Paul Mazursky, Director of ‘Unmarried Woman,’ Dies at 84

Paul Mazursky Dies at 84, Mazursky’s spokeswoman Nancy Willen says the filmmaker died of pulmonary cardiac arrest Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Paul Mazursky was best known for the movies he made in the ’60s and ’70s about relationships, including An Unmarried Woman, starring Jill Clayburgh; the ensemble film Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice; Blume in Love, starring George Segal; and Harry and Tonto, starring Art Carney. Mazursky’s ’80s films included the Robin Williams comedy Moscow on the Hudson and Down and Out in Beverly Hills, starring Nick Nolte.

While never nominated for an Oscar as Best Director, Mazursky scored four nominations for co-writing the screenplays for Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice, Harry and Tonto, An Unmarried Woman and Enemies: A Love Story. In addition, the actors he directed were honored by the Academy: Carney received a Best Actor Oscar for Harry and Tonto, while Clayburgh was nominated for An Unmarried Woman, as were Dyan Cannon and Elliott Gould for Bob and Carol.

Paul Mazursky was also an actor, voicing animated characters in the movies Antz and Kung Fu Panda 2, and appearing in recurring roles on The Sopranos, Once and Again and Curb Your Enthusiasm. On the big screen, he appeared in History of the World: Part I, Punchline, Carlito’s Way and A Star Is Born.

Agencies/Canadajournal