Bette Midler<\/a>\u2019s film career with The Rose, and passed away on Friday (14.08.26), according to reports in Variety and Deadline. <\/p>\n\nMark\u2019s career stretched from acting in 1950s television to directing some of Hollywood\u2019s most acclaimed performers, with On Golden Pond, The Rose, The Reivers, Cinderella Liberty and The River among films he directed that received Academy Award nominations.<\/p>\n
\nMark achieved his greatest commercial and awards success with 1981\u2019s On Golden Pond, adapted by Ernest Thompson from his stage play. <\/p>\n
\nThe family drama starred Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn alongside Henry\u2019s daughter Jane Fonda and became one of the defining films of Mark\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
\nHenry won the best actor Oscar for his performance as Norman Thayer in what proved to be his final film role, while Katharine collected her record fourth best actress Academy Award. <\/p>\n
\nJane was nominated for best supporting actress, Ernest won for his adapted screenplay and Mark received his sole best director Oscar nomination.<\/p>\n
\nMark had already established his reputation as a director capable of drawing awards-recognised performances from actors. <\/p>\n
\nHe directed Rupert Crosse in The Reivers, Marsha Mason in Cinderella Liberty and Sissy Spacek in The River, with all three receiving Oscar nominations for their performances. <\/p>\n
\nBette received her first best actress nomination for The Rose and another for For the Boys.<\/p>\n
\nBefore becoming a filmmaker, Mark worked extensively as an actor. <\/p>\n
\nHe appeared in the soap opera As the World Turns and made his feature debut in the 1956 drama Crime in the Streets. His stage career included Broadway appearances before he increasingly moved behind the camera.<\/p>\n
\nHis early television directing credits included Gunsmoke, Ben Casey, The Fugitive, I Spy and The Wild Wild West. Mark subsequently moved into feature films with The Fox, starring Sandy Dennis and Keir Dullea, before directing Steve McQueen in The Reivers and John Wayne in The Cowboys.<\/p>\n
\nMark also continued acting despite his success behind the camera. One of his most prominent performances came as gangster Marty Augustine opposite Elliott Gould in Robert Altman\u2019s 1973 adaptation of Raymond Chandler\u2019s The Long Goodbye.<\/p>\n
\nHis later directing work included Intersection, starring Richard Gere and Sharon Stone, HBO\u2019s Crime of the Century and the television film James Dean. <\/p>\n
\nThe latter starred James Franco as the Hollywood actor and received 11 Emmy nominations, including one for Mark\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n
\nMark returned to feature directing with the gambling drama Even Money, starring Kim Basinger, Kelsey Grammer and Forest Whitaker. <\/p>\n
\nHis later television work included an episode of ABC\u2019s Masters of Science Fiction, hosted by physicist Stephen Hawking.<\/p>\n
\nMark also maintained a lengthy association with fellow filmmaker Sydney Pollack, with the pair forming the production company Sanford Productions. He appeared as gangster Meyer Lansky in Sydney\u2019s Havana and continued taking occasional acting roles, including playing Warner Bros studio chief Jack Warner in his own James Dean and appearing in Woody Allen\u2019s Hollywood Ending.<\/p>\n
\nHe is survived by his three children \u2013 actors Amy Rydell and Christopher Rydell, and editor Alexander Rydell.<\/p>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"14 August 2026 Bette Midler has paid tribute to the late filmmaker Mary Rydell. Bette Midler has paid tribute to the late filmmaker Mary Rydell The actress, 80, hailed the director for teaching her \u201cso much\u201d after news of his passing broke on Friday (14.08.26.) Recalling how Mark \u2013 who has died aged 97 \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":257687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2711,16464,16457,16456,131,13509,13508,16462,16455,16460,16463,16458,16465,16459,16461,13086,5761],"class_list":{"0":"post-257686","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-bette-midler","9":"tag-elliott-gould","10":"tag-ernest-thompson","11":"tag-henry-fonda","12":"tag-jane-fonda","13":"tag-john-wayne","14":"tag-katharine-hepburn","15":"tag-keir-dullea","16":"tag-mark-rydell","17":"tag-marsha-mason","18":"tag-marty-augustine","19":"tag-norman-thayer","20":"tag-robert-altman","21":"tag-rupert-crosse","22":"tag-sandy-dennis","23":"tag-sissy-spacek","24":"tag-steve-mcqueen"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}