John Schlesinger, the British director who rose to international prominence in the '60s with such films as Billy Liar, Darling and the Oscar winning Midnight Cowboy, died from complications of a stroke on July 25 at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, California. He was 77.

Schlesinger was born on February 16, 1926 in London. As a youngster he had a desire to become a musician, but after a brief stint with the Army during World War II, he concentrated on drama at Oxford University. He eventually found work behind the camera for the BBC producing some current affairs programs before he directed his first cinematic feature, Terminus (1961). This 30-minute documentary for British Transport Films, looking at 24 hours in the life of London's Waterloo Station, immediately displayed Schlesinger's visual style and taut observation skills, and he deservedly won the British Academy Award for Best Short Feature.

His first two feature length films were the haunting A Kind of Loving (1962), about a working-class couple (superbly played by Alan Bates and June Ritchie) trapped in a loveless marriage. His next film was the superb Billy Liar (1963), with Tom Courtenay as a neer-do-well who habitually daydreams of a better life. These films were drenched in such gritty realism, that Schlesinger was labeled as one of the prime leaders of the "Kitchen Sink" school of British social dramas that were becoming increasingly popular in the '60s. Yet, Schlesinger distinguished himself from other directors in this genre by showing a sympathetic core to his characters that proved him to be a shrewd observer of human frailties.

Schlesinger's next film Darling (1965), about an amoral London model (Julie Christie) who becomes disillusioned with fame, earned him his first Best Director Oscar nomination. He worked with Christie again in the sweeping romantic adaptation of the Thomas Hardy novel Far from the Madding Crowd (1967). The films were sizable enough hits to earn the director a ticket to Hollywood.

His first American film, the groundbreaking Midnight Cowboy (1969), earned him international recognition. The film, based on the James Leo Herlihy novel, illustrated an unforgiving urban jungle, which starred Jon Voight as a naive Texan who moves to New York City to become a gigolo and befriends Dustin Hoffman's sleazy, ailing vagrant, Ratso Rizzo. Schlesinger not only won an Academy Award for his direction, but the film won Oscars for best picture, and for Waldo Salt's sharp screenplay.

Schlesinger's films in the next decades didn't quite scale the critical and commercial heights of his earlier period, but there were many fine films to savor: an exploration of homosexuality in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) with Peter Finch, Glenda Jackson, and Murray Head involved in a salacious love triangle; a stirring adaptation of Nathaniel West's apocalyptical view of '30s Hollywood The Day of the Locust (1975) starring Donald Sutherland and William Atherton; the violent political thriller Marathon Man (1976) with Hoffman and Laurence Olivier; the taut cold war drama The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) starring Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton; and the eerie suspense flick The Believers (1987); and the delicate social satire Cold Comfort Farm (1995) that offered a young Kate Beckinsale her first leading role.

Sadly, Schlesinger suffered a debilitating stroke in December 2000 that prevented him from ever returning to the camera. He is survived by his brother, Roger; his sister, Hilary; and his companion, Michael Childers.

by Michael T. Toole