The legendary producer Walter Mirisch has died aged 101. The Hollywood hero was distinguished as the only person to receive the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences’ Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, the Irving G. Thalberg Award and an Oscar for Best Picture.
One of Mirisch’s greatest career triumphs was In the Heat of the Night, a 1967 neo-noir movie directed by Norman Jewison. Starring the recently passed Sidney Poitier, the movie reaped five Oscars from seven nominations at the 40th Academy Awards ceremony, including Mirisch’s for Best Picture.
“Walter was a true visionary, both as a producer and as an industry leader,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang have said in a joint statement.
“He had a powerful impact on the film community and the Academy, serving as our president and as an Academy governor for many years. His passion for filmmaking and the Academy never wavered, and he remained a dear friend and adviser.”
Having lived for over a century, Mirisch is survived by many family members, including his beloved son Larry Mirisch, who owns The Mirisch Agency, the below-the-line shop he founded in 1992.
The late producer founded The Mirisch Co. in 1957. As well as In the Heat of the Night, the company produced two other classics that took home the Academy’s coveted Best Picture trophy: Billy Wilder’s moving comedy of 1960, The Apartment and Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ 1961 musical drama West Side Story.
Poitier, the central star of In the Heat of the Night, described Mirisch as a “legendary producer, visionary filmmaker, courageous seeker of truth, especially in troubling times” in his foreword for the late producer’s 2008 book “I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History.”
The esteemed novelist Elmore Leonard also famously dedicated Get Shorty, his classic 1990 satire of the film industry, to Mirisch. “To Walter Mirisch, one of the good guys,” the dedication line read.
Alongside his elder brothers Marvin and Harold, Mirisch helmed The Mirisch Co., which ceased operations in 1973 after producing a broad catalogue of 67 films that collected 28 Oscars.(FarOut)