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Michael Ritchie
Born
Michael Brunswick Ritchie

(1938-11-28)November 28, 1938
Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States
Died April 16, 2001(2001-04-16) (aged 62)
Manhattan, New York, United States
Occupation Film director
Notable work
Downhill Racer
The Candidate
The Bad News Bears
Fletch
Fletch Lives
The Scout
Spouse(s) Jimmie B. Ritchie
Children 5

Michael Brunswick Ritchie (November 28, 1938 – April 16, 2001) was an American film director, producer, and writer of films with comical or satirical leanings, such as The Candidate and Smile. He scored commercial successes directing sports films, like Downhill Racer and The Bad News Bears, and Chevy Chase's Fletch comedies and Eddie Murphy's The Golden Child.

Personal life

Ritchie was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the son of Patricia (née Graney) and Benbow Ferguson Ritchie. His family later moved to Berkeley, California, where his father was a professor of experimental psychology at the University of California at Berkeley and his mother was the art and music librarian for the city. He attended Berkeley High School before becoming interested in film, and was accepted at Harvard University following high school. He told Robert Redford's biographer, author Michael Feeney Callan, that academic interest in film culture was the basis and drive for his career. In 1994, Ritchie purchased the hacienda-style house at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive, in the Brentwood district of Los Angeles, where Marilyn Monroe died in 1962. He bought the property for $995,000 and it became his Los Angeles family base. Also in 1994, Ritchie moved to Manhattan with his wife, Jimmie B. Ritchie, and daughters, Lillian (b. 1986) and Miriam (b. 1988). His additional children include a son, Stephen (b. 1973); daughters Lauren (b. 1966) and Jessica (b. 1973), and two stepchildren, Nelly Bly and Billy Bly. His sister, Elsie Ritchie, acted in two of his films: The Candidate and Smile.

Career

While at Harvard, Ritchie directed the original production of the Arthur Kopit play, Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This led Robert Saudek to offer him a job, and Ritchie worked on several TV series prior to his film debut in 1969 with Downhill Racer.

In 1970, Ritchie worked for John V. Tunney's senate election campaign; Tunney was the basis for Robert Redford's character in Ritchie's Oscar-winning film, The Candidate.

As a director, Ritchie's output was highly varied. Although originally known for his sports films and satires in the 1970s, such as The Candidate and The Bad News Bears, he became more known for his broad comedies in the 1980s, such as Fletch and The Golden Child.

Ritchie also briefly pursued a career as an author, writing Please Stand By: A Prehistory of Television, a nonfiction book about the experimental period of the television industry from the 1920s through the 1940s.

Death and legacy

Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "It’s difficult to think of any director, ever, who had a more consistently uneven career." According to Mark LeFanu, his films were recognized as "unpretentious, closely observed, finely textured works...there comes a point when, looking back, one sees that their consistency itself – consistent excellence – is telling us something: something about the way that cinema itself is able to move out and look around."Ritchie died from complications related to prostate cancer.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Director Producer Writer Notes
1969 Downhill Racer Yes No No Directorial debut
1972 Prime Cut Yes No No
The Candidate Yes No No
1975 Smile Yes Yes No
1976 The Bad News Bears Yes No No
1977 Semi-Tough Yes No No
1978 The Bad News Bears Go to Japan No Yes No
1979 An Almost Perfect Affair Yes No Story
1980 The Island Yes No No
Divine Madness Yes No No Concert film
1981 Student Bodies Yes Yes No Uncredited as co-director (Mickey Rose receives sole director credit), producer credit as "Allen Smithee"
1983 The Survivors Yes No No
1985 Fletch Yes No No
1986 Wildcats Yes No No
The Golden Child Yes No No
1988 The Couch Trip Yes No No
1989 Fletch Lives Yes No No
1992 Diggstown Yes No No
Innocent Blood No No No Role as "Night Watchman"
1993 Cool Runnings No No Story
1994 Cops & Robbersons Yes No No
The Scout Yes No No
1997 A Simple Wish Yes No No
2000 The Fantasticks Yes Yes No Also music producer

Television

TV movies

Title Year Director Writer Notes
The Theater of Tomorrow 1963 Yes No
The Sound of Anger 1968 Yes No
The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom 1993 Yes No Voice role as "Minister"
Comfort, Texas 1997 Yes No
Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie 2002 No Story

TV series directed

Title Year Notes
Omnibus 1955 Segment "The Trial of St. Joan"
Profiles in Courage 1965 2 episodes, also associate producer
Dr. Kildare 3 episodes
The Big Valley 1966 3 episodes
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Episode "The Nowhere Affair"
Felony Squad 3 episodes
Run for Your Life 1966-67 11 episodes
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre 1967 Episode "To Sleep, Perchance to Scream"
The Outsider 1967-68 2 episodes
Harold Robbins' The Survivors 1969 2 episodes
L'encyclopédie audio-visuelle 1993 Documentary series, episode "Albert Einstein"
Beggars and Choosers 1999 2 episodes
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