RIP “Mockingbird” director Robert Mulligan
Robert Mulligan in 1988
Robert Mulligan, director of the acclaimed film “To Kill a Mockingbird” – one of my all-time favorite movies, which is based on one of my all-time favorite books - has died. He was 83.
He died early Saturday at his home in Lyme, Conn., after a battle with heart disease, his wife, Sandy, told the Associated Press today.
Mulligan was nominated for an Oscar for “Mockingbird,” the adaptation of Harper Lee’s beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about racism and prejudice in a small Southern town. The film was nominated for a total of eight Oscars and won three: for best art direction/set direction in black and white, best adapted screenplay and best actor for Gregory Peck.
Peck played Atticus Finch, an upright lawyer who defends a black man (Brock Peters) unjustly accused of rape. The story is told from the point of view of Atticus’ young daughter Scout, played by Oscar-nominated actress Mary Badham.
In 2003, the American Film Institute named Atticus as the top hero in film history.
Among his other credits were “Fear Strikes Out,” a 1957 drama starring Anthony Perkins as troubled ballplayer Jim Piersall; “Summer of ‘42,” a 1971 wartime tale starring Gary Grimes and Jennifer O’Neill; and the 1972 horror hit “The Other.”
He started out as a TV director before moving over to film, working on such drama series as “The Philco Television Playhouse” and “The Alcoa Hour.”
Mulligan’s last film was the 1991 coming-of-age drama “The Man in the Moon,” Reese Witherspoon’s first movie.
Funeral arrangements were pending, his wife said.
-BAM
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