Jonathan Demme dead at 73

Apr 26, 2017 by Ian Evans

Jonathan Demme, the Oscar-winning director of The Silence of the Lambs has died of complications from oesophageal cancer at the age of 73.

Demme’s other well-loved works include Something Wild, Philadelphia and the legendary Talking Heads documentary Stop Making Sense.

Tom Hanks, who won a Best Actor Oscar working on Demme’s Philadelphia, told the Press Association that, “Jonathan taught us how big a heart a person can have, and how it will guide how we live and what we do for a living.” Fellow director Ron Howard said Demme was “a great artist, humanitarian, activist & a warm encouraging colleague”.

His most recent film was the Justin Timberlake concert film, Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids, which showed the artist in concert in 2015.