Czech filmmaker Milos Forman has died aged 86. His American movies include "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus" which won a deluge of Academy Awards, including best director Oscars.
ADVERTISEMENTCzech filmmaker Milos Forman has died aged 86. His American movies include "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus" which won a deluge of Academy Awards, including best director Oscars.
He was the orphan of Nazi Holocaust victims, Forman had abandoned his homeland after communist troops invaded in 1968 and crushed a brief period of political and artistic freedom known as the Prague Spring.
He arrived in Hollywood not long after, but Forman was lacking in both money and English skills. However, he was carrying a portfolio of Czechoslavkian films, much admired internationally for their quirky, lighthearted spirit. Among them were "Black Peter," ''Loves of a Blonde" and "The Fireman's Ball." This got him access to the studios, but it wasn't until Actor Michael Douglas hired Foreman to direct "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest," that he got his big break.