George Roy Hill, 1921-2002

Afterimage, March-April, 2003 by Kristina Dunoski

George Roy Hill died Friday, December 27, 2002 at his home in Manhattan due to complications from Parkinson's disease. Hill is best known for his-films Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973), the latter of which won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.

Born in Minneapolis, Hill went on to study music at Yale University and upon graduating, enlisted in the Marines as a pilot. When his tour of duty ended, he studied literature at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, then moved back to the U.S. He began performing as an actor off-Broadway and then with a Shakespearian touring company. Hill returned to active duty during the Korean War, once again as a pilot, and ended his military career at the rank of Major. He began writing and directing for television with the semi-autobiographical My Brother's Keeper and won numerous awards in his field. Returning to Broadway in 1957, Hill directed a series of successful plays, including Tennessee Williams' A Period of Adjustment, which was also his Hollywood directorial debut casting Jane Fonda in her first staring role. Hill was able to combine his love of literature with that of film when he adapted and directed Lillian Hellman's Toys in the Attic (1965), James Michener's Hawaii (1966), Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Fiv e (1972), John Irving's The World According to Garp (1982) and John LeCarre's The Little Drummer Girl (1984). In 1988, Hill directed his last film, Funny Farm, and taught at Yale University for the remainder of his career.