Henry Jaglom, an independent filmmaker and colleague of Orson Welles, has died. He was 87.
Jaglom died on September 22 at his Santa Monica home, his daughter, Sabrina Jaglom, told The Hollywood Reporter. “My dad was the most loving, fun, entertaining and unique father and the biggest cheerleader and champion anyone could be lucky enough to have.”
His legacy includes such movies as Last Summer in the Hamptons, Déjà Vu and Going Shopping.
Welles acted in two noteworthy Jaglom films – A Safe Place and Someone to Love. For about two years before Welles’ death, the two would meet for a weekly lunch at Ma Maison in Hollywood, and Jaglom recorded their lengthy exchanges as they dined. Those became the basis for Peter Biskind’s 2013 book, My Lunches With Orson.
In a 2013 interview with Wellesnet, Jaglom denied he taped Welles without his knowledge as some associates insisted. “Those ‘friends’ of Orson’s don’t know what they are talking about, but I can understand why they think so. The tapes were Orson’s idea, not mine.”
Jaglom appeared in Welles’ last major film, The Other Side of the Wind, which was released in 2018 after 40 years in development. He also lobbied unsuccessfully for financing for Welles to film The Big Brass Ring.
He disputed Welles critics who suggested Welles “somehow didn’t want to finish his work for some psychologically crippling reason.”
“It is true that he might have sabotaged himself in certain ways by his need for absolute perfectionism, by his need to do things exactly as he wanted, but no one would criticize an artist in any other art form for this. Only in films are you supposed to compromise,” Jaglom said “In music or painting or a novel or a play, no one would criticize the artist for not wanting to compromise and to insist on having things creatively his or her own way. But Orson worked and worked hard till the day he died.”
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