Mark Rydell, 1929 – 2026

Movie and TV director Mark Rydell, 97, died on Aug. 13. Rydell directed such hits On Golden Pond, The Rose, Cinderella Liberty, and The Reivers (as well as the enjoyable Bette Midler flop For the Boys. Well, I liked it!). He started his career in the 1950s as an actor, appearing in such movies and TV shows as Mama, Omnibus, The Phil Silvers Show, The Edge of Night, and Naked City; he moved into directing by the 1960s, also in TV (Ben Casey, The Wild Wild West, The Fugitive, Gunsmoke, Family). Rydell was married to actress Joanne Linville and documentary producer Esther Jacobs; his children Amy, Christopher and Alexander also went into the business. He told writer Alex Simon of his professional beginning in the 1950s, “Even the dark aspects of the decade, like the Army-McCarthy hearings, nuclear testing, energized the decade. It was a very passionate time, almost like the renaissance. All television was live, all in New York, and all the great actors were there. It was very passionate, very idealistic, it was a time for heroes. And this was the time that Marty Landau, Jimmy Dean and I were pounding the pavement looking for acting jobs, and it was just magical.”