Alvin Rakoff — the Canadian director, writer and producer who helped launch the careers of actors like Sean Connery, Alan Rickman and Michael Caine — has died. He was 97.
The filmmaker died "peacefully" on October 12, surrounded by family at the home in Chiswick that he bought back in 1971 [via Screen Daily], his agent citing "old age" as the cause of death [via Variety]. He's survived by Sally Hughes, his wife of 30 years, as well as his sister Lorraine, two children from his first marriage to the late Jacqueline Hill, and five grandchildren.
Still working into his 90s, Rakoff's career spanned more than four decades, and he was involved in over 100 television, film and stage productions, as well as writing novels. He was born in Toronto, where he also attended university. He intended to become a journalist after graduating with a psychology degree, before seeing Marlon Brando act in a stage production of A Streetcar Named Desire changed the course of his life.
While working for the CBC as a writer, he was sent to the UK, where he sold a script to the BBC. Then, Rakoff joined the broadcaster's director's training course, becoming its youngest director/producer the following year. He gave Sean Connery his first leading role in the 1957 teleplay Requiem for a Heavyweight, which also featured a young Michael Caine as an extra; the filmmaker also cast a then-unknown Alan Rickman as Tybalt in BBC's 1978 TV production of Romeo & Juliet.
Rakoff directed 11 feature films, and is perhaps best known for directing Sir Laurence Olivier in the 1982 TV movie A Voyage Round My Father. His titles also included the 1971 romantic comedy Say Hello to Yesterday, the 1969 crime film Crossplot and the 1970 drama Hoffman.
"I have such wonderful memories of Alvin — both being directed by him and seeing him at The Mill. A very endearing person," Dame Judi Dench said of the director's passing.
Stephen Fry added, "Alvin Rakoff was a giant of film, theatre and TV. His Midas touch with spotting and fostering talent introduced the world to some of the last century's greatest stars. Typically he was working on a screenplay right up to the last."