thriller "Silence of the Lambs," which won the Academy Award as best picture and earned Demme an Oscar as best director. The elder Demme's credits also include "Something Wild" and "Married to the Mob."
Budoff said the heart condition which presumably ended Ted Demme's life was "a detectable disease that could have been treated before he suffered an early death."
Demme is survived by his wife, Amanda Scheer-Demme, who served as the music supervisor on "Blow" and "Erin Brockovich," and two children -- a 4-year-old daughter and 2-month-old son.
