The famous writer/director/producer who created The Pink Panther and Peter Gunn and directed Experiment in Terror and Breakfast at Tiffanys, Blake Edwards has died at age 88. The LA Times reported that the legendary director had succumbed due to complications of pneumonia. He is survived by his beloved wife and famed actress Julie Andrews.
Edwards was the son of a stage director. He began his career as an actor and scriptwriter, including seven screenplays for Richard Quine and eventually set his path well when he was selected to write a radio play for ever-popular Orson Welles' The War Of The Worlds in 1938. He was only 16 at that time.
Edwards will always be remembered for creating the Pink Panther series. The original six Pink Panther series was first incepted in 1963, and followed by sequels after sequels until the last one in 1993. Peter Sellers, with whom he had collaborated with the former played Inspector Jacques Closseau, was one of Edwards' successful franchise in his career filmography. The first two Pink Panther series by Edwards has always been listed as one of the funniest movies of all time.
His direction of 1961's Breakfast at Tiffany’s was a major success, earning Audrey Hepburn an Oscar nomination and enshrining the film version of Holly Golightly as a fashion icon. In 2004, Edwards received an Honorary Academy Award for cumulative achievements over the course of his film career. Now, he has gone and we hope many Hollywood directors will look at him as a pure inspiration for comedy and satire.
BLAKE EDWARDS, R.I.P. (1922-2010)
SOURCE: Slash Film
