The Oak Park, Illinois, native also directed „The Karate Kid, another dark-horse, underdog favorite that went on to become a Hollywood franchise.<\/b>
\nLOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 John G. Avildsen, who directed \u201cRocky\u201d and \u201cThe Karate Kid\u201d \u2014 two dark-horse, underdog favorites that went on to become Hollywood franchises \u2014 died Friday at age 81.
Anthony Avildsen said his father died Friday in Los Angeles from pancreatic cancer.
\u201cRocky\u201d was a huge success. It won Oscars for best picture, director (Avildsen) and editing and was nominated for seven others. No less a Hollywood eminence than Frank Capra loved it, telling The New York Times in 1977, \u201cWhen I saw it, I said, \u2018Boy, that\u2019s a picture I wish I had made.\u2019 \u201d For his part, Avildsen said Capra \u2014 who also championed underdogs on film \u2014 was his favorite director.
\u201cRocky\u201d was a chance venture for Avildsen. Sylvester Stallone, then unknown, had written the script and sought Avildsen to direct it, but Avildsen was already working on another film. Suddenly the production company ran out of money and that film was canceled.
A friend sent Avildsen the \u201cRocky\u201d script. \u201cOn page 3, this guy (Rocky) is talking to his turtles, and I was hooked, \u201d Avildsen remarked. \u201cIt was a great character study.\u201d Avildsen agreed to direct \u201cRocky\u201d even though he knew nothing about boxing.
The film was shot on a tight budget, less than $1 million, and it was completed in 28 days.
\u201cThe first time I showed it to 40 or 50 friends, they all freaked out, so that was encouraging, \u201d he recalled. \u201cBut I guess when I saw the lines around the block, it began to take on a reality.\u201d
Stallone praised the director Friday night for believing in him.
\u201cI owe just about everything to John Avildsen. His directing, his passion, his toughness and his heart \u2014 a great heart \u2014 is what made \u2018Rocky\u2019 the film it became, \u201d Stallone wrote in a statement. \u201cHe changed my life and I will be forever indebted to him. Nobody could have done it better than my friend John Avildsen. I will miss him.\u201d
Five sequels followed, but Avildsen turned them down, until the fourth, \u201cRocky V, \u201d in 1990. He said he considered it a good script and liked that Rocky would die. During the shooting the producers decided Rocky had to live. \u201cYou don\u2019 t kill off your corporate assets, \u201d Avildsen commented. The fifth sequel, \u201cRocky Balboa, \u201d came out in 2006.
\u201cThe Karate Kid\u201d was another surprise hit. In it, a teenager hounded by bullies played by Ralph Macchio seeks help from a Japanese handyman (Noryuki \u201cPat\u201d Morita) who teaches him about karate. At the climax, a newly self-confident Macchio takes on a bully in a karate contest \u2014 and wins.
Released in the summer of 1984, \u201cThe Karate Kid\u201d attracted millions of youngsters and brought Morita, a veteran performer best known for his TV roles, an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor.
\u201cAs soon as the producers saw the business it was doing, they wanted to do it again, \u201d Avildsen said in a 1986 interview. \u201cI was very apprehensive. I didn\u2019 t want to do a sequel because this was a very tough act to follow.\u201d
He relented and directed both \u201cThe Karate Kid, Part II\u201d in 1986 and \u201cThe Karate Kid, Part III\u201d in 1989. (The franchise was revived in 2010 with a hit remake directed by Harald Zwart.)
Avildsen had come up the hard way in films. He started with a long apprenticeship as assistant director, then moved up to production manager, cinematographer and editor.
He directed a few small films and then broke through with \u201cJoe\u201d (1970) . Peter Boyle portrayed a hardhat bigot at odds with the emerging hippie youth culture.
\u201cMy hope as a filmmaker is to make people feel a little differently about something when they leave the theater, \u201d Avildsen told the Los Angeles Times in 1971.
Avildsen liked working with unknowns like Boyle. \u201cThe problem with name actors is everyone knows them, no matter how (Dustin) Hoffman-y they look, \u201d he told the Times.
Boyle, whose career got a huge boost from \u201cJoe, \u201d told The New York Times that as a director, Avildsen was \u201con your side. He makes you feel good about what you\u2019 re doing.\u201d
After \u201cJoe, \u201d Avildsen directed \u201cSave the Tiger\u201d (1973) starring Jack Lemmon as a burned-out dress manufacturer. Lemmon won the Oscar as best actor for \u201cSave the Tiger, \u201d while Jack Gilford got a supporting-actor nomination.
Among other Oscar nominations for \u201cRocky\u201d were two for Stallone, best actor and best screenplay; plus best actress, Talia Shire; best supporting actor, Burgess Meredith and Burt Young; and best song, \u201cGonna Fly Now.\u201d
Avildsen directed other major stars: Burt Reynolds in \u201cW. W. and the Dixie Dancekings\u201d (1975) ; George C. Scott and Marlon Brando in \u201cThe Formula\u201d (1980) ; Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi in \u201cNeighbors\u201d (1981) ; and Morgan Freeman in \u201cLean on Me\u201d (1989) .
He had been hired to direct \u201cSaturday Night Fever\u201d after his success with \u201cRocky, \u201d but was let go amid differences over his desire to make the story more upbeat than the producers had in mind. \u201cIt\u2019s better not to be doing something you don\u2019 t want to do, \u201d Avildsen told the Los Angeles Times after he departed from the project.
\u201cThroughout the decades, his rousing portrayals of victory, courage and emotion captured the hearts of generations of Americans, \u201d the Directors Guild of America wrote in a statement Friday.
John Guilbert Avildsen was born in 1935 in Oak Park, IllInois, the son of a tool manufacturer. He attended New York University, then worked as an advertising copywriter. He spent two years in the Army as a chaplain\u2019s assistant.
A documentary on Avildsen, \u201cJohn G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs, \u201d premiered earlier this year at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The film, which is to be released digitally in August, was shot by Anthony Avildsen.
\u201cHe was a pretty extraordinary man in my estimation. He was super talented and very driven and very stubborn and that was to his detriment but also often to his benefit, \u201d Anthony Avildsen said.
In a 1992 interview, Avildsen outlined his view of filmmaking: \u201cI don\u2019 t see my films as following any strict formula \u2014 even if many of them do have a similar theme. I guess I just like to see underdogs winning against the odds. To me, that is good drama. And the opposite would be too depressing.\u201d
Avildsen is survived by his sons Jonathan, Ashley and Anthony, and daughter Bridget.<\/p>\n

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