Jonathan Demme

Jonathan Demme was an American filmmaker who died in 2017 and worked for more than three decades as a director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Baldwin, New York, he started under Roger Corman and made his directorial debut with Caged Heat (1974). He became known for humanist films such as Melvin and Howard (1980), Swing Shift (1984), Something Wild (1986), and Married to the Mob (1988). The Silence of the Lambs (1991) collected five Academy Awards, among them Best Director and Best Picture. Later credits included Philadelphia (1993), Beloved (1998), The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Rachel Getting Married (2008), and the Jimmy Carter documentary Man from Plains (2007). He also directed concert films such as Stop Making Sense (1984), Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006), and Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids (2016). Later, the National Film Registry inducted Philadelphia, Stop Making Sense, and The Silence of the Lambs.