John Schlesinger

Born: 16 February 1926
Where: London
Died: 25 July 2003

An amateur filmmaker since the age of 11, John joined the Oxford University Dramatic Society after WWII when he served as a Royal Engineer.

During the 1950's, he also acted in some TV and radio films and wrote documentaries after an apprenticeship with the BBC.

This led to his feature debut in 1962 with A Kind of Loving, starring the then unknown Alan Bates.

Schlesinger then made a dramatic Hollywood debut in 1969 with Midnight Cowboy, the emotionally wrenching tale of an unlikely friendship between a stud and a street urchin.

It became the first movie originally rated "X" to win an Oscar and garnered a best director Oscar for Schlesinger as well as launching the career of Jon Voight and cementing the star status of Dustin Hoffman.

Schlesinger later called Midnight Cowboy an "extraordinary, unbelievable success" and used it as a springboard for an even more edgy adult drama Sunday Bloody Sunday in 1971.

Described by John as Schlesinger as largely autobiographical, it dealt in frank terms with the triangle of a bisexual man, his older gay lover and his mistress and featured one of the screen's first same-sex kisses.

His third feature Darling -- a satire on Swinging Sixties London -- made a star out of Julie Christie and earned three Oscars in 1965.

Having made his name in Hollywood in the 1970s, Schlesinger developed his passion for music and began working in the 1980s in opera directing productions for Covent Garden, the Salzburg Festival and, in 2000, the Los Angeles Opera.

Despite maintaining homes in both California and England, Schlesinger said he considered himself British and had always maintained his legal status as a British resident.

After heart surgery in 2000, John suffered a stroke at his home in the desert resort of Palm Springs. In 2003, he died after he was taken off life support.