John G. Avildsen

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John G. Avildsen
Born	December 21, 1935 Oak Park, Illinois  United States
Occupation	Film director
Years active	1969 - present
Awards won Academy Awards Best Director 1976 Rocky

John Guilbert Avildsen (born December 21, 1935 in Oak Park, Illinois) is an Academy Award-winning American film director.

His movies include Guess What We Learned in School (1968), Cry Uncle! (1970), Joe (1970), Rocky (1976) and Rocky V (1990) with Sylvester Stallone, and The Karate Kid (1984), with Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita. He also directed the acclaimed Save the Tiger (1973), starring Jack Lemmon, Lean on Me (1989), starring Morgan Freeman as the no-nonsense high school principal Joe Clark; The Power of One (1992) and 8 Seconds (1994), starring Luke Perry.He Has Also Directed 'The Formula'(1980)Starring George C.Scott & Marlon Brando. A recurring theme in many of Avildsen's movies is the triumph of an underdog character over adversity.

Avildsen won an Academy Award for directing Rocky.

His most recent work was Dancing into the Future (2006) as director. However, Avildsen plans to make a return as a director in 161 & River (2008). The film, thematically similar to previous Avildsen work, is a baseball-themed underdog story.

[edit] External links

• John G. Avildsen at the Internet Movie Database
• John Guilbert Avildsen BFI database entry.

Preceded by Miloš Forman for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Academy Award for Best Director 1976 for Rocky

Succeeded by Woody Allen for Annie Hall

v • d • e Academy Award for Best Director Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise (1961) · David Lean (1962) · Tony Richardson (1963) · George Cukor (1964) · Robert Wise (1965) · Fred Zinnemann (1966) · Mike Nichols (1967) · Carol Reed (1968) · John Schlesinger (1969) · Franklin Schaffner (1970) · William Friedkin (1971) · Bob Fosse (1972) · George Roy Hill (1973) · Francis Ford Coppola (1974) · Miloš Forman (1975) · John G. Avildsen (1976) · Woody Allen (1977) · Michael Cimino (1978) · Robert Benton (1979) · Robert Redford (1980) Complete List · (1927–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001-present)

v • d • e The Karate Kid series Films The Karate Kid · Part II · Part III · The Next Karate Kid Characters Kesuke Miyagi · All characters Cast Ralph Macchio · Pat Morita · Elisabeth Shue · Martin Kove · William Zabka · Randee Heller · Chad McQueen · Tony O'Dell · Larry B. Scott · Yuji Okumoto · Tamlyn Tomita · Nobu McCarthy · Joey Miyashima · Thomas Ian Griffith · Robyn Lively · Sean Kanan · Jonathan Avildsen · Christopher Paul Ford · Hilary Swank · Michael Ironside · Constance Towers · Chris Conrad · Walton Goggins Crew John G. Avildsen · Jerry Weintraub · Robert Mark Kamen · Bill Conti · László Kovács Music "Cruel Summer" · "Glory of Love" · "You're the Best" Related California State University, Northridge · Crane kick · TV series · Sweep the Leg · Video game

Persondata
NAME	Avildsen, John G.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Film director
DATE OF BIRTH	December 21, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH	Oak Park, Illinois  United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH