Tributes to Peter Bogdanovich poured in following the death of the filmmaker, writer, critic and film historian. Bogdanovich, whose films included “The Last Picture Show” and “Paper Moon,” died Thursday at the age of 82.
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“Peter always made me laugh! He’ll keep making them laugh up there too. May he rest in peace.” — Barbra Streisand, on Twitter.
“Oh dear, a shock. I am devastated. He was a wonderful and great artist. I’ll never forgot attending a premiere for ‘The Last Picture Show.’ I remember at its end, the audience leaped up all around me bursting into applause lasting easily 15 minutes. I’ll never forget although I felt I had never myself experienced a reaction like that, that Peter and his film deserved it. May he sleep in bliss for eternity, enjoying the thrill of our applause forever.” — Francis Ford Coppola, by email.
“Peter was my heaven & earth. A father figure. A friend. From ‘Paper Moon’ to ‘Nickelodeon’ he always made me feel safe. I love you, Peter.” — Tatum O'Neal, on Instagram.
“In the 60s, at a crucial moment in the history of the movie business and the art of cinema, Peter Bogdanovich was right there at the crossroads of the Old Hollywood and the New. Curator, critic, historian, actor, director, popular entertainer ... Peter did it all. As a programmer here in New York, he put together essential retrospectives of then still overlooked masters from the glory days of the studio system; as a journalist he got to know almost everybody, from John Ford and Howard Hawks to Marlene Dietrich and Cary Grant. Like many of us, he made his way into directing pictures by way of Roger Corman, and he and Francis Coppola broke into the system early on: Peter’s debut, ‘Targets,’ is still one of his very best films. With ‘The Last Picture Show,’ he made a movie that seemed to look backward and forward at the same time as well as a phenomenal success, followed quickly by ‘What’s Up Doc’ and ‘Paper Moon.’ In the years that followed, Peter had setbacks and tragedies, and he just kept going on, constantly reinventing himself. The last time I saw Peter was in 2018 at The New York Film Festival, where we appeared together on a panel discussion of his old friend Orson Welles’ ‘The Other Side of the Wind’ (in which Peter gives a great performance, and to which he dedicated a lot of time and energy throughout many years). Right up to the end, he was fighting for the art of cinema and the people who created it.” — Martin Scorsese, via email.
“He was a dear friend and a champion of cinema. He birthed masterpieces as a director and was a most genial human. He single-handedly interviewed and enshrined the lives and work of more classic filmmakers than almost anyone else in his generation.” — Guillermo del Toro, on Twitter.
“We are saddened to hear about the passing of prolific director and a dear friend of ours, Peter Bogdanovich. A leading voice of ’70s Hollywood and a champion of Classic Hollywood, his passion inspired generations of filmmakers.” — Turner Classic Movies, on Twitter.
“Such a great film appreciator & creator, taught a lot of us where to look.” — writer-director Whit Stillman