Today director, film historian, and writer Peter Bogdanovich, 82, died in his Los Angeles home, apparently of natural causes. He was always worth listening to and reading when talking and writing about Hollywood history, and he knew as much about it as anybody in the world. He was basically a historian before getting the directing bug. His first wife, Polly Platt, played an important role in his films including discovering model Cybill Shepherd, who Pete dumped Polly for and shacked up with for a few years.
Bogdanovich was known for directing movies like The Last Picture Show, What's Up, Doc?, and that classic stinker from 1975, At Long Last Love. Not too long after the last film, Shepherd and Pete split up. At this point Pete became famous or infamous for his messy personal life. At least Cybill was close to his age, just 11 years younger. From there Pete went younger and younger. In around 1980, he took up with Playboy Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten, a Canadian only 20 years old and trying to get out of an abusive situation with her husband. She took up with Pete after the two becoming an item during the making of They All Laughed. Unfortunately for Dorothy, her jealous estranged husband, one Paul Snider, decided if he couldn't have her, nobody else would. He killed her and then himself. Bogdanovich wrote a book about the episode, and it was made into a movie. However, I always thought it was a bit creepy--hell, a LOT creepy--when he turned around and later married Dorothy's sister, Louise, when he was 49 and she was only 20 in 1988. The marriage lasted until 2001. Things were pretty quiet in the gossip area from then on.
Born in New York, Bogdanovich's interest in chronicling the works of great filmmakers included the book "Who the Devil Made It: Conversations With Legendary Directors," and more recently "The Plot Thickens," a podcast devoted to movies "and the people who make them" for Turner Classic Movies, CNN's sister network.
“Having Peter Bogdonavich as my first acting teacher in my first film, The Last Picture Show, was a blessing of enormous proportion,” Shepherd said in a statement provided to Deadline. “There are simply no words to express my feelings over this deepest of losses. May Peter live long in all our memories.”
In addition to The Last Picture Show (1971), Shepherd starred in Bogdonavich’s Daisy Miller (1974) and At Long Last Love (1975).
Shepherd’s Last Picture co-star Jeff Bridges also tweeted, writing, “My heart is broken – my dear friend Peter is no longer with us in the physical form. I loved him and will miss him. What a wonderful artist. He’s left us with the gift of his incredible films and his insights on the filmmakers he so admired. I love you Peter.”
