by Nathaniel R
One of the world's most acclaimed directors has passed away at 86 years of age after a long full life and a pretty sturdy filmography. Milos Forman won two Oscars during his career for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Amadeus (1984) began life as Jan Tomas Forman in Czechoslovakia. Like another two-time Best Director winner (Ang Lee), he was twice honored in the Foreign Language Film category before his English language Oscar wins...
Forman began his celebrated career in Czechoslovakia but with his international breakthrough film The Loves of a Blonde (1965) he caught Hollywood's attention with a foreign film nomination at both the Globes and the Oscars. His follow up film Fireman's Ball (1967), which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime and well worth a watch, was also Oscar nominated.
By the late 60s with the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia he had immigrated to the US where he got his feet wet in Hollywood with the comedy Taking Off (1971) before his career making ...Cuckoo's Nest triumph. Hair (1979), Ragtime (1981), Amadeus (1984), and two arguably underappreciated titles The People vs Larry Flynt (1996) and Man on the Moon (1999) followed. His last two films, Goya's Ghost (2006) and A Walk Worthwhile (2009) were underseen ending his career on a quieter note than would be expected given the often raucous and rebellious spirit that ran through his films.
But what a career. The New York Times has a terrific overview of his life that you should check out. What's your favorite film of his? Sadly most of his pictures aren't streaming right now (without rental fees at least) but for his segment of the omnibus documentary Visions of Eight at Filmstruck and both Fireman's Ball and Goya's Ghost on Amazon Prime.