LOS ANGELES, March 11 (UPI) — Richard Glatzer, the writer and director of Still Alice for which Julianne Moore won an Academy Award, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 63.
Glatzer died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
He was diagnosed with the debilitating disease 2011 shortly before he began work on Still Alice, a movie about a woman with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
“My medical condition made reading the book quite difficult for me,” he told NPR in a recent interview. “It just cut too close to the bone. But once I’d finished it, I felt determined to make Still Alice into a movie. It really resonated with me.”
By the end of his disease, Glatzer was only able to communicate by using his big toe to manipulate an iPad. He relied on the device as he wrote and directed Still Alice.
Glatzer was hospitalized two days before the Oscars with respiratory problems. Moore spoke fondly of him in her acceptance speech for the best actress in a leading role award.
“And finally, to our filmmakers, Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer, who had hoped to be here tonight but they can’t because of Richard’s health. When Richard was diagnosed with ALS, Wash asked him what he wanted to do. Did he want to travel? Did he want to see the world? And he said that he wanted to make movies, and that’s what he did,” she said.
In addition to Still Alice, Glatzer directed 2013’s The Last of Robin Hood and was a senior producer for America’s Next Top Model.
Glatzer is survived by his husband, Westmoreland, who co-directed and co-wrote Still Alice. He is also survived by his daughter Ruby, sister Joan, and nieces and nephews.
Westmoreland took to Twitter on Wednesday to express his grief over Glatzer’s death.
“I am devastated,” he wrote. “Richard was my soulmate, my collaborator, my life. A true artist and a brilliant man.”
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