Resources

Mel Stuart

Obituary

Guest Book

" I'm really happy to know about you."
- aktar zaman
"My deepest feelings for the family's loss. I've worked..."
- Alex Rotaru
"My condolences. I started working for Mel at Wolper..."
- Larry Saltzman
"Love , Strength and Hugs To Madeline, Peter and Andrew ..."
- Bonnie Henderson-Larson
"Madeline Andrew and Peter, Sorry to hear about your Dad..."
- Bonnie Henderson-Larson

View Sign

Mel Stuart (Associated Press Photo)

NEW YORK (AP) - Mel Stuart's family says the award-winning documentary filmmaker who also directed "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" has died.

His daughter, Madeline Stuart, said he died Thursday night of cancer at his home in Los Angeles. He was 83.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Stuart and David L. Wolper established a base of West Coast documentary production at a time when New York filmmakers and TV network news dominated the field.

Stuart's dozens of documentary films include three editions of "The Making of the President" and, for PBS' "American Masters," portraits of the artist Man Ray and the director Billy Wilder. Stuart's groundbreaking film "Wattstax" focused on the 1972 music festival and Los Angeles' largely black Watts community in the wake of the 1965 riots.

In 2005, PBS aired "The Hobart Shakespeareans," Stuart's profile of a teacher in inner-city Los Angeles whose fifth-grade class each year performed a play by Wi lliam Shakespeare.

Stuart made "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," a children's classic starring Gene Wilder, in 1971. His other features include the 1969 comedy, "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium."

Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Print | View Guest Book

Related Memorial Sites