Ulu Grosbard

In 1968, Grosbard was at the helm of the feature version that marked Patricia Neal's return to acting after a series of near-fatal strokes and saw Jack Albertson and Martin Sheen recreate their stage roles. His subsequent feature work included offbeat productions such as "Who is Harry Kellerman, and Why is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?" (1971), in which Dustin Hoffman was a composer who finds success does not bring happiness; "Straight Time" (1978), again with Hoffman cast as an ex-con; and "True Confessions" (1981) with Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall in a tale of brothers and power. Less successful was the melodrama "Falling in Love" (1984) in which De Niro and Meryl Streep are strangers who meet on a train and eventually find themselves drawn together. After a decade's absence, Grosbard returned to films as producer and director of "Georgia" (1995), a character study of two sisters - the self-destructive no-talent singer Sadie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and her seemingly perfect sibling Georgia (Mare Winningham (in an Oscar-nominated turn). He followed with "The Deep End of the Ocean" (1999), about a woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) searching for her kidnapped son. The esteemed director would pass away in 2012 late in the night on March 18 or early morning of the 19th (his family was uncertain which) in New York City. He was 83.