Acclaimed film director John Schlesinger is being honored at the Palm Springs Cultural Center with “My Husband Makes Movies,” a series of screenings on Mondays through March 17.
Michael Childers, Schlesinger’s partner and a renowned celebrity photographer, and David Ansen, former movie critic for Newsweek and the current lead programmer of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, are producing the series.
The movies that will be featured are Marathon Man (1976) on Jan. 27; Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) on Feb. 3; Cold Comfort Farm (1995) on Feb. 10; An Englishman Abroad (1983) on Feb. 24; Darling (1965) on March 3; and The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) on March 17. Each film will include opening remarks or an interview with someone who knew Schlesinger. The series is a fundraiser for the Palm Springs Cultural Center.
The London-born and Oxford-educated Schlesinger (1926-2003) was a filmmaker ahead of his time, said Dave Karger, a host on Turner Classic Movies, an entertainment commentator on NBC’s Today show, and the author of 50 Oscar Nights.
“He was unafraid to deal with topics and issues that were considered taboo, so his films feel as vital and relevant today as they did decades ago,” Karger said.
David Kaminsky, a pathologist and documentary filmmaker who was a good friend of Schlesinger, will help introduce Marathon Man on Jan. 27. He pointed to Sunday Bloody Sunday as an example of Schlesinger’s courage as a filmmaker.
“When you look at Sunday Bloody Sunday, to my knowledge, it (includes) the first on-screen kiss between men,” Kaminsky said. “And it wasn’t done in a salacious way; it was done as the most natural occurrence between two people who loved each other—but he was courageous putting that up. It was about a man and a woman who were in love with the same man, and how they dealt with it. These relationships had not been (depicted in a mainstream film) before, so these are groundbreaking things.”
Schlesinger embraced the topics of Jewishness and being gay at a time when directors tended to avoid them.
“Schlesinger went right there on both aspects of his personality,” said William Mann, the author of Edge of Night: The Life of John Schlesinger. “He didn’t have to make the Peter Finch character in Sunday Bloody Sunday Jewish, but he did, and it’s in.”
Schlesinger’s career took off with Midnight Cowboy (1969), which won him Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director.
“It was a novel,” Mann said about Midnight Cowboy. “He read it and said, ‘I want to make this a movie.’ He saw the movie in his head. Some people say it was a gay story, but they weren’t gay lovers. John’s point was men showing affection to each other, which was not something you saw in the movies often.”
Mann said Schlesinger’s 38 years with Childers were the happiest years of Schlesinger’s life.
“(It) fulfilled a dream that he could actually have a relationship with another human being,” Mann said.
Childers said he was 23 when he first met Schlesinger.
“Actress Kaye Ballard, who was a friend of mine in Hollywood, called me and said, ‘Do you want to meet John Schlesinger? He’s in town. He’s very loud; he doesn’t know anybody here. He’d like to meet somebody young to show him around Los Angeles,” Childers said. “I said, ‘Yes, I’ll go meet him tomorrow for drinks at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel at 6 o’clock.’ The next day while prepping to get dressed, I read a magazine article saying that he (Schlesinger) was difficult on the set. I thought, ‘Shit this guy could be a nightmare,’ so I called an actor to come with me for protection. ‘One kick under the table means we’re both out of here.’”
During that date, Lee Remick walked in, Childers said; Schlesinger called her over, and she sat at their table. Then Frank Sinatra walked in—and also sat at their table.
“This was my first date with him, and I’m sitting there with this famous director, Lee Remick and Frank Sinatra, I thought, ‘This could be a great life.’”
“He demanded that we’d be open, and he would drag me to Hollywood premieres in the ’60s. Two gay guys? You didn’t do that in the ’60s.”
Michael Childers, on John Schlesinger
Schlesinger and Childers continued to see each other, but they took things slow. “Then we went off to Carmel one weekend and fell in love, drinking chardonnay and walking on the beach at Big Sur,” Childers said.
Childers said they worked to push each other’s creative limits—without any pretense.
“He was so proud of our relationship,” Childers said. “He demanded that we’d be open, and he would drag me to Hollywood premieres in the ’60s. Two gay guys? You didn’t do that in the ’60s.”
Childers said he learned a lot from Schlesinger. “He pushed me. He wanted me to have a career and didn’t want me to stay about, like Beverly Hills housewives. He encouraged my photography, and I started to do breakthrough photography, very good stuff.”
In return, Childers made suggestions that contributed to Schlesinger’s movies.
Schlesinger suffered a stroke on New Year’s Day 2001, following quadruple heart bypass surgery three years earlier. He never fully recovered, and died on July 25, 2003.
“Of course we had rocky times, but we always patched it up,” Childers said. “We knew we were glued together. It was our destiny. We had a wonderful life together.”
“My Husband Makes Movies: A John Schlesinger Film Festival,” a benefit for the Palm Springs Cultural Center, takes place at 6:30 p.m., most Mondays, through March 17, at 2300 E. Baristo Road, in Palm Springs. Tickets to each showing start at $16.82. For tickets or more information, visit psculturalcenter.org.
