Michael Cimino, who won Oscars as director and a producer of "The Deer Hunter", has died. He was 77.
Friends called the police when they couldn't reach him and he was found dead on Saturday, reported Variety.
Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux tweeted the news, writing that he died in peace surrounded by those close to him and the two women who loved him. "We loved him too," wrote Fremaux.
His birthday is usually cited as February 3, 1939, though many facts about Cimino's life, including his birthdate, were shrouded in conflicting information.
Cimino directed eight films in his career. His first was 1974's "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot"; his second was the 1978 Vietnam War masterpiece "The Deer Hunter," which won five Academy Awards, including best picture and director; his third was 1980's "Heaven's Gate," the film that became synonymous with showbiz disaster; and the rest were mostly footnotes, though some (like "Year of the Dragon") have passionate fans.
Robert De Niro said, "Our work together is something I will always remember. He will be missed."
Cimino was born in New York City and raised in Long Island; his father was a music publisher, his mother a costume designer. He went to Michigan State, graduated from Yale in 1961 and got an MFA there in 1963, both in painting. He directed TV commercials for United Airlines, Kool cigarettes and Pepsi, among others.
He moved to Los Angeles in 1971 and got gigs as a co-writer of the ecological science fiction film "Silent Running," starring Bruce Dern, and the 1973 "Magnum Force," the second "Dirty Harry" film.
Eastwood was impressed, and gave Cimino his big break by agreeing to star in Cimino's directing debut, the 1974 "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot." The film was a box office hit and gained an Oscar nomination for supporting actor Jeff Bridges.
His second work was 1978's "The Deer Hunter," which featured Oscar-nominated performances by Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep (her first) and supporting actor Christopher Walken, who won. The film also won for editing and sound.
Almost from the beginning, "Heaven's Gate" was the subject of criticism and speculation. It earned less than $4 million.
Although he directed a few films in the decades after "Heaven's Gate," Cimino kept a low profile, and plastic surgery made him almost unrecognizable.
He resurfaced at the Cannes Film Festival for a screening of his 1996 film "Sunchaser." He appeared at Cannes again in 2007 for his final film venture, a three-minute contribution to the multi-director anthology "Chacun son gout."
Cimino wrote a 2001 novel, "Big Jane" and two years later collaborated with Francesca Pollock on the book "Conversations en miroir."
He had no survivors.
