Bob Rafelson, ‘Five Easy Pieces’ Director, Dies at 89
thewrap.comRafelson was one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood movement in the 1970s, working with stars like Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern and Jessica Lange.
With “Five Easy Pieces” in 1970, Rafelson earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, with Nicholson earning a Best Actor nomination in a career-launching performance as an oil rig worker forced to reunite with his upper-class musician family after hearing the news that his father is dying.
Rafelson got his start in feature filmmaking thanks to a successful career in television in the 1960s, highlighted by the success of the music-comedy series “The Monkees” from 1966 to 1968.
The success of the show and the band, which produced chart-toppers like “I’m a Believer,” became a lasting icon of 1960s pop and won Rafelson an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series with producing partner Bert Schneider, with whom he co-founded Raybert Productions. “The Monkees” also helped begin a decades-long partnership between Rafelson and Jack Nicholson as the pair co-wrote “Head,” a plotless satire starring The Monkees in a psychedelic takedown of the image the band had created for itself through the TV series.
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