Jonathan Kaplan, the five-time Emmy-nominated director/producer of ER and filmmaker behind projects like The Accused, Bad Girls and Unlawful Entry, has died at the age of 77, per multiple media reports.
His daughter Molly Kaplan said he died Friday at his home in Los Angeles of advanced liver cancer.
Kaplan was born in Paris on Nov. 25, 1947 to industry veteran parents, father Sol Kaplan, a film and TV composer, and mother Frances Heflin, a regular on ABC soap All My Children. (He was also the nephew of Oscar-winning actor Van Heflin.)
He began his career as a child actor in the Broadway production of The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, helmed by Elia Kazan. Later, Kaplan earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Chicago and studied film at New York University, where he was taught by Martin Scorsese.
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It was the Goodfellas director who recommended him to Roger Corman, who in turn called Kaplan to offer him his directorial debut, 1972’s sexploitation flick Night Call Nurses, which was followed by another assignment in 1973’s The Student Teachers. That year, he also directed The Slams for Corman’s brother, producer Gene Corman. Afterward, he helmed blaxploitation Truck Turner.
In 1975, he directed his first major studio movie, Columbia Pictures’ White Line Fever (1975), starring Jan-Michael Vincent in the crime neo-noir. His subsequent directorial credits include Mr. Billion, Over the Edge and TV movies like The Gentleman Bandit. Outside of film, he directed music videos for Barbra Streisand, Rod Stewart and John Mellencamp.
Notably, Kaplan has directed two actresses to Academy Award nominations: Jodie Foster in the ripped-from-the-headlines legal drama The Accused (1988) and Michelle Pfeiffer in 1992’s Love Field. The former won for her performance. He has also directed Matthew Broderick and Helen Hunt in 1987’s Project X; Glenn Close, James Woods and Mary Stuart Masterson in 1989’s Immediate Family; Kurt Russell, Ray Liotta and Madeleine Stowe in 1992’s Unlawful Entry; Andie MacDowell and Drew Barrymore in 1994’s Bad Girls (also starring Stowe and Masterson); and Claire Danes, Kate Beckinsale and Bill Pullman in his final feature, 1999’s Brokedown Palace.
For his production work on ER, Kaplan shared Emmy nominations for Outstanding Drama Series with John Wells and Michael Crichton in 1999, 2000 and 2001. He garnered directing nods in 2000 and 2001. Overall, he helmed dozens of episodes of the revered NBC procedural. His other television directorial credits include Fallen Angels, Law & Order: SVU, Crossing Jordan, Without a Trace, Brothers and Sisters and Witches of East End.
In addition to his daughter, survivors include his sister, actress Nora Heflin, and nieces Hannah and Eliza. Sister Mady Kaplan, who appeared in Project X, predeceased him.
Kaplan was married to Julie Selzer, the casting director on The Accused and a majority of his projects in the ’80s, from 1987 until their 2001 divorce.