Norman Jewison, Director of Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler on the Roof Films, Dies at 97

Norman Jewison, the genre-spanning director of the movie adaptations of Fiddler on the Roof and Jesus Christ Superstar, as well as a number of non-musical stage-to-screen adaptations, died on January 20 at his home in Los Angeles. The death was confirmed by his publicist Jeff Sanderson. Jewison was 97.

The recipient of seven Oscar nominations, Jewison never won a competitive Oscar, though his film In the Heat of the Night won the Award for Best Picture in 1967.

Jewison was born on July 21, 1926 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He started his career in television, directing and producing musical and variety programs through the ’50s in Canada and then New York. His work in television caught the attention of actor Tony Curtis, Jewison recalled in his autobiography. “You do nice work, kid,” Curtis told Jewison. “When are you gonna make a movie?” Curtis starred in Jewison’s feature film directing debut, the comedy 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962).

With the Cold War comedy The Russians Are Coming, Jewison proved his adeptness at handling politically charged material. ("I’ve always been a supporter of protest," Jewison told the Hollywood Reporter in 2011.) For his next film, In the Heat of the Night (1967), he drew on his experiences hitchhiking through the American south. The film starred Sidney Poitier as a detective solving a murder and confronting racism in a small Mississippi town, winning five Academy Awards and earning Jewison his first nomination for Best Director. He followed The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) with two movie musicals adapted from recent Broadway productions, Fiddler on the Roof (1971) and Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), earning another Best Director nod for the former.

In a wide-ranging resume encompassing everything from the dystopian sci-fi of Rollerball (1975) to the fictionalized Jimmy Hoffa biopic F.I.S.T. (1977) and the legal drama ...And Justice for All (1979), Jewison also developed a taste and predilection for adapting stage works for the screen: A Soldier’s Story (1984), Agnes of God (1985), Other People’s Money (1991) and Dinner with Friends (2001). He also directed Moonstruck, written by playwright John Patrick Shanley and co-starring Cher and Nicolas Cage. Another triumph, it earned Jewison his third Best Director nod.

“Farewell sweet prince,” Cher wrote in a tribute on X, crediting Jewison with “one of the greatest, happiest, most fun experiences of my life.”