Gerald Ayres

Gerald Ayres (February 3, 1936 – April 7, 2018[1]) was an American film studio executive, producer and screenwriter. He is known for his work as producer of The Last Detail (1973) starring Jack Nicholson and as writer of Rich and Famous (1981) the last film directed by George Cukor.[2]

Early life and education

Ayres was born in San Diego, California to US Navy seaman Bickings Ayres and Madeline Brown Ayres; he had one brother who died as a young man.

Ayres received a scholarship to Yale University. During this time a number of his plays were produced. He dropped out a few months short of graduation to take up a career as a theatre writer in New York.

Career

Film

Ayres worked in New York in 1957 as a theatre writer and play doctor. Between writing jobs he worked in a zipper factory in the garment district and as a story analyst for the New York office of Columbia Pictures. In 1964, he was brought to Columbia's Hollywood studio as assistant to new studio chief, Mike Frankovich. During the next five years a number of years the studio released a number of successful films, including Lawrence of Arabia, A Man for All Seasons, Guess Whose Coming to Dinner, In Cold Blood, Georgie Girl, Oliver, To Sir With Love, and Funny Girl. When Frankovich left in 1971, Ayres was made creative head of the studio.[3]

In 1970, Ayres served as producer of The Model Shop directed by French author Jaques Demy and starring Anouk Aimee and Gary Lockwood, but was not credited because of his position as studio executive. At that time he tried unsuccessfully to secure financing for Demy's wife, Agnes Varda, to direct a script she had written, Peace and Love.

Ayres next produced for Columbia the small film, Cisco Pike in 1972, starring Kris Kristofferson, Gene Hackman and Karen Black.[4] In 1973, he produced The Last Detail,[5] which was nominated for three Academy Awards: Jack Nicholson as actor, Robert Towne as screenwriter and Randy Quaid as supporting actor. The film won BAFTA's best picture award and Nicholson won best actor laurels at Cannes. Columbia executives considered the film "un-American", and Ayres took the production to Toronto.[6]

In 1979, Ayres wrote the script for Foxes, starring Jodie Foster which he co-produced with David Puttnam.[7] He wrote the screenplay for Rich and Famous, which as released in 1981, starring starred Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen. He was awarded the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium.

Television

Ayres worked on a television adaptation of The Last Detail in 1981. The pilot was directed by Jackie Cooper, but it did not get picked up.

Ayres wrote the shooting draft of the 1992 ABC film Stormy Weathers, starring Cybill Shepherd.

For TNT Ayres wrote1993's Crazy in Love, starring Holly Hunter, Frances McDormand, Bill Pullman and Julian Sands.[8] He received nominations for Artois, Golden Globe and CableAce awards.

Ayres developed some material which was never produced, including a pilot for Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner, a pilot for Paul Witt & Tony Thomas, a screenplay for Richard Dreyfuss, John Avildson and Mike Medavoy. He developed another original for David Field and Stephen Bach at United Artist; a long-form HBO script for Rick Rosenberg and Robert Christiansen on the life of Dorothy Parker.

In 1995 Ayres wrote a four-hour mini-series for NBC on the life of Elizabeth Taylor, which was released as Destiny. The producer, Lester Persky, radically changed the script during production and Ayres elected to use a pseudonym on the produced work.

Personal

Ayres married at 21 to Anne Bartlett Ayres. They have two children and two grandchildren. His marriage ended in 1971 having in great part to do with Ayres’ growing acceptance of his preference for a gay life. He left Hollywood in 1971 to join a gay commune in the Sierras. He returned with a lover, Nick Kudla, and lived an openly gay lifestyle.[6][9]

Gerald Ayres' second marriage took place in Watertown New York on September 4, 2013, to Guy Briscoe Ayres whose nom de guerre as an artist is Nicola Filippo.

Filmography

Writer

Film
  • 1981 Rich and Famous[10]
  • 1980 Foxes

Television
  • 1995 Destiny (TV mini-series on the life of Elizabeth Taylor) written under the pseudonym of Burr Douglas
  • 1992 Crazy in Love (TV movie) (teleplay)
  • 1992 Stormy Weathers (TV movie) (teleplay)
  • 1982 Rumpelstiltskin (1982) (teleplay)

Producer
  • 1980 Foxes[11]
  • 1973 The Last Detail[12]
  • 1972 Cisco Pike

Actor
  • 1973 The Last Detail - Skater at Ice Rink (uncredited)
  • 2002 How to Draw a Bunny (documentary) Himself

Awards
  • Rich and Famous- 1980 Writer's Guild award Best Adapted Comedy of the Year
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References
  1. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gerald-ayres-dead-last-detail-cisco-pike-producer-was-82-1103076
  2. Films in Review. National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. 1981. p. 526.
  3. Dennis McDougal (2008). Five Easy Decades: How Jack Nicholson Became the Biggest Movie Star in Modern Times. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 145–. ISBN 978-0-471-72246-5.
  4. Alexander Horwath; Thomas Elsaesser; Noel King (January 2004). The Last Great American Picture Show: New Hollywood Cinema in the 1970s. Amsterdam University Press. pp. 95–. ISBN 978-90-5356-631-2.
  5. Marc Eliot (29 October 2013). Nicholson: A Biography. Crown/Archetype. pp. 128–. ISBN 978-0-307-88839-6.
  6. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind page 30, 1999 Bloomsbury edition Inc. ISBN 0-688-11246-3
  7. "Review: ‘Foxes’". Variety, December 31, 1979.
  8. "Review/Television; A Family 'Paradise' Without Men". New York Times, By WALTER GOODMAN August 10, 1992
  9. Robert Sellers (2010). Hollywood Hellraisers: The Wild Lives and Fast Times of Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty, and Jack Nicholson. Skyhorse Pub. pp. 161–. ISBN 978-1-61608-035-8.
  10. "Rich and Famous", New York Media, LLC (19 October 1981). New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC. pp. 87–. ISSN 0028-7369.
  11. "Foxes". Roger Ebert, January 1, 1980
  12. Patrick McGilligan (17 February 1996). Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 2353–. ISBN 978-0-393-24841-8.

Further reading
  • George Cukor Master of Elegance by Emanuel Levy pages 47,48,51,74,393-394, 1994 William Morrow and Company, ISBN 978-0-7475-4421-0
  • George Cukor: A Double Life by Patrick McGilligan pages 327-329,331-333,342, 1991 St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-05419-X
  • Knock Wood by Candice Bergen page 328, 1984 Linden Press/Simon & Schuster ISBN 0-671-25294-1
  • The Andy Warhol Diaries Edited by Pat Hackett page 287, 1989 Warner Books ISBN 0-446-51426-8
  • Loner at the Ball The Life of Andy Warhol by Fred Lawrence Guiles page 315-317, 1989 Bantam Press ISBN 0-593-01540-1
  • Everywhere Hollywood: A Memoir By Gerald Ayres 392 pages, 2016, ISBN 978-0-692-78453-2
  • The Apple Bites Back: a memoir the early years by Gerald Ayres 278 pages, 2017, ISBN 978-0-9983400-1-2
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