John G. Avildsen‬, ‪Rocky‬, ‪Academy Awards‬, ‪Sylvester Stallone‬, ‪Academy Award for Best Director‬, ‪The Karate Kid Part II‬‬

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>John G. Avildsen‬, ‪Rocky‬, ‪Academy Awards‬, ‪Sylvester Stallone‬, ‪Academy Award for Best Director‬, ‪The Karate Kid Part II‬‬</b></span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcVyS1pD4fY3_6lxZ-uVBlYm_Zunpwir1u40ZiHdfSIL5_ZjD7XPzJm7r3cD046R9zoskd9ltN8SM4Jf_ImUt_TiPU-ZoGBiIu2uYS0cSoQQz5hQj-Bst64HVPPlEAUK1sXtnSk3epGpy-/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="160" data-original-width="160" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcVyS1pD4fY3_6lxZ-uVBlYm_Zunpwir1u40ZiHdfSIL5_ZjD7XPzJm7r3cD046R9zoskd9ltN8SM4Jf_ImUt_TiPU-ZoGBiIu2uYS0cSoQQz5hQj-Bst64HVPPlEAUK1sXtnSk3epGpy-/s320/images.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: freight-text-pro, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.9em;"> <br /></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: freight-text-pro, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.9em;"> <br /></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: freight-text-pro, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.9em;"> John G. Avildsen, the Oscar-winning director of <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Rocky</i> and <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Karate Kid</i>, died Friday in Los Angeles following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 81.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: freight-text-pro, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.9em;"> <br />Avildsen won the Academy Award for Best Picture for his work on 1976's <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Rocky</i>. Like the titular boxer played by Sylvester Stallone, the film was an underdog itself: Despite a minuscule million-dollar budget, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Rocky</i> became the highest-grossing film of 1976, winning three Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director.Avildsen’s son Anthony confirmed that actor's death to the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-me-john-avildsen-obituary-20170616-story.html" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c81429; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Los Angeles Times</i></a>, adding that Avildsen died at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: freight-text-pro, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.9em;"> Despite an aversion to boxing, the director took on the film because he was drawn to Sylvester Stallone's script about the Philadelphia fighter; "I thought boxing was stupid," Avildsen once admitted.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: freight-text-pro, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.9em;"> Avildsen's career began behind the camera on industrial films for advertising agencies before he mastered his craft as assistant director for legendary filmmakers like Arthur Penn and Otto Preminger. After a pair of low-budget films, Avildsen scored an unlikely hit with the 1970 anti-hippie drama <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Joe</i>, which starred Peter Boyle and Susan Sarandon in her first big screen role.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: freight-text-pro, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.9em;"> Avildsen would remain active throughout the Seventies – including 1973's <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Save the Tiger</i>, which earned Jack Lemmon an Oscar for Best Actor – before helming <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Rocky</i>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: freight-text-pro, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.9em;"> Although Avildsen turned down the opportunity to direct <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Rocky II</i> – he was hired to direct <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Saturday Night Fever</i> but was fired by producer Robert Stigwood before filming began – his career led him to another underdog story in the form of 1984's <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Karate Kid</i>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: freight-text-pro, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.9em;"> Like <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Rocky</i>, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Karate Kid</i> was an unexpected box office and critical success; Avildsen would later direct 1986's <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Karate Kid Part II</i> and 1989's <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Karate Kid Part III</i>. A year later, Avildsen rejoined the Rocky Balboa franchise to helm 1990's <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Rocky V</i>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: freight-text-pro, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.9em;"> Other films in Avildsen's catalog include the John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd comedy <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Neighbors</i>, the Morgan Freeman-starring drama <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Lean on Me</i> and the rom-com <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">For Keeps</i>. Avildsen's last big screen feature was the 1999 Jean-Claude Van Damme action film <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Inferno</i>, which co-starred his longtime Karate Kid actor Pat Morita.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: freight-text-pro, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.9em;"> Earlier this year, the filmmaker's career was the focus of the documentary <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs</i>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: freight-text-pro, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.9em;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>source</b></span><span style="font-size: 20px;">..</span><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;">http://www.rollingstone.com/ </span></div> </div>

‪Academy Award for Best Director‬ ‪Academy Awards‬ John G. Avildsen‬ ‪Rocky‬ ‪Sylvester Stallone‬ ‪The Karate Kid Part II‬‬ USA world John G. Avildsen‬, ‪Rocky‬, ‪Academy Awards‬, ‪Sylvester Stallone‬, ‪Academy Award for Best Director‬, ‪The Karate Kid Part II‬‬

John G. Avildsen‬, ‪Rocky‬, ‪Academy Awards‬, ‪Sylvester Stallone‬, ‪Academy Award for Best Director‬, ‪The Karate Kid Part II‬‬ ...

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