Peter Bogdanovich, Director of 'Last Picture Show' and 'Paper Moon,' Dies at 82

Peter Bogdanovich
Emma McIntyre/FilmMagic

The iconic director’s daughter said he died of natural causes.

Oscar-nominated director, critic and actor Peter Bogdanovich has died at 82, according to family members and his manager. 

Bogdanovich died early Thursday morning at this home in Los Angeles, his daughter, Antonia Bogdanovich, told multiple news outlets. 

He was a two-time Academy Award nominee whose directorial career bridged the gap between black-and-white and color television in the 60s and 70s. He also performed in front of the camera, most notably as Dr. Elliot Kupferberg, who was the therapist to Tony Soprano’s own psychologist, Dr. Melfi, in HBO's The Sopranos

Bogdanovich's second film, The Last Picture Show, earned eight Academy Award nominations, including nominations for directing and adapted screenplay for him personally. The black-and-white film drew acclaim and favorable comparisons to Citizen Kane. It was later added by the Library of Congress to the National Film Registry, which houses culturally significant films in the U.S.

From there, he directed Hollywood classics such as Paper Moon, Saint Jack and Daisy Miller. His last director's credit came from 2014's She’s Funny That Way. 

Alongside his directorial chops, Bogdanovich was an accomplished writer. In 1981, his girlfriend, Dorothy Stratten, was murdered, and he took a four-year hiatus from filmmaking to write a memoir about her death titled The Killing of the Unicorn.

In total, he wrote more than 10 books, most related to his craft. 

Bogdanovich was also a GRAMMY winner for Best Musical Film, which he won for directing the documentary Runnin' Down a Dream about Tom Petty in 2007. 

His daughter, Antonia Bogdanovich, followed in her father's footsteps as a director and producer. 

This story was originally published by CBS 8 on Jan. 6, 2021.

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