
Directing
Community Rating
5.9
TMDB estimate
Born
July 10, 1933
Died
January 9, 2020 (age 86)
Born in
Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]
Ivan Passer (10 July 1933 – 9 January 2020) was a Czech film director and screenwriter, best known for his involvement in the Czechoslovak New Wave and for directing American films such as Born to Win (1971), Cutter's Way (1981) and Stalin (1992). Passer was born in Prague, the son of Marianna (Mandelick) and Alois Passer. Passer attended King George boarding school in Poděbrady with future filmmakers Miloš Forman, Jerzy Skolimowski and Paul Fierlinger and statesman Václav Havel. He then studied at FAMU in Prague, but did not finish the course. He began his career as an assistant director on Ladislav Helge's Velká samota. Later he collaborated with his friend Forman on all of Forman's Czech films, including Loves of a Blonde (1965) and The Firemen's Ball (1967), both of which Passer co-wrote and which were nominated for Academy Awards. He introduced Forman to cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček whom he knew from Velká samota. He then directed his first feature, Intimate Lighting, which was released in 1965 and is considered by some to be Passer's masterpiece. In 1969, after the Warsaw Pact invasion, Passer and Forman left Czechoslovakia together. Both proceeded to the United States, with Forman becoming an Academy Award-winning filmmaker. Passer went on to make several prominent American films such as Born to Win (1971), a junkie drama starring George Segal and Karen Black, and Cutter's Way (1981), a dramatic thriller starring Jeff Bridges and John Heard. Though best known for his idiosyncratic, often gritty dramas, he also directed comedies such as Silver Bears (1978) starring Michael Caine and Creator (1985) starring Peter O'Toole. Later in his career, he directed numerous films for television, most notably the award-winning biopic Stalin (1992) starring Robert Duvall for HBO. He was also a film professor at the University of Southern California. Passer died on January 9, 2020 from pulmonary complications in Reno, Nevada. He was 86 years old. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ivan Passer, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel
as Self
2018

Close Encounters with Vilmos Zsigmond
as Self
2016
The Presence of Arnošt Lustig
as Self
2012
Miloš Forman
as Self
2010
Golden Sixties
as Self
2009

Nomad: The Warrior
as Director
2005

Picnic
as Director
2000

The Wishing Tree
as Director
1999

Kidnapped
as Director
1995
While Justice Sleeps
as Director
1994

Stalin
as Director
1992

Fourth Story
as Director
1991

Haunted Summer
as Director
1988

Creator
as Director
1985

The Nightingale
as Director
1983

Faerie Tale Theatre
as Director
1982

Cutter's Way
as Director
1981

Silver Bears
as Director
1977

TVTV Looks at the Oscars
as Self
1976

Crime and Passion
as Adaptation, Director
1976