Norman Jewison was a Canadian director born in Toronto, Ontario, celebrated for socially engaged dramas and musicals that tackled American racism, labor, and faith with mainstream accessibility. In the Heat of the Night, a murder investigation pairing a Black detective with a bigoted Southern sheriff, won the Academy Award for Best Picture and became a landmark statement on American race relations. Fiddler on the Roof and Jesus Christ Superstar showed his equally strong command of large-scale musical adaptation, while Moonstruck, a warm Brooklyn-set romantic comedy, won Cher an Academy Award and became one of the most beloved films of the 1980s. The Hurricane, made late in his career, returned to the wrongful-conviction and racial-injustice themes that had defined much of his earlier work. Jewison's ability to combine popular entertainment with genuine social conscience made him one of the most reliably substantial mainstream directors of his generation. Read more