Sunday, August 12, 2012

R.I.P. Mel Stuart, director of Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory

R.I.P. Mel Stuart, director of Wattstax and Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory



The Associated Press has reported the death of filmmaker Mel Stuart, a veteran director and producer who had a long, distinguished career as a documentarian, but who may best be remembered for introducing Oompa-Loompas into the nightmares of children the world over. He was 83.
Stuart’s best-known feature, the Gene Wilder-starring Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, came about after his 10-year-old daughter, Madeline, read Roald Dahl's Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and asked her father to make a movie out of it. Stuart, along with his frequent producer David L. Wolper, creating a fantasy-musical that was a modest success upon its release in 1971, but which has since become a beloved children’s classic (thanks partly to frequent plays on television). Other narrative movies directed by Stuart included If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium (1969), I Love My Wife (1970), and Mean Dog Blues (1978 ...

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