Blake Edwards

Blake Edwards

William Blake Crump, better known as Blake Edwards, was an American filmmaker. His best-known films include Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Days of Wine and Roses, 10, VictorVictoria, and the hugely successful Pink Panther film series with British actor Peter Sellers. In 2004, he received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of his writing, directing, and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen. Edwards died in California in 2013; he is survived by his wife and two children.

About Blake Edwards in brief

Summary Blake EdwardsWilliam Blake Crump, better known as Blake Edwards, was an American filmmaker. His best-known films include Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Days of Wine and Roses, 10, VictorVictoria, and the hugely successful Pink Panther film series with British actor Peter Sellers. In 2004, he received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of his writing, directing, and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen. Edwards served in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II, where he suffered a severe back injury, which left him in pain for years afterwards. He was married to Lili Darling in 1969, and they had three children. He died in Los Angeles, California, on December 25, 2013. He is buried in Los Alamitos, California; his wife, Lili, died on December 26, 2013, in a private funeral. He had a son, Jack McEdwards, who was the son of J. Gordon Edwards, a director of silent movies, and moved the family to Los Angeles in 1925. In an interview with The Village Voice in 1971, Blake Edwards said that he had always felt alienated, estranged from his own father, JackMcEdwards. He also wrote, produced, and directed the 1959 TV series Peter Gunn, which starred Craig Stevens, with music by Henry Mancini.

In the 1954–1955 television season, Edwards joined with Richard Quine to create Mickey Rooney’s first television series, The Mickey Rooney Show: Hey, Mulligan. Edwards’s hard-boiled private detective scripts for Richard Diamond, Private Detective became NBC’s answer to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, reflecting Edwards’s unique humor. Edwards also directed several drama, musical, and detective films. Late in his career, he transitioned to writing, producing, and directing for theater. Edwards’ most popular films were comedies, the melodrama Days of wine and Roses being a notable exception. His most dynamic and successful collaboration was with Peter sellers in six of the movies in the Pink Panther series. Edwards and Sellers had many disagreements during the production of The Pink Panther, yet became more than once in their relationship. The relationship between the lead actor and director was considered a fruitful yet complicated one, yet Edwards once swore off the film once more, once more in more than a dozen times. Edwards died in California in 2013; he is survived by his wife and two children.