1. Ivan Passer was a Czech film director and screenwriter, best known for his involvement in the Czechoslovak New Wave and for directing American films such as Born to Win, Cutter's Way and Stalin.
10 Facts About Ivan Passer
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Ivan Passer attended King George boarding school in Podebrady with future filmmakers Milos Forman, Jerzy Skolimowski and Paul Fierlinger and playwright Vaclav Havel.
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Ivan Passer then studied at FAMU in Prague, but did not finish the program.
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Ivan Passer began his career as an assistant director on Ladislav Helge's Velka samota.
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Later he collaborated with his friend Forman on all of Forman's Czech films, including Loves of a Blonde and The Firemen's Ball, both of which Ivan Passer co-wrote and which were nominated for Academy Awards.
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Ivan Passer introduced Forman to cinematographer Miroslav Ondricek whom he knew from Velka samota.
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Ivan Passer then directed his first feature, Intimate Lighting, which was released in 1965 and is considered by some to be Passer's masterpiece.
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Ivan Passer went on to make several prominent American films such as Born to Win, a junkie drama starring George Segal and Karen Black, and Cutter's Way, a dramatic thriller starring Jeff Bridges and John Heard.
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Ivan Passer was a film professor at the University of Southern California.
10.
Ivan Passer died on January 9,2020, from pulmonary complications in Reno, Nevada.