Director, Deaths | featured news

Mr. Oshima, who challenged Japanese society with his movies, gained international notoriety with “In the Realm of the Senses.”

"Snakes on a Plane" director David R. Ellis has died. He was 60 years old....

Nora Ephron, an essayist and humorist in the Dorothy Parker mold (only smarter and funnier, some said) who became one of her era’s most successful screenwriters and filmmakers, making romantic comedy hits like “Sleepless in Seattle” and “When Harry Met Sally,” died Tuesday night in Manhattan. She was 71.

Blake Edwards, director of The Pink Panther and Breakfast at Tiffany's, dies in southern California at the age of 88.

Mr. Kershner’s “The Empire Strikes Back,” part of the “Star Wars” chronology, earned mixed reviews but, eventually, critical praise.

John Hughes, whose 1980s films such as "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club" and "Some Kind of Wonderful" offered a sharp-eyed look at teenagers and their social habits, has died, according to a statement from his representative.