John Korty, an Oscar winning filmmaker who featured Marin in much of his work, died at home in Point Reyes Station on March 9. He was 85.
Best known for the television film The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and the documentary Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?, as well as the theatrical animated feature Twice Upon a Time. He won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature (for Who Are the DeBolts?) and several other major awards. He is described by the film critic Leonard Maltin as “a principled filmmaker who has worked both outside and within the mainstream, attempting to find projects that support his humanistic beliefs”.
His bio on Wikipedia said: While most of his later work has been for television, he actually started in film before moving to the small screen. In 1964, he moved to Stinson Beach. There he made three feature films in four years. They were successful, low-budget projects.His first was the little-seen drama The Crazy-Quilt (1966), with narration by Burgess Meredith. The others were Riverrun and Funnyman, featuring performances by the comedy troupe The Committee Theatre. His barn was his studio (Korty Films), and it would become an inspiration for George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola who also established studios in the San Francisco Bay Area. Korty Films would become part of what was later called the “New Hollywood“. Korty actually became a tenant at Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios in San Francisco, though he later moved out when Coppola raised the rents] The company finally settled in Point Reyes Station, California.
“Other feature films directed or produced by Korty included such well-known titles as Oliver’s Story (1978) and Twice Upon a Time, a George Lucas-produced animated fantasy originally released theatrically by Warner Bros. in August 1983 and later aired as an HBO feature in June 1984. The film lost money, and Korty would not return to animated productions for more than twenty years. He also served as a cinematographer for a few films including the Robert Redford feature The Candidate.”
In an interview for the Pt. Reyes Light newspaper, Korte said: “I have no intention of retiring. In fact, my ace in the hole is if I end up in a wheelchair, it will be great for animation! I can sit there in that wheelchair and make animated films until I drop dead. In the best of all worlds, my ambition is to make my very best film the year before I die. It would be great to go out with the knowledge that you have finally made the ultimate film.”
You can find more on John Korty at his website: johnkorty.com.
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